Sneak (Swipe Series)

hours as the head manager of a nanomaterials plant outside of town. But that changed when Mr. Phoenix passed away, and ever since, Hailey’s mom had made ends meet by working her own long hours on the same factory floor once managed by her husband. Though Mrs. Phoenix never once complained, Hailey knew that her mother’s job was a difficult one, made worse by the constant exposure to nanodust, which had given Mrs. Phoenix an awful, chronic cough.
    Tonight, Hailey went straight to the kitchen sink, turned on the faucet, and let the white noise of the running water drown out the spasms of her mother’s dry choking. She stood there for a full minute, hands braced against the countertop, just staring out the kitchen window. Finally she grabbed a pot and lit the stove to boil some water for lentils to eat with her mother. But when she put the pot on the stove and turned the faucet off, the familiar coughing again filled the empty, quiet space.

    “My favorite,” Mrs. Phoenix said when she sat at the dinner table twenty minutes later. “Thank you, honey.” She chewed and swallowed gingerly. “So how’s Erin? Any news?”
    “Erin’s good.” But Hailey put her spoon down. “Suspicious, though. She’s careful, no doubt about it.”
    Mrs. Phoenix nodded. “And how was your walk?”
    “Refreshing,” Hailey said, and Mrs. Phoenix knew what that meant. She extended her hand across the table and put it lightly on Hailey’s.
    Each of them knew that these days, anything they said might very well be used against them, given Hailey’s connections with the Dust. They’d never found evidence of bug tape (an electronic adhesive used to record and transmit sound to DOME’s headquarters), but their house was dusty enough that a bit of surveillance powder was always a possibility. So Hailey and her mom had long ago decided that their mother-daughter conversations were best kept as vague as possible, and it was a rule they’d yet to break.
    “Thanks, Mom.” Hailey said, smiling just slightly. “Hey, I’m starting a new sculpture tonight.”
    “Oh yeah? That’s great! It’s been a little while.”
    “Yeah,” Hailey said. “Figured it’s time to get back into it.”
    Hailey was a gifted artist, particularly with sculpture. She could turn garbage into anything, and this was good, since in Hailey’s neighborhood, garbage was just about all she had to work with.
    “Any idea what you’re going to make?”
    “Yes.” Hailey winked. “But you’ll just have to wait and see.”
    “I’m very proud of you,” Mrs. Phoenix said, unable to say more for fear of who might be listening. “You’re doing just great. I want you to know that.”
    “I’m not sure I am, Mom.” Hailey sighed. “My team’s down for the count, and I still don’t see a way not to lose.”
    “You’ll find it,” Mrs. Phoenix said.
    But Hailey shook her head. She no longer believed that was true. And in her frustration, Hailey decided finally to break her own household rule. “DOME’s winning,” she said. Then she laughed, and her mom watched wide-eyed as Hailey leaned far back and said loudly into the powdery air, “You hear that, DOME? You’re winning.”
    Mrs. Phoenix couldn’t stop coughing after that.

THREE

THE SETUP
    1
    T HE SMELL IN THE STABLE WAS STRONG AND natural, a far cry from the smells of Slog Row, where the Dust used to live. Jo opened the doors, and Blake scrunched his nose as he and the others filed in.
    “This it?” Eddie asked, shuffling through the straw stalks on the ground.
    “This is it.” Jo nodded. “Welcome to our new home.”
    Already Tyler had made his way onto the upper beams of the enclosure, tiptoeing across one of them with his arms out. “New game!” he called, faltering a little and waving his arms wildly to keep his balance.
    “So, what? We all just pick a horse and bunk up?” Eddie walked to a stallion at the stable’s end and waved his hands in its face.
    “Pretty much,” Jo said. “The livestock’ll throw off any heat detectors or satellite pictures, and their noise should distract longrange mic surveillance from picking up any of your lousy snoring.”
    Behind all of this, Tyler quietly lost his footing and fell into a pile of hay.
    “You all right?” Blake asked without much concern.
    “I won.” Tyler groaned.
    “Let’s just try not to kill ourselves before DOME gets the chance, hm?” Jo said, checking to make sure Tyler was okay. “You’ll ruin everyone’s