Nine

Elaine Richardson didn’t even blink when Hollis showed up at her office with a baggie full of swabs.

“Thanks for coming in on a long weekend,” Hollis said. “I owe you.”

“I didn’t do it for you. I’m always here when there are no classes. The only time I can get my research work done in peace.” She looked at the baggie. “It’ll take a week or so. I can have a grad student type it for me, but it’ll still take up to a week.”

“That’s okay. I mean, it’s silly. Finn is convinced that someone tried to break in last night and cut himself on a nail by the window. He even thinks he knows who it is, some student Finn says hates him, but I think it’s just an animal. We have a lot of raccoons in our neighborhood. They’re not friendly, are they?” Hollis wanted to stop talking but she couldn’t. She had rehearsed a reason for the request, and she couldn’t stop herself from giving it, even though Elaine seemed perfectly fine doing the favor.

“Last week, an administrator who shall remain nameless asked me to match two saliva swabs. I think some girl showed up saying she’s his daughter. He doesn’t want to go through the normal channels because …” She smiled. “Well, because.”

“The faculty are keeping you pretty busy with our little side projects.”

“Never a dull moment. You just want to know if it’s human or animal DNA?”

Hollis hesitated. She already knew the answer to that question, but she’d backed herself into a corner with the story. “Well, if it is human, which it probably isn’t …”

“You want me to check it against the federal database?” Elaine raised an eyebrow, but there was a smile to go along with it. “That shouldn’t be an issue. I’m working on a federal research project. I can slip it in with my samples.”

“And that would include inmates, federal workers, like for example, I don’t know, CIA agents and postal workers …”

“Interesting mix, but not entirely accurate. CIA, yes, but not all federal workers. The real gold is in those genealogy sites. Anyone who gives their DNA to one of those sites is offering up clues to their whole family tree. They’re catching serial killers by finding people who share some DNA and then tracing it through the family tree to the actual killer. Amazing,” she said. “I can sneak in a profile if I don’t get a hit on the database.”

Hollis wanted to say it wouldn’t be necessary, but she couldn’t. She had a feeling they would need the widest net possible to find the identity of the dead man. “It all sounds so fascinating. It might be fun just to see where it leads.”

“I don’t think people understand how much of our lives is now accessible to anyone with a computer. Not just financial records and the like, but if someone hacks into a DNA database, they could have the most personal information on nearly everyone in the country. Maybe even half the world. They could use it to create some supervirus targeted toward people with certain genes or something.” She laughed. “I sound so paranoid. As if there’s some villain out there trying to bring about chaos and destruction.”

Hollis smiled though the whole idea seemed terrifyingly possible. “Thank heavens there isn’t.”

“I know! But in the real world, just a warning: If you think it might be a student here, it won’t be in the federal database. Unless it’s someone in the science labs, or someone who has signed up for one of our research projects. We take DNA swabs from those guys. If we’re lucky and it’s someone from here, I might be able to get results in a few days.”

Hollis didn’t know what to say, but she managed a smile. Finn could have done this much better, she thought. He had a way of being casual even in the worst moments. Hollis hadn’t put in enough practice on her poker face. Elaine put her hand on Hollis’s arm, and Hollis practically jumped.

“You’re going to be right, you know,” Elaine said. “You and Finn aren’t the types to have enemies. Unless it’s a Procyon lotor.”

It took a moment for Hollis to realize Elaine was giving her the Latin name for raccoon. Academics can’t help but show off.

Hollis handed Elaine a card. “Personal phone and email, when you get the results.”

“Absolutely. Everything on the down-low. Makes me feel vaguely criminal.” She laughed. “It’s nice to have a bit of excitement once in a while.”

“Yeah,” Hollis agreed. “Once in a while.”

It was almost two o’clock when Hollis left the science building. There had been no word from anyone unusual all morning. If that was Silva on their chair, then perhaps the whole thing was over before it could begin. In any case, she and Finn had been up since seven, waiting. They’d stared at the chair, debated what to do, made a breakfast they let go cold because neither felt like eating, and drank several more cups of coffee than either of them should have. But mostly they waited. And the longer they’d waited, the worse their anxiety got, so they’d made a plan. They were going to ignore everything Peter told them and run. They weren’t spies, they weren’t prepared to go off to save a criminal from himself. Before Ireland, it had sounded romantic, but the truth was that being scared, thinking that at any minute you might die, wasn’t as fun as it looked in the movies. The more they talked about it, the more clear it became they were in over their heads. They had to run. Let Peter and Declan sort it out for themselves.

Finn was determined to get the DNA to the lab before they went anywhere. They knew that if they left together, it would set off alarms if anyone was watching, so they’d agreed Hollis would go on her own. She was the one who had helped Elaine, so they figured it would be easier for her to ask the favor. Even if she was followed, going to the university was not a suspicious activity. Hopefully.

Now she was supposed to go to the grocery store, just to get anything that would look like a normal day. Finn had suggested bread and milk, but that struck her as foolish. If they were going on the run, why let food spoil? She was planning on some frozen veggies and a few cans of soup. It would have the added benefit of being something she could throw at a would-be attacker if she needed to. Going to the store also meant she could use the cash machine inside. She was going to take out as much as the bank would let her, as well as a cash advance on two credit cards. Whatever they could get would have to hold them until they were safe.

Then she was supposed to go home, to the second part of the plan. They’d make their escape through the basement window to the alley behind their house, run down the street to their favorite Italian restaurant, and get a taxi there to the train station and whatever train was leaving town first. There was the problem of when to call Peter. Neither of them had a lot of faith he’d back their play, but they’d have plenty of time to worry about that later.

Finn was home, still waiting until the last possible second for word from whoever Declan might send. They had decided if he did reach out, Finn would try to stall, buy them time to disappear. No matter what, they weren’t going to Argentina. They were going to follow the plan.

But there was one place she had to stop, just to be sure.