Authority, page 8
part #2 of The Tracker Sequence Series
“More like a movie. I’d struggled to find those words before, but it’s always felt like I was watching it happen through someone else’s eyes.”
“Thanks. That’s very helpful.” Dad shot up from the bed without another word and was out the door, nodding at me to follow him into the hall.
When I arrived, Dad looked at me with tired but serious eyes. “Watch him, but if Harlow stops responding to you, don’t get too close or try to stop him. Get a hold of me immediately. Understand?”
I nodded. It was hard to argue when his tone was so serious.
“What does it mean?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“Nothing good.”
“Don’t leave me in the dark again. Tell me what’s going on.” I stomped my foot like I used to when I was a frustrated little kid, but I didn’t care. I wanted answers, not more secrets.
“I think someone is exploiting the loophole. They’re mind-controlling Harlow, forcing him to do things against his will, then making him forget they ever happened. These things he’s seeing like movies are actually flashbacks, residual memories buried deep down and resurfacing when his subconscious is most active. I’ll need some tests to confirm, but I’m almost certain.”
I didn’t understand how he could know that from a few quick answers, but I nodded my head. Bailen had said the exact same thing. If two smart people said it, the likelihood that it was correct was growing.
I asked one of the million questions swirling around in my head. “Is he dangerous?”
“When he’s awake, no. But when he’s being exploited… it’s hard to say. Keep an eye out for signs, and if they come up, keep your distance. If you get in the way, things could get ugly fast.”
A lump formed in my throat. So, it was safe to be around Harlow until it wasn’t. We couldn’t let him go through this alone, but I also couldn’t put myself or others in danger. We needed to know who was behind this to stop it. “How are they accessing the network?” I dared to ask.
Dad shook his head. “I don’t know, but Harlow could be the key to unraveling that very mystery. I sure as hell intend to find out.” He rushed into his room without another word.
I turned to Harlow, but he was already back to sleep, likely worn out from the nightmare and screaming.
I plodded back to my room and found a note on my pillow from Lydia. Emily ok. Talk more in the morning. I sighed in relief and collapsed into my bed, listening to Lydia’s quiet breathing beside me. Sleep did not come for some time, though.
The next morning, Dad was gone by the time I woke up, probably already at the Coderie even though Saturdays were his day off. I crept out of my room and propped open Jake’s door. Harlow’s long, slow breaths caused his chest to rise and fall. Good. He hadn’t run off somewhere, and he was still in control. I made my way to the kitchen to pour myself a bowl of cereal.
“Oh, no you don’t.”
I jumped and looked up to find Lydia in the doorway with her arms crossed. “Huh?” I said through a mouthful of food.
“What is going on?” Lydia glared at me like she was about to tear me to shreds.
I chewed the rest of my food slowly, then swallowed hard, trying to find the words. It didn’t matter how I said them, it wasn’t good. But Lydia hadn’t been involved the last time, so I wasn’t sure where to start. It wouldn’t matter. She’d be there for me.
“We’re not sure yet, but it sounds like someone is exploiting the tracker loophole. We won’t know for certain until we can study Harlow’s tracker.”
“How?”
“I wish I knew, but the Ghosts will get to the bottom of it.”
Mom stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a yogurt from the fridge. “Your father left in the middle of the night for the Coderie.”
I nodded. “And Emily?” The rest of the night came flooding back to me. Fear settled in my gut.
“I called over to check on her again first thing this morning.”
“And?” Mom really was going to make me pull this out of her, but the expression on her face said it all. Despite Lydia’s note, this wasn’t good.
Mom grabbed my shoulder, then sat in the chair next to me. “Emily is okay now, but she was attacked. They don’t know by who, but it was minor cuts and bruises and a few stitches. She’s back with her uncle and doing fine.”
I sucked in a breath as my mind swirled. Lydia shot me a look filled with the same question I was slowly asking in my head. Did Harlow do this? And if so, when?
But then I remembered his night terror flashback, and how I found him in the closet. The timeline was coming together. If Harlow did this, first he was mind-controlled, then he attacked Wes, then Emily, and then I found him in his parents’ closet with blood on his hands. He didn’t remember he’d attacked Emily until late last night.
My mind spun. Despite all the evidence, I didn’t want it to be true.
The question was, why would whoever mind-controlled him go after Emily? Maybe she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She did live down the hall from Harlow.
But it all seemed a little too convenient. Why harm a little girl? Especially one that didn’t have a lot of people in her life. The only possible connection seemed to be me. But if that was the case, why not just come after me? As plausible as the timeline seemed, the motivations didn’t line up.
And as much as I wanted to check on Emily, I wondered if that would put her in more danger. I’d call her later, just to be sure.
“I guess we’d better wake Harlow and go to the Coderie. It’s the only way we might get some answers.” I spooned several large bites into my mouth, then dumped my bowl into the sink and headed back to my room with Lydia on my heels. Lydia and I dressed in record speed. I swiped the USB drive off my desk and shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans before braving my way across the hall.
