‘I like to read,’ Jacob says, his bright blue eyes blazing.

‘You can read? That’s wonderful,’ says Barbara. ‘What do you like to read? Do you read Sesame Street books?’

Jacob giggles. ‘That’s for babies.’

Barbara looks up at Dominique. ‘What does he read?’

‘He just finished Huckleberry Finn. But he downloads a lot off the Internet.’

‘Amazing.’

They are back in the living room, shooting the last segment of the taped interview. The boys are outside, playing in the fifty-meter pool under the watchful eyes of Salt and Pepper.

‘Dominique, what’s Jacob’s IQ?’

She smiles uncomfortably. ‘I don’t know. I’m told it’s off the conventional scale. Manny’s is high, too—’

‘But nothing like his brother’s?’

‘No.’

‘What do you tell Jacob when he asks about his father?’

‘I tell him his father’s with the angels.’

‘While you were tending to Manny, I asked Jacob about his father. Do you know what he said?’

‘No.’ Dominique’s heart pounds in her chest.

‘He said his father’s in someplace called She-bal-ba. He also told me that one day, he and his brother are going to travel to this She-bal-ba, defeat the evil warlord, and rescue Mick.’

Dominique bites her lower lip. ‘He has quite an imagination, doesn’t he?’

‘This She-bal-ba, what is it?’

‘It’s nothing. Just some Mayan folklore. I hate putting parental controls on the Internet, but I guess I’ll have to.’

‘Dominique, this doesn’t sound like an Internet situation, it sounds like the Mayan studies the boys’ paternal grandparents spent their lives investigating. She-bal-ba? Evil warlords? I mean, this is serious stuff.’

‘You want to know what’s serious? In the last three months, there have been two attempts on the boys’ lives. In August, four members of the Aryan Nation made it up the beach in scuba gear, armed with Uzis and grenades. They came within one hundred yards of our home before security shot them. Then two weeks ago, a mob, incited by Peter Mabus and his radical regime, stormed the front gates using seven military vehicles and a trailer packed with explosives. Seven people died, including two American soldiers assigned to guard the compound.’