Pearl's Number: The Number Series

by Bethany Atazadeh

  “Everybody go pose on the steps and let me take your picture.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, but Evalene had no idea what she meant. At their confusion, Olive huffed a loud sigh. “I’m going to zoom in on the security behind you. Just act like tourists—trust me!”

  Shuffling across the square, Evalene stepped up next to Jeremiah and the others, and tried to force a smile. He put his arm around her waist, and she leaned in, soaking up the tiny moment of happiness. She wished she could stay there in his arms forever.

  As Olive stepped back, focusing her camera for the perfect shot, Evalene had a heart stopping realization. Somewhere along the way, Jeremiah had come to mean more to her than she’d realized. The others too. What if one of them didn’t make it to the end of the day? What if this mission went horribly wrong?

  “Say… BioGrade,” Olive said. Evalene winced as Olive snapped the picture.

  They stepped down from the stairs and continued walking, just like the other tourists from across the territory, although all those families were glued to their individual tech instead of letting their eyes dart around the square. Evalene nudged the others, subtly gesturing to keep up the act. They all turned to their BiComp rings, scrolling with abandon, keeping their pace slow and steady.

  Evalene’s stomach growled again, loud enough for Jeremiah to hear it where he walked next to her. “Let’s stop for lunch,” he said. “We can plan while we eat.”

  They found a little patch of grass at the outer edge of the square. Sol discreetly pulled out the sandwiches they’d packed. But Evie felt too distracted to eat. “What did you see?” She kept her voice low, leaning in to examine the picture Olive pulled up.

  “Security looks pretty heavy,” Olive replied, holding her wrist out so everyone could see the photo. Despite being portrayed on her skin, the image resolution was sharp and clear. Behind each of the BioLab’s rotating doors was a heavy security checkpoint and two guards.

  “Any chance you could find out where Pearl is, from a computer out here?” Noble asked. His face was drawn with worry. Evalene realized she’d been so focused on her own fears, she hadn’t even considered her mother’s new husband. That relationship still felt strange to her, but it didn’t change the fact that he obviously cared about Pearl deeply.

  Olive shook her head, letting the image fade as she picked up her sandwich. “No,” she told him around a mouthful, “There’s no way to hack a place like this without getting onto their network.”

  “She’s had experience with that,” Sol interrupted. He was bragging to Noble, but Olive still blushed at the reminder of her illegal activities.

  “Yes, um… normally hacking a big company’s mainframe with security as heavy as theirs could take days, maybe even a week,” Olive said, shrugging as if this was obvious. “But the good news is that the flash drive from Noble’s friend is designed for this style of hacking. It can hack the mainframe the same way it hacked the wall. Hopefully it’ll be just as quick. Once I’m in, it won’t be too hard to search for Pearl.”

  The group chewed the rest of their meal in silence, pondering their options. Olive needed a computer to get them inside, but she needed to be inside to get to one of those computers. None of them had any clue how to get into that building without getting caught.

  The sandwich tasted like dust in Evalene’s mouth as she finished. “Maybe we could create a distraction?”

  Jeremiah shook his head. “There’s too many of them. Plus, they’re probably watching for that.”

  “Then there’s only one thing we can do,” Sol spoke up. Everyone swung around to face him, hopefully. He shrugged at their gaze. “Isn’t it obvious? We have to get those passes they’re wearing.”

  Passes? Sol gestured for Olive to pull up the picture again. Evalene and the others huddled over her arm, studying the photo. Sure enough, each person exiting the building wore a badge clipped to their belt buckle or around their neck.

  “You mean we have to jump five people?” Noble asked, straightening up and cracking his knuckles as if in preparation. “That won’t be easy.”

  But Jeremiah held out a hand to stop him. “I’ve got a better idea,” he said, looking around the table, his gaze landing on Evalene and staying there. “It’s something I know how to do… Do you trust me?”

  36

  Jeremiah

  JEREMIAH LEFT THE OTHERS there on the patch of grass with plans to meet up again in an hour. He had to do this alone.

