Tracker220

by Jamie Krakover

  “Sure.” He put me down but let me lean on him as we left the server room.

  Dad darted into the hall. Bailen reached out and took Emily’s hand, guiding her toward Scurry’s office.

  When we reached the hallway, I rested my head on his shoulder and gave into the exhaustion seeping into my body.

  Thirty-Eight

  After the tracker network crashed, I spent days in bed with no shortage of visitors. Mom and Dad, Bailen, Lydia, and even Peyton came from time to time. They all had to make sure I was on the mend.

  Once we got off the twentieth floor, it hadn’t been too hard to slip past the authorities at Global Tracking Systems. They were too busy scrambling to figure out what had happened to the tracker network to notice our group. It hadn’t taken Peyton and Jeremy long to figure out the authorities were preoccupied. They slipped their binders with a piece of code Jeremy embedded into the stolen tracker chips and blended into the chaos.

  The Ghosts had started to rebuild the Hive almost immediately. It wasn’t finished yet, but it was coming along. With Scurry in a secret prison and his plans revealed to the world, we didn’t need to hide anymore. But the Ghosts made sure that Scurry would never be found. Everyone thought it too risky to leave his punishment to whatever new system popped up so they leaked to the news that he’d gone missing after the technology malfunctioned. The news ran with it crafting all kinds of stories of sabotage and not wanting to answer for his mistakes.

  I flipped on the radio on the table next to me. With the satellites down, the world scrambled to find some form of communication to stay connected. The reports sounded much like the past week. Looting. Crime. Thousands of missing people. Mass hysteria. It was like people forgot how to function without a tracker. Maybe taking down the tracker network hadn’t been the right decision. I didn’t know anymore.

  A knock at the door drew me away from the radio. I turned it off.

  “Come in.”

  The door swung slowly and Harlow’s head peeked around it. I blinked. It was the first time I’d seen him since Scurry’s office. His torn jeans were in better shape than the dark circles under his eyes.

  “Visiting hours haven’t started yet.” It sounded stupid. I didn’t have visiting hours, but I didn’t know what else to say. It was the most I’d said to him since he’d chased me down on the bike.

  He shut the door behind him and stepped up to the bed. “I think we should talk.”

  “About what?” I knew exactly what, but the words failed me.

  Harlow sat in the chair next to my bed but said nothing. He stared at the floor like he’d lost the state championship five times in a row.

  I waited for him to speak, but after the silence persisted for a long while, I asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Those things Scurry made me do.” He shook his head, like he was trying to get things straight in his mind. “I keep replaying it in my head. At least the bits I can remember. Some of it feels so foggy and blank. Other parts I saw as it was happening, but no matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t control myself. He made me into a robotic monster, forced me to do all these horrific things. Things I can’t even make sense of.”

  It wasn’t what I’d expected when I’d asked the question. “It’s not your fault.” I reached for his hand but pulled back. I didn’t know where our line was anymore, but for the first time, I confirmed I’d made the right decision about the tracker network. Harlow’s expression told me everything I needed.

  “He was going to make me kill that girl.” He lifted his head and finally looked me in the face. “And after that girl, he would have made me kill you, too. I never could have forgiven myself.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I repeated. I didn’t know what else to say. “Bailen told me—”

  “Yeah, that guy. You ditched me for him?”

  There was the conversation I’d been expecting but was still so unprepared for. “It just kind of happened. I tried to wait…” I shook my head. “Everything was a mess. I just…” I didn’t know how to explain it.

  “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  I nodded. I’d run from everything I’d known before anyone could do anything. But as much as I knew he meant well, he couldn’t have helped me. “You didn’t exactly wait around, either.”

  “Would you believe me if I blamed it on Scurry and the tracker hack?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Didn’t think so.” He frowned, like he was disappointed his weak lie hadn’t worked.

  “You and I…” I paused to collect my thoughts. “We’re headed in different directions. We want different things.”

  He let the silence hang in the air like dead weight.

  “I’m not sure we were ever on the same path,” I said.

  “That’s harsh.”

  “But you know it’s true.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  My choices had hurt him. But I hadn’t known the right path for me until I’d found myself already on it. And despite all the mistakes, most things felt right, even if the world was a messy place.

  Without another word, Harlow rose from the chair, went out through the door, and was gone without saying goodbye.

  A small hole formed inside me. I didn’t know if I would see him again, and that was a strange feeling. But it was for the best. And with time, I’d stop thinking about him, worrying about what he might think. But I’d never forget him.

  Less than a minute later, Lydia glided past the open door in a cute top and jeans and plopped onto the foot of my bed, her long ponytail bouncing. “What’d Harlow want?”

  “He just wanted to talk.”

  “Oh?” Her eyebrow arched.

  “Not like that. We’re…” I sighed. “It’s complicated.”

  “I see,” she said, instinctively knowing I didn’t want to talk about it.

  “What about Troy?”

  “I ditched him when he started making nasty comments about you being too chicken to deal with consequences. I knew if you ran off, it was for a good reason. But don’t ever scare me like that again by not answering me! Let me know what’s going on.”

