Don't Let Go (8 page)

He wondered what Mom would think if she saw him now, hiking through the woods in search of a shadowy internet renegade.

She’d probably think the same thing as always: that he was a loser. His parents had made their feelings for him abundantly clear, especially after his brother died. As far as they were concerned, the sun rose and set on Jeremy. After losing him, they barely bothered to say good morning to Peter.

Peter forced back the memories. He’d left home for a reason; his parents were conspiring with Charles Pike, and as far as he was concerned, they were every bit as guilty. Among other things, finding Loki represented a chance to access files proving their culpability.

He and Noa entered a spindly stand of trees at the edge of a field. The evergreens were at least fifty feet tall; underfoot, a thick carpet of pine fronds muted their footsteps. Peter stopped and stared up: above the swaying treetops, glimpses of a cerulean blue sky. The atmosphere was hushed, like a cathedral. It didn’t seem like the sort of place where you’d find a world-class hacker, and he was starting to seriously question whether he’d found the right IP address after all. If Loki wasn’t here, he and Noa would be forced to keep running, while Teo and Daisy went off on their own. The thought made him want to sink to the ground and stay there.

Noa was walking closer to him now. Breaking the silence, she asked, “Are you sure this is the right place?”

Peter shrugged. “Pretty sure. Loki bounced off a bunch of VPNs, but they were usually the same ones, at least when he accessed /ALLIANCE/.”

“Okay.” Her voice had lost that angry edge, he noted with relief. Maybe she’d forgiven him already.

The nice thing about being with Noa was that he didn’t have to convert everything into layman’s terms, the way he did with Amanda and pretty much everyone else. She knew exactly what he was talking about: A VPN, or virtual private network, was a good way to protect your identity and data from everyone else on the internet. It was kind of like crawling into a secret tunnel, where most people could only tell where you emerged; your starting point was hidden. But there was a way to track it back. VPNs were most easily accessed by using a gateway close to your home city; and in Loki’s case, that had been Denver. Once Peter narrowed that down, he’d hacked into the VPN provider’s database (no mean feat, especially on an archaic Dell in a public library); then he double-checked the time and date stamps of users until he’d landed on an IP address that matched up with when Loki logged on to /ALLIANCE/. From there, it was easy; lots of sites let you do an instant IP address search, and usually they could pinpoint a computer’s location to within a mile or so.

Of course, if Loki was half as paranoid as he came across in posts, there was a good chance he’d taken extra precautions to hide his IP origins.

Peter sighed. Just once, he could really use a break.

“Look,” Noa said, stopping dead. “There’s something over there.”

Peter followed her pointing finger. Up ahead, through a break in the trees, there was a glint of light on metal.

“That’s got to be it!” Peter said excitedly. “C’mon!”

A small structure jutted out of the ground at an angle. They hurried over to it. As they got closer, Peter’s heart sank and his steps slowed. “It’s just a sign,” he said, disappointed.

Noa’s face was unreadable. “Let’s see what it says.” The time outside seemed to be doing her some good; she wasn’t dragging the way she’d been lately, and there was some color in her cheeks.

Noa brushed away the grass covering it and read, “Warning: U.S. Air Force Installation.”

Peter’s eyes skimmed the rest: It was full of typical military bluster, threats about how trespassers would be handled and the right to search any visitors. Which seemed to stand at odds with the appearance of the sign itself; it was warped, rusty, and pocked with bullet holes. “Well, I don’t see any sign of the Air Force.”

“Still, I don’t like this.” Noa’s green eyes looked concerned. “We haven’t had great luck with government bases.”

“Good point,” Peter agreed. And he couldn’t imagine why a hacker would voluntarily go within a hundred miles of a military base. He eyed their surroundings uneasily. Aside from the metal gate at the entrance, which had been easy enough to climb over, they hadn’t seen any security. But abandoned bases were a favored location for Project Persephone’s secret labs.

“We should find the others,” Noa said, keeping her voice low. “And get back to the car.”

Peter bit his lip, wanting to argue. They hadn’t finished walking their grid yet. Teo and Daisy hadn’t reported in, either, which meant they probably hadn’t found anything. Giving up now, when he’d been so convinced they were in the right place, just felt wrong. “Just a little farther,” he pleaded. “To the other side of those trees . . .”

Noa was already shaking her head. “No, Peter. It’s too dangerous.”

