“The SSA isn’t just a US government operation. It’s in every country in the world. And yes, I did. And I know you’re angry. But trust me, your anger doesn’t begin to compare to mine when I realized what had been kept from me. I lost out on an entire life with my daughter and husband.”

The anger building within him began to quell at the bitterness in her voice. “I don’t mean to blame you. I’m just confused.”

“Understand that I was told that my family was dead, but that I could help others like me. I could devote my life to a cause that was trying to understand why people, like my Lynn, were being taken and returned to earth. That I could avenge her, and my husband, by seeking the answers. All this planted in me by the extremely encouraging agents who routinely visited me in my recovery. It lit a fire within me. Ultimately, it gave me a reason to live. Ultimately, they were successful in keeping me silent.”

She motioned to the wheelchair. “My legs were shattered. But in time, the rest of me healed. Enough for me to quietly be wheeled into the new, tiny, research facility in Mexico run by the SSA. Everyone there spoke Spanish, so it took me a long time to learn the language. But I did. And my life’s work began.”

“All this time … you’ve been in Mexico?”

Her lips pursed. “It’s strange, now, to think back on all those years. A simple but fulfilling life. I lived alone, did my work in the archive division. Since I had no family, I naturally yearned to create another. ‘The widow of the library,’ the agents called me when they didn’t think I could hear. They all became my children, and many treated me with kindness. I was grateful that I had a job that supported a disabled woman with no education, and that I was allowed to be a surrogate mother and grandmother to my coworkers. They appeared grateful to have me, and I focused all my energies on the abduction cases in Mexico.”

“But how could you have not known about my grandmother?” William asked. “She was married to a US senator. Her picture was in newspapers and certainly online. And if you researched abductions, surely you came upon…”