No Escape (9 page)

Nothing personal. She’d been gone three weeks, and no one had missed her. Noa knew it should make her feel sad, but it was oddly gratifying. It meant she was leaving a tiny footprint, which was exactly what her goal had been.

Lacking those personal connections was inconvenient now, though. She’d had a foster family a few years ago that had been okay, or at least less awful than the others. She wondered how the Wilsons would react to her showing up on their doorstep....

As she was debating it, an email popped into her account. She recognized the handle, Vallas, but frowned at the message. Had this been sent accidentally? She hadn’t graced a school in over a year, ever since she figured out how to game the system. Yet the email mentioned a term paper.

Curious, she responded with,
Sure. See you there
.

She closed out her email and logged on to The Quad, an online forum populated entirely by hackers. Tough to find if you didn’t know where to look for it, since it was shielded from all the search engines. You had to be invited to participate, and it was a fairly exclusive community; only the best of the best were asked. Noa had been thrilled when the offer to join came in. One of the only times in her life when she’d really felt like she belonged.

Online, Noa went by the handle Rain. She’d become curious about her name a few years earlier and nosed around into the origins of it. It turned out to be a relatively common Scandinavian name. One site claimed it derived from Odin; in Denmark “Noa-skeppet” and “Oden-Skeppet” were used interchangeably to describe a type of cloud formation that meant rain was coming.

She’d always liked rain anyway, not being much of a sun person. So it suited her.

She waited until Vallas appeared as a user, then invited him into a private chat and typed,
What’s up?

Need help researching AMRF
, Vallas wrote.

That was strange. She mainly knew Vallas from a hacktivist group she frequented, /ALLIANCE/. She generally shied away from that sort of thing, not being much of a joiner. Most were focused on pulling off juvenile pranks anyway, or were downright criminal, and she had no interest in drawing the attention of law enforcement. But /ALLIANCE/ seemed different. Some of what they did struck near and dear to her heart, like when they went after perverts and bullies. So she’d participated in a few of their raids over the past few months.

Still, with everything she had going on right now, she wasn’t about to get involved with someone else’s vendetta. She was busy enough with her own.

Sorry, no time
.

A pause, then Vallas typed,
It’s important. I can pay you
.

Noa was about to respond that she didn’t need money, then hesitated. Actually, that’s exactly what she needed. But she needed it now. Western Union would ask for some sort of ID before handing over cash; otherwise she’d initiate a transfer from her own account. But based on some of Vallas’s posts, she knew he was a local kid—a couple of times he’d referenced things only a Bostonian would know about. Still, that didn’t necessarily mean she could trust him. Dare she risk it?

It has to be cash
, she typed.
Tonight
.

A longer pause before he wrote back,
How much?

A thousand to start
.

I can get you $500
.

Noa smiled—that would be more than she’d need to get her through the next day. And barring any bank screwups, she’d be able to access her own money again by tomorrow or the day after at the latest.

Fine
, she wrote.
Where should we meet?

Peter signed off and closed the phone. He’d logged on to The Quad with his cell since he figured it would be more secure than using Bob’s computer. At least in theory it would be harder for anyone to access the information, especially since he was on a forum created by some of the best tech minds in the world. The Quad was the online equivalent of a medieval fortress.

Still, he was nervous about meeting Rain in person. He wasn’t even sure how old Rain was, or if he should expect a male or female. He kind of assumed it would be a guy, based on the /ALLIANCE/ demographic, but these days you never knew. They’d agreed to meet in Back Bay Station by the burrito cart. This late it would probably be deserted.

He grabbed his ATM card and headed out. It took forty-five minutes to get there, mainly because he had to stop to withdraw the maximum daily amount to pay Rain. Five hundred dollars was a lot to ask for, but Rain was easily one of the best hackers frequenting /ALLIANCE/. Maybe even better than him, he was forced to admit. Plus Peter had the cash. Bob and Priscilla were kind of clueless about money, so his allowance was way more than what most of his friends got.

Peter was more concerned about how Bob would react if he wasn’t back home by the time they returned, so he drove into town rather than take the T.

He parked in a lot nearby and sat there for a second. This all felt very cloak-and-dagger, meeting a stranger late at night in a train station for a payoff. A small part of him was thrilled by it all. It had definitely turned out to be a more interesting night than he’d expected.

He checked his watch; they’d agreed to meet at ten thirty, and it was a little before that. Peter got out of the car and crossed the street to Back Bay Station.

A few homeless people were huddled near the entrance under makeshift shelters crafted from shopping carts and ragged, smelly blankets. Peter gave them a wide berth and tried to walk with a confident swagger. He wished he’d worn something other than his fleece and jeans; he felt hopelessly conspicuous and out of place. Where he lived was technically part of the city, but in reality it was more of a sheltered suburb. He’d been spending more time in Boston proper since Amanda started school at Tufts, but even then they mainly hung out on campus. This felt different, and Peter was suddenly hyperconscious of the wad of hundreds in his wallet.