He was about to argue when they heard a loud
BANG
. They both spun around. “That sounded like a gunshot,” Peter said.

Noa’s jaw tensed. “It came from where we sent Teo and Daisy.”

Teo’s ears rang as he stumbled back, simultaneously shoving Daisy behind him. The guy had fired his gun into the air before they’d even had a chance to answer him.

“Last warning,” he growled, pumping the slide of the shotgun to reload it. “So you better get moving.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Daisy cried out. “We weren’t doing anything!”

The man was standing uphill, with the sun at his back. Teo squinted against the glare and swallowed hard: The guy was huge, at least six-five. He had a frizzy brown beard that started beneath a pair of dark sunglasses and extended all the way down his chest. Dressed in full camouflage gear and a trucker’s cap, he aimed the shotgun straight at Teo’s chest. “You’re on my land, kid. I’d be well within my rights to shoot you right here.”

“Just take it easy!” Teo protested, raising his hands. “We’re not armed.”

“Bullshit you’re not,” the guy scoffed. “That’s a Taser on your belt, ain’t it?”

“We were hiking, and got lost,” Teo stammered. He felt Daisy quavering behind him, her hand on his back.

“And the Taser?” he asked skeptically.

Teo frantically tried to come up with an explanation. “Bears?”

“You were gonna tase a bear?” The man’s eyebrows shot up over his glasses. “Son, you ever seen a black bear?”

“No, never.” Teo felt a wave of relief; he seemed to be buying it.

“Tasing one’ll just piss it off.” The shotgun lowered a few inches, now targeting the area right below Teo’s waistband. Which really didn’t make him feel better.

“Wow, thanks. We didn’t know.” Teo nodded vigorously. “So I guess we’ll just get going now, off your property. Sorry about that, we didn’t realize—”

“Are you Loki?” Daisy piped up from behind him.

The guy visibly tensed. The shotgun zoomed back up as he growled, “Where did you hear that name?”

“Listen,” Teo said desperately. “We don’t want any trouble, really.”

“Who sent you?” The guy stepped menacingly closer. “The NSA? CIA?”

“What? No.” Teo almost added,
That’s crazy
, but under the circumstances it seemed like a really bad idea. “We’re here with friends, and they said they knew you.”

“Friends?” Loki said dubiously, as if the concept was foreign to him.

“Yeah, Noa and Peter. Listen.” Teo gestured to the radio hanging off his belt. “I can call them, so you can hear for yourself.”

“Touch that radio and I’ll blow your hand clean off.”

Daisy made a small noise. Teo threw her a look that he hoped was calming and said, “Okay. Do you want to try them?”

Loki shook his head fiercely and snarled, “You think I’m nuts? You could have a whole team standing by.”

“There’s no team, just two other kids—”

“No!” Loki roared.

From behind him, someone called out, “Do you really think the government would have sent a couple of teenagers?”

Startled, Teo turned his head. Noa was standing twenty feet away, hands held high to show she wasn’t armed. “Chill, Loki.”

“How the hell do you all know my name?” he bellowed, swinging the gun from side to side like he couldn’t decide where to aim it. “I want some answers, now!”

Teo swallowed hard; Loki didn’t seem all that stable, his eyes were wild and his hands shook.

Noa seemed unfazed, however. Sounding more like herself than she had in months, she said firmly, “Just calm down, Loki. We came here to find you. I’m Rain, from /ALLIANCE/.” Gesturing to Peter, she added, “And this is Vallas.”

“Since when are you Rain and Vallas?” Teo muttered. Peter waved for him to stay quiet.

“What do you want?” Loki demanded. The gun was still raised, but at least he wasn’t waving it around like a crazy person anymore.

“Can I come closer?” Noa asked. “I’m unarmed.”

“That’s what your friends said.” Loki shook his head. “No one moves. Now who the hell are you, really?”

Daisy clung to Teo, both arms tight around his waist. He clasped her hands, cursing himself for listening to Peter. They should have left last night; he should have trusted his gut. After everything they’d been through, he and Daisy might be shot in the middle of nowhere by some freak.

“I contacted you on The Quad last October,” Peter piped up. “When I was going to brick Pike & Dolan’s servers.”

“A lot of people know about that,” Loki said. “Doesn’t prove anything.”

Peter and Noa exchanged an uncertain look, and Teo’s heart sank. Was it possible they’d never even met this guy before? And what was up with the fake names?