  There were a few hand-off-style moves that worked better with two people—he and Luc had perfected those years ago. But they took a practiced hand, and Jeremiah didn’t have time to teach anyone. Didn’t have time to waste at all.

  Memories of his life before Beryl had adopted him came flooding back as he slipped through the crowds, leaving the others behind. He prayed for forgiveness for what he was about to do. He hadn’t stolen anything in years, and now he found himself thieving twice in one week, first the gas, and now...

  He studied each person he passed with a practiced eye. The first badge came to him easily. One bump of the man’s drink, spilling the liquid onto his clothes, followed by a dramatic apology, brushing at the mess on his shirt in dismay with one hand while he used the other to unclip the man’s badge and palm it into his pocket. The Archland pants he’d donned earlier, with their enormous pockets, proved wonderfully useful.

  Jeremiah moved along the outskirts of the square, passing vendors along the sides. He wandered through a few small shops, searching for another opportunity, trying to circle the area without causing suspicion, passing the fountain in the middle.

  His next quarry was even easier. Just a flirtatious smile as he reached around a woman to pick up a flashy shirt. “Excuse my reach,” he said in a warm tone, pulling the badge gently out of her purse without looking. Twisting the shirt around to check for a tag, he tsked before putting it back, once again invading her space as he tucked her ID into his other pocket. “Not my size,” he said regretfully.

  The woman tittered and shook her head in response. “That’s a shame,” she said in a breathy voice, angling to face him.

  “Have a good day,” he said with a nod, turning to go. He ignored the confusion on her face. Two down, three more to go. Everything he’d learned as a hungry teenager was coming back to him. He heard Luc’s voice in his head, the day he’d begun teaching Jeremiah the ropes. “The biggest rule is to leave the scene of the crime before your mark notices anything is wrong.”

  Jeremiah had met his best friend when he was 14 and Luc was 16. Only two years apart, yet Luc had been far more jaded by the world.

  Jeremiah needed to talk to Luc when they got home. If they got home, he corrected himself as he examined the crowd. He sighed. Maybe he’d made the wrong decision to leave after the revolution. He hated to admit it, but the Council was struggling. Luc had a good heart, but sometimes he couldn’t see past his hatred of the high-Numbers.

  Jeremiah pulled another bumping maneuver on an easy mark as he continued down the street. That made three badges. But he was forced to stop at the opposite end of the square and consider his plan for the last two.

  He preferred to avoid repeatedly passing the front doors of the BioLabs, with all that security. Luc’s voice came to mind again, “Never pick the same pocket.” But this far down the block, there were fewer targets to choose from.

  Not to mention the cameras that he knew were expertly hidden, just like the one they’d seen on the wall. His skin crawled at the thought. A pickpocket couldn’t last long here. Hopefully no one was watching the footage live…

  Jeremiah tapped his own pockets absently. He had two badges from men and one from a woman, and while he wasn’t sure if security would check that the genders matched, it was better to be safe than sorry.

  One of the vendors nearby was in a serious discussion with a prospective client. An idea came to Jeremiah. It took him less than two seconds to slip a small necklace from their table, neither of them the wiser.

&nb
sp; He stayed at the far end of the square opposite the BioLab building, passing a few more vendors, before he held out a hand toward a woman walking in the opposite direction. “Excuse me, miss,” he said, stooping down to touch the ground, before standing back up and holding out the necklace he’d snatched. It glittered in the sunlight. “Did you drop this?”

  The woman touched her neck which was bare, except for the thin cord that held her badge. “Oh my,” she said, fluttering a dramatic hand in surprise, eyeing the jewelry with a predatory smile. “I must have.”

  Jeremiah smiled his most charming smile as he unclasped the necklace and raised it up. “Allow me,” he said, stepping toward her before she could turn around. His face was mere inches from hers, and he held her gaze, allowing a slow smile to spread across his face as his fingers deftly hooked the delicate chain, while at the same time unhooking the one that held her badge.

