Page 48 of Mr. Match

“How about we don’t go to the FoCo Theater?” Cindy says. “The last thing we need is Sparrow sticking her nose into things.”

Everyone looks at Ariel for an answer. “Fine. We have an old building on Mason Street just behind Shrike Bikes. My dad’s been renovating it for years, but he hardly ever goes over there. And he’s so busy preparing for the Zombie Run this weekend, he won’t be there tomorrow for sure. How about noon?”

I nod. “OK. I’ll be there.” And then I walk to the front door and let myself out.

I exhale deeply and take an equally large one back in to steady myself as I open the gate and start walking up the street towards downtown.

I can’t decide if what just happened is on plan or not.

I decide it is. I decide it went just the way it was supposed to.

I decide that even if I just majorly fucked it all up, I don’t care. Because I cannot do this on my own. I need those girls on my side if I want to win this game.

Chapter Twenty-One - OLIVER

“Where’s Katya?” I say, when our little outside talk is over and we file back into the kitchen.

“She said she had to go to work,” Ariel says.

I squint my eyes at my sister. “Did she? Well, she doesn’t work, per se. So I find that highly suspicious.”

“What does she do?” Pax asks.

“Never mind. I’m gonna go find her.”

“She said she needs some time,” Ellie says. “Said to tell you that. You know. Space, Oliver?”

I look at her. Then Ariel. Then Cindy and Ivy.

If Victoria was in here with them, I’d have an easier time thinking they were lying. But Ellie? She doesn’t strike me as a liar. “She did?” I ask.

Ivy nods. “It’s a lot to take in. Meeting people who have your dark moments in common.” She gazes at Nolan affectionately. I want to roll my eyes at them and their common dark moments.

“How do you think she found you again, Oliver?” It’s Ellie asking but I’m looking at Ariel.

“She’s the one who left, not me,” I answer. Ariel shakes her head just the tiniest bit. But I know what she’s thinking. That look says, We might have a problem. And by we might have a problem, she means we might be going to prison.

I know that look well, but it’s been a good long while since we were this vulnerable.

Hook-Me-Up is a real dating site. Ariel came up with the idea when she was in high school and we papered Colorado State University with flyers about it, since it’s practically next door to Shrike Bikes.

A dating site is a good way to collect a lot of personal information about people. You get photos, hobbies, occupation, and if not straight-up daily schedules, at the very least you get patterns. Lots of patterns.

You also get credit card info.

We aren’t stealing money, though. We’re compiling data, which is just as valuable. We sell that data. Emails and shit. But that part of it is all legal.

Not everything happening over at Hook-Me-Up is legal.

The first time I heard the words ‘dark web’ it came out of my mother’s mouth.

I remember being so intrigued because the conversation went something like… Five can get that from the dark web.

Could get what? should be most people’s first question.

But mine was… That motherfucker is holding out on me. He has a secret about computers and he’s not sharing it.

I went to Ariel, since we’re the closest of all my many cousins and siblings and we were both really into coding back then. And she said she’d heard of it, but didn’t use it because people who frequent the dark web were part of the underbelly, and did we really want to be considered underbelly?