“Hisbeard.”
“It’shuge.”
“Yeah, well, it’s bigger than itlooks.”
I reached for the door, swung it open and turned back to her. “Wait for me.Please?”
At her nod, I got out and stomped to thedoor.
10
Zach
I ignoredthe banging at the front door, but it wouldn’t stop. Finally, I pulled off my headset, shoved away from my desk and jogged upstairs. I opened the door and smiled, surprised, but so excited to have my girlhere.
“Hey,sweetheart.”
“Who isHorde?”
I stiffened, but didn’trespond.
“Does he do illegal things? Like fixing elections?” The pain in her voice made my chest hurt. “Doyou?”
I reached for her, and she backed up a step. “That’snot—”
“What did youdo,Zach?”
An engine idled in my driveway and I knew if she left now, I wouldn’t see her again. I couldn’t lose her. “Can you come in and talk aboutthis?”
“Tell me. What did youdo?”
I swallowed. Shit. Not how this was supposed to go down. Atall.
“I found something out. About your opponent. That’sall.”
“How? How’d you find it out? How come nobody else figured it out, huh?What did youdo?”
“I…” I cleared my throat, unsure I could actually get the words out. I’d never said this before, never voiced what I did with my time. “I accessed his private emails. It was ridiculously easy to crack that password, the man doesn’t even—” Her silence was stone cold. I cleared my throat and kept it vague. “Followed some leads to offshore accounts. Backtracked to some dicey financial transactionsand—”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re ahacker? All this time I thought you did financial stuff and you hack into things.Illegally?”
“I made my money through investments. I didn’t lie about that. Or the inventions. But…I hack forgood.”
“Oh, right.” She snorted. “Like freaking RobinHood?”
“When I lost my sight, I thought life was over. I couldsee, you know? How was I even a person?” I couldn’t believe I was telling her this, actually giving her my story. My Granddad had been such a mess after the accident. I mean, he’d lost his wife years before and suddenly his son was gone and he was left with me—a kid who’d been bright, but awkward to begin with. He tried everything, made me buck up, act like life hadn’t changed. “When everything was hopeless, my Granddad gave in to pressure and bought me a computer. I started gaming. I was good at it. Really good. I met some people—people who didn’t give a crap if I could see them or not. While most kids were going to school, I was at home on my computer, learning everything there was to know about code and security. I learned about weaknesses and how to exploit them.” I spent years growing from being a powerless kid into a powerful teenager. I made a difference from the basement of thishouse.
“I’m sorry you were hurt, Zach. But this wasn’t your election tofix.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but she kept going. “Where’s your computer? Where do youwork?”
“In thebasement.”
“Showme.”
“You sure you want meto?”
“I don’t know!” she yelled, moving away. “I mean, no, I don’t want that, but I also want the man I’m with to be above the law. How can I love someone who makes a living doing badthings?”
