What the hell? thought Pia. Perhaps she had a broken taillight, but she didn’t think so. No one emerged from the cruiser. The question flashed through her mind if she should call 911, but she didn’t. Then, two large SUVs pulled in behind the police car. Alarmed, Pia took her foot off the brake, but before she could move, another SUV sped up from the opposite direction, crossed from the other side of the road and stopped right in front of her, blocking her with its high beams directly in her face. Quickly, two men alighted from this SUV, one at either door. A third man apparently coming from behind rapped on her window, and then pulled open her door. He leaned down.

“Hello, Pia,” said Zachary Berman. “Nice to see you again so soon. We need to talk.” Berman held the door open for Pia, who saw no alternative to getting out of her car.

“I’ve already called the police,” Pia said out of desperation. “You’re just making it worse for yourself.”

“As you can see, Pia, the police are already here. And they don’t seem to be rushing to your aid. Ah, Miss Jones has arrived.”

Whitney Jones walked up to where Pia was standing, and Pia felt slightly more at ease with the presence of another woman at the scene. Pia felt nothing violent was likely to happen with Whitney there.

“I’m sorry about this, Pia, I really am,” said Jones, and before Pia could respond, Jones jabbed her through the sleeve of her shirt in the arm with a syringe and depressed the plunger.

One of the Nano security guards caught Pia before she fell unconscious to the ground.

Chapter 45

45.

PAUL CALDWELL’S APARTMENT, BOULDER, COLORADO

MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013, 9:55 A.M.

Thinking back over the course of their three-month friendship, Paul Caldwell made a mental list of the number of times Pia had said something along the lines of “I’ll be right back,” and then had not followed through with her promise. Paul knew Pia could be unreliable. Often when they were on the phone, she’d say, “I’ll call you right back,” and half the time, she didn’t. A couple of times, Paul had invited her to a drink with friends, and she said she was on her way but then had changed her mind. It wasn’t anything that irked Paul about Pia particularly, it was just one element of her unique and otherwise charming personality that he had learned to accept in the face of her other, better qualities.