Page 9 of Raven

“Yeah. I’m great,” I said.

“Then you can be good at business.”

That’s when I rang my acquaintance, JahSeh.

If I got anything useful out of juvie, it was him, a brilliant fifteen-year-old hacker who was busted for breaking into the local DMV system and falsifying his friend’s driving records. He was the one who introduced me to the darknet.

Thanks to him, three weeks later, I sold my first set of illegal spyware bugs to a big drug mover.

Two months later, I sold several custom passports and clean social security numbers to my drug connections. All of that was obtained through JahSeh, who made a cut. His “fun” hobby and my connections turned out to be profitable.

Four months later, I got out of the hood and got my own place. But every week, like clockwork, I had dinner at Mac’s.

Six years later, he was the only one I called before taking off to Zion.

“Something is happening in this country in the next week,” I said and told him everything I heard at Archer Crone’s house.

“Another lockdown?” he mused.

“I think it’s bigger than that, Mac. Much bigger. You should get out of the city, head west, inland. Something is up.”

He only hummed in contemplation. “I did a fair share of running when I was your age. I don’t run anymore. But you be safe, kiddo. You know what you are doing.”

I always believed in fate.

And fate brought me to Zion.

5

MADDY

“Maddy! Have you seen the little rascal around?”

Callie’s voice on the phone is, as always, cheerful. God, I love this girl.

“Little is with me,” I report.

Sonny “Little” was how he introduced himself months ago, no last name. He often stops by my work here in the medical center. Everyone calls him Sonny. I prefer “Little.”

I lean on the doorframe of the guest lounge and watch him lying on the couch, his feet dangling off the side arm as he watches videos on an iPad.

Archer did DNA testing and studied his biological markers, determining Little’s age to be nine or ten. Little got an Ayana bracelet, and it’s hooked up to Kai and Callie’s phones so they can track him at any given moment. The kid is like a ping-pong ball, bouncing around Ayana every day.

“Yeah? What’s he up to?” Callie asks. “I have an online class ready for him.”

“I’ll tell him.”

“He tried to do karate. Now he is into yoga,” she says. “Also, movies, music, cartoons, surfing, video games. He inspected every tattoo on Kai’s body.” She laughs happily. “Now he’s into soccer and picture books. You name it, he tries it.”

I smile. “He is into life.”

“He is adjusting. He loves it. Except for eating an ungodly number of burgers.”

“Burgers?”

“Yeah, that’s his thing. I caught him stashing several in his room.”

“Seriously?” But I can see how a kid who used to be homeless is afraid not to have enough food.

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