"What's the update on your side?"
Venz's voice crackled through the phone, low and impatient against the suffocating silence of my room.
The only light came from the computer in front of me. Its glow painted my face in shifting shades of blue and green, the reflection of endless data flickering across the screen. Numbers blurred into lines, names into codes, yet none of them were what I needed. The light caught the strands of my red hair, staining them green each time the monitor refreshed.
I tightened my grip around the phone until my knuckles whitened. My other hand hovered over the keyboard, fingers frozen mid-motion as I scanned through another dead end.
Nothing.
Again.
I bit the inside of my lower lip, forcing myself to stay focused despite the growing pressure tightening around my chest.
"Still negative," I muttered at last. Even to my own ears, my voice sounded strained.
