ZerOes (50 page)

OUTSIDE ULAN-UDE

W
alking on top of a train is not something Chance ever thought he'd get the chance to do. Once, he probably thought,
Oh man, how awesome would that be?
Like something out of a movie or a video game. James Bond. Or Indiana Jones. And yet, now that he's up here, everything feels slippery and uncertain. The air is cold, cutting into him like knives. The train sways back and forth, and he's willing to bet smart money that he's gonna barf, then slip on the barf and then fall into the wide open nowhere of Mongolia.

The Widow—she doesn't have a problem. She storms ahead like this is just something she does. Like she was
born
on top of a fast-moving train.

He tries to hurry after her.

Without, of course, dying.

There, against the platinum sky—

A small dot growing closer.

The
whup-whup-whup
of helicopter blades.

“Give me the phones,” the Widow yells.

He gingerly hands them over—

And one slips out of his hand.

Her other hand darts out, catches it. She clucks her tongue. Scowls.

“You're lucky!” she says. “Because these phones pay your debt.”

Jesus. Was that what this was? He knew they were here to pay her back for what she did to get them into Manhattan—a blackout that lasted for weeks, as it turned out—but she was real cagey about what the actual
repayment
would be.

Then Chance got himself caught and—

Was this all her?

She set him up without telling him what was to come?

And what of Aleena? He tries to yell at her but she cuts him off. “This is your ride!”

“You're not coming?”

She stomps down. “
This
is my ride. I go where it goes. I have the phones. I have what I need thanks to you and your . . .
monster
.”

Typhon. She means Typhon.

Monster. Battering ram. Skeleton key.

The helicopter—an old Sikorsky—hovers low, and he sees Wade in the front. Reagan next to him. Wade, who, it turns out, was a chopper pilot in 'Nam. The helicopter flies up alongside, and the door opens—inside, he sees DeAndre and—

“Aleena!” he shouts.

“You're going to need to jump!” the Widow yells in his ear.

DeAndre and Aleena reach out of the door. Hands waving as if to say,
Grab hold
.

“Jump? I'm not gonna—”

Behind them, men in suits begin to climb up over the side.

Machine guns at the ready.

Oh, hell with this.

He jumps.

And he wonders:
What next?

W
hen I was a kid, I ran a few BBSs—bulletin board systems—with names like Unreality, BizarroWorld, ShadowLands. All dialed into using those modems that shriek like cybernetic harpies. The Internet wasn't for public consumption yet, so each BBS was this weird little island unto itself, even more isolated and walled off than the big services like AOL or Prodigy.

As the sysop on these BBSs, I got to hang out with other early techie nerds, and we talked as much about “warez” and “l33t hacking” and “phreaking” as we did about writing cool stories and books and movies and all that other stuff. Kiddies, all of us, but it was fun, and those experiences informed part of this book. So it's important, I think, to acknowledge some of the folks from my BBSs—folks such as Grebok, Mournblade, Viper, Icculus, Taxi Driver, Yeoman, and their ilk.

Also, the standard acknowledgments apply: Despite BBSs being islands unto themselves, writers are not, and we have these support systems in place that are ultimately invisible. Thanks to the fine folks at HarperCollins for publishing this book; thanks to my agent, Stacia Decker of DMLA, for helping to make this book what it is; and thanks to my wife for enduring nights where I would stay up too late poring over weird books about hackers and hacker culture.

CHUCK WENDIG
is the author of the Miriam Black thrillers, which begin with
Blackbirds
, and numerous other works. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative
Collapsus
, he is also known for his popular blog, terribleminds.com. He lives in Pennsylvania with his family.

@ChuckWendig

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

•
THE MIRIAM BLACK SERIES
•

Blackbirds

Mockingbird

The Cormorant

Thunderbird

•
THE HEARTLAND SERIES
•

Under the Empyrean Sky

Blightborn

The Harvest

•
OTHER NOVELS
•

The Blue Blazes

Double Dead

Unclean Spirits

Atlanta Burns

Star Wars: Aftermath

•
NONFICTION
•

The Kick-Ass Writer

Cover design by Adam Johnson

Cover image © by Mohamad Itani/Arcangel Images

This book is a work of fiction, and while it sometimes strives to get details right about hacker culture and the actual act, be advised that it also takes liberties with the subject in order to tell the story.

Harper Voyager and design is a trademark of HCP LLC.

ZER0ES
. Copyright © 2015 by Chuck Wendig. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-235155-5

EPub Edition August 2015 ISBN 9780062351586

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