Zero Days

Jack turns on her nearly dead phone, swallows her pride, and dials Jeff Leadbetter, the only person who can help her. She will log in to Gabe’s cloud account and ask Jeff to give her the authentication code that will appear on Gabe’s phone. Jeff toys with her. She knows he wants her to beg, so she does, for Gabe. Jeff agrees to give her the code, but only in person. Jack doesn’t trust him, so she chooses a meeting place with witnesses and many routes of escape. Jeff agrees and tells Jack that she didn’t always used to be so suspicious. Jack agrees to a meeting time that night, hangs up, and vomits again.

Jack thinks over Jeff’s words, and she knows he’s right. She was not always like this. This truth takes her back to when she met Jeff. She was only 20, and he arrested her while she was pen testing a government building in North London. Once he verified her identity, he was fascinated by her work. He asked her out to discuss the security of the police station. They ended up kissing. His “protectiveness” appeared soon after. Jeff became more and more controlling—monitoring what Jack wore and who she spent time with, even intercepting her paychecks—and by the time she realized who he really was, she felt trapped. When Jeff suggested she quit her job and do something safer, Jack chose her work over him. She was 22, nearly six years ago.

Jack walks to the train station to get back to London. She stops to buy a hot sandwich from a food truck, but the woman refuses her money and says something about helping the homeless. Again, Jack feels guilty about accepting this kindness. Her train ticket uses up the last of her money. When Jack gets on the train, a kindly older woman expresses concern over her pallor and shivering. Jack tries to get up, but slinging her pack on nearly causes her to pass out. The woman offers help, but Jack snaps at her. Ashamed for yelling at this well-meaning stranger, Jack wonders who she is becoming.

Waiting in a store overlooking Piccadilly Circus, Jack reflects that the statue is where she met Gabe for one of their first dates. She thought it was the Greek god of love, Eros, but Gabe explained that it was Eros’s brother, Anteros, the god of requited love. Jack remembers this his correction didn’t strike her as arrogant mansplaining but rather as the enthusiasm of someone who enjoys sharing interesting information. After Jeff, Jack was too wounded to consider love again; after just a few weeks with Gabe, though, Jack began to feel it was possible. She saw the statue as a good sign for their relationship.

Earlier, Jack called Hel to explain her plan. Hel said Jeff will probably just arrest her when they meet. They decided Hel would dress like Jack and go to the meeting wearing a wire. If Jeff gave her the code, Jack would hear it. In either case, Jack would be safe from arrest. Now, she hears Jeff’s voice and sees his handcuffs. He arrests Hel for aiding and abetting a fugitive. Jack has one option left to access Gabe’s files: Pay someone in Bitcoin to switch Gabe’s number with that of another phone.