  He caught a whiff of her heavy perfume as he leaned even closer. He lowered his gaze to her mouth, then back to her eyes, all while lifting the badge from her neck. Dropping it from one hand and catching it skillfully with the other, he slipped her ID into his pocket, distracting her from the movement by slowly pulling his other hand away from her neck, even going so far as to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. Once the badge was tucked safely away, Jeremiah stepped back as if to admire the necklace. “Beautiful.”

  She grinned, touching the jewelry where it rested at her collarbone, too distracted to notice the missing badge. “I’m so thankful you found it,” she said coyly, “I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She even went so far as to flutter her eyelashes at him.

  “You’d be alright,” Jeremiah flirted, forcing himself to stay standing just a little too close. He added a wink for good measure. Then he let his face transform into a look of horror. “Oh no,” he muttered loudly, for her to hear. “My girlfriend’s coming. I’m so sorry,” he brushed past her, as if in a hurry. “I have to go!”

  Her huff of anger barely registered as he left her behind. Now he just needed one more. The motions were coming back to him as if he’d never stopped, although that last move had never worked that well when he was 14.

  Since he had to make his way back to the group anyway, Jeremiah decided to let himself move deeper into the square, where the crowds were the thickest. Walking in sync with a group of travelers at the same speed, he kept himself subtly out of view of security as he passed the fountain in the middle once more.

  Once out of sight of the front doors of the BioLabs, he wove through the masses, looking for one last mark. He spotted another perfect target for the bump method.

  “Hey,” the man growled. He must’ve felt Jeremiah’s hands on him.

  Jeremiah instantly dropped the badge on the ground, pulling his arm up to let his BiComp ring wink on as the man swung around to face him.

  “My apologies,” Jeremiah muttered, with his gaze pinned to the screen on his arm. He glanced up distractedly, meeting the man’s glare. He gestured to the ground. “I think you dropped something.” As the man scowled and bent to pick up his badge, Jeremiah took off without a backward glance. He’d gotten cocky.

  He scanned the crowd more carefully. Finding the built-in camera Olive had used, he pretended to snap photos of the square, all while studying the nearby throngs of people. A woman who would have made a perfect target walked past him, wearing not only a BiComp bracelet and ring, but also staring into a hologram set of glasses, eyes glazed over, chatting away to the person inverted on the screen in front of her eyes. Slipping a practiced hand into her purse would have been the easiest score of the day. He clenched his fists in frustration. Their group had two women and three men; this last badge needed to be from a man.

  He leaned against a building, playing idly with his BiComp while subtly perusing the crowd. He was pleasantly surprised to find a man chatting on a bench with a hologram, completely preoccupied.

  Jeremiah made quick work of it. All it took was a quick stop behind the bench where the man sat, stooping as if to tie his shoes. He slid his hand into the man’s briefcase and back out, unnoticed.

  Standing, he let himself fall back into the crowds, pocketing the final badge. As he crossed through foot traffic to return to their meeting place, he allowed himself a small smile of victory.

  37

  Evalene

  EVALENE HUNG HER BADGE around her neck, reading the name tag as an afterthought. The previous owner’s name was Promise. She snorted at that.

  Jeremiah clipped his stolen pass to the neck of his shirt. Evalene read the name on it and grinned, “Nice to meet you, Handsome.”

  His brows rose in surprise and he smiled back.

  “That’s seriously a name here?” Olive said, poking at his badge, making him glance down. Evalene realized he thought she’d been referring to him personally, and she felt the heat of a blush rising to her cheeks.

  “Hey, your name sounds like an Archland name,” Olive told Noble as she pinned her ID to the neck of her dress.

  Noble fidgeted with his shirt like his clothes itched. “Let’s get going,” he mumbled, focused on the building. “We don’t have time to waste.”

  Sol, ever watchful, spoke up just then. “It sounds like an Archland name because it is, isn’t it.” His tone wasn’t a question.

  “Is that true?” Jeremiah asked. Everyone turned to Noble, who’s trained his eyes on the ground, focused on straightening his Archland clothing. He coughed, lifting his chin.

