Page 140 of Veil of Silence

“I told myself I’d explain once I knew I hadn’t been followed.” His voice dropped. “Then every day I waited made it harder. You were all so nice. I felt so safe. I . . . I didn’t want to ruin it.”

Her throat tightened. “Where’s your family?”

“I don’t know.” He lowered his gaze. “I can’t remember.”

Her pulse thudded in her ears when she thought about how horrible that would be. “Do you remember your real name?”

“No . . . I was too young.”

The answer left Nora with a different kind of grief. He’d stolen Christian’s name because someone had taken his own long before he was old enough to hold on to it.

“What did they call you?”

“Josiah.” He didn’t look up. “They picked it.”

“Who are they?” Nora asked.

His expression closed. “The people who took me. I called them various names. Father. Brother. Leader.”

Nora and Austin exchanged a look.

“What do you know about Zander?” she finally asked. “I guess he’s included as part of the people you were referring to?”

“He was one of us. Then they sent him to Fog Lake a few months before I escaped.”

Nora remembered the dark figure she’d glimpsed at the edge of the woods behind the barn. She had convinced herself it was only a shadow.

Had Cross been watching their house that night? Watching all of them?

“Do you know why he was sent?” Nora asked.

“He wanted a bigger role. They told him he could prove himself by helping them find new recruits.”

Nora thought of Preston. “Boys?”

His gaze dropped. “They said they were getting close to their goal. But they needed more soldiers first.”

A chill moved across Nora’s skin. “Is that what they called you? Soldiers?”

“Sometimes.” He pulled the blankets tighter around himself. “Soldiers. Servants. Chosen. The name changes depending on what they want us to do.”

Cross had joined Luke’s department three months ago. He had been inserted into the community, complete with a past convincing enough to survive whatever checks Luke’s department had performed.

“Do you know where you were kept?” Austin asked. “Maybe we could find this place with your help.”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t. I’m sorry.”

“Are you sure about that?” Austin asked.

The boy’s gaze snapped to Nora’s. The fear in his eyes was deeper than anything she’d seen on the bridge. “I’m sure.”

Nora wasn’t sure she believed him. But right now wasn’t the time to push. And she and Austin shouldn’t be the ones to do so either. They should leave that for the FBI assigned to the case.

She lowered her voice. “You said my brother told you about us.”

He nodded.

“When did you last see him?” Nausea rose in her gut as she waited for his answer.