The screen glowed to life, washing Cassie's face in pale blue light as the laptop hummed softly on the desk. Her fingers moved fast, almost on instinct, flying across the keyboard as she connected to the encrypted network Evan had slipped her access to earlier.
"Okay… I'm in," she whispered, her voice barely louder than the soft clicking of keys. A bead of sweat slid down her temple, and she brushed it away impatiently without taking her eyes off the screen.
Lines of code exploded across the display, scrolling so fast it looked like organized chaos.
It felt like stepping onto a battlefield she couldn't see but could absolutely feel. Somewhere on the other end, Evan's calm voice filtered through her earpiece, grounding her.
"Redirect the firewall protocols," he instructed stea
