Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(8)

Abe’s expression looked like he wasn’t willing to let Ant go without him.

“Not really the time to get super clingy, bro, if you know what I mean,” Ant said quietly. “Believe me, I don’t want to leave you on your own, but once we’re out in the open, we’ll garner less attention if we’re in smaller groups.”

Julia stepped up before Abe could respond and slipped her arm through his. “Besides, we’ve already claimed you.” She grinned. “You’re coming with Marco and me. I figure that you owe us some company, since we’ve had to live without you for so long.”

Ant cast her a grateful look, and I almost laughed. With all the things going on right now, we were in the midst of a set of nerdy twins’ passive aggressive attempts to overprotect one another. It was ridiculous.

Jace, it seemed, agreed. He tucked my hand under his arm, pulling me close—which absolutely did not send butterflies rushing through my belly—then divided a glare between the brothers.

“If you two are finished proving that you can’t possibly live without one another, I think it’s time that we get going. Everyone have their groups?” At the grudging, hesitant nods from the team, he took a step forward. “Great. Ant, Jackie, you’re with us. We’re going first. Next group, wait at least thirty seconds before you step outside, and all groups after that, give it thirty-second intervals, so you don’t all end up on the street at once. If you’re in here, you can see whoever might be coming for you. Once you step outside, all bets are off. We’ll see you guys at Zion’s apartment. I’ll expect everyone there within twenty minutes.”

He strode quickly from the group, with me in tow, and made for the exit. Moments later, we stepped out into the bright light, exposed for the entire world, and the Authority, to see.

It was midday now, and the streets were somewhat populated, which was helpful. The fact that Jace was partially supporting me was going to get us noticed quickly, though.

“What about our cover story?” I hissed. “What are we going to say if someone asks why you’re helping me? I can walk on my own, you know.”

“That we were out for a walk and that you stepped off a curb the wrong way and twisted your ankle,” he answered without missing a beat. “Maybe even that you got pushed over by a cyclist, bad enough to hurt you but not bad enough to call the medics. And, being the good boyfriend I am, I’m taking you right home so that you don’t hurt it any worse.”

He paused long enough to give me a slow, exaggerated wink, and I tried to smile at him. I knew that he was trying to make me feel better and that his clownish act had worked before, but that was before I’d known what we were truly up against. Before the Authority had started gunning for us personally.

Then we were on the street, and I was turning my eyes up to the buildings around us, to the traffic signals—which sent a wave of panic washing through me.

“Oh my God, Jace, the traffic cams!” I whispered, squirming in sudden fear that we had already been caught on camera. I had completely forgotten about them, but now I remembered how much of a danger they posed. They’d been a Godsend when we had been looking for an airship landing in the middle of the city, because they recorded everything.

Everything and always.

We knew that the Authority had pictures of the people we’d just broken out of jail. We knew that they had facial recognition software, probably better than anything we’d ever experienced.

And we knew that they had instant and constant access to the cameras that monitored the streets of the cities. The streets that we were now marching right through.

No wonder they’d installed those cameras and then conveniently forgotten to give the public the access they’d promised. They’d probably never meant to make their access public at all. It had been nothing more than a convenient cover story.

They’d only put cameras up at every intersection to keep an eye on every citizen in the nation. Particularly those who were up to no good.

Jace’s eyes went up to the traffic lights above us, and his face grew a shade paler. “Dammit, you’re right,” he breathed.

We turned and rushed back into the train station, where everyone else was still gathered.

“The traffic cams,” he said. “We forgot about them.”

Ant moaned, and Jackie hit her forehead with the palm of her hand, cursing. The rest of the crew looked mystified.

“Traffic cams?” Abe frowned.

Jace shook his head, his eyes darting about the train station. “No time to explain in depth right now, but there are cameras affixed to every intersection and they are constantly recording. Cameras whose feeds go straight to the government.”

Nelson nodded. “So what do we do?”

“Well, we can’t talk in here, to start with,” I told her. “We have to assume that there are cameras in here too. If they have them on the streets, they’ll have them in every public place. Maybe even on the train we just took.”

“I agree,” Jace said. “Let’s get to Zion’s as fast as we can. The same plan stands, but keep your hands over your face if possible. Shelter your eyes from the sun. If you have anything that you can wear around your neck, maybe up over your chin, like a scarf, wear it. Cough anytime you come across an intersection. And keep your faces toward the ground. Don’t look up. No matter what.”