Hacker: The Outlaw Chronicles by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online

someone who’d dropped out of my life and off the grid.
    I had to find Austin.
    As I slipped through the door and closed it gently behind me, I said it out loud: “Tomorrow will be a better day.”
    But in my heart, I wasn’t so sure.

1.6
DAY 2 - 2:34 am
    B lakBox Corporate Office

    S TONE SAT in the dimly lit fourth-floor office suite, eyes fixed on the only other man in the room. Walter Bell stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window, hands clasped loosely behind him as he gazed beyond the glass. The outside world was still and soot dark except for the glow of distant streetlights.
    “You’re certain?” Bell finally spoke without turning.
    “Yes, sir. I confirmed it myself. The files were fully compromised, just as we suspected.”
    “I see.” A long pause. “And the location of the files now?”
    “Undetermined. A search of the boy’s phone and laptop turned up nothing. He either destroyed the files or transferred them elsewhere before we caught up to him.”
    “That’s a problem, wouldn’t you say?” Bell said as he turned toward him. “Until the files are recovered, we must assume that the girl has them and intends to provide them to authorities.”
    Stone dipped his head once, agreeing.
    “That’s a situation I can’t allow, you understand,” Bell continued. “Find her and recover the data. Silence the threat and make sure it never surfaces again.”
    “Understood,” Stone said. “And the boy?”
    “He’s outlived his usefulness. Deal with it quietly. Tonight.”
    “Of course.” He stood and straightened his suit coat.
    “And Stone,” Bell said, eyes narrowing to slits. “Take care of the girl. I can’t afford any loose ends on this.”
    “Of course.”

1.7
DAY 2 - 11:14 am
    W E DON’T get to choose our lives, when or where we’re born. Usually, even our names are chosen before we come kicking and screaming into the world.
    Nyah means life purpose . My mom got pregnant with me while she and Dad were doing Peace Corps work in Calcutta, which is where she was born and lived for eight years before an American family adopted her. Doctors said she’d never have kids, but she believed her life’s purpose was to be a mom. It must’ve been true because she became one twice.
    People used to believe that naming a thing or a person defined its existence and gave it meaning. Adam named the animals. Explorers claimed faraway lands in the name of kings. Aboriginal boys survived rites of passage into manhood and were given new names. New identities.
    We still believe in the power of names, hackers especially.
    Every hacker has a handle, an alias that we’ve chosen to define how we want to be known. Maybe it’s our way of redefining ourselves not for who we are , but for what we could be.
    I could count on one hand how many people knew both my real name and my handle.
    Austin Hartt was one of these people.
    We first met at Dr. Benton’s office six months after the accident. Back then, I never wanted to go to Mom’s neurology appointments, and I hated myself for that. What kind of daughter wouldn’t want to be there for her mom? But I couldn’t bear watching her get poked and prodded while she just sat there, a numb, unknowing look on her face.
    On the days I couldn’t handle it, I’d sit in the waiting room while the doctor ran his tests. I hated that office and everything about it: the pine-scented antiseptic in the air, the strange patients, the hum of the air conditioner running nonstop even in winter. Most people die twice: first when they give up on life, and finally when Death comes to take what’s his. The waiting room felt like a stopover somewhere in between.
    Austin was the most normal person there, though he never smiled. He would sit in the same chair, always with his laptop in front of him. He had a compulsive habit of tapping each of his fingertips seven times with his thumb. I counted.
    I don’t think he noticed me until the day I brought my own laptop, the one with the