Zero Days

by Ruth Ware

It wasn’t just the sexiness of watching someone doing something they were very, very good at. It was the camaraderie, the sense that it was him and me against the world.

If you react, the person you’re talking to reacts back. First rule of social engineering: stay pleasant and others are much more likely to do the same.

It was only when I came out into the chilly night air of the street that I felt it—the cold, wet patches under my arms, the sweat of pure panic. I was still afraid of Jeff Leadbetter. And maybe I always would be.

I had never understood substance abuse until that moment; even in the worst moments of my life before—the jackknifing lorry that had crushed my parents’ car when I was seventeen, the grueling breakdown of my relationship with Jeff just a few years later—even in the middle of complete despair, I had never experienced the urge to opt out of feeling.

“There are two kinds of people who hire contract killers. People mixed up in organized crime—and spouses. And since Gabe has no connection with organized crime…”

I wasn’t waiting here to get arrested for a crime I hadn’t committed. I was getting out.

It was like I’d always said: sometimes, often, to do nothing was to run a risk in itself.

I’ll make you regret this, you stupid cunt. If I can’t have you, no one can.

“Do you know what a zero-day exploit is?” Cole demanded. I frowned. “Is this some kind of test?” “No, I’m answering your question. Do you know?” “Of course I know. It’s a way to hack into a device that hasn’t been fixed. One that the software developer doesn’t know about—hence the zero days. That’s how long the developer has had to fix it.”

“Well, Gabe found one. A big one. He came to me to ask for my advice about what to do. I told him his best bet was to go to the software developer and claim the responsible reporting bounty. But instead, he”—Cole paused, swallowed audibly at the other end of the line—“he decided to sell it on the dark web. I don’t know who he went to, but he must have messed with the wrong people because they decided… well, they decided they didn’t want to pay whatever he was asking. They decided they’d rather just take it. So that’s what they did.”