He shook it off, drawing himself up straight. This was Back Bay Station, not some dark alley. There had to be cops around; he just wasn’t seeing any.

Peter walked in the front doors and stopped. It was cavernous inside, much bigger than he remembered. He had no idea how to find the burrito cart where they were supposed to meet.

The tiled floor echoed under his feet as he wandered around. He went to a few of the platforms, but only saw a handful of exhausted-looking people, most staring at the ground, each clearly in their own world. No one who seemed to be waiting for someone.

Back upstairs, he walked the length of the building, then took out his phone to double-check the time. Nearly eleven. He was frustrated, ready to give up.

“Vallas?”

Peter turned. He hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but it wasn’t this. Facing him was a girl with raven hair and enormous blue-green eyes. She looked like she was his age, or maybe a little younger. Pale skin, to the point where in this light she almost glowed. She had a MacBook Pro box tucked under her arm.

Despite the crazy outfit she was wearing, she was gorgeous. He swallowed hard to fight the sudden dryness in his mouth.

“Rain?” he managed.

“Would anyone else call you Vallas?” she asked, blatantly examining him. Peter got the distinct feeling that he wasn’t what she’d expected, either, and not in a good way. “What’s a Vallas, anyway?”

“It’s the name of my avatar in WoW.”

She gave him a blank look. “W-O-W? Like, wow?”

“No, not wow.” Peter felt slightly silly as he explained, “World of Warcraft.”

“The video game?” Her eyebrows arched.

“It’s an online multiplayer role-playing game,” Peter said defensively. Lots of the chat threads on wikis and image-boards were devoted to WoW discussions; he’d deliberately chosen the name /ALLIANCE/ for the site because he knew people would recognize the reference and rally to it. Pretty much every hacker he knew spent hours every day enmeshed in the ongoing battle between the Alliance and their evil counterparts, the Horde. Every hacker but one, Peter realized with consternation, judging by her reaction. “I’m a Night Elf,” he finished lamely.

“Interesting,” Rain said, looking bored. “You brought the money, right?”

“Yeah, it’s here.” He glanced around before pulling out his wallet. The few people there didn’t seem to be paying any attention to them. He quickly handed her the cash, and she tucked it in the front pouch of her sweatshirt. “Brought you this, too,” he said, handing her a flash drive. “In case you didn’t have an extra one.”

“Thanks.” She tucked it in the same pouch, then abruptly turned and started walking away.

“I’m not some huge WoW geek,” he explained, falling in step beside her. “It just seemed to fit.”

“Uh-huh,” she said. “So what’s AMRF?”

“I’m not sure. But I hacked into their database tonight, and a half hour later a bunch of guys broke into my house.”

That stopped her. She turned and examined him curiously. “Were they dressed like security guards?”

“Nope. All in black, like commandos or something.”

“Oh.” She abruptly lost interest. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a link. They’re working on something called Project Persephone. If you want, I can text it to you.”

“I don’t have a phone,” she said.

“Seriously?” Peter was flabbergasted. He didn’t know anyone their age who didn’t have a cell phone.

“I prefer email.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll email it to you, then.”

“Whatever,” Rain said.

They were standing in front of the station now, facing the parking lot. Peter couldn’t shake the feeling that she was trying to get rid of him as quickly as possible, and he suddenly got nervous. How could he be sure she wouldn’t screw him over, just take the cash and go? Suddenly, he felt like an idiot for giving it all up front.

“You’re really going to do this for me, right?” he asked.

Rain’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Well, five hundred dollars is a lot of money, and I don’t even know you.”

“If I say I’m going to do something, I do it,” she said. “That’s all you need to know.”

She started walking away.

“Hey, wait. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean … can I give you a ride somewhere?” Peter called after her.

Rain didn’t answer; she just kept going without looking back.

Peter watched until she turned the corner and disappeared. He walked back to his Prius feeling annoyed. There were other /ALLIANCE/ members he could have gotten to do this—probably for free, too. He’d gotten too swept up in the moment, and should have stopped to reconsider the minute she asked for money. Now he just had to hope that she came through and didn’t cheat him.

He didn’t know why she’d gotten him so flustered, either. He had a girlfriend, and Amanda was arguably even better looking. Peter glanced at his watch—he’d have to hurry to get home before Bob and Priscilla. He shoved the strange girl out of his mind and broke into a jog as he headed back toward his car.

Peter Ellenby

Michelle Gagnon
has been a modern dancer, a dog walker, a bartender, a freelance journalist, a personal trainer, and a model. Her bestselling thrillers for adults have been published in numerous countries and include
The Tunnels
,
Boneyard
,
The Gatekeeper
, and
Kidnap & Ransom
.
Don’t Turn Around
is her first novel for young adults. You can visit her online at www.michellegagnon.com.