The Decryption Ultimatum

The next day, Valerie walked into the office as usual.

She'd been working for a while when, around ten, her internal line rang. "Ms. Ellsworth, Xavier and Seth from R&D haven't shown up today, and we can't get through to them. Not sure what's going on."

Valerie's heart clenched. She quickly called Xavier, but no one picked up.

She tried Seth next, but he didn't answer either.

She got in touch with