  “Technically, yes,” he said. Evalene’s eyes widened and she involuntarily took a step back from Noble. Was he a spy? Had he led them here only to sell them as slaves? Her heart pounded and her mind ran through all the ways they could try to escape the square and somehow still make it out of here. Everything made sense now, the way he’d seemed so familiar with the city…

  “It was twenty years ago!” Noble said, crossing his arms defensively. “I haven’t been here since I defected as a senior in high school, when I learned about the H.E.V.”

  Evalene glanced at the others to see if they were buying it, but they were unreadable.

  “Growing up in Archland you assume that the experiments are created in a sterile lab just like all the actual BioGrades,” Noble continued. “But we took a class fieldtrip right before graduation to the… surgery rooms…” Noble couldn’t hide his emotions at all. They crossed his face as the memory came back to him: revulsion, horror, pain.

  Sol clapped a hand on Noble’s shoulder in silent commiseration. He was a good judge of character, and Evalene found herself believing Noble’s story, even as anxiety for her mother increased ten-fold with these new details.

  Olive pointed a finger at him as a revelation hit her. “That explains how you knew so much about the clothes, and where to go!”

  Noble dipped his head, acknowledging the truth. “A lot has changed since I lived here though,” he told them, spreading his hands out to gesture at the city. “Our last recruit from Archland defected more than five years ago. He was our most up-to-date source of information. Five years of changes in Archland’s technology is like 50 years of changes in the rest of the world.”

  “Does my mom know?” Evalene asked, then regretted speaking up as she heard the insinuation.

  Noble looked hurt. “I told her when we first met, actually.” He shrugged as if trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal.

  Evalene bit her lip, not knowing what to say.

  Olive rescued her. “So, you should know how to find Pearl when we get inside!”

  But Noble shook his head, frowning. “Unfortunately, no. Like I said, I left when I saw the truth behind the BioGrades.” He groaned in frustration. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished I’d stayed to learn more about the process.”

  “But you said that they kill them shortly after arrival?” Evalene asked. That detail was etched in her mind.

  Instead of confirming, Noble looked away to compose himself. That alone worried Evalene more than anything e
lse up to this point. She felt tears begging to be released, but blinked them away.

  “They don’t kill them outright,” Noble said in a strained whisper, struggling to speak the words. “This is what I know: after they’re sold, they’re processed. It can take a few days, depending on what studies are lined up. But once they put them in a test group, they’re as good as dead.”

  Evalene shook her head, not understanding. “A test group?”

  “Test groups lead to surgery, and the surgeries never end well.” Noble’s lips thinned. “We have to save Pearl before she’s assigned a test group.”

  “What’re we waiting for?” Evalene’s throat felt raw as she spoke, the held-back tears just at the surface, ready to spill over if they didn’t take action right now.

  “Let’s go,” Jeremiah led the way. As they went, he arranged them into pairs, so they’d be less noticeable as they entered the building. He put Sol and Olive at the front, Noble in the middle, and he and Evalene brought up the rear.

  Noble described how to use the machines, instructing them to swipe their ID badge across the top of the box. If they still worked the way he anticipated, it would read the badge and let them in. Evalene hoped he was right.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Sol was quick to ask for all of them.

  “We need a distraction,” Jeremiah said thoughtfully. “You can have all the security in the world, but people are still people.” As they drew closer to the stairs, they all pulled up their BiComp interfaces, pretending to be busy.

  “Hold on,” Jeremiah said, after a moment of thought. “I have an idea. Sit tight.” They perched uncomfortably on the stairs of the BioLabs. Evalene felt like the building had eyes and stared down at her hungrily. Jeremiah disappeared into the crowds for what felt like ages, but was less than five minutes. “Okay,” he said, “Let’s go.”

  Climbing the stairs up to the building, Evalene adopted the haze of everyone around her, turning on her BiComp so the glow marked her as a techie, even though she had no clue what to do with the miniature computer. She and Jeremiah watched Sol and Olive enter the revolving doors ahead of them, entering into one of the short lines.