  “I tried, but there aren’t exactly any carrier pigeons around here.” The memory of the same conversation with Jake warmed my heart.

  “So when can I spring you from this dreadful place?”

  “Thursday, I think.”

  “Perfect!”

  I eyed her with caution. She had that devious glean. The one she got when she wanted to drag me somewhere with some sort of ulterior motive. The kind that almost never ended well. The last that time she’d done, I’d ended up in my current mess. Although it wasn’t really her fault. It just seemed like the radio wave generator and my tracker malfunction had been linked at the time.

  “Oh no you don’t. Doc told me to take it easy,” I said.

  “But there’s a Ghost celebration at the club. You have to come.”

  I shook my head. “Even if the doc said yes, I doubt my parents would let me.”

  “Would let you do what?” Dad asked, standing next to the partially cracked door. His appearance had returned to his usual—clean-shaven and dad-like.

  Lydia whipped around and tried her puppy-dog face on him. “Mr. Weiss, you have to let Kaya come to the Ghost party. They’re going to honor all the big players in the tracker takedown, and seeing as Kaya was the—”

  Dad held up his hand, silencing Lydia.

  “Lydia.” He shook his head as she continued the pleading expressions with a slight sniff every few seconds for added affect. His serious appearance faded into one of complete helplessness. “You girls will be the death of me,” he said. “Fine. Kaya can make an appearance. But only for an hour.”

  Before I could protest, Lydia squealed and launched herself at Dad. “Thanks, Mr. Weiss. You won’t regret it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure I will. Especially when her mother finds out. But if I could have a word with Kaya…”

  “Sure thing.” Lydia wiggl
ed her eyebrows at me then scurried from the room, giggling to herself.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I said sarcastically.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I was being…” I blew out a breath in exhaustion. “Never mind. You still have some serious explaining to do. Big time!”

  Dad sank into the chair next to my bed. He’d been avoiding the conversation until I was well enough. At least he’d been nice enough to confirm that Peyton had sent a side mission to rescue my parents, Myles, and some of the other captured Ghosts while everyone else was gearing up for the final mission. But that story only held me over for a short time. I was sure Dad knew I wasn’t going to let it slide forever. But where did I even start?

  Before I could think of the right question, he said, “It took me sixteen years to steal secrets and funnel them onto your chip. If I accessed too much data at once or searched it too close together, they would have been on to me. I had to work tasks that allowed me to access each piece of the puzzle.

  “With each upgrade to the tracker network, I loaded small packets of data onto your tracker through the loophole I implanted on your chip as a baby. There was no other way to sneak things out of Global Tracking Systems without getting caught. Any large downloads would have alerted the authorities.”

  “And in sixteen years, you couldn’t have told me once?”

  “I’m sorry I never told you. You have to know if I had, it could have risked everything and put you in grave danger. The authorities watched everything. They even listened in on conversations.” He sighed as if collecting his thoughts. “I regret the position I had to put you in but there was no other way. Your mother begged me not to get involved, not to put anyone in the family at risk. But we all already were at risk. And once she saw what was happening with the technology and the dangerous decisions being made, she reluctantly agreed.”

  He was right, of course, but it didn’t make it any easier.

  “I know I have a lot to answer for. When your tracker malfunctioned ahead of schedule, I panicked. The code that had been implanted on it was a rush job. There must have been some errors. When the authorities showed up the night your tracker went offline, it was clear I had to act. Even though I still had information to steal, I got word to Jake so the Ghosts could pull you out. Hardly any of them knew I was the mole inside Global Tracking Systems. No one could know I was involved. Least of all you. If the authorities ever caught you, the whole plan would have come crashing down. I’m sure I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing for what I put you through. And I’m sorry. You should have never had to carry that burden alone.”

  “It’s okay.” If losing Jake had taught me anything, you couldn’t waste time hating people for making mistakes when they had good intentions in mind. Even though Jake had lied to me about Dad knowing where he was. I’d never know why for sure, but it seemed like he had been trying to protect everyone’s secrets. While I had the faulty tracker, he was carrying more burdens then I would ever know.

  “I did the best I could to prepare you without drawing attention from the authorities. I hope you understand why I was so hard on you growing up. I wanted you to understand the life you should have always had. The traditions I grew up with.”

  It wasn’t so much that he was hard on me; he was just my dad. “I get it. You were trying to protect me.”

  “I was trying to train you.” His lips pulled upward. “Looks like I did a pretty good job.”

  “It wasn’t easy, but I felt like you were with me every step of the way.”

  He rose from the chair and wrapped me in a bear hug. “You did well, Kai. I always knew you could. And I knew Jake would be there to help you.”

  Tears welled. He hadn’t been there for long. I’d had to do it alone. Well, not completely alone, but with people who were strangers when it had all started. Now the Ghosts were so much more. They were family.

  I couldn’t say any of that to him, though. He’d put Jake and me in danger and knew the risks. It couldn’t have been easy for him to hear he’d lost his son as a result of the great sacrifice he’d asked of him. Just as it hadn’t been easy for me to witness it.

