“I believe you,” I said quietly.

Madison frowned. “You do?”

I ran my hand over my face. I felt sick. Why would Hannah put a root kit on my computer? Why was she reading my files? What was she after?

“Thanks, Madison,” I said, turning to leave.

“Mason,” Madison called out and I stopped. “Whatever’s going on, be careful, okay?”

I nodded and left. I pulled out my phone and tried to call Hannah. It went straight to voicemail.

The voice was screaming at me again. This time I knew I should listen.

I pulled out my car keys and hurried out the door.

It was time for some answers.

Chapter 26

Hannah

Everything was going to plan. Using the hash attack, we had been able to secure over five million passwords. Toxicwrath had picked up on his end and was in the process of putting them up for sale on a secure online site. Far away from the prying eyes of the authorities.

I had isolated the vulnerabilities on the Virtuant network. The data breach was ready to go forward as planned. My palms tingled. I was high on the adrenaline.

19:02 <T0x1cwrath> Start slowly. A large suction of data will set off the alarm bells.

I tried not to get annoyed at my partner’s insistence on telling me how to conduct an exploit.

19:03 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> This ain’t my first rodeo.

I was excited. I always felt that way during an attack. The hashing had been almost too easy. We slipped in like a knife through warm butter, slicing through their security.

20:15 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> For a tech company, their security is abysmal.

20:16 <T0x1cwrath> Douglas is notoriously arrogant. He probably thinks it’s the best security out there.

20:17 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> He should fire his whole department and hire us.

I laughed to myself. Toxicwrath clearly wasn’t into jokes. He never responded.

20:22 <T0x1cwrath> Are you ready? I hope distractions don’t get in the way.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to think about Mason. If I did, I’d feel like crap all over again.

My heart hurt at pushing him away, but it was necessary.

I didn’t have a choice.

Not when my very existence was threatened.

20:24 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> Distractions have been eliminated.

This was our weird method of chitchat. Talking in code and short, concise text.

Sometimes I wished I had someone to talk to about normal things like guy problems.

But what would I say?

So, I just broke up with this great guy because he’s the FBI agent assigned to track down my online alter ego and I was worried that I was getting too close. I worried I’d slip up and he’d figure me out.

There was nothing about that situation that was normal.

20:25 <T0x1cwrath> Good.

There was no more discussion about distractions. We were completely focused on the task at hand.

My fingers flew over the keyboard. I entered the input string into the entry point.

The SQL injection would give me complete access to their data. I’d be able to siphon off everything I needed quickly. I was appalled at the lack of encoding and validation on the Virtuant network. It made me wonder if such an ignorant tech company had anything worth stealing. Who, in this day and age, left themselves open to such vulnerabilities?

But Toxicwrath was adamant that this program was important. That it belonged to him.

And this corrupt CEO needed to go down. He had destroyed lives. He had ruined careers. That couldn’t go unpunished.

I watched my computer with satisfaction as the data came in. Only minutes. That’s all it would take. And then we’d flood the system with malware, shutting it down completely. Sure, they’d get it back up and running, but it would take some time.

Toxicwrath had gone quiet as he tended to the hash attack and procured the passwords.

Why in that instant did I think of Mason?

I wished I were a better person. I wished I were the sort of woman who could accept what he offered without strings. Without baggage. Without the weight of a secret, overwhelming life.

He deserved better.

My breaking things off was best for everyone.

My screen was a mass of numbers and letters. I waited. I knew what file to look for.

Then I saw it.

I clicked on it and read the code. Went through the script one line at a time.

Wait a minute.

What was this?

I traced the code with my finger, going through it in my head.

This was tracker software.

A complex, downright ingenious IP tracker unlike anything I’d ever seen.

I minimized the window and started pulling up Douglas Howard’s other personal files. His emails.

I could see the date stamps on the application. This had been created within the Virtuant network over the last year and a half. A lot of work had gone into the application. Was Toxicwrath a Virtuant employee?

The more I looked, the more shocked I became.

This software was being developed through a government grant. It was a sophisticated application that would enable law enforcement and government authorities to trace source IPs with almost 99 percent accuracy. I could see the testing environments, and it worked.

I was filled with dread. A program like that would make anonymity impossible. It was a huge step forward in tracking hackers and crackers. In finding criminals through their Internet use.

20:51 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> This program is dangerous for us. We should destroy it.

20:51 <T0x1cwrath> You were supposed to send me the files. Send them now.

I didn’t respond. I stared at the screen. I didn’t feel comfortable giving Toxicwrath the program. I didn’t know what to do with it myself. But I knew that in the wrong hands this could do a lot of damage.

20:53 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> Do you work for Virtuant?

20:53 <T0x1cwrath> Send me the file.

My email started blowing up with messages from Toxicwrath demanding the program. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle.

20:56 <Freed0m0v3rdr1v3> What are you planning to do with it?

20:57 <T0x1cwrath> You need to think bigger. Think about the revenue stream this sort of application can generate. Sell source IP locations to the highest bidder. Everyone would be vulnerable. Except for us. We could rule them all.

This was about money. This was about power. There was a line that was being crossed that I was not okay with. What we did was criminal; what Toxicwrath was suggesting was downright evil. Selling people’s locations to those who would do them harm. The possibility of that type of information getting into the wrong hands, into dangerous hands, was terrifying.