The Fugitive by Pittacus Lore Read Free Book Online

figured you’d be smarter.”
    Dammit. I should have thrown my burner out. How could I have been so stupid?
    I wonder if they’ve read all my old texts on that phone. I try to think back on my conversations with GUARD. Shit—they must know I’m also JOLLYROGER182.
    I never should have responded to those texts from the burner.
    “I don’t know what you’re—” I start.
    “Save it for the interrogation,” the man says. His lips curl up in a satisfied grin.
    The word “interrogation” sparks something in my brain, and I start a desperate attempt to get out of this thing. I sigh loudly, shaking my head.
    “Do you have any idea what’s really going on here?” I ask, taking a step towards the man talking to me. I can see his finger tighten around the trigger, and I swallow hard and try not to shit my pants. “I’m working undercover for Agent Walker’s team. She recruited me in Paradise. I’m tracking a . . . cyberterrorist. The whole thing with the computer was to prove I’m not working with you guys. You’re going to blow my damned cover.”
    I can see something in his eyes that tells me he’s actually entertaining this idea as possibly being true. Still, he doesn’t lower his weapon.
    “Agent Walker has been out of contact with the Bureau for days. She’s being labeled as a traitor to—”
    “You have no idea what happened in Dulce,” I say, cutting him off. “Purdy’s dead. Walker’s taken her team underground to do some . . .”—I struggle—“dark-black ops work.”
    I pray that “dark-black ops” is a real thing.
    The agent’s smile fades, and I can see some of the others looking back and forth at each other in my peripheral vision. The thing is, it would probably onlytake, like, one phone call to find out that I’m totally bullshitting them. I need to get out of here as fast as I can.
    Still, acting like a total badass around these guys pumps me up. I’m starting to feel a little bit like my old self again. Like when I was hassling freshmen or tripping new kids at Paradise High. When no one would dare mess with me.
    “Where’s Walker now?” the agent asks.
    There’s a hint of a smile on his face, and I crumble as I realize that even if he is buying my story, if the government thinks Walker’s a traitor, this agent is probably imagining all the awards and honors that’d be handed to him for hauling her in.
    “That’s classified information,” I say, trying not to let my voice waver.
    “That’s fine. I have a feeling you’ll de classify it very soon.” The agent nods to one of the others. “Get him out of here.”
    That’s when I see the big, black van parked at the other end of the warehouse, near a metal loading-bay door.
    “Wait!” I practically scream as two of the agents grab my arms. I try to shake them off, but one of them digs a gun into my back. The other pulls my messenger bag off my shoulder and hands it over to someone else. I can’t believe they’re going to get their hands on mycomputers, my notes, that weird grenade. . . .
    “Save it, kid,” someone says.
    “No,” I say. My mind is racing. Even if I wrestle free from the agents holding me, there are too many here. There’s no way I’m making it back to my truck. Not without something crazy happening.
    So I get a little crazy.
    “There’s a homing beacon,” I say. “In my bag. An emergency signal in case I got pinned down. All you have to do is press it, and Walker will be here within the hour. She’ll back my story up.”
    The leader looks at me, then at some of the other agents. After a few seconds, he walks over and grabs my bag from another suit.
    “It’s, uh, Mog tech, so it looks kind of weird,” I say as he starts rummaging through my stuff. I note that he doesn’t look confused at all when I say “Mog.” Of course not. He’s using their guns, after all. I wonder if he hasn’t realized that they’re the real bad guys yet, or if he just doesn’t care.
    Finally, he pulls