CHAPTER TWO
THE NAME THEY BURIED
Gila dropped the phone into her pocket.
She didn't run immediately.
Fear had taught her something as a child.
Panic made noise.
Noise attracted attention.
She slowly stepped away from the laboratory counter and moved toward the second exit.
The hallway remained empty.
She looked back.
The mysterious vial was still sitting beneath the laboratory lights.
She wanted to leave it.
Every instinct told her to.
But another instinct, the one that had drawn her toward virology in the first place, told her that whatever was inside that vial mattered.
She picked it up.
The moment her fingers closed around it, the lights went out.
Gila froze.
A door slammed somewhere behind her.
She ran.
***
Kelvin was already moving.
He had received the emergency alert less than thirty seconds earlier, but he knew what it meant.
Someone had entered Gila's protected environment.
That could not happen by accident.
He called his agency contact.
“No details over the phone,” the voice warned.
“I don't care about protocol.”
“You should.”
“Someone is inside Stanford.”
Silence.
Then:
“Is the girl safe?”
“I don't know.”
“Find her.”
The call ended.
Kelvin accelerated through traffic.
His mind returned to the man he had seen standing beside Thelma on the first day.
Rymus.
For years Kelvin had believed distance was protection.
It wasn't.
Rymus had followed Thelma to America.
He had moved his operations.
He had expanded his network.
And now Gila was attending the same university as the daughter of the man who had destroyed her family.
Kelvin had spent years protecting the secret.
But secrets had a way of becoming dangerous when too many people knew them.
***
At the same time, Thelma sat in the law library with Arlie.
She had barely slept.
The previous case had changed something in her.
Winning was no longer enough.
She wanted justice.
Arlie watched her close a case file.
“You're thinking about your father.”
Thelma looked at him.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because every time we talk about justice, you look angry.”
She smiled without humor.
“You don't know anything about my father.”
“I know enough.”
Her expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
Arlie leaned back.
“My father used to say that people don't become criminals because they want to be evil.”
“Sometimes they become criminals because they discover nobody is stopping them.”
Thelma stared at him.
“Your father?”
Arlie nodded.
“He's involved in business.”
“What kind?”
Arlie looked away.
“The kind where people don't ask too many questions.”
Thelma studied him carefully.
For the first time, she wondered whether the brilliant young man she had met in class was carrying secrets of his own.
Before she could ask another question, her phone rang.
It was Gila.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Thelma stood.
“Something's wrong.”
Arlie was already on his feet.
“How do you know?”
“She always answers me.”
They hurried out.
Neither noticed the man standing at the far end of the library.
He watched them leave.
Then he made a call.
“She's moving.”
A voice answered.
“Good.”
“Should I follow?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
The answer came quietly.
“Let the girls come to us.”
***
Gila reached the emergency stairwell.
Her breathing was heavy.
She could hear footsteps behind her.
One set.
Then another.
She descended two floors and pushed through a fire door.
A corridor opened ahead.
She ran toward the exit.
A hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
She screamed.
“Gila!”
She turned.
Kelvin.
He pulled her into his arms.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then he looked at the vial in her hand.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in my laboratory.”
Kelvin took it carefully.
He stared at the symbol.
“No.”
Gila looked at him.
“What?”
Kelvin's voice was barely audible.
“This symbol was on the files connected to your father.”
Gila froze.
“My father?”
Kelvin looked around the corridor.
“We need to leave.”
“Now.”
Before they could move...
A voice came through the stairwell.
“Kelvin.”
He turned.
Rymus stood at the opposite end of the corridor.
Older.
Calmer.
And more dangerous than the man Kelvin remembered.
Gila stared at him.
She had seen photographs.
She knew the name.
But she had never stood this close to the man she believed was thousands of miles away from her life.
Rymus looked past Kelvin.
His eyes settled on Gila.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
“You look exactly like your father.”