At five in the afternoon, with Luke Ellis gone at least eighteen hours and playground cameras offering no help, Mrs. Sigsby and Trevor Stackhouse monitor reports from the Institute’s covert stringer network. The chapter details how these stringers surveil high-BDNF children, scout their environments for extractions, and act as local tripwires, especially in the dense ring around the Institute.

Anticipating Luke’s route from Avery Dixon’s coerced information, Stackhouse alerts multiple stringers at Dennison River Bend but prioritizes Presque Isle. He instructs one stringer to contact Presque Isle police and claim to have seen Luke, described as a boy wanted by CNN for questioning in his parents’ murders, priming law enforcement to detain him while the Institute manages the aftermath.

Communication constraints around the Institute force reliance on walkies and landlines. Dr. Felicia Richardson, covering the comm room, forwards a call from stringer Jean Levesque, who reports finding Luke’s boat aground about five miles upriver from Presque Isle. Levesque observes the boat shipped water, notes a single oar left with blood on its handle, and points out nearby rapids that could have capsized an inexperienced rower.

Stackhouse ends the call without answering Levesque’s questions and briefs Mrs. Sigsby, hoping Luke drowned but refusing to assume it. He orders the Institute’s only two security men, Rafe and John, to deploy to downtown Presque Isle immediately, reasoning that Luke on foot would head there, and if he hitchhiked he might be intercepted by state or local police already primed by the tip.

The scene closes with Mrs. Sigsby probing Stackhouse’s confidence. Stackhouse admits he is not as hopeful as he sounds, acknowledging the uncertainty despite the promising evidence of a capsized boat and blood.