Read Don't Let Go for Free Online Page A

“Let’s go pick them up.”
    Peter didn’t answer, suddenly exhausted. He hadn’t gotten a solid night’s sleep in days. He was tired of running. Tired of stealing from strangers. He was starting to fear that they were slowly but surely becoming the bad guys.
    When he parked in front of the Laundromat, Teo looked over at him. “You coming in?”
    Peter shook his head. “I’ll hang out here.”
    “All right.” Teo got out of the car and loped inside.
    Through the plate-glass windows, Peter could see Daisy and Noa folding laundry. It was an incongruously domestic scene. Teo said something and Daisy smiled, then pulled him into a hug. Watching them, his throat tightened. They were so obviously in love.
    He flashed back on the last time he’d seen Amanda. She’d looked so small and frail in her hospital bed, hooked up to all those machines. When Peter left Boston, he’d figured that within weeks, he’d be back with a cure. They’d expose Charles Pike for the monster he was, and everyone would get their happy ending. And then, he and Noa . . . well, that part had been fuzzier.
    He sighed. Noa’s head was ducked down, as if folding T-shirts required a tremendous amount of focus. The way she’d been acting toward him, so cold and distant . . . sometimes he wondered if she wished he’d never come.
    The Laundromat door opened and the three of them spilled out, slinging on packs as they went. Noa opened the passenger’s-side door and popped her head in. “You okay to keep driving?”
    “Yeah,” Peter said, even though it felt like if he tilted his head, sand would pour out of his eyes. “Sure.”
    “Good.” She took the passenger seat, and Daisy and Teo crammed in the back.
    “Not very roomy,” Daisy complained, sliding a hand across the cracked leather.
    Teo said, “Yeah. I miss the SUV.”
    “Then you can steal the next car,” Peter retorted. “Now buckle up. I want to make Denver by tonight.”
    “Anything yet?” Noa asked.
    “Nope.” Peter sounded distracted as his fingers raced over the keys. The ever-present backpack forced him forward onto the edge of the chair. They were sitting in front of a couple of clunky, aged computers in the Denver Public Library, trying to find a local safe house. Teo and Daisy had volunteered to make a food run, since both of them were useless with computers anyway. Besides, Peter usually had a knack for finding a good place.
    Tonight it seemed to be taking longer than usual, though. And they were short on time; it had taken nearly seven hours to drive here from Dodge City. Noa checked the clock on her monitor: 8:45 p.m. “This place closes soon.”
    “You could help look,” he grumbled. “It doesn’t always have to be me.”
    “I’m checking up on the other Persefone units,” she said, lowering her voice. “Still no posts.”
    “Well, you told them to lie low for a while.” Peter shrugged, his eyes still glued to the screen. “So they’re lying low.”
    “Maybe.” Noa had spent the past half hour trying to convince herself of that, but something still felt off.
    Three units of what used to be her “army” remained, and they stayed in touch online. But there were no recent posts in their chat room on The Quad, a hidden message board for elite hackers. Nothing in any of the cloaked accounts they used to communicate, either. Complete radio silence for two full weeks.
    Which worried her. Maybe the groups had disbanded, too demoralized and afraid of Pike to continue.
    Or maybe Pike had captured them, too.
    The thought turned her stomach. Back in Santa Cruz, his men had basically wiped out her entire unit; maybe he’d methodically gone after the others. And she was helpless to do anything about it; hell, she could barely keep three people safe. Sighing, Noa cleared her browser history and turned to Peter.
    “So where are we staying tonight?” she asked impatiently.
    Peter jumped, then started tapping the mouse like his life depended on it, closing