In Firestarter, the government agency hunting the family is called The Shop. It pursues Andrew “Andy” McGee and his daughter, Charlene “Charlie” McGee, after an experimental program gives both parents unusual psychic abilities and leaves Charlie with extraordinarily powerful pyrokinesis.
The Shop is not the FBI, CIA, or NSA. It is a fictional covert government organization created for Stephen King's novel, operating through surveillance, agents, medical experimentation, and attempts to turn paranormal abilities into weapons. Its experiments center on a drug called Lot 6, which Andy and Victoria “Vicky” Tomlinson took while they were college students.
Andy develops a mental-control ability he calls “the push,” while Vicky gains minor telekinetic powers. Their daughter inherits and magnifies these effects, becoming capable of starting and controlling fire. The Shop wants to capture Charlie so it can study and exploit her abilities, making the agency the principal institutional antagonist of the 1980 science-fiction horror novel. The story follows the family's flight, capture, and attempt to expose The Shop's abuses.