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THE TRIAL

once raided as a suspect in the Half-Life 2 source-code theft. Mularski ran another search and saw there were only two U.S. search warrants executed in that investigation: one against Chris Toshok, and one against Max Ray Butler.

Iceman’s identity had been hidden in the government’s computers all along. Giannone had given them the password to unlock it.

Knowing Iceman’s identity wasn’t the same as proving it, though. The feds had enough for a search warrant, but they didn’t have the location of Max’s safe house. Worse, Giannone had tipped them that Iceman used DriveCrypt. That meant that even if they tracked down Max’s address, they couldn’t count on finding evidence on his hard drive. They could bust down Max’s door, then watch him walk out of a courtroom twenty-four hours later on bail or a signature bond. With an international network of fake ID vendors and identity thieves at his beck and call, Max might vanish, never to be seen again.

They needed to sew up the case before making a move. Mularski decided Chris Aragon was the key. Thanks to Norminton, they knew all about the wire transfer and real estate fraud scheme he’d profited from almost five years earlier. If they could nail Aragon for that, they could press him to cooperate against Max.

Unaware of the net tightening around him, Max continued his round-the-clock management of Carders Market as “Aphex.” Not that his new identity was really fooling anyone. He couldn’t resist carrying Iceman’s campaign against DarkMarket’s leaders into his new persona, calling them “idiots and incompetents” and circulating the evidence he’d gathered against Master Splyntr. He was astonished that so many people didn’t believe him. “DarkMarket is founded and run by NCFTA/FBI for Christ sake!”

Th3C0rrupted0ne believed Max and gave up his status on DarkMarket to work as a full-time admin on Max’s board—he was devoting four-