Forsaken by Dean Murray Read Free Book Online Page B

to
here."
    That
I could follow. "So how will you know if they start coming after
you?"
    "That's
actually the interesting part. Essentially, I go in and overwrite
each router's firmware. The package that comes from the manufacturer
is more bloated than most of them realize. I put a dummy interface in
place that matches up with what the owner is expecting to see and
then bury the true protocols further down. It lets me make sure that
there isn't any kind of logging going on as well as forcing the
router to connect to other routers."
    "So
you've made it so that there isn't anything in place for them to
track back?"
    "More
or less. They could eventually figure out what I'm doing if they
opened the device up and accessed the ROMs, but the only way they
will really get me is if I load my firmware up onto a router that
they've already turned into a giant trap. I'm going to suborn the
closest couple of hundred devices over the next three or four days,
and then I just won't go after any new devices that come online."
    I
could kind of follow the fringes of what he was saying, and it seemed
like a smart way to do things, but I could already see a problem even
with my limited understanding.
    "So
what happens when all of the devices you hack end up breaking or
disappearing? Your network will vanish at that point."
    Isaac
nodded, seemingly impressed. "Yep,
you're right. That's why this isn't a great long-term solution. It's
one of the reasons that I didn't use it for our Sanctuary security
protocols, that and the fact that we don't have anywhere near enough
wireless routers close enough together there to make it work. This
won't last forever, but it will at least work for a couple of years,
and by then, if you don't decide to go somewhere else for college,
I'll have had enough time to put something more permanent in place."
    Isaac
casually threw around terms like 'years' and 'college'. It made it sound
like this arrangement was going to be longer-lasting than I would
have expected. I opened my mouth to prove him a little bit on that
point, but my phone vibrated with a text.
    Russ
is gone, I made excuses for you. I'm sorry that I sprang things on
you like that. Where are you and when are you coming home?
    I
had to hand it to Mom; she trusted me more than she had back in Utah.
I suspected it was because she'd seen me make a really hard choice
and she was still confident that it was the right choice.
    I
looked up and saw that Isaac was looking at me.
    "It
was my mom, trying to extend the olive branch."
    He
nodded understandingly. "You want to talk about it?"
    "Not
really. I mean yes, but no all at the same time. She wanted to spring
some new guy on me that she's dating. It's hard on so many levels. I
want Mom to be happy, but it feels like she's betraying my dad. It's
been a little while since I've felt so conflicted about something."
    I
wanted to go on, but I stopped myself. Isaac had always seemed so
sure of himself. There was zero chance that he was going to be able
to relate to me when it came to this particular problem.
    Once
again, it was almost like he was reading my mind. It had frustrated
me beyond measure sometimes back in Sanctuary the way the pack had
been able to do that, but at times like this it was nice the way it
helped smooth over some of the bumps on the road.
    "It's
hard when you can't decide how to feel about something, or when your
feelings are all tangled up and headed in opposite directions. It
makes me feel...well, there's a word in Italian that captures
it, but nothing in English really feels adequate to the job."
    This
was a different side of Isaac than I'd ever seen before.
    "How
are you conflicted? Jess?"
    "Yeah,
that one is at the top of the list. Before Oblivion wiped her
memories away, I really loved her. I would have done almost anything
to protect her, but I failed her when I let him hurt her."
    "There
wasn't anything you could have done. Alec acted so fast that you were
trapped pretty much as soon as it