Inside, the air was cold, the heat having been turned down for the weekend.

I walked straight to the safe in the corner of my late uncle’s office.

My hands shook slightly as I spun the dial, the clicks sounding like gunshots in the quiet room.

On the third try, the heavy steel door swung open with a dull scrape.

Inside lay the leather-bound ledger books that Elliot insisted on keeping by hand, alongside three encrypted external hard drives.

I pulled them out and stacked them on the desk.

“We need to copy the latest transaction logs from the main terminal too,” I said.

Calvin sat down at the administrative desk and woke the computer screen.

The blue light illuminated his weathered face as he typed in his administrator password.

“The system is still running normal,” Calvin muttered.

“I’ll start the local export to the flash drive.”

I stood over his shoulder, watching the progress bar tick upward.

My phone buzzed again in my pocket, but I ignored it, focusing on the screen.

“How long will it take?” I asked.