The van door opened.

Jeff stepped out.

I gaped, briefly unable to find the words to say anything. He was here. He was real. I’d known he existed since his first text, but somehow I hadn’t quite made the leap that would translate that into the material world where Graham and I could meet him.

He was taller than either of us, although not as tall as David, with light brown skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. His Chinese heritage showed in the shape of his face and the cast of his features, while his blue jeans and gray sweatshirt were as nondescript as his van. No one who saw him would think twice about what he was doing there, or think to report him to the police for anything less than witnessing him actually committing a crime.

There was a white bandage taped over his right cheek.

He looked at the four of us, scanning each of our faces before his eyes settled on me and a grin spread across his face. “Stasia,” he said, and his voice was longing and relief and yes, affection, so bone-deep and pure that it made me want to sink into the ground. I didn’t even know this man, and he was looking at me like I was the solution to every question he had never quite known how to ask. “You came.”

“We could say the same for you,” said Graham, angling his body slightly so that it was between me and this relative stranger, this man of my literal dreams. “Thanks for coming to get us. We could have been in real trouble back there.”

“You still could be,” said Jeff, his smile fading, replaced by a coolly calculating expression. “Did anyone see you go into the woods?”

“No,” said Graham.

“Are you sure?”

“The man’s sure,” said David. “We’d have noticed if a bunch of armed police were following us through the forest.”

“And you didn’t mention my name while you were inside the facility?”

“No.” This time it was Toni who spoke. She gave him a level look. “You’re not on my wall of crazy, either.”

Jeff blinked, visibly confused. “What?”

“I’ll tell you in the van,” I said. “Can we get out of here? I don’t know how long we have before the cops come back down the road.”

“Your wish is my command, literally,” he said, and opened the front passenger door for me. There was only one seat up there with him. Refusing to take it seemed unwise. I still glanced back at Graham, waiting for him to say something before I got in.

He nodded.

I got in. The others climbed into the back; Jeff started the engine, and we were away.

Chapter 7

Portland, Maine: July 20, 2031

Eighteen days pre-invasion

1.

Jeff was silent until we reached the bottom of the hill and merged onto the local highway. It was a two-lane road, with a number instead of a name, and there was enough traffic that we would no longer stand out as a lone vehicle where it had no business being.