Page 5

Nassar stared at his screen as it went blank, and then the entire call center floor erupted into chaos.

The floor supervisor took off his headset and threw it to the floor.

Other workers jumped up from their rows of computers and cursed in panic as screen after screen shut down.

In a matter of minutes, the network and its data disappeared.

All of it.

Every. Last. Byte.

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he punched uselessly at the keyboard. Gone. It was all gone. Not even the operating system remained. Fifty computers sat in regimented rows at this facility, and none of them would ever work again.

What the fuck just happened?

Virus. It had to be a virus, sophisticated enough to take out an entire network. Had someone targeted them? Who? Did it get all the centers on the network or just this one?

Nassar pulled out his phone. It took him three tries to scroll to the right number, as his hands were shaking so much. “Halil. What is going on? Are you still operational?”

The man’s angry yell had a tinge of fear to it. “Fuck no! Nothing is working. We just reached four million for the day, and then it disappeared! The system, the money, all of it! I can’t even get the computers to start up again! Useless trash!”

Nassar heard the crash of a monitor hitting the ground. If Halil’s center was also down, he expected the others were too.

This was bad. Very bad. The company owned many such centers, and most of them were legitimate businesses; however, those places were used to hide and filter the millions collected by locations such as this one.

Smaller centers and even individual scammers were peanuts compared to this massive money machine that skimmed from the world’s population every day.

If this virus destroyed the network for this branch of the company, what did it do for the others?

Nassar hung up on Halil and quickly pressed the numbers for Samir, who worked in a center that fielded calls for a major airline. The man answered before being greeted properly.

“Oh my God, Nassar! What is happening? The network is down, and I can’t get it back up. Our IT department says they can’t find anything. It’s just dead. How is this possible?”

“I don’t know.” Nassar’s heart plummeted to his feet. He had no other words or suggestions. His biggest nightmare had come true.

Samir continued ranting. “We have to get this fixed!”

“I don’t think we can.”

Nassar hung up and placed his hands over his face.

Ten years ago, he’d been a struggling tech manager with shit pay and no prospects.

His wife had just given birth to their fourth child, who turned out to be another daughter, this one with special needs.

This strained his budget even further and pushed his family to the brink.

The company approached him with an offer of money he couldn’t refuse, and for the last decade, he’d been able to afford a nice house in a high-end neighborhood and good schools.

Some would call him rich, and yes, he could have spent more on a lavish lifestyle, with expensive cars and vacations, but his natural caution had him thinking ahead constantly, planning and praying the scenarios he plotted in his head would never come to pass.

Time had run out.

If this disaster was as big as he imagined, someone was going to die.

Ugly.

Violently.

Bloody.

Nassar got up from his station, keeping his eyes down.

His colleagues were so busy yelling and gesturing at the dead screens that they didn’t notice when he left the office and walked calmly into the locker room.

He spun the combination to his locker and glanced furtively around to make sure no one else had entered behind him.

The red light on the security camera didn’t blink, and he was sure the network crash disabled it, yet tingles of fear traveled up and down his spine.

He pushed against the back panel of the metal box and carefully slid it to the side.

He’d discovered this hiding place by accident—a missing piece of cinder block left an open spot just big enough for his purposes.

His fingers closed around a leather pouch and a burner phone.

He opened the pouch to check the two flash drives inside.

Ancient storage devices by today’s standards, but they kept their data secure and untouched by the internet.

One of them held his escape plan, the other insurance to see that plan through.

He tied the flat pouch around his waist and tucked it into the spot just below his belly button where his stomach hung over to hide the small bulge.

His loose pants should be enough to disguise any telltale sign, and most men wouldn’t dare to look at his crotch.

Still, he felt the weight hanging there as a beacon for all to see, like he’d strapped on a target.

He took several deep breaths before using the burner phone to call his wife.

“Hello?”

“Fatima, my love.”

“Nassar. Is something wrong? What number is this?”

“Listen and don’t argue. It’s time.”

“Time? What are you talking about?”

Nassar gritted his teeth in frustration. “Fatima.”

She stayed silent, but he heard the slight intake of breath as she understood. “No. Please, no.”

“You know what to do.”

Her exhale sounded as if she’d resolved her thoughts about the coming life changes. “Yes.”

“Go now. I’ll meet you soon.”

Last act , he thought as he took the SIM card from his main phone with shaking fingers. He snapped it in half before stomping on the screen.

The center was still in pandemonium when he exited the building, walked down to the corner, and disappeared.