Page 59 of Ignite

She blew upward into her bangs and removed one hand from her head. Her palm came down over the mouse, and before she could talk herself out of it, she clicked the link.

A smaller window opened up, showing lines of code that were all kinds of fucked up.

A worm. This guy was showing her the inner workings of a worm.

Computer worms were different from viruses. They were made to replicate themselves automatically, jamming up networks and jumping from place to place without anyone’s help but its own. This one was a doozy.

Message: Hook your virus to this program. I’ll make a way to insert both into the network.

Anonymous: How do you know this will work? Who are you?

Message: I’ll explain everything once we take this beast down. The worm is a special program that is designed only to hit and damage certain networks. When it’s finished, it will destroy most of itself but keep the original line in a safe place. If the network ever triggers again, it will come out and start over.

Uber-cautiouswas the keyword of the day, but something about this person made her think he was legit. Gut feelings had helped her in the past, and she’d learned to trust her instincts when it came to certain decisions. But could she do that now? With so much at stake?

Anonymous: What happens if it gets away to other networks?

Message: It won’t. I made it to only recognize this network. Please, we have to do this now before it’s too late.

Jazz’s fingers hovered over the keys, itching to make something happen. Anything. The worm’s language looked complicated as it writhed on the screen. She wished Copperpot was around to advise her, but according to Stud and Table, he wasn’t in good shape.

In the corner of one screen, she spotted the searchers turning and coming back. This time they would find her and trace her.

She said a prayer to whoever might be listening in the universe.

Anonymous: Okay.

Message: Follow my lead.

She stared at the screen. Her vision blurred at the numbers darting ceaselessly across the monitors. She recognized she was crying aloud but had no idea what emotion made her do it. Frustration, fear, helplessness, hope, relief someone else was aiding her, or some combination of all the above. She was almost in a state of euphoria when she saw it.

An opening.

Wide and inviting.

A gate.

Message: Do it now!

She didn’t need him to instruct her, as she was already typing, her fingers hitting the keys heavier with her efforts. Before she could second-guess herself, she hit Send. Her hands stilled their frantic movements and hovered over the keyboard. She watched as the worm burrowed further into the program, her virus riding on its back. Line by line scrambled and fell away, disappearing somewhere into cyberspace.

“We did it.” Tears flowed down her cheeks, and she sobbed openly now, with no one around to stop her from letting it out. She felt all squishy, floaty, and a little out of control as she viewed the permanent destruction of this evil network. The structure was massive, but the worm and virus were unstoppable. It burned through the scammer codes, decimating it into nothing. It was slow but thorough, and Jazz was actually impressed with its ingenuity and finesse.

A message popped up.

Message: It’s done. Check this link when you can.

Jazz sniffed and grabbed the closest cloth object she could reach. It turned out to be one of Isaac’s burp towels, but at least it was a clean one. She wiped her face on the dancing elephant in a pink tutu and made a mental note to throw it in the laundry basket. Her hands came back to the keyboard.

Anonymous: Who are you?

The dots stayed still for several minutes, and she was about to give up when they started bouncing.

Message: I’m called Nassar. Kindly check the link. It will expire in ten minutes, so do that now.

So, it was a man, and he gave her his name. It might be fake, but Jazz didn’t think so. The links looked legit, and so far this guy had been a straight shooter. She clicked the link, and it brought her to a bank account.

“Holy shit!” The expletive left her mouth open. There were so many zeroes, she would have to count them to find out how much money was there.

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