Read Online Don't Let Go by Michelle Gagnon - Free Book Online Page A

for a site administrator to keep tabs on who’s visiting the website.”
    “That doesn’t sound so bad.” Teo shrugged.
    Noa turned on him. “It is when the website administrator has promised total anonymity. That was the whole point of /ALLIANCE/; we couldn’t be traced. Or so we thought.” Anger was uncoiling inside her like a snake, and she let it; hackers viewed what Peter had done as the ultimate betrayal. “But Peter was keeping tabs on us.”
    “Hey, it wasn’t like that,” Peter said defensively. “I had everyone’s emails anyway—that’s how I got in touch with you, remember?”
    “Yeah, I remember,” Noa snarled. “But that’s different from knowing my location. What did you do? Log IP addresses?”
    Peter hesitated, then said, “Yeah, basically.”
    “I can’t believe you.” Noa turned on her heel and stormed off. When she’d first stumbled across the hacktivist group, she’d joined up because she believed in what they were doing: punishing child and animal abusers, and going after bullies that the legal system was unable or unwilling to punish.
    But if /ALLIANCE/ hadn’t guaranteed anonymity, she never would have enlisted.
    “Noa,” Peter said gently, following her.
    She refused to turn and face him. The sun was piercing through her tinted sunglasses, making her eyes water against the glare.
    “Listen,” he said. “Some of the stuff that people were doing, if it got out of hand . . . I needed a way to protect all of us.”
    “You mean to protect yourself,” Noa said disdainfully.
    “Okay, fine,” Peter said more forcefully. “And I’m not sorry. What if someone got really hurt, because of a mission I didn’t even sanction? A lot of people did their own thing, then claimed to be members.”
    “So if the cops had showed up, you would’ve ratted us out?” Noa asked.
    Peter hesitated, then said, “Yeah, maybe. If it was for something I didn’t condone.”
    Noa wanted to keep arguing, but the truth was, she’d experienced the same sort of thing firsthand. When she’d formed Persefone’s Army, lots of kids had committed heinous acts, then claimed they were doing it on her behalf. She understood why Peter had built in the back door. But she still felt betrayed.
    “Well,” she said. “If I’m not happy about it, just imagine how Loki is going to feel.”
    “I know,” Peter said gravely. “Especially since his IP was cloaked. It wasn’t easy to track it.”
    Noa flashed back on all the hours they’d spent at public computer terminals over the past few weeks, when it seemed to be taking Peter way too long to find another safe house. “So that’s the personal thing you were doing.”
    Peter impatiently brushed a lock of brown hair out of his eyes. “Loki has to have some sort of killer setup, right? Better than you and me working on crap computers, twenty minutes at a time.”
    Noa ran her eyes over the rugged landscape. “There’s not even a house here. Are you sure you found the right IP address?”
    “Not one hundred percent,” Peter admitted. Off her look, he added, “But close. Ninety-seven percent, at least.”
    Noa considered. Teo and Daisy were still standing uncertainly beside the car. It couldn’t hurt to at least take a look around, right? This road had to lead somewhere. The alternative was to stay hunkered down in that nasty safe house.
    “All right,” she sighed. “We’ll check it out. But if we don’t find anything—”
    “Then we’ll come up with another plan,” Peter interjected, sounding relieved. “But don’t worry. Loki’s here somewhere, I can feel it.”
    The lower legs of Teo’s jeans were completely soaked through, but he didn’t care. It was amazing out here. He and Daisy were wading through grass that reached above his knees in places, the base of it still damp with dew. The sky was like an upended giant blue bowl; the sun warmed his bare arms. They walked in silence, holding hands.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    Daisy