Yes, I’d known the hack was going to take place and I hadn’t told anyone, but was that a crime? I hadn’t even known—and still didn’t know—who the hacker was.
“Come on, Morgan,” Atkinson said. “Tell us who did it.”
“I don’t know.” The words slipped through my lips before I could stop them.
“So you know about the hack,” Murray said. It wasn’t a question.
Crap. My mouth had gone dry. “I want some water.”
“Sure,” Atkinson said. “We’ll get you some in a minute. But first, answer our question. What do you know about the data breach?”
Data breach? That sounded so serious. My heart thumped dully in my chest as I met the gaze of the two men. “I want my parents.”
Murray chuckled. “I’m sure you do, but they’re not here, and they’re not going to be able to help you.”
I knew it. They weren’t trying to get a hold of my parents. I was completely on my own. Even so, I knew I shouldn’t say anything else. Not without my parents, or a lawyer, or someone on my side. “I’m not going to say anything else without a lawyer.”
“Why do you need a lawyer?” Atkinson said, a look of concern on his face. “Only somebody with something to hide would need a lawyer. Are you trying to hide something, Morgan?”
Yes. “No, of course not.” My voice was steady, which surprised me. “But I want a lawyer to help me understand my rights.”
Murray stood and paced the room a couple of times, then sat on the edge of the table beside me. “You don’t seem to understand that what happened is very serious.”
“Murray,” Atkinson said, a warning tone in his voice. “We discussed this. If she tells us what she knows, we’ll be done with her.”
Was that true, or were they playing me? My instincts told me not to fall for it, although I was sorely tempted to spill my guts and be done with this. They must have noticed my hesitancy.
“That’s a one-time offer, Morgan” Murray said. “Tell us now, or the offer goes away.” Murray smiled. “No parents, no lawyers, just you and us.” He motioned between himself and Atkinson.
Don’t forget the people listening behind the mirrored window. “No,” I said. “I won’t say anything without a lawyer.”
Murray stared at me a moment, then he sighed and moved to the seat on the other side of the table. “Why are you lying about visiting some other world?”
The swift change in topic totally threw me. “What?”
“I saw you telling your ‘story’ . . .” He did air quotes, then he laughed. “What a load of crap.” His face became serious. “Is that why you orchestrated the data breach? Because of your delusional belief that you visited some other world where it’s illegal to be overweight?”
“I’m not delusional,” I said with intensity. “I was there. I was tasered by men just like you and dragged out of my home. They put me into a Federally Assisted Thinning center.” My eyes narrowed. “Did you catch that? Federally Assisted. That’s the government trying to—” I did air quotes. “—‘Help’ people lose weight.”
Both men were quiet as I spoke and I wondered if they were moved at all by my story.
“Did you listen to the whole thing?” I asked. “Did you hear me describe the Saturday Challenge? Did you listen to the reason I was put there in the first place? For sharing homemade cookies with my friends at school.” I shook my head. “How can that be a crime?”
I turned away from the agents sitting across from me and stared at the mirrored wall. “I don’t know who’s back there listening, but I hope that you can see the dangers in letting the government have so much control over what we eat and how much we weigh.”
I met the stares of Murray and Atkinson. “Now, unless you’re going to arrest me, I’m leaving.” My heart was pounding so hard that I thought it might burst, and I half-expected them to throw me into a jail cell, but to my delight, Murray smiled.
“You can leave, but don’t think we’re done with you.”
With shaky legs, I stood.
“I’ll drive you home,” Atkinson offered, still playing the good cop.
Exhaustion washed over me, and I wanted nothing more than to get home. “Okay.”
On the drive to my house he didn’t badger me or even talk to me as I stared out the passenger side window. When we reached my house I picked up my backpack and opened the door, but stopped and turned to him when he called my name.
“If that story you told is true,” he said, then he frowned. “Well, I think you should keep trying to convince people to change the way things are going.” He smiled. “Just don’t break any laws doing it.”
“I didn’t,” I said. “And I won’t. That’s not the way I do things.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
I climbed out of his car and walked towards my house, wondering how I was going to explain all of this to my parents.
Chapter 79
Morgan
“Why do you have to keep stirring things up?” Dad asked, his nostrils flaring, which I knew meant he was particularly angry.
We were in their bedroom where I’d told them about the data hack and being questioned by the FBI.
He shook his head as he glanced at Mom, then looked back at me. “I can’t believe you’re under suspicion by the FBI.” He glared at me. “The FBI, Morgan.” His voice rose in volume and intensity. “What are you thinking?” He clenched his jaw. “You’re not, are you? That’s the problem. You act without thinking, time after time after time.”
“I had nothing to do with the hacker, okay? I didn’t want him to do it. I told Hannah to tell him not to do it.”
“But you got involved with this group anyway. You didn’t think it through.”
“I only did the video after Hannah said the hack wouldn’t happen. But she lied to me to get me to do it.”
“Did you tell this to the FBI?”
“No. Like I told you, I told them I wouldn’t tell them anything without a lawyer.”
