They’d finished half of their burritos before Devin broke the silence.
“What do you think’s next?”
An odd question, she thought.
“The consensus seems to be that we need to find this summer camp in the Ozarks.”
“Yeah. But how?” said Devin. “I’m a little worried about what I’m hearing.”
Marnie hadn’t heard any talk beyond locating the camp, but she’d given it some thought and probably came to the same conclusion reached by Rich and Karl. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but what choice did they have? And as long as they could keep things under control, which they seemed more than capable of doing, nobody innocent would get hurt. At least that was what she kept telling herself.
“What are you hearing?” she asked.
He leaned over and whispered, “I’m hearing the words kidnap and interrogation.”
“It’s in their hands,” said Marnie. “They know what they’re doing.”
Devin lowered his breakfast and considered her for a moment. “You’re okay with that?”
“What are the other options?” she said. “From what I’ve read, your mother spent weeks down at the Missouri-Arkansas border, with nothing to show for it. Given the stakes here, I can’t say I disagree with them.”
Devin looked conflicted, but he nodded. “I know. I’m just worried about how far they’ll go to secure the information. This group doesn’t fuck around—at all.”
“We’ll have to be the voice of reason,” she said. “Draw the line at innocent family members. Especially kids.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Rich and his crew hurting kids,” said Devin. “I don’t see them as the types to go that far, and there may be no point trying to leverage the kids against the parents. This second generation of sleepers lived through a modern-day pogrom. Thirty-seven of their summer camp friends executed. Nearly a third of their numbers. I don’t expect anything different from this generation of sleepers. They’ll more than likely sacrifice their children before betraying the cause.”
She squeezed his hand. “Promise me the children are off limits.”
Devin took her hand firmly. “No kids. No innocent victims. That’s the line. That’s also the reason we can’t let them sideline us.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
He let go of her hand. “Berg made it very clear that he didn’t think I was, uh . . . up to the task—for lack of a better phrase. That’s why he kept me in the dark about the town house ambush. He knew I would have freaked out and blown the whole operation.”
“Why would you freak out?” she asked.
“Because of you,” he said abruptly before pausing for an uncomfortable amount of time. “The thought of causing you or your parents any harm would have driven me to—look, it’s not like you would have left the town house if I had asked you, right?”
“Right. I had no intention of leaving until I was satisfied that you were mentally sound and not under duress,” she said before scanning the room. “From Karl and his associates.”
“Which is why I would have done something rash to warn you off. Something that could have blown the whole operation. I would not have sat on my hands and let you get sucked into this. Or worse,” said Devin. “He knew that.”
“What’s worse?”
“Worse is what almost happened at the intersection,” said Devin. “Berg was smart not to say anything. My concern is that he’s already warned everyone on the team about my reservations, and they won’t level with us during the planning phase. Then they’ll bench us at the last minute to keep us out of it altogether.”
Marnie took his hand, for no other reason than she needed to hold someone’s hand right now. At least that was what she told herself.
“There’s nothing we can do about that, ultimately,” she said. “But we can’t stay silent. We need to make our position clear on this. Trust me, it’ll make a difference.”
She let go of his hand when Rich returned with one of the coffee mugs Devin had previously advised her not to use for sanitary reasons. He glanced in her direction and vaguely nodded, presumably acknowledging what he’d just seen transpire. She nodded back, still unsure what to make of the undeniably special connection she shared with Devin.
CHAPTER 34
They wolfed down their breakfast burritos in silence, Devin wanting to expand on his earlier sentiment about keeping her out of danger. Put a more personal spin on it. He’d already reviewed his words several times and decided it sounded a little too perfunctory, like an obligation. It was more than that for him, but this wasn’t the time or the place to risk making her feel even more uncomfortable. The moment was awkward enough.