THE OFFICE

following a hard day's work and headed for a night on the Martell and crack-pipe. The next morning he woke to find his invaluable memory stick was not in its usual place, nestling close to his chest. He had left the damn thing in the café!

He was seized by panic. When he walked into the Java Bean he went straight to the manager to enquire whether anyone had handed it in. The manager shook his head. 'You've just lost me a quarter of a million pounds!' screamed Renu, temporarily forgetting that he alone was responsible for the catastrophe. He was less worried about his own limited funds than about the money and data that he was holding in escrow.

Over the next few weeks JiLsi mounted a damage-control operation. He had to reassure DarkMarket members who had placed their trust in him that their security had not been compromised. Meanwhile, in the real world, Renu struggled to meet the payments on the mortgages he had taken out on dingy properties across north London. DarkMarket was prospering, but JiLsi was not enriching himself. On the contrary, he was sinking into debt and approached some 'friends' for a loan. Being a fugitive in cyberspace was no preparation for coping with this more traditional 'underworld'.

Even after the loss of the memory stick, Renu continued to devote himself selflessly to DarkMarket and its progress. But the stress of running the site was overwhelming him. Above all, he realised that DarkMarket and CardersMarket were now engaged in a fight to the death. The website was vulnerable, but JiLsi was even more vulnerable still, and sometimes he felt extremely weary of the whole affair.

Iceman upped his attacks, raining down DDoS assaults and throwing at DarkMarket any other digital weapon that he could lay his hands on. Carders around the world lined up behind one or other of the sites, arguing that the opponent should give way and allow one megasite to dominate. This indeed was Iceman's central argument: competition in this instance did not increase efficiency, it only led to acrimony.

By September 2006 the relentless attacks were driving Renu to despair. His dependency on crack cocaine was also becoming marked at this time, a dangerous development both for his own security - not to mention his health - and for the security of DarkMarket itself.

He decided to discuss the attacks on DarkMarket with Master Splyntr, who was at this time a moderator, two rungs below JiLsi, the key