Storm (Swipe Series)

before that—”
    “Cut to the chase!” Connor said.
    “Fair enough,” Logan said. “Connor—I cannot let you destroy this weather mill.”
    “You shouldn’t have come here. You’re in over your head,” Connor said. “This isn’t any of your business at all!”
    “Not quite the case,” Logan said calmly. “You see this here?” He pointed to his wrist.
    “You’re Markless,” Connor said.
    “That’s right. And so I have a vested interest in you not pulling that trigger right now,” Logan told him. “Because a lot of my friends depend on the cloud seeding this place does. A lot of people, Connor. Innocent people.”
    “You don’t understand,” Connor said. “I don’t want to do this—I have to do this.”
    “Why? Because you think you need to finish the job General Lamson asked your parents to do?”
    For the first time, Connor’s hand left the control panel. He stood there, stunned. “How do you know that?” he asked. “How in the world do you know that?”
    “Doesn’t really matter how I know it, Connor. What matters is that right now, General Lamson is not acting with this country’s best interests at heart. It’s okay to disagree with him on this, Connor. It doesn’t make you a bad person to disobey these particular orders.”
    “My parents died carrying out these orders,” Connor said. “They wouldn’t have just done that. They wouldn’t have just abandoned me if it hadn’t been important. So don’t stand there and tell me this isn’t with the country’s best interests at heart!”
    “Connor—I believe in your parents’ intentions, I do. But do you even know why Lamson wanted so badly to shut this place down? Do you even know what it is you’re fighting for here? Who it is you’re fighting for here?”
    Connor looked at him coldly. “Do you ?”
    “Connor, think about this! If the general’s motives here were for the good of the country, then why wouldn’t he just tell everyone that the weather mill can’t reopen? It doesn’t make sense!”
    “I don’t know!” Connor said. “I don’t know why. I just trust him, okay? I talked to him. Personally. He must have his reasons!”
    This wasn’t working, Logan realized. Connor was stubborn and scared and angry about his parents. It was a dangerous combination.
    Logan was beginning to fear that Connor couldn’t be reasonedwith. Quickly, he sized up the boy. Athletic, muscular, tall . . . He was at least a year older than Logan, and it was a year that made a difference. He guessed Connor had forty pounds on him . . .
    No way he’s going down without a fight , Logan feared. And that’s a fight I’ll never win .
    But in all this posturing, neither of the boys had noticed Hailey’s escape. She had grabbed an extra pair of Mr. Larkin’s magnecuffs that had fallen to the floor during Connor’s attack, and she was running now, across the mill, out the door, fed up with the whole miserly thing.
    Suddenly, they could see her through the control room’s window. Where she proceeded to magnecuff her hand to a pipe on the outside of the wall. She then placed the key in her mouth, ready to swallow, if it came to that. Without even a moment’s hesitation, Hailey had turned herself into a human shield. She hoped Logan might be a somewhat better negotiator over the course of the next five minutes than he was during his first.
    “ Get off of there!” Connor yelled through the glass of the control room, suddenly going very red with anger and fear. He turned to Logan. “She’s gonna kill herself!”
    “No,” Logan said. “ You’re going to kill her. You are. If you allow this launch, then you’ll have to watch that innocent Markless girl die.”
    “Oh, come on, don’t do this to me!” Connor pleaded. “Don’t you think this is hard enough as it is?”
    “You will kill her,” Logan repeated. “Allow this launch at these angles, and you will watch her die.”
    “ Get her off of there! ”
    “No!” Logan yelled. “Connor, don’t you get it? If you destroy this mill, it won’t matter whether or not Hailey gets off that wall—you’ll have killed her either way! Her—and hundreds of thousands of Markless just like her.
    “This isn’t some victimless crime, Connor. It won’t be some mere inconvenience for people if America loses its weather mill. You’re killing people with this decision.” He pointed to Hailey. “And that’s what that looks like.
    “You can’t wash your hands of this,