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have to wait and see.”
    “I’m very proud of you,” Mrs. Phoenix said, unable to say more for fear of who might be listening. “You’re doing just great. I want you to know that.”
    “I’m not sure I am, Mom.” Hailey sighed. “My team’s down for the count, and I still don’t see a way not to lose.”
    “You’ll find it,” Mrs. Phoenix said.
    But Hailey shook her head. She no longer believed that was true. And in her frustration, Hailey decided finally to break her own household rule. “DOME’s winning,” she said. Then she laughed, and her mom watched wide-eyed as Hailey leaned far back and said loudly into the powdery air, “You hear that, DOME? You’re winning.”
    Mrs. Phoenix couldn’t stop coughing after that.

THREE

THE SETUP
    1
    T HE SMELL IN THE STABLE WAS STRONG AND natural, a far cry from the smells of Slog Row, where the Dust used to live. Jo opened the doors, and Blake scrunched his nose as he and the others filed in.
    “This it?” Eddie asked, shuffling through the straw stalks on the ground.
    “This is it.” Jo nodded. “Welcome to our new home.”
    Already Tyler had made his way onto the upper beams of the enclosure, tiptoeing across one of them with his arms out. “New game!” he called, faltering a little and waving his arms wildly to keep his balance.
    “So, what? We all just pick a horse and bunk up?” Eddie walked to a stallion at the stable’s end and waved his hands in its face.
    “Pretty much,” Jo said. “The livestock’ll throw off any heat detectors or satellite pictures, and their noise should distract longrange mic surveillance from picking up any of your lousy snoring.”
    Behind all of this, Tyler quietly lost his footing and fell into a pile of hay.
    “You all right?” Blake asked without much concern.
    “I won.” Tyler groaned.
    “Let’s just try not to kill ourselves before DOME gets the chance, hm?” Jo said, checking to make sure Tyler was okay. “You’ll ruin everyone’s fun.”
    “Speaking of which.” Eddie pointed to the door as it swung open. “Whaddo you suppose we do with him ?”
    Meg walked into the stable, dragging by his feet a man who lay slack and splayed on the ground. His head rested sideways, bouncing a little as it slid across the dirt. His arms followed behind, stretching up and over his head, and for the moment he was deadweight. Knocked out. Harmless.
    That would change, of course. The DOME badge on his shoulder promised it.
    Blake closed his eyes and composed himself. “I give Mr. DOME Agent here another hour before he comes to. Tops.” He sighed. “There’s a stream down past the corn field. Have you seen it?”
    Meg nodded.
    “Put him in faceup.”
    Eddie took hold of the man’s hands, and he and Meg turned to head out the door.
    “And hey—” Blake called after them, “make sure he floats before you let go.”
    “Whoa, whoa, what happened here?” Dane asked, eyebrows raised as he entered the barn.
    “Another scout,” Blake said.
    “He make it all the way to the farm?”
    “No, they still don’t know we’re here. This guy was just tromping through the woods when Meg found him. Then she . . .” Blake paused. “Well, I dunno. Meg, what’d you do to the guy? Clobber him?”
    Meg smiled and nodded.
    Blake turned to Dane. “Meg clobbered him.”
    “Yeah, thanks. I’d gathered that much,” Dane said. He sighed and dropped his bag to the ground. “So they really aren’t letting up, then.”
    “On the contrary. They’re closing their grip around Hailey as we speak. She’ll lead them right to us with these daily messages between her and Peck.”
    “Nah, she won’t,” Dane said. “Peck’s system is good. It’s safe. And besides . . . we’d lose her completely without it.”
    “ Dane’s in love with Haaai-ley ,” Tyler sang from the hay.
    “Will you shut it? This has nothing to do with me,” Dane said.
    “Right now Hailey’s our only contact with the outside world. We can’t find