Page 116 of Hellbent

“Because that would be a big public thing,” Joey said. “A runaway’s just another story.”

“When a kid gets killed in a neighborhood like this, it’s not a big public thing. It’s two lines of print below the fold. Everyone would think it was gang retribution. Remember, no one in the world knows who David Smith is.”

“Except Van Sciver,” Joey said. “And us.”

Evan felt it then, the first ray of hope, straw-thin and pale, not enough to warm him but enough to lead the way. “The smart move isn’t to kill him. The smart move is to use him for bait.”

“So what do we do?” Joey asked.

“Swallow the hook. Let them reel.”

“And if he’s already dead?”

Evan stared at the sign above the security gate of the facility’s front door. A number of the letters were smashed or broken.

He said, “It’s a chance I have to take.”

“That sounds less than strategic.”

“The Tenth Commandment.”

“‘Never let an innocent die,’” she quoted. “So where do we start?”

Evan took out the Samsung Galaxy cell phone he’d lifted off the dead man in Portland. He called up Signal, the encrypted comms software that led directly to Van Sciver. He was about to press the icon to call when he realized that his emotions around this place and these foster kids were infecting him, making him reckless.

He thumbed the phone back off.

“We need to gather more intel before I make contact,” he said. “There’s an ATM at the gas station two blocks that way, facing the street. Maybe we can get the security footage, see what we see.”

Joey made a sound in her throat. Unimpressed.

“What?”

“If they drove that route,” she said. “If we know who we’re looking for.” She was leaning forward, straining the seat belt, seemingly peering up at the telephone wires overhead.

“You have a better suggestion?” Evan asked.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She pointed through the windshield. “See those streetlights?”

“Yes.”

“They’re not just streetlights.” She reached into the backseat, retrieving her laptop. “Those are Sensity Systems lights. We’re talking thermal, sound, shock, video—they continuously gather information and suck everything into the cloud.” She ran her fingers through her hair, flipped it over so the shaved strip showed above her right ear. “’Member how Van Sciver got onto Orphan L?”

“A surveillance photo of him smoking.”

“Taken from a streetlight,” she said. “We’re gonna use Van Sciver’s game against him.”

Evan stared at the streetlights, but they looked ordinary to him. “You sure those are the kind you’re talking about?”

She gave him a look, then booted up her computer.

He said, “How can they afford something like that in a broke neighborhood like this?”

Her fingers were already working the keys in a fury. “Federal funding. It’s part of the Safe Cities initiative. Detroit got a hundred mil off the government, and if Detroit can get it…” She glanced over. “You don’t keep up on this stuff, do you?”

“No.”

“The streetlights are all LED. The whole system gets paid for by the money cities save from the reduction in electricity costs. How ’bout that? A government plan that isn’t a total cluster. Not that it started with the government. The software was developed to track foot traffic at shopping malls, see what stores people go into, what they look at, how they respond to sales announcements, coupons, all that.”