Read Storm (Swipe Series) for Free Online Page A

knew about computers, about programming, about hacking . . . and he and Erin had certainly caused enough trouble together to prove it. “No sign of her,” Dr. Arbitor said. Then she frowned, and she closed the door on him.
    Two months, now. Erin Arbitor had been gone for nearly two full months. Just right up and disappeared.
    Olivia was beginning to believe she’d simply never see her daughter again.
    Charles Arbitor, the professor’s estranged husband, had long worked as a secret agent for DOME. When Erin first ran away back in December, just off into the night like it was no big deal, Charles spent every last one of his office’s available resources trying to find her. He leveraged every last ounce of influence, cashedin every last favor owed, tried every last thing he could think of to get his daughter back.
    But then the whispers started. The rumors of Markless uprisings brewing around the country, standing up to the Union, standing up for the swiped. And those whispers became shouts . . .
    And every last one of those shouts traced back to Erin.
    In the end, all that effort Charles had spent getting DOME to investigate his daughter had served only to reveal one basic, horrible fact: Erin Arbitor was a traitor. By using the hacking skills her own mother had encouraged, Erin was the thorn that had uncovered all DOME’s greatest secrets. She wasn’t just gone, it turned out. She was a fugitive. And as long as General Lamson was still in charge of DOME, Charles knew she couldn’t come back.
    So after all the Arbitors’ efforts, after all the energy they spent trying to find her, Dr. Arbitor’s husband, Charles, now found himself in the unbearable position of having to undo his work. Of having to throw DOME off the trail. Of trying everything he could think of to keep Erin as far away as possible from all the people best equipped to help bring her back.
    To find Erin through DOME would be to kill her.
    So now a terrible race was on. The Arbitors had to find their daughter first. And through all of it, the only thing Olivia could do was worry.
    Dr. Arbitor’s tablet rang again, and for a long while she contemplated not even picking it up. What could one more stupid call possibly matter?
    It rang seven times before she finally answered.
    “Yeah?” she said. But her eyes went wide when she heard the voice on the other line. It was her husband. Not some financialsomething or other. Not some politician. It was the father of her missing daughter. And he sounded more worried than she’d ever heard him. Dr. Arbitor turned the video feed on. She could see his face now, over the connection. It was so stripped of life, it looked broken. Like the video connection itself was faulty.
    But no. It wasn’t the connection. That was just the state of things.
    “Been trying to reach you for hours,” Mr. Arbitor said. “You need to get better at returning my calls.”
    “Yeah, well . . . I’ve been busy.”
    “Look,” Mr. Arbitor said. “You and I—our differences . . . they’ll keep.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means I may need your help on this.”
    “Help on what? What? What’s going on?”
    Charles Arbitor sighed. “Things just took a turn,” he said. “We’re losing.”
    “Losing what?”
    “The race.” There was a pause over the connection. “DOME’s just found our daughter.”
    3
    The elevator ride between Advocate Langly and Eddie Blackall was tense and quiet all the way until it came to a stop, at which point Eddie jumped, hitting the floor so hard that his knees buckled.
    “Whoa!” he shouted. “That was a good one!”
    Lily looked at him sharply, but Eddie didn’t seem to mind.
    “Have you ever noticed that? On elevators. If you’re going down and you jump just as it stops moving, you’ll slam into the ground. Do it as they’re going up, and you’ll float for a second.”
    Lily was silent.
    “Momentum.” Eddie smiled. “It’s because of momentum.”
    The elevator doors