Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"Anne... God, how I miss you... Can't you come back?" Murray murmured.

The only thing that answered him was the pitch-black living room and the relentless, howling cold wind outside the window.

The next morning, Roseanne was up with the birds. She showered, cooked breakfast, got ready, and prepared to head out to the lab.

As she was about to close the door, she noticed a paper bag hanging on the doorknob. Inside, there was a tube of the allergy nasal cream she always used. She glanced around. Who could have left this?

Suddenly, her eyes landed on the door across the hall. Roseanne looked at the nasal cream and then examined the paper bag more closely.

Just as she was about to knock on the door to ask if it was Owen who'd left it, the door abruptly swung open.

Owen stepped out, his face stern. Upon seeing her, he paused.

Sensing something was off, Roseanne asked, "Is something wrong?"

Owen replied, "Let's talk on the way to the lab."

"Okay," Roseanne said, her tone serious, momentarily forgetting about the nasal cream.

On the way, Owen received a phone call.

made his expression darken and his

on our way now,

data has been wiped. We

have backups for the lab

realized most of the backup

maintain computer performance, the lab's data is cleared

end of the month, and they had just

since data is backed up twice for safety. But... accidents

really just an

thought it was too

...

everyone in the lab had arrived, including Owen and

addition, there were tech specialists who had signed confidentiality

discovered, Stoddard had immediately called for

was dispatched

even after half an hour, there was no

"What's

Liz. She booted up the computer to enter data, and it just