On his exploratory walks, Luke Ellis paused outside the B-Level lounge to listen to conversations. He noticed that both Institute staff and outside groups used the room, and these visitors often carried travel bags without airline tags. Most ignored Luke when they passed him in the hall, reinforcing his sense that children were treated as invisible.

Luke judged the visitors to be the Institute's "hunter-gatherers" responsible for abducting children, a conclusion supported by an overheard exchange between Joe and Hadad comparing the flow of kids to ocean tides. Despite claims that the tide was usually out, Luke observed that, as July progressed, more children were arriving in West Wing.

The outside teams arrived in trios or quartets, with a military bearing: short hair for men and tightly bunned hair for women. Luke heard staff refer to specific teams by code names, including Emerald and Ruby Red. He focused on Ruby Red, a trio of two women and one man, recognizing them as the team that had attacked his home in Minneapolis.

Listening closely, Luke picked up the name Michelle as belonging to the Ruby Red woman who had sprayed him during the abduction. When Luke and Michelle crossed paths, her gaze briefly returned to him, confirming the connection and giving him another name to remember.

Luke's theory about the teams was confirmed when he overheard members of the Emerald group in the break room discussing a quick pickup in Missouri. The following day, a fourteen-year-old girl named Frieda Brown arrived in West Wing, disoriented and insisting there had been a mistake.

Luke reassured Frieda with practical advice, explaining how to earn tokens. Although unsure whether Frieda absorbed the details, Luke reflected that every new child eventually learned the Institute's rules, underscoring the system's normalization of captivity and the ongoing influx of abducted kids.