He’d gone recruiting the only way he knew. Lacking any better means of searching than putting the word out. Offering a small fortune for a hacker with the required skills, without specifying what the job was. What had washed up to his door had been a depressingly large number of wannabees. Some of whom hadn’t even been able to hack the Castagna Property website, Eddie’s ordained starter test. But the moment the kid had sat down at the table he’d sensed something more. Perhaps it had been the laptop the size of an aircraft carrier. Or the complete lack of any concern as to whether he was “the one”. Castagna Property had been a pushover. The local nick’s web page had taken a few minutes longer. Which Eddie had left undefaced, despite the obvious temptation. It was when the kid had offered to change his credit rating that he’d really started paying attention.

‘This is Acid.’ The kid’s handle was actually Ac1d, but Eddie being keen not to blow Joe’s mind too quickly. ‘And he’s good. Not only can he do all that hacker shit, he already has a lead on our gun trader. This Steph bloke.’

Which made Joe pay attention. ‘What, already?’

‘Kid’s golden. Wait ’til you see. C’mon, Acid, use the boss’s desk to set up.’ Shooting a reassuring glance at Joe as the boy slouched over and slumped into Joe’s chair. Fired up the machine and plugged in a USB drive.

‘The thumb drive does all the dirty work.’ Eddie explained to Joe, who was watching with a neutral expression. ‘Leaves the laptop totally clean. So Acid here can access the dark web without any trace being left, if his laptop gets scanned.’

‘So you could just chuck the stick away and be squeaky clean?’ Joe nodded his belated, if limited, understanding. His mood lightening. ‘Sweet as. Go on then, what you’ve got?’

Ac1d opened a new window, some sort of internet forum. Just without the smooth graphics.

‘This is Dread. Which is like a chat room for people who want illegal stuff, right? Like an uncensored Reddit.’

Eddie jumped in to translate. The last four hours having been a near vertical learning curve. Joe nodded his head. Purporting to show understanding. And reading some of the thread titles.

‘That’s some weird shit right there. You sure this is safe? I don’t want the filth round saying I’m a paedo.’

Ac1d shook his head. Game face on.

‘Nah. This machine is totally invisible, fam.’

Eddie jumped in quickly, inwardly cursing the kid’s inability to understand the command “show some respect”.

‘You’re right, Joe, there’s some right nasty shit. But there’s also some very helpful shit too. Show Mr Castagna what we did earlier.’