“The pedophile case in Greenwich,” Noa finally said. “We worked together on that.”

Loki tilted his head and said, “Tell me how.”

“How what?” Peter asked.

“How did we get him?” Loki snarled.

“I posed as a twelve-year-old girl and chatted with him while you sent his jpegs to the local cops,” Noa said. “Anything else you want to know?”

The shotgun lowered a fraction of an inch. Loki stared at them for a beat, considering. Finally, he said, “So you are who you say you are. Doesn’t matter. How the hell did you find me?”

“I, uh . . . tracked your IP address,” Peter said. “Sorry.”

Teo held his breath, braced for another gunshot. Based on Noa’s reaction earlier, this wasn’t something hackers took well.

“You
what
?” Loki sounded genuinely perplexed. “Seriously? Not cool, Vallas.”

“I know, and I’m really, really sorry.” Peter spoke in a rush. “We wouldn’t have come, but we need your help.”

Loki scowled at them. “I can’t help you.”

“Please, man,” Peter said. “Look, I know this started off kind of weird—”

Loki grunted and waved an arm at them. “Just get off my property, before I really do shoot you.”

“You have to help us,” Peter said. “Please.”

“I warned you, Vallas,” Loki said. “Bricking that server was a bad idea.”

“It’s more than that!” Peter protested. “They’re experimenting on kids.”

“So go to the cops,” Loki said dismissively. “That’s not my problem.”

“The cops are part of it.” Peter threw up his hands. “They have people in the FBI, the NSA. . . . Hell, probably everywhere!”

Loki’s eyes glimmered. Slowly, he said, “So you’re saying there’s some sort of massive government conspiracy?”

“Hell, yeah, that’s what I’m saying!” Peter was practically shouting.

“Ho-ly crap.” Loki scratched his beard with his free hand, keeping the gun tucked under his armpit. “You’re Persefone’s Army.”

Noa looked startled, but she said, “We are. Or, well . . . we were. Just give us ten minutes to explain. After that, if you still want us to leave, we’ll go.”

Loki stared at the ground contemplatively; the sun was setting behind him, casting his face in shadow. For a minute he looked like a Paul Bunyan statue, with a shotgun in place of an ax. Finally, he sighed and said, “Ten minutes. But if I don’t like what I hear, I’m still reserving the right to shoot you.”

Peter kept his mouth shut as they followed Loki through the woods. Teo and Daisy were murmuring back and forth, probably debating whether or not to run for the car.

In spite of everything, Peter felt validated. He’d been right, Loki was here. And hopefully once they’d explained the situation, he’d agree to help.

They’d already hiked nearly a mile, deeper into the forest. A small clearing appeared through the trees. In the center was a shed, ramshackle and practically falling down. It was just ten feet by five feet, the kind of thing you’d store gardening supplies in.

“Home sweet home,” Loki mumbled.

“You live here?” Peter asked incredulously. Seeing the corners of Loki’s mouth turn down, he hurriedly added, “I bet it’s nice inside.”

Loki shook his head, then unclasped an enormous padlock and hauled open the door. It creaked slightly, carving a groove through the dirt. He ducked his head as he stepped inside. Noa glanced back at them, then followed.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Teo said in a low voice, pausing on the threshold.

“Sure,” Peter said, hoping his voice conveyed more conviction than he felt. “Loki’s a great guy. Me and Noa have known him for years.”

“Really?” Teo said. “You use fake names with all your friends?”

“It’s a handle,” Peter explained. Seeing Teo’s skeptical look, he said, “What, you think Loki’s his real name?”

Teo still looked disgruntled, but he disappeared inside, with Daisy right behind him. Peter drew in a deep breath and stepped into the void.

It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, then his jaw dropped. A flight of rough concrete stairs led straight down. “What the hell?” he muttered.

He could hear the others’ footsteps descending. The air wafting up the stairwell was cold and reeked of rot. Peter swallowed hard. He wasn’t a big fan of close spaces. But then, he wasn’t a big fan of letting his friends get shot, either, and he’d led them here. Tentatively, he stepped onto the first riser.

“Close the door!” Loki bellowed from below. “And lock it with the crowbar.”

Through the gloom, Peter spotted a crowbar lying beside the open door. He grabbed it and wrenched the door closed, then fitted the crowbar across two iron beams. With the light cut off, he could barely make out the stairs behind him, and the sound of the others was growing fainter. Suddenly spooked, he hurried down the stairs.