All his life he’d heard the whispers. Had he and his grandmother been brainwashed by crazy conspiracy theorists? Or had some shadow government, in the form of men in black suits, really had him all that time?

He took another hard right to speed down Ripper Road. As they drove, William could see the media trucks still camped out around the trailer. While most remained unmoving, a single set of headlights barreled away from the horde towards them. Had one of the photographers caught on to what had happened?

“Lily,” William said. “Just hang on. I need people to know what happened to the woman who brought you here. Can you get into my backpack and get out my phone?”

“Dude, think long and hard about that one,” Quincy warned, trying to focus his phone.

William heard Lily fumble with the backpack on the floor, and a small hand squeezed past Quincy’s considerable stomach to deliver the cheap phone. William whispered a quick thanks and held it up, only to realize it was dead.

He reached back and snatched the phone out of Quincy’s hand.

“Hey, man!”

William tried to navigate the complicated screen. He’d never seen anything like it. It looked more of a tablet, with 3-D apps and several buttons on the sides.

“Careful with that, it’s a prototype,” Quincy said. “And don’t lose my video!”

“I just need to know how to make a call.”

“The icon is right there—the blinking app of the voice box. You’re gonna regret that 911 call. There’s going to be a recording of your voice that’s broadcast on every TV station and website in the world.”

Let there be a damn record of what I saw.

William dialed the three digits and immediately got a busy signal. He tried again, with the same result.

“Am I dialing this right? It’s just busy.”

“That phone has the latest hologram software that’s not even available anywhere yet. So yeah, it can make a call.”

“It’s constantly busy.”

“Are we too deep in the sticks? We’re on a frontage road. It shouldn’t be a problem. Look, it has bars. Maybe it’s a sign.…”

William dialed again and the busy sound responded. “How can that be? I can even make a call from my crap phone at my house.”

“Sorry son. Damn, that helicopter is close now! Give it back. I’m getting more video.”

William let him take it, seeing the exit ramp to the interstate quickly approaching. The rearview mirror showed headlights coming up fast behind them. The height and spacing of the lights suggested the news crew was in a van.

He pulled onto the exit, watching as the helicopter continued to trail them. There was nothing coming over a loudspeaker with commands to stop. That’s what police would be doing right now.