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Jazz threaded her fingers together and flexed them outward from her chest. Several knuckles popped in the silent room. This was so not going to go over well with Wolf, but he was dealing with club shit.

It had to be now.

She took a big breath and shook out her hands.

Snacks were laid out next to the keyboard, and two water bottles sat in front of a bank of three borrowed monitors.

She’d already peed in preparation. Once she started, she wouldn’t be able to stop until the job was done.

It would be hours, and taking a break would be impossible.

She glanced into the main living room of the Airbnb.

Hugo snored lightly as he lay back on the sofa.

He came to visit her more often now, and she figured he was in protective-brother mode.

Isaac was sacked out in the playpen with all four limbs limp against the mattress pad.

These were two of the reasons she did this.

There were many others. Her other nephews, who were at a church preschool, Bill and Madge, Liz, her parents, and of course, Wolf.

She sniffed back tears as she thought about all they’d been through these last few months.

She had to succeed. There was no choice.

“May the force be with me,” she muttered as she closed the door to her makeshift computer room and settled into the shaped gaming chair. She moved the keyboard to a secure position on her lap and leaned back to get comfortable.

The mouse moved easily and swiftly under her palm as she opened the dark net to dive deep into the cyber ocean waters. Her search was for the markers she’d placed the last time she submersed herself in this world.

It was hard to find them. Several false fronts were constructed to seem like the original site she sought out, but her signs were distinct.

It took almost an hour to break through to where she wanted to be, digging through the pathways until she came to the center of the information vortex.

Codes, numbers, sequences, all running in long columns as this criminal enterprise continued.

What would happen if she shut it all down? Could her special virus do it?

She needed a worm. One that replicated itself and jumped from network to network as a carrier of the virus.

Copperpot created a worm once. He showed it to her before he destroyed it.

Scary stuff. Combine it with a virus and it would be an unstoppable disaster.

Attack the electrical grid? Screw up missile targets?

Bankrupt an economy? The damage that kind of duo could do would be catastrophic, and in the wrong hands, it could destroy entire countries.

It was tough enough to keep control of the virus at all times. If it got away from her….

Nope, it couldn’t happen. There was no alternative.

The banks these people used were easy to hack.

No, not people. They weren’t the ones who went to work every day and did their best to provide for their families.

These were criminals, and she had to remember that.

Parasites that thought nothing of stealing from others’ hard labor, taking and taking and taking until there was nothing left.

She delved deeper, searching for that central place where she’d been once before.

The dark web was a maze that twisted back on itself, sometimes blinding the explorer with dead ends and circles.

Page after page, site after site, she clicked and moved, testing links, trying different codes, backtracking and covering herself as she hunted for that sweet spot she needed.

Then she was there.

It was no less terrifying than the last time she was here.

Streaming lines of numbers fell down the screens.

Dates, times, transactions, phone data, millions in dollars and other world currencies, exchange rates.

The beast was massive and interwoven with legit areas.

People in multiple countries, all over the world, were being targeted.

She would have to go in as precisely as a surgeon to make this work.

A burn started in her sinuses, a prelude to tears gathering in her eyes. She could either destroy or heal, and it was a crapshoot which way it would go.

She sniffed and wiped off her cheeks. “Let’s do this.”

The numbers flowed, and she watched for her chance.

Just a chink. One little opening. Yes, she could force her way in, but that would leave a direct trail back to her.

Whatever happened, she had to keep herself and her people safe.

If anyone was really looking for her, that could lead them to her family.

Her nephews who had lost so much. Hugo, who was scared to leave the group home campus by himself now but still insisted on being with her after what happened.

Her parents, who still housed and took care of Liz.

Bill and Madge, two people who just wanted to make a living and enjoy their lives.

And Wolf. The man she once watched and dreamed of from afar, now in her bed and in her life for the long haul.

There it was. A break in the numbers. It was small, but it was all she needed.

Her fingers flew over the keyboard, and she moved to upload her virus.

She hit Send.

Nothing.

The virus file bounced off, deflected as if a glass wall protected the streams.

“Shit!”

Another chink appeared, and she tried again. The code bounced off like a horse swatting away a fly.

“Someone put an iron-coated firewall around this sucker.” Jazz’s tears dried up as frustration took their place.

Another opening.

Another bounce.

Three times rejected. How long before her repeated attempts got noticed?

Sweat gathered on her brow as she tried a different approach through a back channel. The file shot back so fast, she had to duck in a game of cyber dodgeball.

She made more attempts, and they got thrown back at her with increased force.

If she kept this up, she would eventually trigger an alert about her intrusion in the system.

They would discover her lurking about, and if she wasn’t careful, it was possible to trace back and find her physical location.

She rerouted herself again and erased her tracks, but with this sophisticated network, it might not be enough.

“I gotta get this right.”

Another try, and another rejection. She growled under her breath. “There has to be a way in. Just one spot.”

A break appeared, and she went for it. Again, the upload was deflected.

Jazz slammed her hands down on the desk, and the force zinged up her arms. Tears filled her eyes again, both from pain and frustration.

People were being victimized right in front of her eyes, and she was powerless to stop it.

The personal violation she felt when the Slaggers destroyed the coffee shop was nothing compared to what she experienced now.

The sheer magnitude of what was happening on her computer screens made her want to scream.

Unfair wasn’t a good enough word to describe the level of dishonesty and downright cruelty of these cyber scammers.

She had the means to safely stop it, but how the hell to get in?

Jazz dashed the moisture leaking from her eyes and placed her fingers on the keyboard. Her hands shook with emotion, but she had to keep trying.

A sudden ping sounded, and a small pop-up window appeared on her screen. It wasn’t part of the scam network but a separate message.

Message: I can help you.

Fear threw her off at the unexpected guest. How did this… whoever it was… find her here? She was supposed to be off the grid and hidden.

Message: I have a way to get in.

She rerouted, but the messenger stayed with her.

Message: I can make a gate for you. Please let me help.

Against her better judgment, she messaged back.

Anonymous: Who are you?

They answered immediately.

Message: We’ve never met, but I want the same thing you do. These people have to be stopped.

Anonymous: Why should I trust you?

Jazz held her breath as she waited for a response.

Message: I can’t give you a reason. But I have what you need to take this network down and keep it down. Let me show you.

A link appeared.

Message: Click to see, but don’t download or open it.

Jazz hesitated. Clicking on random links could be devastating.

It could let loose a virus in her own system.

Even though this was a separate hard drive from her work and personal information, anything was possible in the cyber world.

Any little footprint she might have missed in her purging and rerouting could spell disaster for her or her people.

Message: Please. Look at the margins. They know someone is here, and they’re looking.

Sure enough, there were searching codes that appeared along the edge of the stream. She was still hidden for now, but it wouldn’t be long before they found her. She had to get out now and give up on ever stopping this shit or….

Message: There’s not much time. I’ll hold them off as long as I can, but please click the link so you’ll see I’m telling you the truth.

A rapid set of numbers appeared, blocking the searchers and sending their quest away from her. At least for now. Jazz wasn’t totally ready to trust this person, but the quick and thorough diversion path was impressive. It twisted a bit like a curve in the road. Elegant was her first thought.

Message: I can’t hold them off for long. They will figure it out and come back. Maybe stronger. Maybe more. Please check out the link.