“Oh,” he said, not mollified in the least. “So now I have to hire a lawyer? That’s just perfect. Because I have stacks of cash lying around, just waiting to be used to defend your stupidity.”
“Steve,” Mom said.
He stared at her until she pressed her lips into a straight line, then he looked back at me. “What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they’ll figure out who the hacker is and then they’ll leave me alone.”
“They think you orchestrated it,” Dad pointed out. “That makes you culpable.” His eyes widened. “You could go to prison, Morgan. Don’t you get it?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice rising. “I get it, okay? I get that I could go to prison for something I didn’t do.” Tears filled my eyes and my voice began to shake. “I’ve been in a place just like prison. It sucked, okay? It sucked big-time.” I got my emotions under control and my voice went soft and steady. “I’m not going to go to prison. I’ll make sure of it.”
“How?” Dad said. “How can you possibly make sure that doesn’t happen?”
“I don’t know yet. But I’ll think of something.”
Dad’s gaze went skyward before coming back to me, then he shook his head. “Don’t get yourself into deeper trouble. In fact, I think you should pass any of your genius plans by me before you carry them out. Can you do that at least?”
That was fair. Rude, but fair. “Okay.”
“Good.” He turned away, like our discussion was over, but then he turned back to me. “By the way, you’re grounded until further notice.”
Of course I was. “Fine.”
“And give me your cell phone.”
I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him.
“Thank you. Now go do your homework.”
I walked out of their bedroom and into mine where I shut the door, then sank onto my bed. My thoughts whirled through my brain. I had so much to think about—how to prove I wasn’t involved with the hack without implicating myself
, how to stay true to the cause like Agent Atkinson had said, how to regain Dad’s trust, how to keep the world from collapsing around me.
I flung myself backwards, then stared at the ceiling.
“First things first,” I murmured, then thought about how I could prove that Hannah was the one behind the planning of the hack, and that I had believed it wasn’t going to happen when I made the video. And then that I had tried to stop it.
If the FBI could somehow hear her admit it.
I sat up, knowing exactly how I could make that happen.
I hurried back to Mom and Dad’s room where they were still talking—probably about how to afford an attorney for me, which made me feel terribly guilty.
“What do you want?” Dad asked. “You’re supposed to be doing your homework.”
“I know what I need to do,” I said with a grin.
He cocked his head, like he was gearing up to hear my latest hair-brained scheme.
“I realized that if I can just get Hannah to tell the FBI that I had nothing to do with the hack, they’d probably let me off the hook.”
“How do you propose to make that happen?” Dad asked, clearly skeptical.
“I can record Hannah admitting it, of course.” My smile grew.
“Tell me more.” Now he seemed more interested.
“I’m sure there must be an app that will let me make recordings. I’ll have it turned on while I talk to her about the hack. Every time I’ve talked to her about it she’s been open, so I just need to record her telling the truth.”
The tension in Dad’s face seemed to ease. “That could actually work.”
“I don’t think recordings like that are admissible in court,” Mom pointed out.
“I’m not sure that matters,” Dad said. “Our goal is to remove Morgan from the FBI’s list of suspects. This could do that.”
“So you think it’s a good idea?” I asked.
“It’s certainly worth a try.”
Beyond relieved that Dad liked my idea, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. “If you give me my phone back I’ll see if I can find an app that will work. Then I’ll talk to Hannah at school tomorrow.”
Dad gave me my phone. “I really hope this works, Morgan.” Then he gazed at me. “You’re my daughter and I love you. You know I only want what’s best for you, right?”
Warmth spread through my chest. “Of course. And I’m really sorry for causing you and Mom so much trouble. I’ll get a job so that I can pay you back for whatever a lawyer costs, if we have to get one.”
“We’ll work it out,” Dad said, then he pulled me into a hug.
I felt safe in his embrace and knew that even though he’d been angry with me, he wouldn’t leave me on my own.
Back in my room, it didn’t take long to find an app that would do the job. The recording would only start when there was sound, so I could turn it on before I began talking to Hannah. I practiced using it and suddenly remembered the special glasses Jack had given me to wear in Camp Willowmoss when I’d gone there as Hannah Jacobs. Those would sure come in handy now.
The irony that I’d be secretly recording the girl I’d been impersonating crashed over me, and I shook my head. My life had gone from crazy to surreal, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was proving the truth. Then and only then could I focus back on what was truly important: Telling the world that they needed to preserve their right to choose for themselves what—and how much—to eat.
Chapter 80
Morgan
Now that I had my phone back, and now that I’d installed the app, I decided to call Billy and tell him everything that had happened since I’d left his house. He answered his cell phone right away.
“Oh, wow, Morgan,” he said after I caught him up. “I wish I could be there with you right now.”
“Me too.” I frowned. “Now that I’m grounded though, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see you next.”
“Will you be able to talk on the phone when you want to, at least?”
“I don’t know. Maybe if things go well tomorrow my parents will reconsider grounding me.”
