“Because otherwise they were going to find you, Wylie. I was afraid when they did you would run, which—given everything—would be understandable, and that you would end up getting hurt. That happens when people run. I wanted to help you. To keep you safe.”

“Help me?” I spit out. “You are such a liar.”

Rachel closes her eyes, shakes her head. Regret, sadness. And she is still hiding something, definitely.

“Listen, Wylie, we will deal with everything you’re talking about. I promise,” Rachel goes on. “But we need to focus on right now. We need to talk while there’s still time.”

Time—and I feel it then: her fear. And that sadness hanging so heavy on top of it. Still time for what?

The door to the room opens then. When I startle and step forward, Rachel puts a protective hand on my wrist like she’s ready to stop someone from dragging me away. Her fingers feel like sandpaper.

“Don’t touch me.” I pull out of her grasp.

“You’ve got another sixty seconds,” says a man through the open door, his voice gruff and deep. “And then she’s got to come with us.”

The door drops closed again.

“Come with who?” My panic is beginning to kick into high gear. Agent Klute is who I’m thinking. “Who was that?”

“Wylie!” It’s Jasper shouting out in the hall.

I lurch past Rachel, my legs awkward and numb. The world is far away, fractured, as I jerk open the door and lunge out. Two steps and I crash into a police officer—not Agent Klute. The regular, uniformed kind.

“Whoa!” he shouts as I stumble. He grabs me by the arm and pulls me back to my feet. Beyond him, I can see another officer on Jasper, dragging him away.

“Get your hands off him!” I scream. “He didn’t do anything!!”

“Whoa!” the officer holding me says again, amused by all my silly, silly noisemaking. “Why don’t we just take a breath and calm down?”

“Let him go!” I shout again, then whip around to Rachel, who is still standing in the door. “You said you’re trying to help! Do something!”

“Hey, calm down now,” the officer says, more sharply now. He’s just a regular old Boston cop, doesn’t seem wound up or to be hiding anything—just a guy doing his job. “They are escorting your friend out. That’s it. Take it down a notch, or we are going to have a whole new problem.”

“Jasper!” I try one last time.