Kelly and Mahir were coming along, naturally; they’d both come too far and been through too much to do anything else. Becks was coming, too, despite our mutual misgivings about spending that much time crammed into a van together. We’d need another Irwin on hand if things turned bloody, and after what had happened to Dave, this was almost as personal for her as it was for me. Alaric and Maggie were staying behind.

“I’m no good in the field. I don’t even have my licenses yet,” said Alaric, not meeting my eyes. I think he was afraid I’d start yelling—or worse, that I’d somehow talk him into coming with us. “You’ll be better off if I stay here.”

“You’re right.”

That wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting. He glanced to me, eyes gone wide.

I shrugged. “We can’t pretend we’re here if we’re posting reports from the road, and we can’t all go silent at once, either. Like that’s not going to look suspicious? So we’ll bounce them to you, and you can post everything from here. Same IP address. Business as usual.”

“Right.” Alaric smiled, either not bothering or not managing to hide his relief. “I can do that.”

“On it,” he said.

There was nothing to do after that but leave.

Maggie packed us a cardboard box of sandwiches and potato chips on the morning we finally started for Tennessee, along with a cooler full of sodas. She loaded everything into the backseat with Kelly before turning around and handing me two things: a large envelope packed with cash, and a debit card. “Don’t use the card unless the money runs out. It draws on the company account. Seeing charges from it that match the van’s movements shouldn’t set off any red flags, and my parents won’t care unless you buy a submarine or something.”

“And here I always wanted a submarine,” I said.

“Where would you put it?” asked Mahir.

“I’d have to buy a lake.”

“Well, that’s reasonable, I suppose.”

Maggie laughed—a short, sharp sound that had a lot in common with the confused yipping of the teacup bulldogs milling at her feet—and threw her arms around my shoulders, hugging me close before I had a chance to step back. “Come back,” she whispered, voice small and tight and right next to my ear, so only I could hear it.

We’ll try, said George.

“Don’t worry about us,” I said. I hugged her back, feeling awkward until she let go and stepped away, turning her face to the side to hide the tears that were glinting in her eyes. I sighed. “Maggie—”

“Go,” she said.