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Back The Short Drop Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. PART ONE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  49. PART THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  56. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  57. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY
  59. EPILOGUE
  60. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  61. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Because I can’t see beyond the relay point. Once it passes through the ad on the Post website, I don’t know where WR8TH’s virus is sending your data. If you shut down now, then he’ll know we’re onto him. Then we really are dead in the water.”

“So what do you suggest?”

“Business as usual.”

“Let him keep stealing our clients’ data?” Jenn asked. “Do you have any idea how damaging that would be?”

“It’s not ideal, I know. It comes down to how bad you want this guy. So that’s your call.”

The room exploded in heated debate. Abe let it go on for a few minutes before holding up a hand again. His people lapsed into an uneasy silence, all watching Abe think it through.

“What do you think WR8TH wants?” he asked at last. “What’s his endgame?”

Gibson shrugged. “That’s an excellent question.”

“So if I allow this to continue, with potentially calamitous fallout with my clients, what would be our next steps?”

“WR8TH is hunting for something. I’d recommend luring him in with something he wants. Something new about Suzanne.”

“And write our own virus,” Abe said.

“Exactly. He thinks he’s slick, and he’s already gotten away with it. He won’t be expecting you to play back at him like this. But if we want him to fall for it, we need to embed our virus in something tempting.”

“What about the internal FBI documents we were going to post to the revamped website?” Jenn asked. “Something that hasn’t been released to the public?”

“That would probably do it,” Gibson said.

“I’ll need to make a call,” Abe said. “How long would it take you to write a virus?”

“Already written,” Gibson said.

All heads turned to stare at him.

Abe was smiling. “What will it do?”

“Well, if he goes for it, our virus will travel upstream through the corrupted ad, and when he opens the files at his end, my virus will ‘phone home’ with GPS coordinates and an IP address.”

“If he opens the files,” Hendricks said.

“If,” Gibson agreed.

George glanced at Jenn Charles, and something meaningful passed between them that Gibson couldn’t decipher.

“Make it happen,” Abe said.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

For the next two weeks, WR8TH’s virus kept to its routine—waking up at nine a.m. and systematically nibbling away at ACG’s database. It was a model employee that way. Didn’t take a lunch break and never called in sick.