He laughed. “Maybe.”
Yeah, I wouldn’t hold my breath. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you about all the insane stuff that happened this afternoon.”
“I’m glad you stood up to those FBI guys.”
I wasn’t sure where my courage had come from, but I was glad it had kicked in at the right moment. “Me, too.”
When I got to school the next day I activated the recording app, then began searching for Hannah. I found her a few minutes later near her locker, but when she saw me coming she began walking in the other direction.
If that doesn’t show guilt, I don’t know what does. I hurried after her. “Hannah, wait. I need to talk to you.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “I can’t right now.” Then she rushed onward.
Sighing, I turned off the app. At least we had second period together, so she couldn’t hide from me for long.
Apparently she had something else in mind, because when I got to second period right before it started, she wasn’t there. I took my seat, hoping she’d sit nearby, but when she got to class she sat on the other side of the room, and then she left the moment class finished.
What is she trying to hide? I’d have to track her down at lunch.
At the beginning of the lunch break I went directly to the cafeteria where I saw Sara, Olivia, and Katie, but no Hannah. I looked around the cafeteria, but didn’t see her. Determined to track her down, I turned on the app and walked up and down the halls, knowing she had to be around somewhere.
As I rounded the last corner I spotted her halfway down the hall, talking on her cell phone. Her back was to me, so I tiptoed up behind her. My only purpose in being stealthy was to catch up to her before she could avoid me, but as it turned out, I overheard what sounded like an important conversation.
“I promise I didn’t tell them anything about you,” she was saying into the phone pressed against her ear.
I pulled out my cell phone and held it by my side—casually enough so it wouldn’t be obvious I was recording, but close enough so that it would pick up her side of the conversation.
“No,” she continued. “I convinced them that it was Morgan’s op, and she doesn’t know who you are, so don’t worry.” She paused as she listened. “That won’t happen. You’re too clever.” A pause. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”
I silently moved back to the corner of the hallway, then waited a beat before calling to her. “There you are, Hannah.”
She spun around, guilt written all over her face. “Morgan.”
I smiled, like I hadn’t just heard her admit that she’d set me up, and walked toward her. “I’ve been trying to find you.”
Her features smoothed out. “Well, you found me.” She took a step in my direction. “What’s up?”
I stopped beside her. “Why didn’t you sit by me in class?”
“Oh, uh, I was almost late, you know? And I didn’t want to walk to the back of the room.”
“Okay.”
“I’m hungry.” She tucked her phone in her back pocket. “I’m going to the cafeteria.”
When she made a move to walk past me, I reached out and touched her arm. “Hang on.”
“There’s not much time to eat.” Annoyance clouded her eyes. “What do you want?”
My cell phone was still in my hand—a good place to clearly record our conversation. “Billy had a few questions he wanted answered before he’ll work with We Can Choose.”
Her brow furrowed. “I thought he’d already agreed to work with us.”
“It was a conditional agreement.” I smiled, like we were all in this together. “Billy knows that you and your hacker friend erased the HLO’s data, and, well, he’s a little concerned. I mean, neither Billy nor I want to do anything illegal, so he’s worried about what you guys might do in the future.” I frowned. “You realize that I on
ly agreed to do the video when I thought the hack wouldn’t happen.” I laughed, like I’d forgiven her indiscretion. “But then you had your hacker friend do it anyway.” I paused. “If Billy and I are going to work with We Can Choose, we need to know what else you have planned.”
Hannah stared at me a moment, like she was trying to figure out my game. Finally she said, “Look, Morgan, I don’t think you’re the right person to be our spokesperson after all.” Her mouth puckered. “I’m the one in charge, and I’ll decide what’s right for our group. Whether that means hacking into some organization’s database and erasing their data, or making propaganda videos, I’ll do what I want.”
I needed her to be more specific in taking responsibility for the data breach. “I heard the FBI is looking into that hack. Aren’t you worried they’ll find out that you planned it?”
She laughed. “No. I think they have another suspect in mind.”
Fury boiled in my stomach, and as much as I wanted to wrap my fingers around her neck and squeeze, I forced myself to smile pleasantly. “Really? So you don’t think they’ll find out it’s you?”
“I’m sure they won’t. There’s nothing tying me to it.” She laughed. “I’m hardly even tied to We Can Choose. You’re more tied to that than I am.”
I forced myself to remain calm. “Who does the FBI think did it? Who’s the other suspect they have in mind?” I gave her my most innocent expression, although I knew good and well that it was me she’d implicated as the suspect.
She smirked. “I don’t know. They just told me they had a suspect.”
“When did you talk to them?”
“Yesterday. I guess they were talking to some of your friends since you’ve been so vocal about your opposition to the HLO.”
“Opposition that you share.”
She laughed. “Well, yeah. But you’re the public face of that opposition.”
“Not anymore.”
She shrugged.
“Well, I hope the FBI doesn’t figure out that you’re the one behind the hack.” I almost choked on the words.
After (Parallel Series, Book 4) Page 34
