Page 95 of On the Power Play

"So. What did you find out?" Jack asked as he took a bite.

Tyler held his hands over the plate, mustard dripping down his pinky. "Whatever dickwad uploaded it used a slew of anonymizing techniques. Multiple VPNs, bouncing through servers across different countries. It's like chasing a ghost through a maze."

Country chewed and swallowed. "Not an amateur."

Tyler nodded. "Not their first rodeo."

Jack's chest tightened. Tyler worked in cyber security. There was dressing room lore about how he’d broken into federal security systems and locked down corporate bank accounts. This had to be within reach. "You found them, though, right?"

The corner of Tyler's mouth curled. "Hell yeah, I found them."

Curtis and Brett leaned over and fist bumped him. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we give that info to Tony? Maybe?—"

"I doubt Tony's going to have much luck with his lawyer," Tyler said. "For sure they'll be able to get it taken down on third-party sites, but the host site's buried in layers of legal protections designed to shield asshole users."

"Perfect," Jack grunted. He wasn't surprised. He hadn't said anything to Delia, but he wasn't holding his breath to hear good news from Tony. How was a lawyer supposed to get a video down fast enough? After he submitted his paperwork and jumped through whatever hoops he had to, the damage would already be done. "So what do we do?"

Tyler grabbed a napkin and wiped his fingers. "There's only one option that kills this thing, and it's not legal."

"I like it already." Mike grabbed the jug of orange juice and unscrewed the lid.

"Probably not a big deal for us, but you, Jack. If you were connected to it?—"

"Whatever, he'd have the Blizzard legal team behind him. We're the ones who would end up paying a shit-ton of fines for whatever you're proposing." Brett took the last bite of his sandwich.

"What are you proposing?" Jack asked. He had zero understanding of what it took for Tyler to figure out anything about the video let alone get it pulled down.

"Launch a cyber-attack against the twat. Digital retribution. Flood their network until we either force them to take the video down or render their system inoperable." He leaned back in his chair. "The good news is, if the user decided to nark, they'd have to admit to posting the video. That we could turn over to Tony and his lawyers. Wouldn't necessarily get it taken down immediately, but it would be good fodder for headlines if we had a name."

"Damn, Bowen." Brett gaped at him. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

They cleared their plates, half of them eating a second sandwich while standing over the counter in the kitchen, then filtered into the living area where Tyler was already setting up. Now the bags and boxes they were carrying made sense. There was a mass of cords snaking across the floor and multiple monitors winking to life on the desk.

"You need this?" Curtis picked up a sleek, black box. Tyler took it from him and plugged it in. "This is a VPN concentrator. It allows us to mask our location. Hopefully better than they did. I’ve got a burner computer and nobody try to be smart and get on the WiFi here."

Curtis nodded. "So we don't go to prison."

"Exactly." Tyler stood as light flickered on the box. He picked up a device no larger than a smartphone. "This is a hardware firewall. If they try to trace us or hit us back, this will keep our network secure." He worked to get everything hooked up and running and, after typing in his passwords, he brought up a complex-looking interface on one of the screens.

Curtis grunted. "I think I just had a stroke."

Tyler chuckled. "This is the software that will orchestrate the attack. It's designed to flood their server with more requests than it can handle. Clogging a pipe until the pressure becomes too much."

Country clapped his hands on André's shoulders. "Like this guy when he takes a shit at the rink."

André smirked. "I can't help it if everything about me is too big to handle."

Curtis shook his head. "Too early for dong jokes, André."

Jack leaned in toward the monitor. "I'm a little scared of you right now."

Tyler's fingers danced over the keys. "This little pissant isn't going to know what hit him."

"If anyone asks, I wasn't here. I have a family to think about," Curtis said as he dropped into a wingback armchair.

Sean scoffed. "And we don't?"

Jack laughed, trying and failing to figure out what the hell Tyler was doing on the screen. Numbers. Codes. All of it moved too fast for him to follow. It was like he was in the middle of a Bond movie watching Q work his magic.

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