But it had been months since my last exploit. I figured they were off looking for bigger fish to fry.
So I had continued to plan. Lay the groundwork for my next takedown.
All the while not sparing a thought for the possible consequences.
I was so naive.
23:26 They haven’t found me yet. I’m safe.
I typed those words with more bravado than I felt. A confidence that was beginning to erode.
23:27 They haven’t found you yet. But they’re looking. Trust me. I need to know we’re not going to get caught. I have contacts. They tell me your case has become a priority. What are you doing to cover your tracks?
I became defensive. Angry. But it was a secondary emotion to cover the terror that now gripped me. Going to jail was not an option for me.
I couldn’t do that to Charlotte.
Or to my mother, no matter how strained our relationship.
With shaking fingers I began to detail all the ways I was maintaining my anonymity. But for Toxicwrath it wasn’t enough. He seemed to know things. Intimate things about how the FBI worked. He knew the agents. The protocols.
I figured he was someone on the inside. Or at least knew people on the inside. But he wouldn’t say. I didn’t really expect him to.
His connections were definitely keeping him off the Feds’ radar. No one but me knew that he existed.
Yet no hacker was immune to discovery. No matter how good they were. Just ask Minotaur20—the seemingly untouchable cybercelebrity.
23:30 What else am I supposed to do?
That one question changed everything.
It set me down a path that it was now far too late to turn away from.
Toxicwrath suggested I make a more personal connection. That I take a “hands-on” approach. Stop hiding behind the keyboard and find out exactly what was going on with my case.
23:35 Can’t we just hack the system? Find out that way?
23:36 Hacking a federal database is harder than that. Don’t be an idiot! It takes more than simple phishing or brute force to get through those layers. We have to go old school.
“We” meant “me.”
23:38 What am I supposed to do?
23:38 Become Mata Hari.
He couldn’t be serious. I instantly balked.
23:39 She died by firing squad. I’m not sure I’m cut out for that.
23:39 Then this partnership is over. It’s the only option if we want to keep doing this. I won’t hang myself out to dry unless I know you’re committed. I’ve proven myself. It’s time you do the same.
What he was talking about felt wrong. So wrong. I was not the type of woman cut out to play spy. To get close to someone for duplicitous reasons.
But Toxicwrath reminded me that social engineering was often the only way to infiltrate. To infect.
I had to catalog vulnerabilities firsthand.
I had to know how deep the investigation had gone. How close they were.
