“Because I do. Where is it, Paul? I’m in a hurry.”

“I can see that. The blood’s at the hospital in the freezer of the refrigerator in the doctors’ lounge. At least that’s where I put it. Can’t you sit down and tell me what’s going on?”

“No, I can’t, really. I don’t have the time. I need to look at that blood. Look at it closely. You have to trust me, Paul. I know what I’m doing. If you get dressed, you can follow me in your car. We’ll go to the hospital, and you’ll get the sample and give it to me. Then you can be back here in your bed in thirty minutes or so. This can’t wait for morning. By morning I might not be able to get back into my lab at Nano.”

“I didn’t think you could get in your lab now. What’s changed?”

“I don’t have time to explain. I’ve got to get back there right now. I’ve burned a couple of bridges, maybe all of them, but I have an idea of what’s going on at Nano, what they didn’t want me to know. Let’s put it this way: it’s worse than I ever suspected. Come on, Paul. A couple of hours from now I’ll come back here and explain it all to you, provided I’m right.”

Paul started to protest, but Pia was already gone, leaving his door ajar. He knew he could go back to bed, but he knew Pia would come right back and get him up again. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, stepped into a pair of loafers and walked outside. Pia was sitting impatiently in her car with the engine running. Paul stepped up to the car, and Pia lowered the window.

“There’s really no time for talking, Paul. If you get me the blood, I can be back here within the hour, and we’ll have everything we need.”

“Need for what?”

Pia’s window rose, and Paul had no option. He got in his car and followed Pia to Boulder Memorial. All was quiet at the hospital, and they drove all the way up to the ER loading dock. Paul escorted Pia through the quiet ER to the staff lounge. It was the first time she had seen the ER without any patients waiting.

Without speaking, because one of the ER physicians was sleeping on the couch, Paul opened the fridge where the staff kept their packed lunches and reached into the back of the freezer compartment to retrieve a brown paper bag.

“You kept it in here?”

Paul shrugged. “No one ever cleans out the freezer. You had me paranoid about this after the other sample was lost, so I thought of here. Hiding in plain sight, sort of.”