I tapped lightly on the door and was met with a groan. I glanced back to Lydia with my best I need backup look. She nodded. I flipped on the lights and stepped into the room.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
Harlow snorted but said nothing. At least he hadn’t completely lost his sense of humor.
“You ready for this?” I stepped into the room to show him I was serious about getting going.
He grabbed a spare pillow and slammed it over his head with a loud huff.
Only one way to solve this problem.
I raced across the room and jumped on the bed, yelling “EARTHQUAKE!” like he used to do to me. He, of course, learned it from Jake and knew it annoyed me, but I figured a little lighthearted payback might soften the mood.
Harlow didn’t move, but the next thing I knew, he swept my foot out from underneath me and I landed flat on my back on the bed. “Oh, no you don’t!” He pinned me to the bed by my arms, and our eyes met. He looked at me with an intensity that I hadn’t seen since before we broke up. I froze, trying to catch my breath.
Lydia cleared her throat loudly. “I thought we had somewhere to be this morning.”
“Right.” I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
Harlow released my arms. I slid off the bed. Our eyes locked for longer than usual. The real Harlow was still in there, still worth saving. I just didn’t know how we were connected anymore.
I stepped toward Lydia but didn’t take my eyes off Harlow. “I’ll let you freshen up, but we’re leaving in five minutes.”
“Got it,” he said, barely audible, as if everything had finally flooded back and he’d buried the real version of himself again.
I pulled the door shut behind me.
Lydia elbowed me. “Cut that tension with a knife.”
I turned my back so she couldn’t see my extremely conflicted face.
Less than twenty minutes later, we rounded the corner toward the Coderie and stepped inside the windowed storefront that sat street level. The room was just as we’d left it after our coding competition—long card tables with computer stations set up—but no one was around. It wasn’t completely unusual for a Saturday morning, but the quiet hum of the machines left an eerie sense that something bad was about to happen.
I motioned for Lydia and Harlow to follow me behind the counter to the long hallway, where there were a few offices and the back stairs to the basement.
“Hello?” I called out, hoping someone might be hiding in the back.
Bailen appeared at the top of the stairs like he’d been waiting for us. “We’re all set. Come on down.”
Next to me, Harlow’s muscles tensed, but Lydia grabbed his hand. “Come on, Harlow. Let’s go see what this is all about.”
I let them pass. Bailen made his way up the narrow hallway, past Lydia and Harlow. When they disappeared down the stairs, he threw his arms around me and lifted me up so we could kiss, then held me there for a few moments to stare into each other’s eyes before placing me back on my feet.
His eyelids drooped more than usual, but he otherwise seemed his usual self.
“You’ve been up all night.” It wasn’t a question. I knew he hadn’t slept.
“I took a power nap, but we’ve been up since your dad arrived.” He looked down, alluding to the fact that there was more he wasn’t saying. It was bad.
“Just spit it out.”
“Your dad thinks there might be a backup network or some sort of redundancy we missed, and someone is using that as a back door to access the loophole in Harlow’s tracker.”
“How? I communicated with every single one of those satellite links. That box was dead when we left.” But something I thought was an illusion the night we brought the network down pricked my memory. A blue light I thought was my eyes adjusting to the darkness. Maybe it was something more, something we never could have anticipated. I should have mentioned it, even though it seemed like a fluke. Could I have avoided some of this pain for Harlow?
“What are you thinking?” Bailen asked.
“I thought I saw something in the cabinet that night, a flash of light after the server initially died. But I was tired and injured so I thought I was seeing things. Do you think this could be related to what I saw?”
Bailen shook his head. “Let’s not jump to conclusions until we have more answers.”
His calmness and unwillingness to make rash decisions was reassuring. Now that we knew there was a problem, we could collect the right data to back everything up.
Bailen held out his hand. I laced my fingers through his, following him toward the basement steps. At the top of the stairs, I pulled him back to me.
He smiled at first but then saw the worry on my face. “Now it’s my turn to ask you: what’s up?”
“Have you talked to Emily this morning?” I swallowed hard, the guilt washing over me for not calling immediately after Mom told me.
“No, why do you ask?”
I opened my mouth to tell him but then thought better of it. If he had to help Harlow, he wouldn’t take kindly to knowing Harlow had done something to her, even if he may not have been in control when he did it. “It’s nothing, just wondering how she’s doing since we left her yesterday.”
“All this craziness has you worried about those you care about, huh?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I mumbled as Bailen started down the basement steps with me right behind. I couldn’t help but worry, even if Mom said her injuries were minor. Emily must have been so scared. But I had to focus on what was happening with Harlow if we were going to stop this.
When I rounded the corner into the equipment room, the padded lounger was in the middle of the floor. Harlow was already seated in it, with his legs dangling over the side while Jeremy hooked up the discs to his temples and the base of his neck.
The setup resembled the Hive, the original Ghost hideout, only the space was a lot tighter. Fewer computers, but more people all staring at Harlow, packed in tight because the Ghosts never anticipated needing this equipment again. I shuddered as memories of my time in that chair flooded back. Everyone thought I was either going to save them or self-combust.
