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Chapter 74
‘Canyou shut it down?’ Salt said. ‘If you don’t have the technical skills, I assure you my people do.’
‘No,’ Poe said.
‘Have you tried?’
‘This is the demonstration site. The actual site isn’t live yet.’
‘You’ll shut it down then?’
‘Still no.’
‘Why?’
‘There’s a penalty clause.’
‘Which is?’
‘Ten innocent people will die if we do.’
Salt frowned. ‘I don’t want to appear insensitive, Sergeant Poe, but my company literally saves lives.’
‘You’re saying we should sacrifice them to save you?’
‘It’s the logical choice.’
‘It’s funny,’ Poe said. ‘If anyone else had suggested this, I’d have been appalled. Why is it with you I sort of expected it?’
‘If you won’t shut it down, I will,’ Salt said.
‘You don’t have anyone capable,’ Bradshaw said.
‘Don’t be stupid.’
‘He’s using the TOR network, has hardware and software firewalls and he’s protected it from distributed denial-of-service attacks. If you think of website security as like the layers of an onion, the beta version’s onion would be bigger than this house.’
‘Couldyoubreach it?’
‘Of course. But I won’t unless Poe asks me to.’
‘I’ll make you rich.’
‘I’m already rich and Poe doesn’t care about money.’
‘You’ve been working with the wrong sort of people for too long, Mr Salt,’ Poe said.
‘I’ll sue you.’
‘For refusing to sacrifice ten members of the public? I think I’d enjoy that.’
Salt slumped into an uncomfortable-looking, weirdly designed chair. ‘I’m not leaving my home, Sergeant Poe,’ he said. ‘I can have my legal team contact the National Crime Agency if you need me to.’
Poe sighed. He reminded himself thateveryonewas entitled to protection from serial killers. ‘Fine, we’ll do it here,’ he said.
‘Do what here?’
‘Prevent the impossible, Mr Salt.’
