“Said it was the police. Asked me to open up, it was an emergency. So I did and there were these two police officers out there. Like, identical twins or something. They told me that you’d been in a bad car accident. They said you’d been critically injured and were in intensive care and that you may not last the night.” She started to tear up now, and it felt like someone grabbed hold of my heart and squeezed. “They said that I needed to come right away, that you may not last another hour. They were like rushing me. Rushing me so fast I almost left Rox behind, I was so groggy and just not thinking clearly. They actually had to remind me to go back and get him, and I should have realized something was wrong right then, because how would they know about him? But I was just so upset that I’d almost left him alone and worried about whether I’d get to the hospital in time and what I’d find when I got there.”

Clever, clever man, that psychotic doctor or professor or whoever he is.

“They put us in the back of their cruiser. All I put on was this dress that I picked up off the floor. Rox was still in his pajamas. They looked exactly the same sitting up front and it set off alarms, but I couldn’t tell if I was picking up signals or just completely out of my mind. An hour later, though, and I knew something was definitely wrong. It shouldn’t have taken half that long to get to the station or hospital or wherever they said we were going while I was only half listening because I was so focused on keeping Rox calm. Then I realized we’d left the city and were virtually alone on some quiet highway heading out here and I started to freak out, but I had to stay calm for Rox. They wouldn’t tell me where we were going. What we were doing. Anything about you. Then I realized we were locked in the back of the cruiser with that barrier between the front and back seats and that I’d done something very stupid by getting in that car.”

Tears carved tracks through the dirt on her face as she talked, looking down at her hands as though ashamed. I lifted her chin so that she could see me. I needed to see her. “It’s not your fault,” I said. “You did nothing wrong. These people, it’s a whole system. They’re smart, fucking crazy smart. They got me, too. Got Caspian. Got Al. Got Solomon. Who knows who else. Thank God you’re okay, though. And you say Rox is okay?”

She nodded. “For now. Who are they? What do they want?”