ire leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples in frustration. They''d been at this for hours, staring at the grainy footage from the explosion.


    "This is going nowhere," she muttered. Then, an idea hit her. She turned to Matthew, who was tapping away at hisptop. "Can you try to find some surveince cameras from the road the car drove through? Maybe we''ll have better luck."


    Matthew nodded. "On it," he already pulled up maps and checked for any cameras that could''ve caught the car in question. ire, meanwhile, squinted at the footage again, desperately trying to make out a license te or any useful detail. But the cameras were ancient, barely functioning. The picture was so blurry it looked like something out of an old spy movie.


    "Nope," she sighed, shaking her head. "Can''t make out anything on this footage. Who the heck still used this kind of camera in this era?"


    "It''s probably the local camera that no one notices that it''s still working. Howe the restaurant you went there doesn''t have a surveince camera?"


    ire sighed. "Adrian booked the whole ce don''t ask me why, he just did. So basically, our dinner was really private with no one in sight."


    Matthew nced up from his screen. "Well, I''m not having any luck either. There''s nothing on the road-either no cameras or they''re facing the wrong direction."


    They''d been at this for hours, and still nothing. ire threw her hands up, exasperated. "Great. We''re going in circles, It''s like the universe doesn''t want us to find this car."


    Matthew chuckled. "You''ll get there, ire. You always do."


    She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she reached for her mug of tea. "Yeah, well, it better happen soon because I''m running on fumes over here."


    Just as she took a sip, herptop chimed with a notification. ire blinked at the screen, furrowing her brows. "Huh..."


    Matthew perked up, noticing the change in her expression. "What''s up?"


    ire stared at the message in disbelief. "I got an email."


    Matthew raised his brows, finally ncing her way. "From whom? Anything important?"


    "From... well, someone I definitely wasn''t expecting."


    Matthew scrunched his forehead. "What do you mean? Like, spam or something?"


    ire shook her head, quickly skimming the contents. "No, it''s weirder than that. It says, ''ire Peterson, you managed to change your firewall within 24 hours, and because of that, I wasn''t able to prate the system. So, I''m sending you this email." Matthew''s eyes widened. "What? Wait, someone''s admitting they tried to hack you?"


    "That''s not all," ire continued, her voice a mix of irritation and confusion. "The message goes on: ''That''s why I presented you a show." She paused, frowning even deeper.


    Matthew leaned forward. "A show? What does that mean?"


    "Yeah, that''s what it says." ire looked up from the screen, her expression confused. "And there''s an attachment."


    Matthew leaned forward, clearly intrigued. "What kind of attachment?"


    ire scrolled down, her eyes narrowing at the attachment. "There''s a photo. Hold on..." She clicked it, and up popped an image of the exact car they had been looking for-the same one from the footage. But this time, the license te was crystal clear. She turned to Matthew, her expression a mix of shock and skepticism. "It''s the car. The one from the footage. And there''s the license te."


    Matthew''s jaw dropped as he stared at the screen. "What the hell? Why would they send you this?"


    ire shook her head. "I have no idea. This person... they''re the same one who''s been trying to break into Metacortex and Cryptonic. But why would they give me the license te of the car we''re looking for?"


    Matthew ran a hand through his hair, utterly baffled. "That makes no sense. It''s like they''re helping us now. But why?"


    ire frowned, her mind racing. "Exactly. Why go through all the trouble of hacking me and then just... hand over this information? Something doesn''t add up." She stared at the email, feeling like there was some kind of game being yed, but she couldn''t figure out the rules.


    "Maybe we should just track the license te," Matthew suggested after a moment of silence. "It might lead us somewhere useful."


    ire''s instincts screamed at her to be cautious. "What if it''s a trap? This could be a setup to throw us off or worse." Matthew shrugged, a small smile ying on his lips. "We won''t know unless we try. C''mon, ire, it''s worth a shot."


    She hesitated for a moment, weighing the risks. Then, with a sigh, she nodded. "Fine. Let''s track it."


    ire typed in the license te number, and to her surprise, it didn''t take long to find a location associated with the car. "Found it." Matthew raised an eyebrow, looking impressed. "That was fast."


    ire grinned. "I''m good at what I do."


    Matthew grinned. "See? Maybe our mystery hacker is ying fair for once."


    ire wasn''t convinced. "Yeah, or maybe they''re setting us up for something. Should we check it out?"


    Matthew gave her a yful shrug. "I''m down for it. Let''s go see where this leads."


    An hourter, they were driving down a deste road, the GPS telling them they were close to the car''s location. ire looked out the window, her brows furrowed Something didn''t feel right


    "ording to this, we should be there already," she said, ncing around. "But this ce looks... deserted."


    Matthew was gripping the steering wheel, scanning the emptyndscape. "Yeah, I noticed that too. Weird spot for a car to be, huh?"


    ire crossed her arms, feeling a bit irritated. "I knew it. We''re being toyed with. Whoever sent that email probably knew we''de all the way out here just to find nothing." Matthew didn''t look as convinced. "I dunno, I''ve got a feeling the car''s around here somewhere."


    ire gave him a skeptical look. "We''ve been driving in circles, Matthew. This is a wild goose chase."


    Just as she said that Matthew squinted, leaning forward in his seat. "Wait a sec..." He pointed to something off in the distance. "Look over there."


    ire followed his finger, her heart skipping a beat. "Is that...?"


    Matthew nodded, pulling the car over. "That''s the car."


    They both hopped out of the vehicle and made their way over to the car, which was parked in an odd spot on the side of a dirt road. ire nced around suspicious. "What is a car doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"


    Matthew peered through the window, but there wasn''t much to see. "Doesn''t look like there''s anything useful inside."


    ire circled the car, her eyes narrowing as she took in every detail. Then, something caught her eye-the trunk. It was slightly ajar.


    Her stomach flipped. "Matthew... the trunk."


    He turned toward her, eyebrows raised. "What about it?"


    "It''s... open. Or halfway open."


    Matthew stepped closer; curiosity piqued. "You gonna check it out?"


    ire hesitated, feeling a strange sense of dread creeping up her spine. Something about this felt off. But she knew they had to look With a deep breath, she slowly reached for the trunk and lifted it.


    The moment it opened, ire gasped, stumbling back.