“No. You couldn’t count on the parents to objectively assess their own children’s loyalty to the cause and report them up the sleeper network chain of command if they posed a risk, knowing it would sentence the child to death or kidnapping. Like you said, all it would take is one to break ranks and take the whole thing down. They’d need an organized method. Something intensive and possibly even fear inducing. A Branch Davidian–type cult setting for several years, at least, but it’s not like they could create their own isolated community to support and raise the next generation of sleepers. That would be a big red flag on a security clearance or background investigation, and Helen’s research didn’t seem to identify any gaps in time fitting that pattern.”

“Your mother had a theory that makes a lot of sense, given the number of children involved and something General Kozlov had written in the note he’d slipped into her pocket outing Donald Wilson. The glue that holds the others together,” said Berg. “She had become convinced that the sleeper families attended a summer-long camp every year, somewhere near Branson, and that Donald Wilson played an administrative role in that camp. Possibly the head administrator. He relocated to Springdale, Arkansas, from the Phoenix area in 1977, a few months after his family was killed in a car accident. Springdale is about ninety miles from the Branson area.”

“I caught a snippet of that in at least two of the files. In the summary notes as Confirmed Branson connection,” said Devin.

“Right. While interviewing hometown neighbors of the sleepers—”

“Wait. My mom actually traveled the country interviewing their neighbors? I thought she did most of the research online. How did I miss that?”

“It was all in the Branson files. She interviewed anyone that could shed light on their lives. Neighbors. Teachers. Coaches. Local business owners. Longtime restaurant employees. Anyone that might have known them. She mostly posed as a security clearance investigator running background checks for the government or a reporter doing a story on the success of a sleeper. She discovered a pattern that clearly wasn’t a coincidence. In nearly every case, she was able to find at least one person who remembered that the families spent most of the summer away. In some towns she found as many as a dozen. Most people didn’t have much recollection of where they spent the time, but those who remembered referenced the Ozarks or Branson. One lady said Maine. A few others, Colorado. But the vast majority put all of these families in Branson, deep in the heart of the Ozarks, for at least two months of the summer. There’s your isolated community. Part time, but I’m guessing they could have accomplished a lot in those two to three months.”