“They can use it for military applications, surveillance, anything.”

“Can you stop it?” I asked, my heart racing again.

“I’m locked out,” he said, hitting the enter key repeatedly.

“The encryption key is being routed through a server in Switzerland.”

Suddenly, my phone vibrated violently in my pocket.

I pulled it out, my hands shaking.

The screen lit up with a blocked number.

I slid my thumb across the glass and pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?” I whispered.

A voice I had never heard before spoke, cold and completely calm.

“Tell Mr. Caldwell that his wife’s legacy now belongs to us,” the voice said.

“And if he wants his daughters to make it through the night, he will step away from the keyboard.”

The cold voice on the line sent a chill straight through my chest.

I held the phone slightly away from my ear so Nathan could hear it too.

“Who is this?” Nathan demanded, his voice shaking with a mix of rage and terror.

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” the man on the phone replied.