Page 94 of Tag (The Golden Team #9)

Tessa Lawson

T he encrypted alert blinked twice on the burner phone before vanishing.

That was all she needed.

She smiled, slow and sharp, as she leaned back in the leather chair at the edge of the rooftop helipad.

Wind tugged at her jacket. Below, lights flickered across the desert floor—motion sensors hidden in cacti, drones gliding along the perimeter, sensors buried in dirt that could hear a heartbeat from fifty feet away.

The compound was perfect.

But it wasn’t just the security that made her smile.

It was the message.

Isabelle Hartman is active.

Confirmed retrieval failed.

Engaged with the Golden Team. Preparing counterstrike.

Tessa slipped her sunglasses down and swirled the whiskey in her glass.

“She always did overperform,” she muttered.

The guard at her side shifted. “Do you want her eliminated?”

She laughed—low and cold. “Eliminated? No. You don’t burn your prototype until you’ve dissected the code.”

She stood, straightened her jacket, and walked toward the elevator that would take her down into the complex. Behind her, the wind picked up again, kicking sand across the rooftop.

Inside, the hallway lights glowed sterile and white. She passed through two biometric checkpoints and entered her private chamber—lined with screens. Each showed different feeds.

Golden Team.

Aponi.

Lacey.

Tag Harris.

She tapped the screen showing Tag’s profile.

“He’s the wildcard,” she said. “Emotionally compromised. She’ll fight for him.”

A tap brought up the satellite feed of the safehouse.

“I could have taken her years ago,” she whispered. “But broken wings don’t fly. And I wanted to see what she’d become when she thought she was free.”

Another tap. A hidden file was unlocked.

A list.

PROJECT: CHIMERA – PHASE 2: LEGACY

Primary Asset: Isabelle Hartman

Secondary Asset: Classified

Subject Tag Harris: Containment/Neutralize

Tessa Lawson – Director

She smiled again. “Come home, Isabelle. You still belong to me. I taught you everything you know.

Then she turned to her guard. “Tell the team: prep the trap site. Aponi will bring the fight. I’ll bring the end.”