Sneak (Swipe Series)

ain’t yours, even if it’s empty.”
    “But how would DOME know?”
    Andrew laughed. “This huddle around you? We’re the ones still out here, the ones who got away. Now, why do you think that is?”
    Logan shrugged.
    “It’s ’cause we’re the careful ones. DOME’s thinking two steps ahead these days, so it’s our job to think three. Now, the way I see it, we can’t be sure those buildings aren’t smoky with that electronic chalk dust DOME’s always using to spy on us. Whaddaya call it? Surveillance powder. All it takes is one building filled with the stuff for DOME to hear us walkin’ around inside, and then it’s just a matter of time before they’re banging down the doors and dragging us away. But the underpass”—Andrew swept his arms out around him and smiled at Logan—“the underpass is safe. It’s open. It’s ours.” Andrew dropped his arms and shrugged. “For now, that is. Whether or not they’re admitting it, DOME’s rules have changed. Join Cylis and get Marked or die, am I right? One by one, if they have to—they’re cleaning us out.”
    Logan’s mouth went dry. “You, uh . . . you have any idea why that is?”
    “Sure,” Andrew said. “Simple. Little band of skinflints poked the sleeping giant.”
    “A little band of . . .”
    Andrew laughed. “Look, Mr. Slog Row, do yourself a favor and try not to lie to me. There’s no way you don’t know this story.”
    Logan sat with his knees tucked up against his chest. He buried his chin into the edge of the blanket wrapped up around his shoulders and stared intently into its worn fabric. Thirty feet away, Bridget leaned against the next row of overpass pillars, arms crossed, one leg tucked up, totally still, just watching.
    Andrew glanced at her and laughed. “I know Bridget says you’re new at this, kid, but you can’t honestly think I’d believe that you’ve never heard of the Dust.”
    Logan sat still.
    “The Dust? You know, Peck’s group? Come on; you must have heard of Peck.”
    “Rings a bell . . . ,” Logan said, swallowing hard.
    “He’s been famous for years! The guy’s, like, our biggest recruiter—our only recruiter, probably. Like a, uh—whaddaya call it?—a Robin Hood–type.” Andrew laughed. “You know, stealing kids from the rich and giving them to the poor.”
    Bridget walked over to Andrew, joining in on the conversation by hitting him squarely on the back of his head. “Don’t say it like that! Makes it sound like he’s kidnapping ’em. That’s exactly what DOME wants people to think.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Andrew said. “I just like the thought of it, you know? Sure, the kids wanna go. I know that. Sheesh.” Andrew rolled his eyes.
    “You ever met him?” Logan asked.
    “Me? Nah. Guy’s a ghost. Doesn’t poke his head out for hardly anyone.”
    “So, uh . . .” Logan bit his lip. “Where do you think he is now?”
    Andrew shrugged. “Probably dead.”
    “Dead? Why dead?” Logan asked a little too quickly.
    “Boy, you really have been underground these last few weeks.”
    Logan nodded.
    “Well, listen, who knows what’s really going on, right?”
    Logan shrugged, leading him on.
    “But from what I heard, Peck bit off a little more than he could chew. First he botched some kidnapping at a battle of the bands in September, which got DOME mad enough to justify all the street cleanings. Then—get this—the poor miser doubled down. Tried to recruit a kid so nuts-o that the flunkee actually went straight to some DOME agent’s daughter, ratted Peck out, sabotaged his own Pledge, attacked his Marker’s nurse, and then escaped .”
    All the cold of a mid-December night, and Logan began to sweat. “What, um . . .” He cleared his throat. “What makes you think all that?”
    “You kidding? It’s all any of us are talking about. Kid’s, like, a legend.” Andrew elbowed Logan’s blanketed arm playfully. “He’s a dead man walking! If DOME doesn’t get him, the Dust will soon enough. But what are ya gonna do?” Andrew shrugged. “Rumors and hearsay, that’s all it is. Just a little bit of laughs for the dark days.”
    Logan wiped a few beads of sweat from his hairline and smiled nervously at Bridget, who continued to stare at him silently.
    Through Andrew’s whole story, she hadn’t looked away once.

    That night, Logan slept lightly, waking what must have been every twenty minutes. On one side of him, buildings crumbled and waited for renovations that would never