Matthew leaned against the wall, sipping from his coffee cup, his eyes scanning the room. "So, where do we even start with this mess?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at ire.


    ire sighed, rubbing her forehead. Thest few hours had been a whirlwind-after saying goodbye to Adrian and his family at the hospital, she''d barely had time to catch her breath. It hadn''t been easy leaving Adrian behind, especially with him constantly poking around, asking a million questions. Curiosity was in his nature, and ire had a hard time brushing him off. Luckily, Adrianna, his mom, had swooped in at the right moment, distracting Adrian just long enough for ire to make her escape.


    Now, she was anxious, her foot tapping impatiently as they cruised through the quiet streets. The drive to Cryptonic felt like it was taking forever. "Can this car go any faster?" ire huffed, ncing over at Matthew from the passenger seat.


    Matthew chuckled, taking it all in stride. "Sorry, ire. This baby''s not a sports car like yours," he teased, patting the dashboard affectionately.


    ire rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "I swear, I could walk faster."


    "Sure, sure," Matthew grinned. "But then you''d miss out on my amazingpany."


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity (though in reality, it was an hour and a half), they pulled into Cryptonic''s parking lot. The ce was dead silent-no surprise, given that it was 2 a.m. ire didn''t wait for the car toe to aplete stop before she jumped out, marching straight toward the building, her pace quick and determined. Matthew followed behind her, casually sipping his coffee, clearly unfazed by thete hour.


    The moment ire stepped into her office, she powered on herputer andptop, her fingers itching to get to work. Matthew disappeared for a few minutes to grab hisptop from his office and then settled into the chair across from her. "Okay, where do we start?" he asked, setting his coffee aside and booting up hisputer.


    ire leaned back in her chair, thinking for a moment. "First, we need to see if there are any surveince cameras in the area where the explosion happened. If we can find one, we might be able to figure out what the hell went down." Matthew nodded, cracking his knuckles dramatically. "On it."


    They both worked in silence for a while, the only sounds in the rooming from the rapid clicks of keyboards. It didn''t take long before Matthew''s face lit up with excitement. "Found something!" he called out.


    ire swiveled her chair to face him. "Where?"


    Matthew pointed at his screen. "There''s a camera about a block from where the car exploded. It''s not right on top of it, but it might still give us a decent angle.


    ire nodded, her eyes narrowing in focus. "Perfect. Try hacking into it. I''ll help."


    Together, they worked their magic, both of them deep in concentration. Within a few minutes, ire sat up, her fingers pausing on the keyboard.


    "Got it!" she said triumphantly, turning her screen toward Matthew. The camera feed popped up, and she pressed y, rewinding the footage to the time when she and Adrian had arrived at the scene.


    They fast-forwarded through the boring parts-ire and Adrian getting out of the car, ire heading back to grab her phone-and then something weird happened. The camera footage buzzed and fuzzed out for several seconds, like static on an old TV. By the time the picture cleared up, the car was already on fire, and ire was standing there, staring at the mes.


    ire frowned, rewinding the footage again. "What the hell?"


    Matthew leaned forward, squinting at the screen. "Looks like someone tampered with the camera feed," he said, his voice serious now.


    "Ugh, seriously?" ire groaned, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "This is not what I expected."


    "Let me try a different angle," she


    muttered, clicking around to see if there were any other nearby cameras. One by one, she checked, but no luck. Every camera either had the same interference or waspletely broken.


    ire cursed out loud, mming her hand on the desk. "Why do these things always decide to break when you actually need them?!"


    Matthew chuckled softly, though he clearly felt her frustration too. "Bad luck, I guess."


    "More like bad timing," ire muttered, ncing at the clock. She didn''t have time for this. She had to find something useful, and fast.


    "Wait," Matthew said, suddenly leaning closer to hisptop. "I think I found another camera. It''s farther away, though, and the quality''s not great. Might be a long shot."


    ire leaned in closer as she stared at his screen. The footage was blurry and a bit shaky, but she could just make out the faint outline of something-a car, parked right at the edge of the camera''s blind spot. Matthew zoomed in, trying to get a better look. "It''s not much, but it''s something. You see that? Two guys getting out of the car."


    ire squinted, her eyes glued to the screen. The image was too fuzzy to make out any faces, but there was no mistaking the movement. Two men had definitely gotten out of the car, and it was right before the explosion.


    "Can you enhance it?" ire asked, leaning in closer, her heart racing a little.


    Matthew shrugged. "I can try, but it''s not gonna be pretty. This camera is ancient-might take some work to clean it up."


    "Do what you can," ire urged, her mind already racing with possibilities. Who were these guys? And what were they doing there?


    For the next several minutes, Matthew worked on smoothing out the video, tweaking the contrast, and sharpening the image. Finally, he leaned back with a satisfied nod. "Okay, I''ve done all I can. Check it out."


    ire watched the footage again,


    this time a little clearer. The car was


    parked in a perfect spot-right where the camera couldn''t catch the license te. But now, with the enhanged video, they could see the two figures more clearly. They were wearing dark clothes, both of them tall and broad-shouldered, and they moved quickly like they were on a mission.


    "Well, that''s... interesting," ire muttered, frowning. "Who do you think they are?"


    Matthew crossed his arms, deep in thought. "No idea. But it''s weird, right? They show up, and then the camera conveniently goes fuzzy right when the explosion happens?"


    ire''s frown deepened. "Yeah, definitely too convenient. Someone was covering their tracks."


    Matthew nodded in agreement. "Whoever they are, they knew exactly what they were doing. This wasn''t some random ident."


    ire leaned back in her chair, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Great. So now we have two mystery men, no faces, and no license te. What next?"


    Matthew gave her a reassuring smile. "We''ll figure it out. We just need more time. Maybe there''s another camera nearby, or we can dig into any reports from that night. Someone had to have seen something." ire nodded, though the anxiety was gnawing at her. "Yeah, you''re right. We''ll keep looking."


    Matthew leaned back, sipping his now-cold coffee. "Well, at least we''ve got a lead. That''s something, right?"


    ire smirked, though it didn''t reach her eyes. "Yeah, it''s something. But I need more than just ''something'' if we''re gonna find these guys."


    "Don''t worry," Matthew said, standing up and stretching. "We''ll get there. It''s only a matter of time."