Sneak by Evan Angler Read Free Book Online Page B

They have scouts everywhere now.”
    “Well, you’re safe here,” Mama said. “And we want you to
    stay. At least until you’re able to find that Langly boy.”
    Eddie snorted. “Can we all just admit right now that wait-
    ing around for Logan is a terrible idea? Please? This is getting ridiculous.”
    “We’ll find him,” Peck said. “I know Hailey can do it.”
    “Hailey. I remember her. The girl who’d visit the Fulmart,
    evenings and weekends,” Mama said.
    Peck nodded. “That’s right. She was with her mother when
    DOME ambushed the warehouse, so she’s still in Spokie. Goes to school, walks around town . . . they haven’t arrested her yet.”
    “Yeah, because DOME’s hoping she’ll lead them straight to
    us!” Blake said.
    Peck shrugged and spoke again to Mama and Papa Hayes.
    “Never underestimate DOME. That said, I believe we’ve covered
    our tracks well enough. There’s nothing Hailey’s doing that would bring DOME to the farm. I actually think there’s a good chance DOME will lead us to Logan.”
    “Peck, snap out of it !” Jo said.
    Peck smiled at the Hayeses. “My friends here aren’t too excited about my plan—”
    “Because it’s suicide,” Blake interrupted.
    “—but I’ve requested that Hailey befriend Erin Arbitor, the
    daughter of the man who was brought here to capture me.”
    Mama Hayes nodded, considering this.
    “With their resources, DOME will find Logan,” Peck continued. “And I have a feeling Erin will be the first to know about it when they do. If we can get Hailey close enough to her, we might 43
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    just be able to latch onto DOME’s investigation—and beat them
    to the punch.”
    “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Papa Hayes
    said.
    “And hope in the meantime that Logan isn’t too far behind.”
    “Okay, and then what?” Eddie demanded. “The kid’s a walking DOME magnet.”
    “He’s in danger. We are helping him.”
    “Yeah, and we tried that already. It nearly got us all killed.”
    Blake put his spoon down. “Eddie has a point, Peck. Sticking
    our necks out for Logan after what he’s put us through . . . I just don’t see what good it does us.”
    “Lily,” Jo said, bitterly. “How many times do I have to say it?
    This whole thing’s about Lily. Peck, why won’t you just admit
    that?”
    “It’s bigger than Lily,” Peck said.
    “No, it isn’t! So just say so! You and Logan are exactly alike—
    you’d both happily trade every last one of us to have her back!”
    “I would not!” Peck said.
    “Admit it!”
    “That’s enough!” Papa hit the table with the palm of his hand.
    “This is exactly what DOME wants you to be doing. Chancellor Cylis has taken our rights, our freedom, and our dignity. He has divided us against our own families and friends with nothing
    more than a Mark. If we turn on each other now, what do we
    have left?”
    The room was still for some time.
    Finally, Mama Hayes pushed her chair out from the table, col-
    lected the breakfast plates from everyone around her, and said,
    “The day is wasting. There’re chores to be done.”
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    4
    Logan’s head swam with exhaustion. He’d spent the night out on his own, sleeping in a gutter several blocks from the huddle, just to be safe. He didn’t know if he could trust Bridget. But he had to know what she was up to. He had to know what he was up against.
    Only then, he told himself, could he properly decide what his
    next steps should be. Off to the bakery? Back to the woods?
    The landfill was below him. Logan was lying flat against
    hard rubble, peering just slightly over the edge of an old building, through a gap in a crumbling wall on its third floor. It was a good vantage point, and well hidden. If this really was a trap, he’d at least be one step ahead of it.
    Bridget arrived just after daybreak, just as she’d said she
    would. She was alone. Logan