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It was, after all, his legacy, the thing people would remember him for two hundred years from
now. He wanted so badly to leave an imprint on this world and for people to know (eventually) that
he was the one who had done it.
Being forced to order the murder of someone was just the price he had to pay to leave that mark.
And who the fuck was anyone to judge? All of the greatest people in history had to make such
decisions. The president of the United States faced these kinds of choices every day, pressing a button
that unleashed a drone over a village in Afghanistan, killing people to protect the republic. This was
the case in business too. Dozens of Chinese workers who made iPhones had subsequently jumped to
their deaths because their working conditions were so dire, but Steve Jobs had to accept those
sacrifices because, by fucking God, he was changing the world on a massive, massive scale. This
was simply the plight of men and women who wanted to leave a dent in the universe.
In addition to the murder, other issues had been pummeling Ross. As of late hackers had again
been targeting the Silk Road on a regular basis, knocking the site off-line for hours at a time. While
DPR’s employees were working tirelessly to build defenses, the only way to get the hackers to stop
was to pay them a ransom of $50,000 per week thereafter.
What Ross needed right now was a break. Thankfully, the same weekend that DPR paid Nob for
his services and it was clear Green was dead, Ross was going to see his new girlfriend, Kristal.
Things had really blossomed between them since the camping trip a few weeks earlier. After a
night in the woods looking up at the stars and sitting around a campfire, they returned to the city and
made plans to see each other as much as they could. Over e-mail and text message, they told stories
about their pasts, and shared hopes about their futures—though Ross only skimmed the surface of
those dreams.
He had felt so lonely over the past year running the Silk Road. He had all of this success, and no
one to share it with. So he fell in love headfirst with Kristal. A weekend together soon turned into
every weekend together. Once, Ross flew up to Portland, where Kristal lived, and they spent an entire
day cuddling under the covers in her apartment. On another trip they set off for an adventure at a
nearby campground, where they holed up in a cabin in the woods for the weekend, Ross wearing
nothing more than a blue robe and his glove shoes and Kristal in a green dressing gown. Ross felt
alive! He sketched pictures of her. After the trip she sent him messages of herself blowing a kiss. He
sent her notes of adoration back. But he never told her about his Web site. Never could; never would.
In between all of this, he continued to steer the ship of the Silk Road, sneaking off to transform
into the superhero who was going to legalize drugs and make the world a safer place. The man who
navigated tribulations only people with his level of power had to negotiate. And it was that power, at
this moment, that he needed more than anything to protect.
Someone was now dead who had deep ties to the Silk Road and its founder, and it was not a
stretch to think that the cops would soon find the body of Curtis Green. It wouldn’t be long before they
figured out what had happened. The murder, the site, and the cocaine bust would all point law
enforcement toward the Dread Pirate Roberts. He needed dedicated minions now who could really
defend and grow the Silk Road into the biggest enterprise on the planet.
As Ross explained to one of his employees: “I’m in it to win it.” Then he reiterated what was at
stake here. “Before I die, I want the world to be so radically different that I will be able to tell my
story in person without repercussion.”