Lynell grimaces and Zach nods.

“I knew it was Daniel and somehow, Dad did too. Maybe he caught on to how he and I communicated back in the day.” He shrugs, tapping the side of his mug. “Anyway, he planned to use the watch to find you, whether I helped him or not.”

“So, you just told him?”

“Lynell—”

“You did. You set us up!”

“No! I mean . . . Yes.” Zach holds his hands up, as if submitting to her accusation. “I just told him the colors meant the location. I didn’t tell him about the danger or mission success colors.”

“Oh, thank you. That makes it so much better,” Lynell says, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I knew that Daniel would put the success and danger colors together and realize something was wrong. I was hoping he would get what I meant, that the success was dangerous. Dad’s success is dangerous.”

Lynell gapes at him. “What?”

“Well, he got it, didn’t he? He didn’t go all the way to the warehouse. He must’ve known.”

Lynell shakes her head. “No, he just thought we should wait to watch for a while, to make sure it wasn’t a trap.”

“My point. You didn’t get caught.”

“We were about to.”

“I know. I should have gotten there sooner, I meant to get there hours before you, but escaping was more difficult than I’d anticipated. Thankfully, I’ve gotten some of the guards on my side over the years. They practically drool over the opportunity to follow someone other than Dad.” He takes another deep breath and runs his finger over the edge of his mug. “I really am sorry. I got there as soon as I could.”

“Yeah, well . . . Daniel still got shot,” Lynell says. Guilt washes through her, reminding her that she’s the reason he was there and she’s the reason the guards saw them. Not Zach.

“I know, and I’m so thankful it wasn’t worse.”

The moment stretches on, and Lynell drops her head next to the mug.

“How did we get here?” she asks, voice muffled.

Zach sighs. “Eric.”

Lynell senses more in that one word and looks up, startled to see Zach’s eyes now bright red. “Why do you obey him?”

He fingers the handle of his mug, looking into it while he speaks. “For a while, it was blind loyalty and faith in the Registration. I believe in the Registration, so I thought that meant I believed in my dad, too. After I was able to separate the two, I only obeyed him out of fear. Then, when I got older and showed signs of not caring what he did to me if I didn’t obey, he threatened my mom.”

“Your mom? I thought . . .”

“I didn’t know her for most of my life,” he says, returning his gaze to Lynell. “I found her about five years ago. I tried to keep our relationship a secret, but of course, Dad eventually found out. I wasn’t allowed to see her anymore. I thought as long as I left her alone, she’d be safe.”