Bailen withdrew his hand from mine and headed toward the computer terminal with three large monitors. I stepped beside Peyton, who was whispering with Ava. Was that a laugh that just escaped her lips?
Across the room, Peyton and Bailen’s dad, Mr. Overland, chatted with my dad. He’d told me to call him Myles, but calling him by his first name was almost as weird as seeing him with my dad. They were two people cut from opposite sides of the same technology. Mr. Overland wrapped up his conversation with Dad, then rounded the outside of the room, stopping beside me and reading my expression. “Brings back memories, huh?”
I nodded, afraid that if I said anything, the words would come out shaky.
Mr. Overland squeezed my arm. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out just like we figured out your mess. He’s in good hands.”
I nodded again, knowing that was true, but kept my eyes on Harlow as he leaned back in the chair and Jeremy draped the wires over him so they wouldn’t tangle. Lydia stood by Harlow’s side, periodically squeezing his hand. Almost how Jake and I had intertwined our pinkies when they’d examined my tracker. I should have been over there with him, but instead I rocked on my heels, feeling powerless. Was this really what it had been like before?
Jeremy moved behind the bank of monitors with Bailen at his side. They both got to work typing commands and checking the settings.
“We’re all set. Let’s get started,” Bailen said over the monitors.
“You’ll feel a little tingle, but you shouldn’t feel any pain,” Jeremy added to smooth out Bailen’s abrupt bedside manner.
Harlow closed his eyes and laid still. His breathing slowed like he was drifting off to sleep. He had to be worn out from reliving those horrors over and over again.
Before I knew it, data started appearing on the screens. Jeremy and Bailen typed in commands periodically. Dad stepped up and pointed to a few peaks on the graphs that were plotting. Jeremy and Bailen nodded along. I watched their faces for clues of what they were seeing, but they all had blank expressions, like they were the world’s greatest poker players. Based on the things they’d seen, nothing fazed them anymore.
They all nodded again as if coming to some sort of an agreement. Bailen entered one last command. The hum of the machine slowed to a quiet lull. Just as anticlimactic as the last few times I’d sat in the chair.
It took everything in my power not to rush to Bailen’s side and bombard him with a million questions. Especially since Jeremy left a vacant place while he helped Harlow remove the wiring.
I shoved my hands in my back pocket to stop myself from doing something stupid, and my right hand brushed against the USB drive. With everyone distracted, now was the perfect time to go investigate. As much as I wanted to hear the preliminary findings of Harlow’s tracker signal, I needed to explore this drive more.
I bolted up the wooden steps, skipping over the creaky one, and raced down the hall and around the counter to plop in front of the first terminal. The main room was still empty. Perfect. No one to bother me.
I shoved the drive into the slot and booted up the computer. My heart pounded louder than the processor. I entered in a couple of commands to pull up the contents of the drive. A single file stared back at me, daring me to open it. I sucked in a breath and input the command to access the file. To my surprise, a lot of white space appeared surrounding three dark words.
Beware the loophole.
Nine
This had to be some kind of sick joke. What did that even mean? The package had come for Jake, but that didn’t answer the question of who’d sent it. The cryptic message didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know, or at least what we already suspected. The question was, how? How was this all possible? Why had someone sent a drive that only had three words on it? It didn’t make sense.
I disconnected the drive and shoved it back in my pocket, then rounded the desk toward the back hallway and nearly ran into Bailen.
“Where’d you go?” he asked.
“Bathroom.” I stared over his shoulder, hoping he couldn’t tell I was hiding something. “What did you find on Harlow’s tracker?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
Bailen pulled me into one of the small offices cluttered with boxes and a broken-down loveseat. He plopped onto the cushion, sending dust into the air, then patted the seat next to him.
After closing the door, I flopped next to him, laid my head in his lap, and hung my legs over the arm of the couch. Bailen ran his fingers through my hair.
“There’s definitely something active on Harlow’s tracker. And it’s talking to something.”
“What though?”
“That’s the question of the hour. There’s no network active that it should be able to talk to.”
Chills raced up my spine. First the message on the drive, now the confirmation that there was some sort of active network. “What does my dad think?”
“He suspects the same thing. Someone made a backup plan. My dad confirmed that suspicion as well. But none of us are sure where they’re hiding it. The signal has numerous layers of encryption, so it might be impossible to trace.”
“And Scurry?”
“Still in the same hole we left him.”
Bailen stopped twirling my hair. I looked up at him. “How are we going to figure out who’s doing this?”
He leaned down and kissed me. I ran my fingers through his wild hair and down his neck. His breath caught in his throat before the kiss deepened. I pulled Bailen closer. I couldn’t get enough of the kiss. I needed to forget the world around me. He lifted my head from his lap and stretched out next to me. It was nice to have these few moments of peace.
I rolled to face him, and he pressed his forehead to mine. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply as we wrapped our arms around each other. Our breaths fell into sync. When he finally sat back from the embrace, leaving too much space between us, a sense of emptiness flooded me. Hopefully, there would be answers to fill that void.
