Suddenly, his webcam light flickered on. A dull, steady green. Elias froze. He hadn't opened the camera app. He tried to move the mouse, but the cursor drifted across the screen on its own, clicking through his private folders.
He clicked the link. The site was a graveyard of pop-up ads for offshore casinos and "system optimizers" that looked like digital cancer. He navigated the "Download" buttons—the three fake ones designed to infect his browser, and the tiny, grey one hidden in the corner that was the real deal. The progress bar crawled. 98%... 99%... Complete. Suddenly, his webcam light flickered on
The screen went black. In the reflection of the monitor, Elias saw the green light of his camera still staring back at him—the price of the "free" software finally being collected. He hadn't opened the camera app