- Ange and Marcus run down what's been happening with the Xnet for Barbara. There's plenty of details about cryptography, and why it needs to be public, not secret.
- Barbara says that now the story is hers, they can't edit anything out, change it, or try to stop her (17.13). Things have been put in motion that can't be stopped.
- Back at Ange's house, no one else is home. Sounds like the perfect time for Marcus and Ange to have sex. So they do. Aw, yeah.
- Sex and hugs over, Marcus logs into Xnet to check his email. There are lots of messages to sort through.
- Hello, what's this one from Masha? It's encrypted with Marcus's public key, so no one else can read it. But who's Masha?
- Masha's email says that she's a spy for the DHS and fully in the web of trust and Xnet. She was recruited to help catch terrorists, but now is frustrated because she's "spying on Americans who believe things that the DHS doesn't like. Not people who plan on blowing up bridges, but protestors" (17.54).
- She offers Marcus the chance to escape with her down to LA. There are some people who can keep them safe.
- Ange thinks the email is full of lies. Marcus is worried. Ange takes the keyboard and writes "Nice try," then sends it (17.75).
- But Masha isn't lying. She shows them how she can tunnel video over DNS (Domain Name Service), which basically means she's sending them videos totally anonymously.
- The video is of severe haircut lady, Major General Graeme Sutherland, and others video conferencing with Kurt Rooney, the President's chief strategist.
- They don't say many nice things about San Francisco or the Xnet. In fact, Kurt Rooney tells the room that they need the "Xnet children" to become "more radical" so that the rest of the nation thinks "there are threats everywhere" (17.103).
- Even though DHS doesn't yet know who Marcus is, it's becoming more and more likely they will. He writes Masha back asking for help getting out for him and his girlfriend.
- Masha says they need to make a big Xnet distraction so that they can all get out.
- On the BART ride towards home, Marcus's brain comes up with a theory that everything with Masha might be a trap. It also comes up with a solution to the problem.