Because Perry did nothing to lessen the burden on my shoulders that grew heavier with every hour.
Freedom Overdrive had scrubbed his trail. Within hours of the attack on Ryan Law the files that had been uploaded to the website had been erased, crashing the site entirely. I tried to locate the IP address of the originating source and it bounced out to over two thousand separate computers throughout the United States and Mexico.
Nothing.
I had absolutely no more information than I had started with.
Except the string of numbers I had never seen before: 06050900.
That wasn’t Freedom Overdrive’s signature. What did it mean?
When I had brought up the idea that perhaps the cracker was no longer working alone, Agent Sanders had scoffed at the suggestion.
“I think you need to stop chasing half-cocked ideas and focus on what youdoknow. Which is that the source of origin is somewhere in those two thousand computers.”
Perry had glanced at me, looking confused. He clearly didn’t understand what the hell we were talking about. Meaning I’d have to play teacher on top of solving this unsolvable case.
“It would take a long time to go through each and every computer—” I had started to say, but Derek raised his hand, silencing me as if I were a naughty schoolboy calling out in the middle of class.
“Then I suggest you get started, Agent Kohler.” His lip had curled in derision. “I shouldn’t need to tell you that your best lead is in that bot army. You need to systematically eliminate each and every person as a potential suspect.”
There had been no sense in arguing that it was a useless waste of time. That I should be cracking the code left behind that deviated from Freedom Overdrive’s normal mode of attack. The pattern had been disrupted and I needed to know why.
Instead I was being sent on a fool’s errand. I had stared hard at the agent in charge. Derek had stared back, his face stony and unyielding. He wanted me to fail.
I would have to find out why.
Perry had sat throughout the exchange, chewing on his thumbnail, looking like he wanted to run away. He was clearly intimidated by everything and everyone.
“I guess you’d better get started, then,” Chaz had taunted, not bothering to cover his grin. I hadn’t been sure why he was present at all except to bear witness to my dressing-down.
If a pile of shit had a face, it would look like Chaz Edwards.
I hadn’t bothered to lob a biting remark back, knowing it wouldn’t make me feel any better.
I had left the debriefing and gone back to my desk, spending the rest of the afternoon working with two other guys on the cybersecurity team, trying to sift through possible suspects.
And getting nowhere.
Always nowhere.
I felt like punching something. An unfamiliar anger rose up inside of me and it paralyzed me. Left me numb. I wasn’t used to feeling inept. Out of control. The ease with which the rage took root worried me.
I had always been able to do my job and do it well. I was focused. I was typically filled with a self-righteous indignation that propelled me to find the bad guys and put them away.
But this time was different.
Because I couldn’t find the bad guy.
It pissed me off to nuclear levels.
I took a deep breath and tucked in my shirt. Tonight was about letting go of all that and enjoying myself.
I needed it.
This would be different from going home with Madison because I would be going into it with my eyes open. With my feet firmly on therightside.
There wouldn’t be mistakes.
