Page 63 of Charged By the Razorbacks

Something in her voice changed. Locked in.

“They’ve anchored the cascade to the output trigger,” she continued. “If I break the sequence before it peaks—”

“You stop it,” Elara finished for her.

“Yes,” she said.

“And if you don’t?”

Silence.

Then—

“It triggers anyway.”

The comms exploded with noise from the other site—gunfire, shouted commands, the sound of something building toward a breaking point.

Aleksy held the line. Jarek held with him. Neither of them gave ground.

Because they couldn’t.

Because everything now came down to one thing—her.

“Tamsin,” Victor said, steady, controlled despite the pressure building around him. “Talk to me.”

A breath.

Then—

“I’m in the sequence,” she said.

Another beat.

“I just need—”

The line crackled.

Cut. Static.

Aleksy didn’t move. Didn’t falter. But everything inside him locked tight. The corridor surged again, and the pressure doubled.

Jarek slammed into the next wave, holding it back just long enough for Aleksy to re-anchor.

The comms flared again—voices overlapping.

“Output spike—!”

“Containment failing—!”

“Brace—!”

Every instinct screaming. Every calculation running. Every outcome narrowing to a single point.

The corridor closed in, and the pressure peaked.

And somewhere below them—Tamsin either saved them all—or didn’t.

Chapter Eleven