"They're trying to force us to bring the boys out." She looked at Max. "They want to confirm it. They want the proof in front of them where they can see it and use it, they want to know if you actually have a son, and they want his name and his face where everyone can reach them." She shook her head once, a small and decisive movement. "Now is not the time. Not for the boys to be brought into this. Not for the world to know about them."
"I know that," Max said.
He had stood at some point without appearing to have moved, he was simply on his feet now, the way a man who has been sitting with something long enough eventually has to stand with it instead.
His jaw was set. His eyes had gone to that particular place they went when he was not angry in a way that would pass quickly.
He turned to Samuel.
"Listen to me." His voice had dropped into something low and deliberate, the register he used when he wanted every word to arrive intact.
