The van was lifting off the road. Thick black straps, like immense strands of dark pasta, had been dangling from the overhead helicopter. Jeff was reminded of the thick brushes in a car wash, but these straps were not made of rubber or fabric. They were clearly magnetic, because once they got close to the van, they were drawn to it. Each strap attached to the vehicle with a resounding slap. Five on one side, five on the other.

“I’ve never seen anything like this!” Harry shouted from behind the wheel.

Harry tried yanking the wheel back and forth, not unlike how he’d been doing when John Winslow had been shooting at them. But it didn’t make any difference. The tires were no longer in contact with the road.

“What the—” said Harry.

Chipper, his head sticking out the window, watched as the road beneath them drifted away. Soon they were able to see the tops of trees and the roofs of houses. Then he looked up, and was pretty sure he could make out, in the front bubble of the helicopter, Daggert.

But Daggert was not piloting. A man sat next to him at the controls. Daggert had an index finger pointed up. He spun it in a circle, then pointed it in the direction from which they’d come.

The helicopter banked. As it started heading back, the van swung out in a wide arc, forcing Jeff and Harry to hang on tightly. Jeff pulled Chipper back from the window so he would not fall out.

“Where are they taking us?” Jeff shouted over the roar of the helicopter’s blades.

“The Institute, I guess!” Harry shouted. “Where else? Unless they decide to take us out over the ocean and drop us in!”

Jeff hadn’t thought of that. “Which way is the ocean?”

Harry shook his head. “I’ve kind of lost my bearings, kid!”

As the helicopter settled into its new route, things got back to normal inside the van. The view was spectacular, but no one was in a mood to enjoy it. They were about half a mile up. The sky was clear, and they could see for miles.

Within minutes, they were over the city.

“Chipper,” Jeff said, “do you know where we are? Is this the way to The Institute?”

Yes.

Jeff nodded knowingly. “When you dropped your message-blocking system so we could tell them we were ready to talk, you purposely left it down long enough to let them lock in on us.” He paused. “Just like I figured.”

Looking ahead through the front windshield, a building that was both industrial and elegant came into view. It sat on a large tract of land that occupied several city blocks but still contained large wooded areas and much greenery. Even at their altitude, a high perimeter fence and large iron gate could be seen.

“Is that it?” Jeff asked.

Chipper nodded.

“Are you scared about going back in there?”

Chipper hesitated before replying.

I hope I am not so frightened that I pee a little.

Jeff put his arm around the dog and pulled him close. “You and me both, pal.”

They were now flying over The Institute grounds. Slowly, they began to descend. The helicopter dropped several hundred feet, then hovered over what was clearly the back of the building, judging by the presence of loading docks and dumpsters.

The chopper gently lowered the van to the ground. Once the tires touched pavement, the magnetic bands that had attached themselves to the vehicle went slack and retracted. They rose into the air and disappeared into a box on the underside of the helicopter.

“Should we make a run for it?” Jeff asked.

Harry pointed to half a dozen men and women in black clothes standing only a few feet away.

“Not much point,” he said.

Chipper barked and walked in frantic, tight circles inside the van.

“Stay calm, boy,” Jeff said.

The helicopter settled on to a pad about a hundred feet away. As the rotors slowed, the door opened and Daggert got out. He started walking, slowly and deliberately, towards the van.

“I guess this is it,” Harry said.

Daggert reached the van. He stood by the driver’s door and said to Harry, “Get out.”

Resignedly, Harry did as he was told. He looked like a man who’d given up the fight. Daggert moved to the side door, glared at Jeff and Chipper and said, “Now you two.”

Jeff stepped out and waited for Chipper to jump out and sit next to him before closing the door behind him.

“It’s been a while,” Daggert said to Jeff.

“Yeah,” Jeff said. “Haven’t seen you since your boat blew up.”

Daggert grimaced, but said nothing.

“Hey, we’ve got a deal, right?” Harry said. “We give you Chipper here, and you let the girl and Jeff’s old dog and us go.”

Daggert smiled. “Why don’t we go inside and discuss it?”

Ushered by Daggert and the others, Jeff, Harry and Chipper were taken into the building through one of the back doors.

The van was left unattended.

A few minutes later, the mattress on the tiny bed at the back of the van began to rise, and a hand appeared.

Edwin Conroy crawled out from the storage area below the bed, careful to stay under the windows. Patricia, who had been crammed in next to him, followed.

“I feel like a sardine,” she whispered.

Edwin slowly opened the cabinet below the tiny counter where the camper van’s sink was located. John Winslow was folded in on himself, knees to chest, his head bent down under the sink.

“This must be how an elephant in a bathtub feels,” John said. As he worked to get himself out of the hiding spot, he asked, “Are we there?”

“We’re there,” Edwin said.

“Shh!” Patricia said.

They held their breath for nearly fifteen seconds to see if anyone was going to come and check out the noises inside the van.

“They might have been listening earlier,” Edwin said quietly, “but not now.”

“We’ll wait a few more minutes to be sure they’re well into the building,” Patricia said, looking at her watch. “Then we’ll see if these still work.”

She held up two security cards with black stripes on them.

“What are those?” John asked.

“Our company ID cards that open any door in The Institute,” Edwin said. “I’d totally forgotten we had these until Jeff asked about them.”

Patricia said, “Jeff may be right about them never being cancelled. Why cancel cards for two people who are supposedly dead?”