01-01-00 Read Free Page B

Bloodaxe was convicted and sentenced to life at a federal prison three months ago. She had come to the realization that the fire of retribution burning deep inside her had been the inner power that had fueled her desire to go on after the accident. Now that Bloodaxe was behind bars, Susan suddenly found herself without a reason for living.
    â€œWe’ve got what seems to be a global event, Sue. C’mon, pick up the phone. I know you’ve put in sixteen straight hours, but this is very hot. Gotta talk to you.”
    Global event? Susan cursed under her breath while lowering the gun and flipping on the safety with her thumb, setting it over a sealed envelope on the shelf above the toilet, next to the picture frame. Wrapping the robe around her, she walked to the bedroom and reached for the phone, noticing a slight tremble in her hand. Taking a deep breath, she said, “ Hello, Troy.”
    â€œYou sound annoyed. Sorry, Sue. Were you sleeping?”
    She sat in bed and crossed her legs, eyes looking into the bathroom, focusing on the dark weapon resting on the white shelf. Only now, after walking away from a suicide attempt, did her heart begin to pound heavily. She felt a lump in her throat. A sudden heat flash made her feel light-headed, dizzy.
    â€œSue? Are you all right?”
    Sweat began to form on her forehead. The sheer realization of what she had almost done was finally setting in. He body was reacting to the burst of adrenaline from the short-lived event, just as it would have if a thug had pulled a gun on her, threatened to kill her, and then abruptly walked away.
    Laboring to control her breathing, wiping the perspiration with the sleeve of her robe, she said, “What—what do you want?”
    â€œHave you been listening to the news this evening?”
    â€œI’m … no. Look, Troy, I’m really tired. Get to the point. What is it that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
    â€œJust over two hours ago, at exactly 8:01 P.M. , all computer systems in Washington, D.C., froze for twenty seconds.”
    Her suicidal thoughts momentarily vanished as the scientist in her took over. “Froze for twenty seconds? I don’t understand. Did we experience a power glitch?”
    â€œNo power glitch. This event was software driven.”
    The room began to spin. Susan lay down, resting her head on a pillow and closing her eyes to control her dizziness. Her temples throbbed to the rhythm of her increasing heartbeat. “How … how do you know?”
    â€œBecause of the nature of the event. It looks as if someone somehow managed to put every network on hold for twenty seconds, before returning everything back to normal.”
    Susan took another deep breath and opened her eyes. The room no longer spun. She swallowed her own spit and tried to focus on the conversation. “What’s the estimate on data loss?”
    â€œThere’s been no reports of data loss.”
    â€œNone?”
    â€œNope, and no messages either, or statements, or warnings. Just frozen screens for twenty seconds and everything back to normal after that, even the system clocks skipped twenty seconds to resynchronize.”
    She slowly felt better. The heat flash passed. Her heartbeat became steady. “Strange.”
    â€œWhat’s even more strange is that we have gotten calls from our offices around the world. London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei—they’re all reporting similar events taking place at the exact same time, one minute after eight in the evening our time.”
    Susan sat up in bed. “That’s—”
    â€œImpossible? I’m past denial, Sue. It’s very real, and very scary.”
    Susan didn’t reply. In her short but successful FBI career, she had lured and trapped many brilliant hackers, most of them guilty of releasing viruses into the Internet or illegally accessing private or government networks. In fact, the most