ZerOes by Chuck Wendig

Author:Chuck Wendig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 33

The Fine Art of Bullshit

THE LODGE, COMMUNAL POD

The pod door hisses open, thanks to Aleena’s Floydphone. They stole the digital keys to this place from Shane (all those USB keys and hacker phones give them free range), so it’s time to use them. They hurry inside, then she closes the door and reengages the locks. They wait for Reagan, who was hurrying back to their cabin to grab Shane’s laptop.

Aleena checks the time. Reagan is taking too long. What if they catch her? They’ll throw her in the Dep, too. Take the laptop away. Fear crawls into Aleena’s stomach, curling in on itself like a rattlesnake.

But then the door hisses open and Reagan hurries in, laptop hidden under her shirt. She whips it out, sits down, hides it on her lap under her desk, snaps her fingers. “Let’s loop it,” she hoots.

They all sit down, make it look like they’re working. And 3, 2, 1—

Loop on. Cameras off.

It’s a clumsy patch—the video Aleena’s looping isn’t even from today. It’s from yesterday, when they were wearing different clothes, so hopefully whoever is watching ends up distracted by whatever the hell is going on in the cafeteria. Aleena just hopes it isn’t Hollis. He wasn’t there—they didn’t see him in the cafeteria at all, actually—and though he’s not too sharp on the technological side of things, he still always seems to be ahead of the other hacks.

But there’s no time to worry about that. She claps her hands. “All right. We need leverage and we need it today. We need to find Typhon. Kick over every log. Flip over every stone.”

She tells them each what they’re going to do.

Chance needs to start making calls. Ring up all the companies they pen-tested. Find anything that connects one company to all the others. They find a common thread, they can pull on it, maybe find Typhon.

Reagan will scour Shane’s laptop. Start putting together an escape plan. Pick up where he left off—he was obviously trying to get out, so follow his lead.

DeAndre and Aleena share the same job: while Chance calls the companies, they go back to the well and start hacking into them again. Look for connections internally—inside the systems themselves. She’s on the tech-heavy companies: Infinitest, Glassboat, Centinal. He’ll tackle the tech-adjacent companies: the German geothermal company, Arcus, ConGen.

As Aleena works she keeps an ear tilted toward Chance. She tells herself she needs to check his work, in case she needs to steer him along a little. She can hear him feeling the margins with every phone call. Trying to find a way in. He’s striking out, every time. She can hear the frustration in his voice. She’s about to get up, maybe coach him a little, give him a script.

But then: He’s on the line with Centinal. The medical tech supply company. “Hey,” he says. “Betty? Hi! How are you today?” Pause. “Me, yeah, I’m good, thanks. Listen, I need to check on a purchase. Purchase order number? Ahh, hell, hold on.

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