He wished he could talk to her one more time, knowing everything he knew now. So he could thank her for protecting them and tell her she’d made the right decision. That he was proud to be her son, not embarrassed. Devin had never actually told his mother that he was embarrassed by her, but he didn’t have to. He’d sent that message loud and clear by shutting her out of his life.

“Hey. Earth to Devin,” said Berg, waving a hand in front of him. “Sorry I was so blunt. But I’ve seen what the Russians are capable of when they’re trying to protect a secret. We have the fight of our lives ahead of us, with no room for error.”

“Where do we even begin to start unraveling this?” asked Devin. “Kidnapping Wilson was my mom’s Hail Mary pass, and I’m still not clear why she kidnapped him. Wilson wouldn’t have kept a list of every sleeper. My guess is that nobody in the US ever had that list.”

Berg started to open the containers that had sat untouched for the past several minutes.

“How far did you read into the Wilson file?” asked Berg.

“I skimmed it for now,” said Devin.

“What about the Branson files?”

“I didn’t look at those yet. They’re connected to Wilson, so I figured I’d tackle them when I did the deep dive into his file.”

“They’re very connected. I dug into them while you were shopping,” said Berg. “Helen needed something to break open the case. To give her something tangible she could take to the FBI, without being immediately escorted out of the lobby after a call to CIA—followed by her car blowing up the next time she started it.”

“The exact same scenario I’d like to avoid,” said Devin.

“Bingo. You and I are going to get along just fine,” said Berg. “Anyway. Here’s the big question that Helen had become convinced was the key to unraveling this conspiracy and led her to kidnap Donald Wilson. How do you successfully brainwash, train, and constantly assess the loyalty of a hundred kids, knowing that it would only take one of them to spill the beans and unravel the entire system you’ve spent decades cultivating? Would you trust it to the parents?”

Berg sat back and crossed his arms, waiting for an answer. Devin liked it better when Berg was in lecture mode. Less thinking.