Zero Days

Jack buzzes someone else’s apartment, claiming to have a pizza for Cole Garrick, and the woman angrily lets her in. Pushing into the building, Jack is energized, feeling once again like “predator, not prey” (318). She takes the fire escape and, on the roof, sees Cole’s balcony below, a 10- or 12-foot drop. She creates a makeshift rope with her sleeping bag and extra clothing. It’s too difficult for her to grip the sleeping bag, though, and she falls hard onto the balcony. The pain from her wound is so excruciating that she cannot even cry out. She puts the burner phone in her pocket, camera facing out. Jack forces open the balcony door, and she’s in.

Jack goes to Cole’s bedroom. It takes a moment for him to realize who she is. He pulls a gun. She urges him to check his phone, and he sees the screen full of notifications. Cole tells her that they are both going to be killed because of what she did, but Jack does not care. She wants Cole to admit what he did to Gabe and to be sorry for it. He spits out an apology, but it isn’t sincere. He blames Gabe for nosing around where he shouldn’t have and for being a “fucking puritanical shit” who would have refused a payoff to keep quiet (326). Cole is packing a bag, but Jack tells him to just turn himself in.

He leaves, running down the stairs, and Jack tries to keep up. As Cole gets to the ground floor, Jack hears sirens. When she exits the building, she asks if they arrested him, but she is ordered to the ground. As Jack reaches for the phone in her pocket, an officer hits her with the baton. She passes out from the pain.