  I studied him, searching for some sign of emotion, but his face remained blank. Maybe he was numb to it. It probably hadn’t fully processed yet. It had only been a couple days since he’d found out. I’d been dealing with it for much longer.

  “Dad, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, anything.”

  I swallowed and shoved the image of Jake’s face with the number out of my head—right next to the words Harlow had used about foggy memories. “Did you ever send Jake to work for Scurry or the authorities? Maybe undercover?”

  He furrowed his eyebrows, but he stayed quiet for some time like he was running scenarios through his head. Finally, he said, “No. Why do you ask?”

  I was afraid of that response. With that single word, Dad confirmed everything I’d feared. If Dad hadn’t sent him to the authorities, no one else would have either. Which meant his picture on the screen at Global Tracker Systems was no coincidence. His scattered journal notes suddenly made sense. The authorities had gotten to Jake. Somehow.

  It explained how Scurry had known about Jake’s death. They’d been watching him. Using him. Watching through him.

  And if Jake would have been able to say something about it, he would have. Which could only mean one thing, like Harlow, Scurry had found a way to control Jake. And if Scurry had been controlling Jake, he must have been the one who’d given up the information, the mole Myles had been searching for. But how could Jake live with himself knowing what information he’d given up?

  I remembered Harlow’s face when he’d told me he had witnessed it all but had had no control. How awful that must have been for Jake. Or maybe as time had gone on, he hadn’t known he’d done it. Maybe Scurry had made him forget. It explained the final note in his journal. I’d never know for sure what horrors he saw and did. But one thing was certain. I could blame Scurry for Jake’s death. And I’d find a way to make him pay.

  Icy fingers of dread wrapped around me. And what about the others like Jake? What horrible things had they been forced to do? How many others had Scurry engaged in that pilot program? I shook it off. We’d deactivated the tracker chips, and no one would ever be forced to do things against their will again. That hack was no longer a threat.

  “Kai? Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, fine.” I forced a smile to convince Dad to let it go. I couldn’t bear to tell him the very thing we opposed, the thing that had taken so much, had turned his son, my brother, into a weapon. Scurry abused his power to nearly end the Ghost movement and in the process caused my brother’s death. Dad couldn’t know what happened. It was a burden I’d have to carry alone, and it weighed heavily inside me.

  “Are you sure?”

  Dad’s words shook me from my thoughts. “I’m just worried about the memorial.” He was, too, but he’d never admit it.

  “You ready?”

  “No.” But I swung my legs over the side of the bed and Dad pushed a wheelchair next to me so I could slide into it. I winced as my stomach muscles clenched, still healing from the injury.

  Dad wheeled me through new tunnel leading us outside the new wing they were adding to the Hive. He pushed me a short ways into the woods then parked me next to a tree with a bare patch of dirt stretched underneath it. Plush green grass surrounded the dirt plot. I hadn’t known where’d they’d buried Jake until now. But with those he’d fought for nearby, it seemed like a fitting resting place.

  Mom stood next to Dad and squeezed my shoulder. I pushed up from the chair, refusing to let the pain get to me. I was standing. Nothing, not even my injury, would stop me. I’d only let one form of hurt pass through me today: sorrow.

  Dad started the Mourner’s Kaddish. I could barely whisper the words through my tears. And long after we all fell silent, the words echoed in my head on repeat.

  Dad held a small white bag of dirt i
n front of me. I grabbed it. A little piece of Israel. Dad clutched my arm as I stepped forward and flipped the bag of dirt over the empty space in the grass. Jake was finally free.

  We all were.

  Mom placed a rock on the edge of the patch of dirt and Dad followed. He wrapped his arm around Mom as she quaked, wracked in sobs. She buried her head in his chest. Dad mouthed “I love you” then escorted Mom away. He knew I needed more time. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, even though I kind of already had.

  I attempted to squat next to the patch of dirt but ended up sitting on the ground instead.

  “I miss you.” It came out more as a cough. After a few ragged breaths, I tried again. The result wasn’t any better, but I was sure Jake was there. He’d heard me.

  I pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket. I whispered through the lines of his poem, the one he’d painted on the wall of the high school. Each line grew louder and more confident as I progressed through. Until I finished with one strong ending phrase, “Family defies blood.”

  “I always loved that poem.”

  The voice made me jump. Peyton knelt next to me and placed a rock next to the others.

  “I heard you’re supposed to do that.” She indicated her rock then turned away from me and sniffed back her tears.

  I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her toward me in an awkward side hug. “May his memory be a blessing,” I whispered in her ear.

  “It will.”

  And his memory would. Despite not having my tracker to pull up images of Jake in the blink of an eye, I’d never need them again. Jake’s memory was all around me. Present in Mom and Dad, in Peyton, and within me.

  His legacy was now mine.

  Thirty-Nine

  Several days later, I stood on the balcony above the party at Neon Nectar. I smoothed the shiny tank top over the jeans I’d borrowed from Lydia. Miraculously, after everything the Ghosts had been through, the small club remained unharmed.

  “Stop fidgeting with your outfit. You look hot.” Lydia slid her arm around mine and led me down the steps and across the floor, her dress swooshing with each stride.