Swipe

up.
    “Quickly,” Erin whispered. “Very quickly, now.” And she ducked back toward the shaft in the room’s center, into a manual door resting exactly opposite from where they came in. Logan followed, wondering how they were ever going to find Erin’s father.
    “I thought we were looking for your dad,” he whispered, entering the more private space of the stairwell inside the spire.
    “I told you on the phone. We don’t have evidence yet. The only way he’d believe us now is if we admitted we’d read his documents.”
    “So what!”
    “So my dad doesn’t play around, Logan. It’d take him all of one second to throw you in jail for treason. And even if he didn’t—even if you wanted to take that risk—without physical evidence he’d just think we read the brief and then let our stupid imaginations run wild.” Erin turned and began walking up the metal staircase. “We go to him—first thing—when we have evidence that stands on its own. Not a minute sooner.”
    “But Peck’s gonna kill me by then!”
    “Oh, give me a break. He’s not trying to kill you,” Erin said dismissively. “He’s probably just trying to kidnap you.”
    They’d walked one floor up to a smaller enclosed dome above the main disk of the Umbrella. In here, everything was still and quiet, a narrow hallway spiraling out from the spire and lined with unlabeled doors.
    “My dad showed me around on Sunday,” Erin said. “The Umbrella and the Center, both. Thought it’d cheer me up about the move if I saw how cool his new office was.”
    “Did it?” Logan asked.
    “It has now.” The hallway became straighter as they spiraled farther away from the center spire. “We’ve gotta be sneaky,” Erin said. “We’re looking for room 113B. Most of these rooms are offices, but 113B is for supplies. At least . . . according to the boxes in my apartment.”
    “How sneaky can we possibly be?” Logan asked. “I would think there’d be cameras everywhere in here.”
    “There are,” Erin said, looking around and trying to spot one.
    “But they know I’ve scanned in, and I’m green in their system. Just walk with purpose, and with any luck they won’t second-guess us ’til we’re gone.”
    Logan bit at a hangnail on his thumb. “Are you at least going to tell me what it is we’re doing here?”
    “If I did, you’d chicken out.”
    Erin slinked off to the right, opening a door and slipping into Room 113B. Logan scrambled behind her.
    It wasn’t much bigger than a closet, but the sight of the space stopped Logan cold.
    Erin smiled with relief. “Bingo.”
    “Erin, what exactly are you planning?”
    “If we’re gonna do this,” Erin said, “we need to stock up on the right equipment.” She had depleted the stash she’d had in her apartment that afternoon just by learning how to use it.
    “Do what?” Logan asked, refusing to grasp the insanity of Erin’s unfolding plan. “Erin. Seriously, do what , exactly?”
    Erin grabbed indiscriminately at the shelves and drawers, filling her backpack and lining her pockets with what she now knew as bug tape, surveillance powder, flash pellets, taser beans, smoke bombs, pepper spray, chloroform . . . all the stuff she’d experimented with earlier, and more. She threw a handful of paraphernalia at him and smiled a wicked, knowing, beautiful smile. “Catch Peck tonight,” she said. “What else?”
    “Erin!” Logan shot a harsh whisper her way. “Are you nuts? This is totally illegal! We’re not vigilantes. We’re certainly not DOME agents. Put all this stuff back, and let’s get out of here before we get caught!”
    “Not a chance,” Erin said.
    “Erin, I’m just a kid. And so are you. We’re not spies.”
    Erin zipped her backpack and threw it hurriedly over her shoulder. She shrugged. “We are now.”
    6
    The elevator ride out of the building was tense, and Logan could feel himself sweating the whole way, but they made it. Soon Logan and Erin were speeding down the sidewalks of Spokie with a priceless amount of tactical espionage equipment in their pockets.
    “You don’t seem to understand,” Erin said once they were far enough away from the Umbrella. “This is a war. DOME’s the biggest thing Lamson and Cylis have going, and any threat to it is a direct attack against them. Do you want another Total War?”
    “Of course not,” Logan said, exasperated.
    “I know you didn’t ask to be on the front lines of this thing, Logan, but you are . They