Page 53 of Charged By the Razorbacks

The maps lit up as he pulled them open again.

Movement patterns. Known sites. Failed locations.

Tamsin stepped in closer, her attention shifting immediately, the sleep gone from her expression as she leaned over the table.

“Walk me through it,” she said.

Aleksy did.

What they’d seen. What didn’t line up. Where Chimera had pulled back instead of pushing forward. Tamsin listened without interrupting, her focus narrowing as she took it in, her mind already moving ahead of the data.

Jarek watched her. Not just the way she processed it—but how fast she did it. How instinctive it was.

“That’s not consolidation,” she said finally.

Aleksy’s gaze flicked to hers. “No.”

“It’s staging,” she corrected.

Jarek leaned in slightly. “Yeah, probably, but where will they trial it?”

Her finger moved across the screen, tracing the points they’d marked, then stopping—not at the center, but at the edge.

“Here,” she said.

Aleksy frowned slightly. “That’s outside their previous range.”

“Exactly,” she said. “We’ve been tracking where they have been. Not where they’re going.”

Jarek’s focus sharpened. “Why shift out that far?”

“Because this next test isn’t about refinement,” she said. “It’s about proof.”

Aleksy stilled. “They want it to be really public.”

Tamsin nodded once. “Or close enough to it. Controlled exposure. High visibility without full risk.”

Jarek leaned over the table, his gaze locking onto the coordinates she’d marked. “This is a transport corridor.”

Aleksy followed the line. “Dense traffic with a huge civilian presence.”

“And just enough isolation points to contain fallout,” Tamsin added.

The pieces clicked all at once.

The plan. Chimera’s plan.

“This is a demonstration,” Aleksy said.

Tamsin straightened slowly, her gaze lifting to meet theirs. “That’s the location of their next trial.”

Jarek felt it all lock into place.

“Then that’s where we hit them,” he said.

Aleksy nodded once. “We don’t wait for it. We intercept before activation.”

Tamsin’s lips curved slightly, something sharp and satisfied in it.