Page 46 of Charged By the Razorbacks

“So, we don’t miss,” Victor said.

Aleksy felt it settle through him, the clarity of purpose locking everything into place.

Kairo spoke from the back. “We can get you a window,” he said, glancing toward Claire. “But it won’t stay open long.”

Tamsin’s lips curved faintly. “I don’t need long.”

Jarek huffed quietly. “You’re starting to sound like us.”

She shot him a look. “That’s a concern.”

“It’s a compliment,” he corrected.

Aleksy’s attention stayed on her. Always came back to her.

“Then we move,” Ivan said.

Victor nodded once. “We find their next site. We intercept before deployment.”

“And we end it,” Wyatt added.

Silence followed. For the first time since Chimera had escalated—they weren’t reacting. They were planning.

Victor’s gaze moved across them one last time.

“This is where it shifts in our favor,” he said.

Beside him, Jarek exhaled slowly, something sharp and eager settling into his stance.

Tamsin didn’t move. But when Aleksy glanced at her, her gaze was already on him. And there was no hesitation there.

Only certainty.

And maybe—just a hint of anticipation.

Because this—this was the part where they stopped waiting. And started hunting.

****

The city didn’t slow down just because they needed answers.

Traffic still moved. Lights still shifted from red to green to amber like the world wasn’t quietly sitting on the edge of something far more dangerous than anyone outside their circle understood. People walked past them without looking twice, heads down, phones in hand, unaware of the patterns being mapped over their lives in real time.

Aleksy watched it all from behind the wheel, his hands steady on the steering wheel as they moved through the late evening streets, one lead feeding into the next.

None of them solid. All of them useful.

Jarek sat in the passenger seat, half turned toward Tamsin in the back, his elbow braced against the door, his posture loose in a way that didn’t match the sharpness in his eyes.

“You’re telling me that guy was your best source?” he asked, disbelief threading through his tone. “He looked like he was two seconds from selling us counterfeit watches.”

Tamsin leaned back against the seat, one boot braced lightly against the center console, her arms folded loosely as she watched the city slide past.

“He wasn’t selling watches,” she said. “He was selling access.”

Jarek snorted. “Yeah, to a very questionable version of reality.”

Aleksy’s mouth curved faintly, his gaze flicking briefly to the rearview mirror, catching the way her lips lifted at the corner.