Zero Days

Cole Garrick, Gabe’s supposed best friend, is the person responsible for his murder, though he does not wield the knife. Cole creates apps for his employer, Cerberus Security. Some time ago, Cole took a bribe to introduce a backdoor into some of Cerberus’s apps so that users’ personal information could be collected by a criminal organization. Knowing Gabe would refuse hush money when he discovers the backdoor, Cole allows him to be killed. Cole is thus characterized indirectly as unscrupulous, finding nothing wrong with his actions. The security gaps he creates are deeply unethical because they could lead to the exploitation of any number of innocent people, including children. Cole lies to his company, to Gabe, and to Jack, even framing Jack for her husband’s murder by taking out a life insurance policy on Gabe. Cole then tries to initiate physical intimacy with Jack just days after Gabe’s murder, plying her with wine.

Cole’s vicious nature surfaces from time to time, such as when he calls Gabe a “fucking fool” and Jack a “stupid bitch” (232). Working for Cerberus links Cole to death and the Underworld due to the allusion to the three-headed guard dog of Greek mythology. Users expect that their personal information is kept safe by the apps they download, but Cole represents the underworld of cybercrime, and the name of his employer hints at his involvement in Gabe’s death.

Cole is a foil for Gabe, as they met as children and bonded over a shared love of coding. While Gabe got into trouble with hacking as a kid, Cole seemed like a perfect recruit to colleges and employers. However, as they grew into adults, Gabe became a security expert and devoted husband while Cole used his knowledge and skills to make money illegally, oblivious to who gets hurt by his actions.

Gabe is Jack’s husband, and his murder initiates the conflicts in the text and sets the plot in motion. He seems, as his name suggests, to be an angel. Good and kind, beloved by all, he literally and figuratively watches over Jack when she’s on a job, providing warnings and suggestions in her ear via Bluetooth. Gabe is clearly as devoted to Jack as she is to him, and he is not, as Jack points out, “an insecure dickhead with a patriarchy complex” (31), like her ex-boyfriend Jeff. The fact that Jack keeps her last name, instead of taking his, is a non-issue to Gabe, who lovingly refers to her as both “Jack” and “Cross.”

As a teenage hacker, Gabe got in trouble with the law but has used his talents ethically since then. He’s a “hacktivist” now, someone who uses his skills to help other people, and this is how he finds the backdoor in Cole’s code. Despite Cole’s story, Jack knows that Gabe would never sell the information and risk endangering the app’s users. He is also well respected in the IT community, with tens of thousands of followers on social media. His faith in Jack continues to give her faith in herself, even after he is gone.

Hel is Jack's sister, the only blood family Jack has left, aside from Hel's twin daughters. She is a journalist with experience writing about murders like Gabe’s and is the first to point out that his murder looks like it was done by a professional. She is a realist, a quality for which Jack is grateful. Hel grows concerned that Jack will be the main suspect long before Jack realizes it. She’s a loyal sister, bringing Jack supplies and standing in for her to face Jeff even knowing it will likely lead to her arrest. Hel also helps Jack find the holes in Cole’s version of events and figure out what did happen instead.

If Hel has a shortcoming, it’s her repeated insistence that Jack is “all [she’s] got left” (56), a sentiment that feels insensitive given Jack’s recent loss and the presence of Hel’s husband and two young daughters. Hel says this to Jack just after Gabe’s death as well as in the hospital after Jack wakes from emergency surgery. Of course, she only wants Jack to care for herself, but this phrasing reminds Jack that, unlike Hel, she has nothing left.

Jeff is a police officer and Jack’s ex-boyfriend, whom she met when she was 20. Though he seemed interested in and protective of her at first, he soon grew controlling, even encouraging Jack to quit a job she loved, and then he became abusive when Jack ended the relationship after two years. She says that he was awful to her 80% of the time they were together and that when she broke up with him, he hit her, threatened her, and had his friends on the force harass her. When Jack reported Jeff’s behavior to the police, his friends swept it under the rug, leading to Jack’s distrust of police.

Jeff objectifies women, made clear by his behavior toward Jack at the police station, as he “look[s her] up and down, taking in [Jack’s] tight-fitting blazer and stretch trousers with an expression that [is] only just short of outright lascivious” (31). She is a sexual object to him and little else. She knows that he wants her to thank him and, later, when she asks him to get the code from Gabe’s phone, that he wants her to “beg” for his help. When she’s in custody, Jeff “grin[s] like a cat that’s found a particularly juicy mouse in a corner it can’t escape from” (30). This simile emphasizes how much Jeff enjoys the feeling having power over someone weaker than he is, further highlighting his cruelty and sadism.