Chapter 35: Race Against Time.

Chloe's heart was racing as she looked at the ominous countdown on her computer screen. The numbers ticked away at her sanity: tick-tick. It was a cruel reminder that time was running out to find Liam before it was too late. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. High-pressure situations were part of the life of a brilliant codebreaker working with a leading cybersecurity company. But never before had the stakes been so personal. Liam wasn't just a client; he was her beloved boyfriend, who had been missing for over a week. It had been a mystery hacking group that had given a chilling ultimatum, demanding that she decipher their encryption in 48 hours or they would kill Liam. Although she had managed to crack through the first several layers of their fiendishly complex encryption, she knew that the final one would present the toughest challenge of all. She looked down at the evidence strewn across her desk: printouts of the code, notes from her investigation, and a photo of he