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pored over the data it spit out. Eventually, he saw connections that were way out of place—from port 9990, the computer had been talking to an Internet Relay Chat server in Kazakhstan, irc.kamaz.kz .

    Barrett joined that channel himself and saw that the administrator of the channel was listed as Oko. He typed in the command for the server to identify Oko and got back: “oko is stran @ fbi.gov .” A bogus email address, of course, but a valuable nickname to remember, Stran.

    Don Best also gave Barrett his first look at how law enforcement pursued hackers. That scared him more than the criminals did.

    The company’s call for help went to the U.S. Secret Service, which was taking on a major role in fighting Internet crime as part of its mission to protect the national financial system. The Secret Service dispatched an agent to Don Best. The hacker’s threatening email had come from overseas, and he had obviously taken over the database from far away, using the company’s electronic connections to the outside world. Yet as Barrett and the Don Best employees watched in disbelief, the agent carefully dusted the compromised computer for fingerprints. It was just policy, he explained. As soon as Barrett’s sleuthing identified the connection to Kazakhstan, he excitedly informed the agent. The case appeared to die on the spot.

    Barrett had earned enough working for Network Presence to buy a condo in Sacramento for $75,000. He and Rachelle, who was starting to work as a graphic designer, moved in together. But Barrett thought he could do better financially, and his entrepreneurial itch was returning. On the BetCRIS job, which was far harder than the Don Best case, he designed new and more sophisticated means to weed out malicious Web traffic. He told his bosses at Network Presence that they should back him in a venture that would do nothing but fight denial-of-service assaults. They said sure—as long as Network Presence got to keep 95 percent of the company.

    THAT OFFER STILL RANKLED AS BARRETT flew down to Costa Rica to meet Mickey and the rest of the BestCRIS team in 2003. The battle for BetCRIS was all but won, and in the back of his mind, he thought BetCRIS or its grateful executives might invest in a new business. When he saw the full scope of the BetCRIS operation, he decided to follow that instinct. All they could do was say no. In January, as his time in Costa Rica was nearing an end, Barrett asked if he could see Mickey in his office. “You know,” he said, “I’m thinking of going out on my own, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in helping me out.” Mickey didn’t seem surprised. “Give me a little time,” he said, “and let’s meet at the end of the day tomorrow.”

    The next evening they met again. This time it wasn’t in Mickey’s understated office but across the hall in a high-end party room, with a bar and a card table, overlooking the park. Mickey sat next to Digital Solutions’ Brian Green, looking out at San Jose. Barrett, across from them, saw nothing but wall. “You’ve been good to us,” Mickey said. “We’ll take a gamble on you.” While Mickey presented it as a huge favor, the deal he proposed was pretty modest. He and Brian would put in a total of $250,000 and each get 40 percent of the new company, with Barrett devoting his expertise and keeping 20 percent. On his own turf, with more time, Barrett might have thought harder about it. He sensed Mickey expected him to make a counteroffer, to bargain a little. But Barrett was far from home and still angry about the lowball offer he’d gotten from his bosses at Network Presence. So instead of haggling with Mickey, Barrett simply took the offer. I’ll just ride this wave, he thought.

    “Terrific!” Mickey exclaimed. Barrett would be chief technology officer. Within a couple months, Mickey and Brian would name as chief executive Darren Rennick, whom Barrett had met a few days earlier. Mickey called Darren “The