The quiet in their unit, which they had once found peaceful, was now filled with a heavy sense of dread. It smothered their earlier feeling of victory. The name [User: Silica] seemed to glow on Evelyn's laptop screen like a toxic stain that would not fade. The fifteen thousand dollars they had just made felt meaningless. Even their new tools and organized shelves now looked like childish toys compared to an enemy they could not see or touch.
Silva finally broke the silence with a shaky whisper as he hugged himself and looked around the fortified room. He was afraid the very walls might be listening. "She was in here?" he asked. "Inside our computers? What did she see? Did she find our bank records, or our names? Does she know where we live?" The fear in his eyes was a raw and physical thing.
