Both appeared exhausted. Wired. The particular combination that came from running on adrenaline and bad caffeine for too long.
“Xavier.” Hellhound set the bags on the counter. Relief crossed his features. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah.”
“How is she?” he asked quietly.
I glanced toward the stairs. Listened for movement. Nothing yet. “Asleep. Hasn’t come down.”
I’d checked on her twice during the night. She’d been curled on her side in one of the upstairs bedrooms, dead to the world. Exhausted beyond anything I’d seen from her before.
Hellhound started unpacking supplies. Bread. More caffeine. Basic provisions. The kind of staples you bought when you didn’t know how long you’d be hiding.
“We got untraceable phones.” Havoc pulled devices from a bag. “Clean laptop. Cash. Everything you’ll need if you have to run again.”
If. Not when. Small mercy.
I helped them unpack in quiet. Domestic normalcy felt surreal after Geneva. After everything.
Havoc set up the laptop, fingers already flying across keys before it finished booting. Always moving. Never pausing. His particular brand of restless energy.
“Coffee?”
“Already had two cups.” I lifted my mug. “But thanks.”
He poured himself one. Black. No sugar. We stood there for a moment, three men in a generic kitchen drinking bad caffeine as though the world hadn’t tried to kill us.
“How do you feel?” The question was careful. Clinical.
I considered lying. Decided against it.
“Different.” I flexed my fingers, noting the steady movement. “No tremor. No pressure behind my temples. Memories are... there. It’s strange.”
“That’s good.”
“Is it?” I held his gaze. “I remember each kill for Dresner. Every mission. All of it.”
Hellhound didn’t look away. “You remember what was done to you too.”
Fair point. Didn’t make the burden any lighter.
Havoc glanced up from his laptop. “We should brief you. Before Clare wakes up.”
Something in his tone made my stomach clench.
“Brief me on what?”
“Sit.”
I sat. They joined me, Hellhound to my right, Havoc across. The laptop screen glowed between us, displaying files I couldn’t read from this angle.
“Dresner escaped,” Havoc said without preamble. “Before we could lock down the facility. Professional extraction. He had contingencies.”
Of course he did. Dresner always had contingencies.
Rage blazed hot and sharp through my chest.
“Where is he now?”
