Swipe

space for games. Eddie had a soccer ball from the sports section, and the three of them kicked it around while they talked more privately. Meg sat in the corner, tied to a pipe, not moving or blinking. It wasn’t long before Joanne joined them.
    “Hey, Jo,” Blake said, kicking the ball to her. “What’s the good word?”
    “Today we regroup,” Joanne said. “When you’re ready, Peck wants to speak to you.”
    Blake suddenly became very nervous. “He here now?”
    “No. Can’t risk it after last night. You hear he went back after we’d all come home?”
    “Why’d he do that?”
    “Wanted to scope it out. See what Logan and that chick left behind.”
    “Sounds risky,” Blake said. “He shouldn’t be out on his own right now with things as they are.”
    “He knows that, but he had to see what we were up against. ‘Laying a trap’ wasn’t specific enough for him, I guess. Anyway, I gather you haven’t heard what he found when he went back.”
    “You’re the only one who could have told me.”
    “Surveillance powder.”
    Blake frowned. “Never heard of it.”
    “He says DOME’s been using it to follow him for a few months now. It’s this new stuff—nanotech—like microphone dust, apparently. DOME fills a place with it and then they can listen to you as long as they want. You can’t stumble across it, you can’t find it.”
    “How’d he figure that out?”
    “Peck’s an observant guy. Anyway, water cleans it right up if you know where to look for it. He thinks he got it all, but he’s not sure. So stay away from the playground from now on.”
    “Well, that sucks,” Tyler said.
    “Deal with it.”
    “Wait a second.” Blake was beginning to understand the breadth of their new problem. “What you’re saying is that Logan’s new girlfriend has access to DOME-grade equipment.”
    “Not just DOME- grade . It’s the real stuff. Straight from DOME.”
    “She’s a kid. That’s not possible. They have kid agents now?”
    “Who knows how she got it. Or who she is.” Jo clucked her tongue. “But we got a new player in town.”
    “Well, what do we do now? Give up?”
    “We can’t. Before yesterday, Logan was a problem. But we had the advantage. Last night the tables turned.”
    Eddie chimed in. “So I say we forget about the little miser. Let him go—he won. He’s not worth getting caught over. Let’s just move on to another kid already.”
    “That’s not the point, Eddie.” Jo kicked the soccer ball to him. “The point is, Logan’s gone from being a problem to being a threat. He’s tipped off to us now, and instead of falling into our little setup, he went straight to DOME.”
    “How’d he know to do that? How’d he do that?”
    “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that we stop him before he stops us. The stakes just changed. The game just changed.”
    “So what’s the plan?” Blake asked.
    “We redouble our efforts.”
    “But, Jo, he saw me. He saw my face. I need to lie low.”
    “I know that.”
    “Then what now? What do we do?”
    “Peck’s at the warehouse until tomorrow, collecting his thoughts. He’s asked you to visit him tonight.” She sighed. “And that’s precisely what he wants to talk about.”
    4
    “Hey, Dane!” Logan called out in the Arctic Wing at the end of the day.
    Dane looked at him. He didn’t say anything back to Logan.
    “I still wanna see you ride that rollerstick! Think your dad’ll start it up for us?”
    “Not for you,” Dane said. He shook his head, as if Logan had said the least considerate thing in the world.
    Logan frowned. What was this about? Was Dane mad at him? “Hey, man, everything okay?”
    “Whatever.” Dane shrugged.
    “Wait, what’d I do?”
    Dane stared at Logan a moment before letting out two years’ worth of pent-up jealousy all at once. “It’s not enough to have all the attention of the new girl, huh? You gotta claim Hailey too?”
    “What?” Logan asked, genuinely confused.
    “I saw you set up your little date with her today,” Dane said. “Real smooth.”
    Logan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Dane, look, first of all, whatever that thing is with Hailey, it’s not a date. And second of all, Erin’s only even interested in me because . . . well, listen, it has nothing to do with her liking me, all right? Also, why do you even care?”
    Dane shook his head. “You honestly never figured it out, did you?”
    “Whoa, dude, back up.” But upon hearing this, Logan