“How did you—”
“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you better stay the fuck away from me.” She backed up a step, but didn’t run away. If anything, she suddenly looked determined to stand her ground. And, as if to make sure Connor understood that, she kept her finger pointed at him like it was a weapon. She turned to Olin. “Who are you?”
“I’m, uh—”
Before he could respond she was on to her next question, this one once again directed to Connor. “How did you find me, anyway?”
That wasn’t a question Connor was going to answer. But he figured he’d better say something before Olin did, and he was tired of being on the defensive. “How did you know about Matt?”
“That’s what you’re here about?” Dylan made a face. “Have you heard of something called the dark web? I can find out anything I want there. I was just trying to make sure you stayed away from me.”
The dark web. Of course. Connor should have realized that from the beginning. If he hadn’t been so wrapped up with everything that was going on, he would have.
“I figured you didn’t want anybody finding out what you had been up to. I thought if I let you know I knew who your dad was, you would stay in your lane.”
Connor suddenly felt overwhelmed. He remembered proposing to Olin he might be Matt’s son. But he had said it in passing, hadn’t actually taken it all that seriously. He shook his head. “That’s got to be a mistake.”
Dylan looked over at the boy she was with. He was slouched over in his chair, occupied with his phone. “I gotta go. I won’t tell your dad what you’ve been up to if you won’t tell mine, okay?”
“He’s not my dad.”
She turned to leave. “Have you ever seen your birth certificate?”
Connor wasn’t sure how to respond. Of course he had. Matt’s name wasn’t on it, which was part of the reason he hadn’t seriously considered the possibility before.
The hacker was finally back in. He typed a series of commands. Hesitated. This was it. His middle finger hovered over the Enter key. There was no going back once he hit it.
He looked down at the half-finished cup of coffee beside him. His hands balled into fists. Then, in a quick series of events and without hesitation, he slammed his fists down on the table, finished the last of the coffee, and hit the Enter key.
Done.
Before Connor could decide how to respond, or if he even should, the mall was plunged into darkness. And for two long seconds, that darkness was accompanied by an equally unnerving silence. Shoppers had frozen where they were. The whiz and whir of so many machines had stopped. The escalators and elevators had ground to a halt.
Connor pulled out his phone and hit the flashlight app. He noticed other people, including Olin and Dylan, were doing the same.
The roar of excited conversation that had filled the mall just seconds before returned now as one of annoyance. “It’s 1977 all over again,” someone said, referring to a blackout that had darkened most of the city. Connor hoped he was wrong.
Dylan huffed. “That’s just great. The perfect end to a perfect evening.” She shined her light toward the boy she had come with. He was already on his feet, heading toward her, fighting against a sea of people who were all trying to get to the escalator.
Then Connor saw a man coming their way and moving faster than the rest. He was looking every which way but where he was going, so it was no surprise when he ran straight into Dylan’s friend, knocking him to the ground. He didn’t stop to help the boy up or even apologize. He just kept pushing people out of his way. But he didn’t go to the escalator, like everyone else. He went through a door that led to a stairwell.
A few shoppers saw where he had gone and followed, seizing on the opportunity to get out of the mall more quickly.
Dylan rolled her eyes. “Jerk.”
The boy got to his feet while shoppers continued on around him.
Somewhere outside—a boom. No louder than the kick of a bass drum within these walls, but Connor noticed. The boy did, too. He instinctively turned his head toward the sound.
“What was that?” Olin said.
“Hello?” Dylan held out her hands and gestured at nothing in particular. “Power generator, probably. I swear, sometimes I think everything in this city is falling apart.”
CHAPTER 40
Minutes earlier, Logan had been sitting at the table in the food court, watching the two boys as they got up and followed a redheaded girl toward the escalator. He slurped the last of the Coke out of the paper cup, put it back on the tray, and slid the tray to the other side of the table. He wondered what the boys wanted with her. Was she their sister? Had she snuck out of the house and their mother had sent them to find her? That seemed improbable.
Oh, to hell with it. What did he care? He just needed that damn hacker to do his job.
He watched as the boys caught up with the redhead, and then saw the three of them move together out of the flow of traffic. The boy she was with took a seat at a nearby table.
Logan imagined a conversation that fell in line with his theory that they were siblings.
Mom’s going to kill you.
Whatever.
You shouldn’t disrespect her like that.
Whatever.
You’re coming home with us.
Whatever.
Finally, the mall went dark. He immediately forgot about the strangers’ lives he had turned into his own personal soap opera. He unzipped the backpack by his feet, reached in, and felt around the device inside until he found a switch. He had practiced this move several times in his apartment, so even working in the dark, it took him only a couple of seconds.
Logan zipped the backpack up, placed
