Z 2136 (Z 2134 Series Book 3) by Sean Platt, David W. Wright Page B

remember a kid dying this early?”
    “Never,” Adam admitted, then without a breath between thoughts added, “But like Colton said, things have never been like this. I still don’t get why they put her in The Games in the first place. Just to get even because her dad wouldn’t tell them where The Gardens are? Seems extreme.”
    Colton said, “You’re right. Zelle’s never done nothin’ to no one. But her daddy, Daniel Howes, was one of the most notorious Underground leaders. The kind even Hooper and I here thought went too far . . . the kind responsible for at least four bombings.”
    Hooper cut in. “That ain’t her fault.”
    “Didn’t say it was,” Colton finished. “But fact is fact. Her daddy did what they said, and when he refused to give up The Gardens, ya knew they’d make an example of the family.”
    “That’s so cruel,” Adam said. “To go after his daughter. She’s just a little girl, not a threat to anyone.”
    “You spent months with Keller,” Colton sighed. “You should know all about the sins of the father by now.”
***
    A few hours later
    “But why here?” Adam repeated, though his first three times asking had yielded no answers. “What makes you think she’s in this apartment?”
    Colton finally looked up. “We’re not looking for her in here.”
    “Then what are we looking for?”
    From back in the room’s far corner, behind Adam, Hooper said, “This.”
    Adam turned and saw the giant fiddling with a long black monitor. It looked like maybe it could have carried a signal a century before. He didn’t bother to ask. He knew he only had to stand back and watch and he would see for himself what the black screen was for.
    Sure enough, Colton was by Hooper’s side a moment later, kneeling down and pulling a small, cobalt-blue metal cylinder from a pouch on his belt. It looked like a blunted flashlight. He handed it to Hooper and the man did something to the rod’s side. Once he did, several prongs jutted from the rod’s base. Hooper eyed the rod, then something on the back of the monitor. Whatever it was made him smile—Colton too. Then he seemingly inserted Tab A into Slot B—Adam had to guess because he couldn’t see—and the screen lit up with The Games.
    Hooper then handed Colton a small blue circle that looked like it had come from the tip of the blue device.
    “Wow,” Adam said. “Cool.”
    “Yeah,” the grown men agreed. “Cool.”
    Hooper leaned the large screen against the far wall. The two men sat on the floor, palms to the wood, with Adam in front and between them.
    Colton pressed a button on the blue thing, flipping through several different feeds.
    “What is this?” Adam asked.
    “It’s a Network receiver. It allows us to bypass what The Games shows the citizens. We can see the raw feeds—the same ones the producers see back at The Network.
    “Where did you get this?” Adam asked. “Was it in The Opening Rush?”
    “No,” Colton said. “The Network wouldn’t put something like this in The Rush. No, I smuggled it into The Games.”
    “How did you manage that?” Adam asked, knowing he’d been thoroughly searched many times himself.
    “Let’s just say I had some help on the inside. Being a former City Watcher has its perks. As for getting it in here, well, I had to hide it in a place I’m not too proud to talk about.”
    “Oh, man,” Hooper said. “I wish you’d told me that before you handed it to me.”
    “Please,” Colton said, “That’s probably the cleanest thing you’ve had in your grimy hands this week.”
    Hooper laughed as he playfully wiped his hands on Colton’s coveralls.
    “That her?” Colton asked a second later, when Zelle appeared on-screen on a rooftop.
    The girl was wearing a long black coat, with straggly blonde hair hanging over her face. Adam could see enough to recognize the mousy girl as she walked out from between two tall air towers, dragging a large chair.
    “Yeah,” Adam said. “What’s she