Copycat: The unputdownable new thriller from the bestselling author of After Anna. Alex Lake

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       17

      She is looking for answers. Trying to think who might be behind this. She is worried; the events themselves are harmless, nothing more than digital information on the Internet or in a message, but it is what lies behind that bothers her.

      What lies behind – what might lie behind – is what causes the fear.

      The fear that this cyber threat will become a real threat. A physical threat. And so she thinks of stalkers and killers and kidnappers.

      But – as so often – she is missing the point.

      What lies behind is not a physical threat.

      It is much worse.

      Why is a man able to kill – with ease – a lion? All lions, if he wishes? Or sharks. Elephants. Dinosaurs, if they still existed.

      It is not because of physical strength. If all we had to go on was physical strength, mankind would be in the middle of the food chain, somewhere around a cow or dog. Mankind would not be close to being the apex predator.

      But mankind has something the others don’t.

      Intelligence. The ability to use tools, to co-opt nature to serve his ends. To make spears and then guns and then missiles.