Luke sat still for a minute, tempted to ignore it. It probably was Jason, but so what? If he was having a secret meeting without Luke, why should Luke care? It wasn’t Like Jason’s gang ever planned anything real, anyway.
But Luke did care. If Jason’s gang was going to help third children, Luke owed it to himself — to his family, to Jen, to Jen’s dad — to take part.
Luke eased down to the next step. And the next. And the next. He kept clutching his book because he didn’t want to make any noise putting it down. Yet he wondered if he should be making noise, acting normal, so he could come upon the secret meeting casually, “Oh, hi, guys— didn’t know you were down here. Can I help?”
There was nothing normal about walking around Hendricks in the middle of the night Luke stayed quiet.
When he rounded the corner of the second flight of stairs, he could begin to distinguish words. The only person who seemed to be talking was Jason. Nothing new about that. Luke crouched behind the half-wall that surrounded the stairs. He listened closely
“But it’s too soon!” Jason was pleading.
Luke risked a peek over the banister. Maybe Trey was there, and would call out, “Hey, Lee! Glad you’re here! I was hoping you would come!”
But Jason appeared to be alone.
He was talking into a small portable phone. At least, that’s what Luke thought it was. He’d never seen one before, except in sketches. in his science textbook.
Jason was facing the other way, so Luke kept watching and listening.
“I told you. There’s no danger in waiting!” he exclaimed. “They’re just sitting ducks!”
Jason was silent, listening. He turned slightly and Luke caught a glimpse of the side of his face. Jason’s expression was set, dead serious. Luke thought about all the times he’d seen Jason joking, joshing, prodding, mocking. Luke wouldn’t have thought Jason could be 100 percent serious about anything. He seemed like a different boy.
Frightened, Luke ducked out of sight.
“I’ve got four and she’s got two,” Jason said. “But I could have more by the end of the week.”
‘Well, I don’t know about Nina,” Jason said. “You’d have to ask her. But she says girls are harder to recruit.”
Girls? Luke thought he’d solved his puzzle. Jason was making plans for some action against the Government— something like the rally but safer, Luke hoped. He was telling someone how many boys and girls — how many exnays— were available to help. ~cept… the group that met in the woods had nine boys now, with Luke, and five girls.
Hadn’t Jason told Luke once that the whole group wasn’t brave enough yet to be subversives? Luke wondered whom Jason was counting and whom he was leaving out. Trey was pretty timid. So were several of the others.
What about Luke? What if Jason wasn’t including Luke because Luke hadn’t gone to the meeting in the woods that evening? Or because he knew that Luke was secretly the biggest chicken of all?
Luke started to stand up, to say, “Wait! Count me in!” His legs were quivering, but he could make himself be brave. He’d have to.
Jason had his back turned to Luke again. He was practically snarling into the phone now.
“You want names? All right, I’ll give you the ones I have. Antonio Blanco, alias Samuel Irving. Denton Weathers, alias Travis Spencer. Sherman Kymanski, alias Ryan Mann. Patrick Kerrigan, alias Tyrone Janson.”
Jason was saying the boys’ real names. Luke was so thrilled, he couldn’t speak. If only he’d told Jason his real name. He could just imagine hearing, “Luke Garner, subversive for the cause, coming to the aid of third children everywhere.” Forget the alias. It didn’t matter.
Jason shifted his portable phone in his hand, and Luke had a terrible thought What if Jason~s phone was bugged? Then Luke realized something even worse: Since it was a portable phone, the Population Police didn’t even have to bug it. Luke had learned in science and technology class just last week that portable phones sent out messages indiscriminately Didn’t Jason know that? All the Population Police needed was a receiver.
And of course they had one. They had everything.
Luke rushed out from his hiding place and took the last flight of stairs in two leaps. He had to get the phone away from Jason before he accidentally betrayed another boy’s identity. Jason still had his back to Luke. He was saying indignantly into the phone: “Of course I’ll get the others to tell me their real names. They’re just cagey. They do trust me. They don’t have any idea I work for the Population Police.”
Twenty Seven
Luke had his hand inches from the phone when Jason’s words registered: “. . I work for the Population Police.” Luke’s hand and arm kept going, even though his mind was suddenly frozen. He watched his hand as if it belonged to someone else. His fingers grasped the phone, jerked it out of Jason’s grip, and threw it to the ground. Then someone’s foot — no, Luke’s foot, acting as independently as his hand — stomped on it.
Jason whirled around.
“You!” he spat.
Luke’s frozen mind was struggling to thaw. Strange facts were emerging from the ice. Jason worked for the Population Police. That’s why he hadn’t cared about using a portable phone. He wasn’t organizing subversive activity against the Government. He was turning in the exnays.
“You’re an informer,” Luke whispered.
Jason’s eyes narrowed, calculatingly. Luke instantly saw his mistake. Why hadn’t he played dumb? He could have pretended he hadn’t heard Jason’s last sentence. He could have acted hurt that Jason was leaving him out. He could have begged for a dangerous assignment.
It wouldn’t have been too hard to act dumb. Until two seconds ago, he had been.
“Now, Lee,” Jason said cautiously. He seemed to be trying to decide how to play things. Was Luke going to get, “Oh, don’t be silly. What would make you think that? Why would I turn anybody in when I’m an exnay, too?” Or, “So you know the truth. That’s it. You’re dead”?
Jason took a step toward Luke. Luke clutched his history textbook like a shield. Jason came even closer.
And then, without thinking, Luke whipped the book out and swung it at Jason’s head with all his might.
Jason crumpled. Knocked sideways, he tried desperately to regain his balance. Luke swung again.
This time, Jason fell backwards. His head hit the stairs with a loud
He didn’t move.
Twenty Eight
Luke hardly dared to breathe. He held his book high over his head.
Jason still didn’t move.
What if Luke had killed him?
Luke knelt down and put his hand in front of Jason’s nose. Very, very faintly, he felt bursts of air every few seconds. Jason wasn’t dead, only knocked unconscious.
For how long?
Luke wasted time staring at Jason’s motionless body. Luke wouldn’t have wanted to be a murderer, but everything would be easier if Jason were dead.
Luke could kill him now.
Everything in Luke recoiled against that notion. Jason was the worst kind of fake — an informer, a traitor,
