Jake entered through the front door of the Langmere a few minutes before five, carrying a book bag over his shoulder and wearing khakis, a blue button-down shirt and a tweed sports jacket. Standard academic dress that blended right in with the researchers and students heading for a lecture in the main auditorium. He took a seat in the back, fiddling with his phone and occasionally drifting off to sleep as the speaker droned on in a monotone. Same as the rest of the audience. When it was over, he followed the crowd into Starbucks and got coffee and a sandwich. From his seat in the corner, he could see the cleaning crew finish up in the auditorium and restrooms, then take the elevator up to the second floor to continue their nightly duties.

He got another cup of coffee and waited for the security detail to do their tour before the front door was locked at seven. When the security check was done on the first floor, he got up and went into the men’s room where he settled into a corner stall. Not the most comfortable place to pass the next several hours. But not the worst stakeout he’d sat through either.

• • •

The streets were dark and empty when Pam approached the Langmere at two in the morning. The hood of her jacket was pulled up over her head and she felt like a criminal sneaking through the night. Well, why not? That’s what everyone thinks I am anyway. And after tonight, they’ll be right.

Jake was waiting inside the entrance to let her in. He had latex gloves on when he opened the door.

“Did anyone see you?” he asked.

“No, all clear. Did everything go okay on your end?”

“No problems. It amazes me how loose security at academic labs can be.”

They took the elevator to the eighth floor and Pam led the way down the hallway.

“Here’s my lab.” She sighed. “Or what used to be my lab.”

“And will be again,” Jake said. He took out a set of lock picking tools and opened the door, seemingly without effort. “Okay, put your gloves on before you touch anything and use this sparingly.” He handed Pam a thin-beam flashlight. “I don’t think we’ll be interrupted, but try to get out of sight if there’s some kind of security check. I’ll be here if things go south.”

Pam went to the freezer in the back of the lab where people stored their chemicals. She opened the door and gave a sigh of relief. Nobody had emptied it out. It was still filled with materials from her lab.

The original trays of candidate compounds from the chemical library took up three shelves. No longer of interest. The top shelf held general supplies and three cardboard boxes labeled with George’s initials. More boxes labeled with Vicky’s initials on the bottom.

And two that were Holly’s.

She took those to a nearby bench and started going through the contents. Thirty or so plastic test tubes. Most were just standard solutions used for cell culture. Insulin, nerve growth factor, glucose, and so forth. But there were half a dozen or so tubes that looked more interesting. Not ordinary stock solutions, but personal samples that Holly had stored.

Pam put these aside and was about to return the box to the freezer when she heard the door open. Her heart jumped and she knelt behind the bench, out of sight from the entrance.

The lights came on and a man’s voice said. “Looks okay to me.”

A woman answered. “Let’s just do a quick walk through to be sure.”

Pam crawled out from behind the bench and squeezed into a gap between an incubator and the wall. Out of sight of the main aisle.

But no way they’d miss her if they looked in the back corner.

She held her breath.

The footsteps came closer.

Then she heard a door slam and running noise in the hall.

“Out there! Let’s go,” the man yelled.

The guards ran out of the lab, slamming the door behind them. Pam breathed a sigh of relief, but stayed scrunched down out of sight.

Several minutes later, she heard the door open and close. Footsteps in the aisle. Then Jake whispered, “Pam? It’s me.”

“Thank God! What happened?”

“I created a little diversion running down the hall. When I got around the corner, I ducked into another office I’d opened earlier and left them trying to find me. I took a laptop, so when they sort things out, they’ll think I was a thief after office stuff. But they’ll be checking the building now, so we should get out of here. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but that was scary. I didn’t think they did patrols at this hour.”

“They probably saw a late night entrance to the building on video and decided to check it out. Did you find what you were after?”

“I hope so.” She showed him the tubes. “These were in Holly’s freezer boxes. They’re personal samples, so one of them could be what we want.”

“Good. Ready to go then?”

She put the tubes in her pocket and returned the boxes to the freezer. They used the stairs to cautiously make their way out of the building and walked the two blocks to Jake’s car.

Pam finally relaxed when they pulled away and turned onto Brookline Avenue, leaving the Langmere behind. They’d gotten what they wanted. If only one of these tubes is the real thing.

“It’s been a long day,” Jake said. “Ready to go back to your place and get some sleep?”

“Tempting, but no. Can you take me to Logan instead?”

“The airport? It’s four in the morning.”

“I know, but I’m not going to be able to sleep now.” Pam patted the tubes in her pocket. “I want to go get these tested. There’s a five-thirty flight to Detroit and I can grab a nap on the plane.”