Page 65 of Charged By the Razorbacks

“They pulled back,” Riley finished.

“Like they did at our end,” Aleksy said.

Tamsin nodded. “Yeah. I saw it on the backend. They weren’t just reacting—they were recalled.”

Claire glanced up briefly. “A command override?”

“Has to be,” Tamsin said. “They cut their losses the second the system failed.”

Aleksy’s hand came to rest lightly at the small of her back, grounding, steady. “Which means they knew when it failed.”

“Yes,” she said.

Jarek leaned against the table, his gaze fixed on her. “And they didn’t stay to fight it out.”

“No,” Tamsin replied. “Because this wasn’t the win condition. The weapon was.”

Aleksy’s voice cut through it. “We secured it, right?” he said, glancing toward Victor.

Victor nodded once. “We have the device. It’s contained.”

Tamsin let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was still holding.

“Good,” she said quietly.

Because that mattered. Almost as much as what she’d done. She straightened slightly, her gaze shifting back to the screens.

“I wiped everything I could find,” she said. “The system, the backups, the shadow copies—they’re gone.”

Elara’s attention snapped to her. “All of it?”

“All of it that I could access,” Tamsin clarified. “Every trace of the delivery mechanism. Every trace of my work.” A beat. “And yours.”

Elara’s expression tightened, then steadied.

“But,” Tamsin continued, because she wasn’t going to pretend this was over, “that doesn’t mean it’s gone for good.”

Sienna nodded slowly. “They’ve already proven they can rebuild.”

“Yeah,” Tamsin said. “And now they know what they’re aiming for. But it will take them time.”

Aleksy’s hand tightened slightly at her back. “Then we stay ahead of them.”

“That’s the plan,” she said.

He held her gaze for a moment longer, something unspoken settling there between them.

“Where are Malik and Jamal?” Caleb asked, his attention shifting back to Victor.

Victor’s expression didn’t change, but something in his posture eased.

“They’re still at the hospital,” he said. “They called in. They’re holding position.”

Tamsin felt that settle deep. Malik and Jamal. She’d seen them in full form. Seen what they were capable of. The sheer, unstoppable force of them as they tore through hybrids like they were nothing.

And now—they were standing guard over Naomi.

Her lips curved slightly, something warm threading through the exhaustion.