Programmed To Steal

Taking down the website of a pedophile and stealing his money was easy for a hacker like Jess. She had hacked many sites already. None of her previous victims had fought back, but this one responded quickly and ruthlessly in ways that frightened her and her hacker friends. The attacks exposed an undercover FBI operation and an old murder investigation that sends Jess and her friends on the run.

Benji, her high school friend who was kidnapped and abused as a child, promised Jess he would find the girl who was also being abused and make sure she was okay. He found her and put her in a psychiatric rehab hospital. To pay the bills, he used his hacking skills to steal credit card information and commit income tax fraud, which caught the attention of the FBI.

With tips from an unexpected source, Jess finally finds the website that contains the pictures and videos of her friend from high school. She found more than just the website. Using software she and her boyfriend Mike wrote, she destroyed the abuser’s website and stole millions of dollars from him.

Thinking everything would be over in a few days, she plans a night out with Mike, his sister, and his roommate. The night barely gets started when Jess realizes she is being followed. Someone follows them to the student union and a restaurant and attacks them at the campus police station where her professor is shot. The attackers rob Jess's duplex, and the next day they firebomb Mike's apartment, leaving them clueless about the identity of the assailants.

Jess did not expect to be followed and attacked by strange men, see her professor shot, and have her apartment broken into all in one evening. She and her friends have to choose to run, fight, or die.