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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

Abe took a long look at him and put his pen down. “All right. Convince me.”

“Seriously?” He hadn’t expected to get this far.

Abe chuckled. “Yes, I’m serious. Assuming we get lucky and your virus produces a lead on WR8TH. Convince me why I should send someone with no experience out there.”

“Simple. You need someone on computers. Who are you going to send? Mike Rilling? I may not have any field experience, but I’m Jason Bourne next to that guy.”

“Isn’t your virus supposed to give us his location?”

“It will give us a location. And, yeah, maybe he’s cocky enough to risk his home IP, but I doubt it. Based on what we’ve seen so far, my money is on him being cautious as hell. Odds are, he’s stealing wireless from somebody. What if it leads Jenn and Hendricks to a coffeehouse with free Wi-Fi? Would they know what to do then? Look, WR8TH isn’t a person; he’s a figment of the Internet. Now, if you want to find the man behind WR8TH, then you need a figment that thinks like him. This is my world, George. Let me go with them.”

Abe leaned back in his chair. He sat for a few minutes, mulling it over before finally responding. “I need to sit with the idea for a few days and talk to my people. Acceptable?”

“Acceptable.”

“And if the answer is still no, you’ll respect my decision?”

“I’ll give it a shot.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

“We’ll be on the ground in San Francisco in forty-five minutes, Mr. Vice President.”

“Thank you, Megan,” Lombard said and returned his attention to Abigail Saldana, who was reviewing the latest polling data.

A stern, brilliant woman, Saldana had stabilized his numbers and restored confidence to a floundering campaign since joining the team last month. They weren’t out of the woods by any means, but they weren’t bleeding support the way they had been a month ago.

The California primary was four days out and had the potential to swing the nomination one way or another. It was Fleming’s turf, so there was no expectation of winning, but if he could take 30 percent in her home state, it would serve as a statement and give them momentum heading into the final primaries. It was an aggressive strategy that wasn’t without risk. But Saldana felt Fleming was vulnerable at home, so they had poured time and money into California over the last month. It would all come down to Tuesday.