“Don’t panic,” she said. “It’s important she stay asleep until we can figure out how she’s able to do what we saw. And nobody wants to hear Quincy Martin’s crap at the moment, so it’s just fine that he keeps sleeping too. We have no intention of hurting anyone.”

“You’ll understand that’s hard to believe.”

“Well, we had strict orders to bring you in unharmed. And we needed some time to process what happened out there. So it was just best that you slept on the road.”

He vaguely remembered the last words of the man in the front seat.

“My grandmother … she knows about this?”

“She does,” said a whisper from the window. The man with the shaved head stood peering out through blinds, a long rifle in his hands. “And we intend to deliver you in one piece. Thus the necessary constraints.”

“Who are you?” he said, sitting up despite the woman’s pressure.

“You’re stronger than I thought,” she said.

“My grandmother would never, ever condone a kidnapping. Not of me, and never of a little girl.”

“Your grandmother didn’t see that little girl just kill federal agents by looking at them. And if she thought you were in danger at all, then believe me, she would have authorized it.”

He began to demand to speak with his grandmother when he saw the guns lined up beneath the window. Six AK-47s, four with bump stocks. Two large black bags sat before the guns, obviously used to carry the weapons into the motel room. The man had a pistol on his waist, as did the woman with the bandana, who walked over to continue watching from the other side of the window.

William knew nothing about his grandmother’s work or who was ever on the other end of those secretive phone calls in Grandpa Tom’s office, who sent the mail that arrived for her with no return address, and who she thought of when she silently watched the trees behind her home.

But this? These people? No. Not his grandmother.

He looked over to Lily. Then again, nothing made sense.

“Are you Researchers?” he asked.

The man raised an eyebrow. “Do we look like academics?”

“Then who are you?”

“Neve, keep watching for Kevin. He should have found a place to stash the van. We got lucky that no one was outside when we snuck ‘em in. I know Kevin’s trying to be cautious.”

The woman nodded, fingering her pistol to take off the safety.

The man came to kneel in front of William. “What do you know about this girl?”

“Maybe you could start by explaining who you are—”

“We were dispatched by an organization to which your grandmother, shall we say, belongs. When word surfaced of your appearance, we were sent to keep you safe. And given what we saw, it’s a good thing we came.”