He was trying to erase the evidence before I could lay my hands on it.

Yasmin must have helped him get the security codes.

We arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later.

The emergency room was a blur of beige linoleum, white coats, and the smell of antiseptic.

They wheeled me into a private cubicle with a yellow curtain.

A nurse hooked me up to an IV drip, cold saline flooding my veins.

I waited in the quiet hum of the room, listening to the distant beep of monitors.

An hour passed before the curtain slid back.

Ana walked in, carrying a heavy leather briefcase.

Her trench coat was damp from the light rain that had started outside.

She looked exhausted, her dark hair clinging to her temples in wet strands.

She pulled a plastic chair close to my bed and sat down.

“Did you stop it?” I asked, pulling the oxygen mask down to my chin.

Ana nodded, though her expression remained grim.

“Our IT department managed to lock down the server,” she said.

“But they got to some of the main directories first.”