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inside Mother Earth Defenders.”
    “No way!” I didn’t even need to think. “You’ll have to find someone else to do it.”
    Richter’s gaze locked with mine. “We need someone who already has an inside track. Somebody who can find out what they’re planning so we can stop it before anyone gets hurt.”
    “No. No way. I’m not going to be a narc.” The thought sickened me. Then I put two and two together. “My parents already turned you down, didn’t they?”
    He shrugged one shoulder. “We never asked them. MED trusts your parents—but they would never ask them to take part in an action. They’re dupes who offer MED a place to meet, maybe a little funding, as well as free, shall we say, refreshments. But they’re far too old to be asked to be part of the group. That’s why we need someone younger. Someone who can get on the inside and help us gather real evidence.”
    “No. I can’t do it.” My eyes felt wet again. “I’d rather go into foster care.”
    “Let me show you something, Ellie.” Richter reached down. As he set his briefcase on his lap and took out a manila envelope, I dashed the tears from my eyes before he could see them. He slid a photo across the table to me.
    My eyes traced the lines and shadows of a monochromatic print. I was staring at the charred outlines of a building.
    “This was going to be an apartment complex in Southern Oregon for low-income people,” Richter said. “That is, until MED set it on fire. Half the valley had to be evacuated when the fire spread to a nearby housing development. And do you know why they set the fire?”
    Richter waited until I finally shrugged at his rhetorical question.
    “Because they felt it was an environmentally sensitive area. So they burned down the building—and the fire spread to the site they supposedly wanted to protect! That’s how MED operates. They burn forest ranger stations because they don’t like the Forest Service approving any logging at all, even if it prevents wildfires. They destroy agricultural stations and science labs. In Cannon Beach, they torched a helicopter that sprayed herbicides to fight non-native weeds. Here in Portland, they pipe-bombed a research lab working to make more nutritious rice. But worst of all, we now believe there is a faction of MED that’s planning to target people.”
    With every word he spoke, I kept thinking of Coyote, checking the accusations against the person I knew. “That is so unbelievable. They wouldn’t hurt anyone. You should have heard them today. They were talking about freeing minks . If they care that much about a mink, they would never hurt a person.”
    “You don’t think so? What if I told you that animals are the only ones they really care about?” He took out another photograph. With a shock, I recognized the yard of my own house. It showed the people who had stayed for dinner the night I had made pasta.
    Richter tapped his finger over the picture of Hawk. “This guy here—his real name is Darryl Denigan, by the way—we have e-mails where he says the only way to get people to listen is when their blood is spilled.”
    I didn’t let the expression on my face change, but I remembered how Hawk and Cedar had seemed to disagree when Hawk said that dangerous times called for dangerous measures. “Those e-mails are evidence, then.” I crossed my arms. “Use them.”
    “They’re too smart to leave a trail that can be traced back to them. The e-mails are encrypted and anonymous. What we have wouldn’t stand up in court.”
    “I still can’t do it.” Bile rose in my throat. I didn’t want to go into foster care or to juvie, but I couldn’t do what he was asking me. Who knew if Richter was even telling the truth?
    Richter took back both photographs. “So are you saying you don’t care what happens to your parents?”
    My parents? “What do you mean?”
    “If you don’t cooperate with us, Ellie, it’s not just a matter of you being put in foster care. Your