Everyone’s asking for you.” Nolan took a sharp step backward, deeper behind my coat.

I slid the flash drive into my breast pocket.

“I need five minutes,” I said.

Her eyes dropped to the boy, and narrowed, just slightly.

“What did Nolan say to you?” “Just grandpa things.” “This is no time for games, Thomas.” Her voice dropped beneath the smile into something tighter, harder, a register I had never heard from her in two years.

“There are guests out there.