“Poor, poor Gene,” I had sung as she hit send on the email, which contained a piece of malware that, if clicked on, would allow us access to the system from within the hospital.
Most of the people we had sent it to had spammed it.
But it takes only one.
And that one was Candace Sykes. Hospital admin. Head of finance.
And complete moron.
“If you zero out the account, it will raise every red flag in the system. You can’t be obvious, Hannah,” Rose lectured.
“I thought this was to help my mom!” I exclaimed, getting frustrated.
Rose leaned over me and tapped a new number into the account balance. One that was significantly more manageable, but still too much, in my opinion.
“Mom shouldn’t be paying for this at all. Those assholes responsible should be picking up the tab,” I fumed.
“I agree. But getting yourself busted won’t help your mom. So stop being a hothead and think about things rationally.” Rose was calm. She was always calm.
I had gotten to know my roommate pretty well over the last few months. While I still thought she was a bit on the weird side, she was also incredibly smart. And incredibly generous with her knowledge. And not prone to extreme displays of emotion. I could learn a thing or two from her.
I took a deep breath and tried to settle down. “Okay, you’re right. I just wish there was something I could do. Some way to make them pay.”
I got up from Rose’s desk and went to flop down on my bed. The months since my dad and Charlotte’s accident had been a roller coaster. Charlotte was now living in a residential facility full-time. She required around-the-clock medical care, which wasn’t cheap. Dad’s life insurance money was going toward outstanding medical bills and Mom, now living on one income, was having to work a second job to make ends meet.
She was barely holding it together. And I was trying like hell to pick up the pieces. I had started working at a computer store in town and sending most of my paycheck home so that Mom had something extra. She argued that I should keep my money, but I wouldn’t hear of it. I promised her that I would help take care of Charlotte. And I meant it. Mom and I weren’t overly close, but we agreed on doing what was best for Charlotte.
I just needed to figure out how.
Shaving off a few bucks from her hospital bill wasn’t enough.
“Have you ever heard of the Lomaxians?” Rose asked suddenly.
“The Lomaxiwho?”
“The Lomaxians. They’re a hacktivist group that’s been around forever. They take down corrupt corporations and politicians. They blast leaked emails and top-clearance government information. They keep the people informed.”
I sat up and stared at Rose. She spoke breathlessly. Passionately. It was the first real emotion I had ever heard in her voice.
“So they’re a bunch of criminals,” I deduced.
Rose’s face flushed red, her eyes flashing. “No! They’re not criminals. They’re crusaders! They wake this world up by exposing the real criminals!”
I held up my hands in a placating gesture. “Wow, okay. I get it.”
Rose shook her head and sat down at her desk. “No. You don’t. But maybe you should. Maybe that’s the way you can help Charlotte. And help a lot of other people too. Make the right people pay for what happened to your dad and sister.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. “By contacting the Lomaxians.”
“Not contacting the Lomaxians. But using their methods to do it yourself.”
I didn’t know what to say. It was one thing to change my grades. To take a few dollars off a bill. But to go full-scale cybercommando? I wasn’t sure I was cut out for that.
Rose waved me back over to her desk, pointing to her screen. She had pulled up a tech article about the Lomaxians. It detailed their latest exploit. How they had discovered hidden communications between high-ranking government officials involved in a child pornography ring. They sent the information to the authorities. They got some very bad people locked up. Even if the methods they used were illegal, they had done a good deed.
“And they never get caught, Hannah. They’re simply doing things the authorities can’t. Catching the bad guys.” Rose turned off her laptop.
I had to admit, what she was suggesting appealed to me. It filled me with a self-righteous fire. I was tired of feeling powerless. I was ready to do more. Be more.
