“I do, and in fact, I know you’re currently subcontracted by a major player in DC on some kind of classified project, but I don’t know the details. Honestly, I didn’t look that hard into it, not with everything else going on,” Matt said.

“Well, those details involve a software program that my brother and I designed that truly disguises the identity of a cyber network actor on a hostile network. My brother is the real genius of the family. In addition to being a former communications expert in Special Forces, he took advanced programming courses and excelled beyond even his instructors’ capabilities. But he’s always been an action guy, which is why when he left the army, he went into the US Marshals.”

“What does all of that have to do with me?” Matt asked.

“You see the value of that kind of program, I’m sure. But like Spiderman’s uncle said, with great power comes great responsibility, and I don’t trust the company that’s already paid me to do the right thing. My brother did some digital sniffing around after I signed the contract, and he’s not sure what their real plans are. He doesn’t think they’re going to sell it to the US the way we were led to believe, but he doesn’t know who the real buyer is.”

“Good God,” Matt said. “I can see why you wouldn’t want to do business like this. What do you need from me?”

There was no hesitation on his part, and Zack appreciated it. He really does want to do the right thing.

“On the Saturday morning of the siege, very early, my brother and I were going to torch my building in order to destroy our servers, where the software resides. Trust me when I tell you we would’ve gotten away with it, and I would’ve rebuilt with the insurance money. I know that’s insurance fraud, but for me, committing that crime would be the lesser of two evils. There’s no way I’m giving this software to that company. Ever. But instead of burning it, I want you to help me destroy it,” Zack declared.

It went unspoken that by doing so, it would increase the chances that Zack would come back into the shadowy fold of the CIA, and it would almost guarantee his silence about what he knew regarding the counterintelligence operation that had triggered the siege on Hidden Refuge.

“How?” Matt asked.

“Everyone in the IC is working cyber issues these days. It’s the hot new thing. I’m sure you have offensive cyber capabilities where one of your young, brilliant analysts could hack into my network, insert a program that destroys the software, and leave no digital trace behind.”

“Isn’t that the same kind of software you’ve just developed?”