Branches clawed at his arms. His legs burned, and his backpack thumped over and over against his back. He didn’t look back. Didn’t stop.
Mom told him to run. So he did.
He didn’t know where he was. The trees all looked the same. He ducked under a low branch and kept going. His chest hurt.
His cap flew off once; he grabbed it and shoved it back on. Then it flew off again.
He almost stopped. Almost. But he couldn’t. He had to keep running.
The woods were quiet, so quiet. He was scared. Scared for himself but mostly for his mom. He needed to think.
He didn’t hear any footsteps, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t there. Maybe he was sneaking up on him like the bad guys did in the movies.
Where was he supposed to go? What if he got lost? Couldn’t find help? Or a wild animal ate him? He’d die out here alone, and his mom would be sad.
No, he couldn’t think about that.
He tripped on a root and fell hard. He tumbled down a small hill and landed next to a big tree that had fallen over. It was covered in moss with some bushes growing around it. His knee stung, and his hands were scraped. But he didn’t cry.
He crawled behind the log, pushed his backpack off, wiggled in until he was hidden and curled up small.
Maybe the man wouldn’t find him. Maybe he’d keep going.
Slowly, Luke lifted his head and listened.
Silence. No heavy footsteps chasing him. Nothing.
He peeked through a tiny hole in the branches. He could still kind of see the road.
His cap was gone. His mom was gone. And now he was lying in the woods, trying not to cry.
Where was Mom now? Was she okay?
What if no one found him? What if Finn didn’t know?
He squeezed his eyes shut. He wouldn’t cry. He had to be strong for Mom and his dad. He stayed like that until his muscles ached and his throat felt dry.
He didn’t know what time it was or how long he should wait. But he wasn’t moving. Not until someone came.
Finn would come. He had to.
CHAPTER 45
Finn stoodbehind Dex in the Brotherhood control room, arms crossed, eyes locked on the screen. Dex was hunched over the workstation, fingers tapping rapidly as he scrolled through the south perimeter camera footage.
“Do you see who breached the perimeter?” Finn asked.
Dex rewound the feed, eyes narrowing. “There,” he muttered. “Camera glitched right before the alert hit. Look. Two frames missing.”
He froze the footage and went through it slowly.
A figure appeared in dark clothing, hood up and face mask pulled high. They moved fast and low like they knew the layout. One second they were between the buildings, the next, gone.
“Probably used a signal jammer,” said Dex. “Or they already knew where the cameras were blind.”
“I thought we covered every angle,” said Finn. “So how?”
Dex didn’t look away from the screen. “Whoever it is, they’re either trained, or someone on the inside is feeding them intel.”
