Zero Days

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of abuse and stalking and mentions a possible suicide.

Dressed in black and carrying a backpack full of lock picks and fake IDs, Jack Cross breaks into an office. Though her clothing is professional, she is wearing sneakers and sporting “fluorescent scarlet” hair. Jack, who narrates the novel, asserts that Arya Stark is the best character in Game of Thrones. She wears an earpiece through which her husband, Gabe Medway, gives her instructions. After she plugs in one of his devices, he can hack into the company’s security cameras to monitor Jack as well as the security guards. Jack and Gabe work together to get her to the server room. She must crawl above the ceiling to get in and knocks down a tile, which sounds like a gun firing. Jack plugs in several devices that allow Gabe to infiltrate the company’s systems. He alerts her to two guards approaching.

Gabe and Jack have a comfortable, familiar rapport; they joke and flirt, but they also know when to be serious. Hiding under a couch, Jack twists her wedding ring, her “usual tic” when she feels stressed. Following Gabe’s instructions, Jack escapes the guards and exits the building.