Page 39 of Trained

“Are you the leader of Anarchy, Inc.?”

“We have no leaders. Think of me as our spokesman. Don’t waste your time on pointless questions, Ms. Atwood. The FBI is tracking this call as we speak, so I can’t stay for very long.”

“In that case, you’ve heard my questions,” I say. “Go ahead and answer them.”

He chuckles.

“You ask the wrong questions. You’re preoccupied with why we have done what we’ve done when what really matters is the next name on our list. The attacks we’ve made are just the beginning. Right now our enemies scramble to protect themselves, predictably. We know how they think. They want to hide, but they can’t — not forever.”

Interesting.

“And who are these enemies?” I ask. “What have they done to you?”

“It’s not what they’ve done to me,” he says. “It’s what they’ve done to the world — the order they’ve imposed on it, twisting it into something they can control and exploit. Their crimes have affected everybody — even you, Kate.”

Yeah, no fucking shit. Ingram’s lucky I’m forcing a professionally neutral expression.

“No matter what they’ve done, it doesn’t justify a campaign of violence,” I argue. “We have laws and courts for a reason.”

“No court in the world would convict these people. They’re too powerful.”

“So you’re vigilantes,” I say. “Is that it?”

He laughs.

“Some may see us that way. I promise you, we do not care about justice or standing up for the truth. We just want to see the powerful experience powerlessness. We want them to feel what they have caused everyone else to feel.”

I almost wonder if he means it. He sounds convincing to me. How much could he have changed since we’ve been together? Has it altered how he views the Masters, or is this all theater for the public to consume? If we destroyed the Masters today, what would he do? Would he resume the life he used to live, or something else?

I know what I’d want him to do. But, would he?

“Couldn’t you do that without resorting to violence?” I ask. “Reveal to the world what you know about your enemies and let everyone decide?”

He doesn’t answer right away. He may have had to disconnect.

“Is he still there?” I ask Stephanie.

“I’m here,” he replies. “I accept your proposal. Maybe it would create a bit of anarchy to spill a few choice secrets. Let’s start with security expert Karthik Pai.”

I focus on keeping a grin off my face. Here we go.

“You all know him for his domination of the cyber-security market. His encryption has been nearly unhackable — one of the most secure protocols in tech. What you’ve never been told is that his firm, KPP, built back-doors into key systems, leaving millions of accounts vulnerable to exploitation. Their clients have been breached without ever knowing it, falling victim to ransomware and identity thefts. As we speak, I’m forwarding evidence of their malfeasance to media agencies around the world, as well as to the FBI, CIA and NSA. They can verify that it’s all true.”

When I first arrived at the Enclave and learned about the Masters, I knew that exposing even one of them would have been the story of my career. This is exactly what I would have wanted to do. When I wrote my insurance policy in the hopes the world would see it if I died, this is one of the many crimes I listed.

I have to wonder if Anton expected this to happen.

“If Karthik Pai confesses and turns himself in to the authorities within the next twenty-four hours, maybe we won’t hunt him down. If he refuses, there’s nowhere in the world he can hide. Thank you for this opportunity, Ms. Atwood. Let’s talk again soon.”

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