A MISSING HACKER

The early morning light filtered through the blinds as I was jolted awake by the sharp ring of my phone. Groggy but alert, I grabbed it and saw Jeremy's name flashing on the screen. The urgency in his voice was unmistakable when I connected the call.

"Gregory, you need to hear this," Jeremy's voice is tight with panic.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes. "Why the fuck do you keep delivering bad news to me?"

"It is the hacker. We cannot find him. The last I heard he was with Max at the private club. I am not sure how accurate the intel was but this morning, he vanished into thin air. My team cannot find anything about him."

My heart skipped a beat. "Gone? How does someone just vanish?"

"Exactly," Jeremy continued, sounding more frantic. "And that is not all. My team's been tracing the money we paid him. It turns out that Max is using the team at Armand Inc., and they traced the money back to us."