Page 1 of Ignite

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“No,ma’am, that is not right! I put too much money in the refund. I’m so sorry, ma’am. I will need you to do something for me or else I will lose my job.”

Jazz tried not to laugh at the pretend panic in the heavily accented voice on the other end of the line. She adjusted her headset before setting her hands back on the keyboard and typing rapidly while she spoke into the voice modulator. Her bright young soprano came out as a rough old alto. “Oh my, I’m so very sorry, dearie. What can I do to make it right?”

File after file appeared on a long list on her screen. The grin on her face grew with delight, and she deleted them all with a satisfying tap of her finger on the mouse.

“I need you to go to your car and go to Target and get three gift cards in the amount of five hundred dollars each.”

Jazz rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together to stifle her amusement. “Oh my goodness gracious, I don’t have a car.”

“You don’t have a car?”

“No, my grandson borrowed it last week and hasn’t come to see me since. I think maybe he stole it. Can you imagine someone stealing from an old person like me?” It got harder to keep her laughter in check. She hacked into another page on the caller’s computer. Jackpot! Row by row, she deleted all the banking information she found.

“Can you borrow your neighbor’s car?”

You’re determined to get those gift cards, aren’t you?“I don’t have any neighbors. They all moved away when the industry dried up. No jobs, you see.”

“Please, ma’am, do you have any way to get to the Target?”

She kept typing. “I could use my power chair, but it’ll take a long time. I’m not sure my battery will last all the way there and back. It’s a long trip from my little house out in the boonies. I’ll have to recharge at the store.”

“Please, ma’am, I need to get this money back. Can you do a wire transfer?”

Jazz had finished with the banking files and made one last hacking foray. She found the guy’s phishing program and, with absolute relish, deleted that one in its entirety. Finally, she uploaded one of several custom-designed viruses to the scammer’s computer and let it loose.

“Look at your files, Sparky.” Jazz dropped the fake voice.

“What is happening?” Confusion tinged the man’s words.

“You’re S-O-L, asshole. How dare you try to scam old people out of their hard-earned money. Lowlifes like you should be in prison.”

“Motherfu—”

Jazz didn’t wait to hear the man’s curses. She hung up and leaned back in her padded desk chair. Freya jumped onto her lap and started purring. The black-and-white cat had shown up one afternoon and moved in as if she owned the small house.

“Perfect start to a perfect day, eh?” Jazz stroked the feline’s arching back and listened to the contented rumble.

A text message popped up on her screen, and she glanced at it.

Bomber123: I got four last night. What did you get?

Jazz leaned forward and typed one-handed.

Jazzyhands: Only two, but I screwed one up big-time a few minutes ago. Deleted their whole friggin’ program.

Bomber123: No shit? Bet that’s going to set them back awhile.

Jazzyhands: That’s the point, right?

Bomber123: Fuck yeah. You know that call center we got a few weeks ago is still out of commission?

Jazzyhands: That’s good to hear. It took four of us, but tags worked well in taking those down. I think we should team up more often and go for the bigger fish. It’ll save a lot more than these little ones.

Bomber123: I think your right.

Jazzyhands: You’re

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