anyway.”
“Still, amazing,” Shay said, and the amazement showed on her face.
“It came out of the med lab those nutsos trashed,” West said, letting his pant leg slide back down. “They’re now working on nerve bypasses that could help spine-damaged people. Quadriplegics and paraplegics. Give them their lives back.…”
Before Shay could respond, Cherry came back into the room with the laptop and handed it back to her. He said to his partner, “Nothing. If they’re talking, they’re doing it on Facebook or something.She’s turned off the browser history, so there’s no way to tell. And she’s smart. She’s already finished AP Calculus BC, and she’s not a senior yet.”
“Well, technically I am, since the semester ended,” Shay said.
West asked, “About the laptops and the cell phones. Not all foster care kids can afford them. I’m just kind of curious how you two could …”
“Our mom left us some money,” Shay said. “We can get a few things, as long as they’re educational or safety related. Phones count.”
They both looked at her for a moment, then West said, “Look, Shay … if you see or hear from your brother, tell him to get in touch with us. We might be able to help him.”
“How would he get in touch? Do you have a card?”
“My Facebook name is BlackWallpaper, from San Francisco,” West said. “That’s a very safe, private contact. Can you remember that?”
“Sure,” she said. “He should look up BlackWallpaper, from San Francisco.”
“It might save his life. The people he’s moving with, they’re crazy. I mean that literally. They’re unbalanced. One of them has already spent time in prison. This poor little girl who got shot at the lab—they threw her away like she was a piece of toilet paper. They’ll do the same to your brother when they don’t need him. They could do worse, if he knows too much,” West said.
“If Odin calls, I’ll tell him,” she said.
West followed Cherry to the door, then turned. “You are,” he said with a smile, “an exceptionally good liar. Exceptionally good.”
“I’m a foster kid,” she said. It sounded like an admission, and he nodded.
Shay went out to a coffee shop an hour later and used its wireless to leave a long note on Facebook recounting the conversation, and the fact that Odin’s call the night he’d run had been found, but hadn’t been monitored—they didn’t know what Odin had said. He shouldn’t use his cell to contact her again. As soon as they could coordinate it, they needed to switch to prepaid phones with new, anonymous numbers.
She didn’t hear back for thirteen days.
The text came in while she was twirling soft-serve yogurt into a cup. It was her third day on her first summer job, and the use of cell phones was strictly forbidden. She slid the phone onto the stainless-steel counter, behind a bin of waffle cones.
[ODIN] What if you and I saw the same gray whale from two different countries? It’s possible. They’re migrating north now and I saw four when we were in Baja .
She reached around the cones and punched in a reply:
[SHAY] WRU@
[ODIN] Secret mission. This morning, we drove by a canyon that’s pretty grand .
“Miss, I’m in a hurry,” a customer yelled at Shay’s back. She turned and handed the man the cup of tilting yogurt, then went back to texting.
[SHAY] Grand Canyon?
[ODIN] Can’t say, but I will tell you I got carded at a tavern last night and my card worked!
[SHAY] You’re hanging out in bars?
The yogurt customer came back angry. “Hey, you forgot my sprinkles!”
[ODIN] For the work. Gotta go. Bye. And don’t forget to tell everyone: Meat is murder .
Shay hadn’t known what to think: he’d texted from his old number. She’d told him the phone was unsafe, but he’d used it anyway. She felt a jab on the shoulder.
“Are you texting?” It was the shift supervisor, a prickly girl a year ahead of her at school. “You realize you forgot his
“Still, amazing,” Shay said, and the amazement showed on her face.
“It came out of the med lab those nutsos trashed,” West said, letting his pant leg slide back down. “They’re now working on nerve bypasses that could help spine-damaged people. Quadriplegics and paraplegics. Give them their lives back.…”
Before Shay could respond, Cherry came back into the room with the laptop and handed it back to her. He said to his partner, “Nothing. If they’re talking, they’re doing it on Facebook or something.She’s turned off the browser history, so there’s no way to tell. And she’s smart. She’s already finished AP Calculus BC, and she’s not a senior yet.”
“Well, technically I am, since the semester ended,” Shay said.
West asked, “About the laptops and the cell phones. Not all foster care kids can afford them. I’m just kind of curious how you two could …”
“Our mom left us some money,” Shay said. “We can get a few things, as long as they’re educational or safety related. Phones count.”
They both looked at her for a moment, then West said, “Look, Shay … if you see or hear from your brother, tell him to get in touch with us. We might be able to help him.”
“How would he get in touch? Do you have a card?”
“My Facebook name is BlackWallpaper, from San Francisco,” West said. “That’s a very safe, private contact. Can you remember that?”
“Sure,” she said. “He should look up BlackWallpaper, from San Francisco.”
“It might save his life. The people he’s moving with, they’re crazy. I mean that literally. They’re unbalanced. One of them has already spent time in prison. This poor little girl who got shot at the lab—they threw her away like she was a piece of toilet paper. They’ll do the same to your brother when they don’t need him. They could do worse, if he knows too much,” West said.
“If Odin calls, I’ll tell him,” she said.
West followed Cherry to the door, then turned. “You are,” he said with a smile, “an exceptionally good liar. Exceptionally good.”
“I’m a foster kid,” she said. It sounded like an admission, and he nodded.
Shay went out to a coffee shop an hour later and used its wireless to leave a long note on Facebook recounting the conversation, and the fact that Odin’s call the night he’d run had been found, but hadn’t been monitored—they didn’t know what Odin had said. He shouldn’t use his cell to contact her again. As soon as they could coordinate it, they needed to switch to prepaid phones with new, anonymous numbers.
She didn’t hear back for thirteen days.
The text came in while she was twirling soft-serve yogurt into a cup. It was her third day on her first summer job, and the use of cell phones was strictly forbidden. She slid the phone onto the stainless-steel counter, behind a bin of waffle cones.
[ODIN] What if you and I saw the same gray whale from two different countries? It’s possible. They’re migrating north now and I saw four when we were in Baja .
She reached around the cones and punched in a reply:
[SHAY] WRU@
[ODIN] Secret mission. This morning, we drove by a canyon that’s pretty grand .
“Miss, I’m in a hurry,” a customer yelled at Shay’s back. She turned and handed the man the cup of tilting yogurt, then went back to texting.
[SHAY] Grand Canyon?
[ODIN] Can’t say, but I will tell you I got carded at a tavern last night and my card worked!
[SHAY] You’re hanging out in bars?
The yogurt customer came back angry. “Hey, you forgot my sprinkles!”
[ODIN] For the work. Gotta go. Bye. And don’t forget to tell everyone: Meat is murder .
Shay hadn’t known what to think: he’d texted from his old number. She’d told him the phone was unsafe, but he’d used it anyway. She felt a jab on the shoulder.
“Are you texting?” It was the shift supervisor, a prickly girl a year ahead of her at school. “You realize you forgot his
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