Zero Days

Jack awakens in the cold, the ground frosted around her, and she immediately vomits. Cold, nauseated, and weak, she feels the crusty, sodden dressing on her gash. Feverish from the infection, she understands she has another day or two before she is too sick to run, perhaps too sick to live, and she does not want to die before finding Gabe’s killer. Thinking over Cole’s story, she decides that there must be a reason he wanted to frame her. Perhaps he worried she would eventually find a backup of Gabe’s discovery. Jail would prevent her from finding it, plus her conviction would deflect police attention away from him. The only way she can find Gabe’s backup is to use one of his devices—which are all in police custody.

Jack turns on her nearly dead phone, swallows her pride, and dials Jeff Leadbetter, the only person who can help her. She will log in to Gabe’s cloud account and ask Jeff to give her the authentication code that will appear on Gabe’s phone. Jeff toys with her. She knows he wants her to beg, so she does, for Gabe. Jeff agrees to give her the code, but only in person.