“A million different ways. He’ll look for unexplained network shutdowns. And LayerCake has those apps that evaluate news programs, right? I’ll bet my PlayStation they’re sifting everything being said about the Merge. But if it were me, I’d focus on individual people. He can see who’s online and who isn’t—that’s easy. He’ll be watching powerful people and their families. Let’s say you went straight to the president. Everyone knows he doesn’t use a Merge, but I’ll bet his wife does. And can almost guarantee that his kids do. Do you think he’s going to let them keep using it if you tell him? No way. And when LayerCake sees their usage—or other politicians’, wealthy donors’, friends’, military guys’—start to drop below what his algorithm says is normal, he’s gonna push the button.”

It didn’t take much reflection to recognize that Zellerbach was probably right. Because of his line of work, Smith was close to very few people—and even he was already considering how he could quietly get them to disconnect. If he’d had a wife and children, they’d have been his first call.

Klein’s silence suggested that he had come to the same conclusion.

“It’s actually an interesting idea,” Zellerbach continued, getting uncomfortable in the silence.

“Marty, please…”

“Think about it, Jon. It’s just a question of how you set up LayerCake’s criteria. I’m guessing that if you had Dresner’s password, you’d kill all the al-Qaeda guys pretty quick.”

“They’re murderers and terrorists,” Randi said.

“Okay. But what about Iranian physicists? They’re not murderers or terrorists. You just don’t like what they’re doing. The truth is that you don’t object to Dresner’s weapon. You just want to be the one aiming it.”

Smith knew that Zellerbach had been taking some philosophy courses online and he had to admit that he’d made strides. But this was not the time to get bogged down in an existential debate.

“How do we stop him?”

“Do we know where he is?” Randi said.

“No,” Klein responded. “We can try to locate him, but he’s always been strangely difficult to track. Now I guess we know why.”

“What would you do even if you did find him?” Zellerbach said. “Unless he’s an idiot—and he’s not—he’s got it set up to automatically trigger if he’s separated from his Merge or if it determines he’s dead.”

“Could we dart him? Keep him in an induced coma with his unit attached?” Smith said.