All the times Adam had claimed we had to stay one step ahead of the Councils to survive their schemes. All the times he insisted our crops had failed because they were poisoning our fields. Every single time we lost members of our family and Adam said they had been stolen away by the Councils, taken to interrogation chambers deep beneath a secret base, tortured for our secrets. All the drills, the patrols, the preparation for midnight raids, the punishments dealt to anybody who compromised our safety and security.

Malachi’s voice was full of pity. “He’s always been very good at convincing the family that you need him.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said again.

But I had never seen the Councils soldiers surrounding our homestead; I had only heard the sirens and Adam’s exhortations to stand strong. I had never tasted poison in our food or water; I had only learned how hard it was to scrape a living from the ailing desert wasteland. I had never seen any family members dragged away by Councils agents. I had only ever seen them walk away, and never return.

It had all been a lie. We were never in any danger. Our only prison had been the fevered paranoia of Adam’s mind. Our greatest weakness was how easily we believed him.

“Then what were you looking for?” I asked. “What does SPEC want from us?”

“I was looking for you. Your family.”

I could not breathe.

“My mission was to locate Gregory Lago’s widow. Mariah Dove.”

It had been so long since I had heard my mother’s name spoken aloud.

“SPEC Intel believed she had to know something about her husband’s actions. We needed to know who he had been working with and how he acquired a Pre-Collapse biological weapon that was supposed to be locked away in a secure archive. Dr. Dove had done immunological research. She visited several laboratories in her career.”

“Danzmayr’s disease,” I said weakly. “That’s what she studied. She was looking for a cure. She hated that the Councils didn’t devote the necessary resources to it because it only affected North Americans. She never knew anything about what happened here. But they didn’t believe her. They hounded her at the hospital, everywhere she went.”

“I know,” Malachi said.

“They never left us alone. That’s why she took us to the desert.”

“I know.” He cleared his throat. “By the time we confirmed she didn’t know anything, we had already learned about Adam’s plan. The orders were to observe and report. To see how far it would go. Not to interfere.”

“Your orders.”

He said nothing.

“You keep saying we. But it was you. You were spying on us.”

“Zahra,” he said. I had never heard my name like that, a wound torn open.