Chapter Three: Ghost Online

giving their lives for national security. Sophia had later obtained the unreleased audio from that hearing. When Rourke read Ethan Kane's name, there was no grief, no pause, not even a change in breathing. It had not been mourning. It had been a checklist. Her encrypted communicator vibrated. The warning she had sent had been read. Three seconds later, a reply appeared. WHO GAVE YOU THIS CHANNEL? Sophia smiled and typed fast. One of your dead friends. More precisely, his safe-deposit box. The other side paused for seven seconds. NAME. Sophia did not answer at once. She stood, disabled the smart speaker, unplugged the television, and placed a white-noise jammer on the window ledge. Only then did she type the name. Mason Briggs.