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I can’t go through that again, he thought, I can’t fail this time too. Maybe I can’t save the company that hired me, but the help I’m giving Daryl might accomplish something I wasn’t able to do before. This is much more than just another job, he suddenly realized. Buoyed by the understanding he was given something rare in life, a second chance, Jeff turned to his work with renewed energy.

Once the computer was running, Jeff sat at the desk in his room and launched a search for hacker chat rooms, recognizing several from his search earlier that week and even some from back to his CIA days, when trolling hacker chat rooms had been his late-night “hobby.” He scrolled through the various chat rooms, searching for the words superphreak and kinky, or any other reference to Rick James. Nothing.

Then, shortly before eleven o’clock, he entered the h@xx0rd chat room. He’d glanced at the chat room a time or two before and knew that foreign hackers liked it, but hadn’t previously seen anything that interested him. This time, though, as he scanned down the page, scrolling as needed, he was pulled up short. He read:

Godder:

Hw mch?

Dante:

I’m nt gettn rich, u know … few thousand Euros …

Godder:

For u stuff? Seems like a lot …

Dante:

I’m nt laughing.

Godder:

Wht d thy py t most for?

Dante:

I speed up loading time. Othrs sell packages and triggers.

Godder:

What kind of triggers? I’ve gt sm of thos …

Dante:

Clock related bt sum othrs 2 …

Godder:

Wht packages:

Dante:

U know … like sp@ts …

Godder:

Who’s he?

Dante:

He’s nt bin around fr …

Saintie:

He’s down now … too much heat …

Dante:

… awhile. Thanks. Don’t b stupid Godder. Wht kind packages d u think I mean? All kinds … Nastier t better … Thy like it bad … as in BAD … One guy’s makng a killing with rootkits … But thy dnt want nomore.… Superphreak’s gt a lock on that market …

Jeff felt the hair on his neck bristle.

Godder:

I’ve got some stuff like that other … Where t?

Dante:

Give me an address n I’ll snd it.

Godder:

Send me an email fr u at TheGodGuy666@hotmail.com. I’ll snt it to u.

After that Godder disappeared, as did Dante. Jeff considered posting a message but decided against it. Better to watch and learn. He opened his ICQ and saw Daryl was online. He typed:

JA33: Y arn’t u n bed?

There was a long pause before she answered.

D007: Wt a sec.

Then she wrote:

D007:

Srry. Hd t finish sumtng. Wht’s up?

JA33:

No luck. Thnkng abt tllng t guy I cn’t help him.

D007:

If u cnt who cn? H’ll b sht out of luck.

JA33:

Still, I feel gulty gttng paid.

D007:

Cum bck t work fr gov. I nvr feel guilty whn I gt my chck.

JA33:

Jst spnt tme n cht rm and read sum weird stuff.

D007:

Like?

JA33:

Thr ws 1 gy tllng anthr abt sllng pckgs and trggrs. Gttng good $ fr t.

D007:

Any nme we knw?

JA33:

Superphreak. He’s hndlng t rtkits, slick bstrd.

D007:

Gv me t site. I’ll put smn on it fulltm.

JA33:

h@xx0rd … Wht’s up w u grp?

D007:

Same thng where we r, only mor of t. Wve fnd svrl tht r wpng bios fr dell and hp, kllng thm dead, dead, dead. Wv also gt vriants tht r deltng all data on a systm’s dsks, rmvng trcs of itslf thn kllng oprtng systm. Nsty.

JA33:

Wht abt t sec comps?

D007:

No 1 prblm. Thy’re bsy w whtvr. Wve gt a fw folks hlpng bt nt engh.

JA33:

I dn’t lke any f ths.

D007:

And u wndr y Im up?

35

PARIS, FRANCE

18ÈME ARRONDISSEMENT

SUNDAY, AUGUST 27

6:06 P.M.

Fajer al Dawar lit yet another cigarette, then moved to the balcony of the Ritz suite. From his coat pocket he removed a prepaid cell phone. He had committed the number to memory. As he listened to the ringing, he thought back to the moment he had found jihad.

* * *

The man called Yousef al-Halim leaned over to exit through the doorway of the house in the center of Old Town in Peshawar. The city was not only the capital but the largest in the North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan.