He dove out of himself into the central subsystem controlling all the skyboards across the Western Hemisphere, and planted the code he’d written, moving from one hub to another. He jolted back into himself as the skyboards in the distance lit with the image he programmed for them, casting bright, white light across the landscape beneath them. Then he accessed the DHS server, the surveillance feeds, watching the images of people in cities all over the Western Hemisphere stopping in the streets, staring up at the skyboards. In every city, the walls of skyboards had gone blank of advertisements. Now they displayed stark black text trumpeting Tom’s challenge:

THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

IS WATCHING

THE WATCHERS

Tom let that sit there, gazing into the distance where the skyboards beamed down the message tailored for Joseph Vengerov and the entire security state with its web of surveillance and control. Here was something they did not control. Here was something they had not seen coming.

He gave Joseph Vengerov enough time to call up his techs, to shout into the phone that he wanted the transmission traced. Just enough time to understand the girl he’d incapacitated in China wasn’t the internet entity he’d been hunting.

There you go, Vengerov. Here’s your ghost in the Machine, Tom thought vindictively. Now come and get me. Give it a shot.

And then the next phase of Tom’s virus triggered. The screens grew brighter and brighter, power spiking until they overloaded and erupted in haloes of debris, scattering fragments of skyboard like a curtain across the sky.

A soaring feeling swept through Tom. He knew he’d done something significant. He knew it could change everything, but he’d never before felt so right, like this was exactly what he was meant to do, exactly why he was here.

The plume of destruction spread over the land before thinning away. Soon there was no sign the Coalition of Multinationals had ever blocked the sky. When night came, all that was visible was the endless universe of stars.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

MY GRATITUDE TO:

Mom, for being my strength, and Dad, for being on my team. Rob, for all the help with the real world stuff that sometimes eludes me.

Betsey, Stella, Maddie, Gracie, Matt.

Jamie and Jessica, my two best friends.

Judy and the Persoffs, the Hattens, Barb and the Anticevich family, all the friends who have bought the book just because I wrote it—you guys are the best!

To the booksellers and librarians who have introduced readers to my books and advocated for them. I owe you all a debt.

Juli, Helen, Caroline, Stephanie, Jillian, and all the bloggers who have supported the Insignia series from the start.

Molly O’Neill and the KT Books team. I’m very lucky in having such a fantastic and patient editor.