Berman was confident that Pia hadn’t stored or transmitted the information she might have gleaned from the blood samples, that much seemed clear. There were a couple of photomicrographs in the scanning electron microscope, but no evidence that they had been transferred, uploaded, or copied. There was nothing in her laptop or on her iPhone other than the single, hurried picture of one of the tanks. She had sent one text to Caldwell and no emails. The photo was hardly a problem, because it wasn’t possible to discern what was in the tank. Pia had told Caldwell she’d be right over but hadn’t shown up. Again, it might present a minor issue, but he’d know she was gone soon enough.

As for hard evidence, Berman’s security people had retrieved the blood Pia had collected from within Nano and the small sample from the Chinese jogger, and a viewing of the security recordings showed how much blood Pia had taken in the first place so that the amounts could be compared. Later, a discreet search of Boulder Memorial found no more hidden vials of blood anywhere in the ER—the security tapes there had quickly been scrutinized as well.

Berman was not happy about the security failures that had afforded Pia access to Nano and his own regrettable and embarrassing role in making them happen. It had taken Whitney Jones awhile, but she had figured out how Pia had circumvented the iris scanners, assisted in her detective work by her knowledge that the system indicated that it was Zachary Berman himself who was moving around inside the complex and not Pia Grazdani. Whitney was also the one who found the images of Berman’s eyes on Pia’s iPhone. Whitney was also the one who had shown the photos of Berman’s eyes to the embarrassed head of security. Jones told him to find new software that would eliminate the future possibility of a two-dimensional image that could fool the scanners.

Whitney had also left instructions that a security guard was to go to Nano and swipe Pia’s iPhone through the system twice more: once in and once out, and he was to wait at least an hour from the time that the Gulfstream was in the air before he did it. Whitney thought that Pia had left behind the technology to dupe the system; so why not use it to their advantage? The same guard was then to go to Pia’s apartment, leave a couple of items, and take some clothes and destroy them back at Nano. One of the female employees was driving the car Pia had been using east at that very moment, to be abandoned somewhere remote with Pia’s phone inside. Whitney was securing alibis for Berman and herself, and leaving evidence that suggested Pia had been home after being at Nano and had then taken off, heading east to an unknown destination.