Encryption — Roy A. Teel Jr.

"What the hell does the Jolly Roger application do? Are we dealing with twenty-first century pirates?"

Back Matter:

In a small San Fernando Valley apartment, Kevin Bartlett and Coco Harold are putting the finishing touches on the Jolly Roger. The skull and crossbones logo of the downloadable encryption app flies on the Internet, promising users a way to share encrypted files for free. But nothing is ever truly free. Unsuspecting users, while seeking privacy, are unknowingly making their devices and computers slaves to a deep web application that could destroy not only Los Angeles but the world.

Inside Flap:

When Kevin's mother Cindy arrives at his apartment for their lunch date, she finds her son's lifeless body, but all of his computer equipment is missing. Autopsy results reveal the young hacker's been murdered after his departure from a high-level cyber security firm. But Kevin was more than a hacker; he's former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim O'Brian's estranged son. Together with the FBI, Jim seeks to solve the mystery based on a single clue: a flash drive with cryptic information about Kevin's work for an unknown employer. While the FBI's best and brightest work to disable the Jolly Roger, one of their own is brutally murdered, leaving even the Eagle uncertain that he can stop what appears to be a massive international cyber-attack that could wipe out the world as people know it.