ne-faced agents from the IRS's Criminal Investigation Division swarmed his small accounting off

work of art, a masterpiece of deception. N

chaos, his phone ran

about my withheld wages. I know I left last week, but you ca

oo perfect. It had to be her. She had somehow found ou

flying from his lips. "You think you can ruin me? I'll

nutes ago, a simple text: 'Shaw's firm is collapsing. Call now if you want your back pay.' The Trojan he'd planted on Mr. Shaw's computer wasn't just for data

o warm when he looked at Jenna, were chips of ice. The ligh

took. He accessed the building's integrated control system, a laughably insecure piece

the phone, followed by Mr. Shaw's panicked cursi

yelled, his threats cut

Trojan, and wiped the server logs. He removed

ne in her hand, her face p

laced by wide-eyed, childish innocence. He s

, sweetie. Just a little trouble with my old

rms around her legs and looking up with a perfectly crafted ex

full of a child's p

and kissed his forehead, her heart swelling. "Mommy's

r, his eyes were cold. The sprinklers and the IRS were a good sta

but currently unusable. He needed money. Real money. Clean money so that his m

ake off the ugly encounter, Mase slipped back to his desk. He opened a h

ation of the Queen's Gambit. The board shimme

user named 'Bis

ree more Wall Street hedge funds have been bitten. T

nly as MIO, typed his reply

Divert the profits t

cond vulnerabilities in high-frequency trading platforms. It was a ghost in the machine, silently sip

rrived. They're all dying to meet the you

st celebrated new prodigy was a seven-year-old boy wh

inter

ther word. The accolades of a world h

aghetti sauce, her back to him. The late afternoon sun streamed through the window, c

he did, all the power he was secretly