"So you don't want to risk it." He thought back to the beach—there had been others there. The two Coast Guard men he'd knocked down—were they here? When Lyra beamed back to her home—however she'd done it—had they come with them? And if they had . . . did they live? Were they in a hospital room? An isolation ward? Were they charred husks? Would it be better if they'd arrived dead? Or had they been far enough back to avoid being taken? He had to know. "What about the others?"