“Mariel, what’s going on?”

“Pia.” Mariel stopped and fixed her with a cold stare. “There’s a lot more to Nano than just our little area. The world is full of people who’d love to get their hands on what we’re doing throughout the company. Nanotechnology is one of the most important fields of research, which we are leading, but we’re vulnerable. We have to protect ourselves.”

“With men with guns? And what does that have to do with this man? He was out for a jog, for God’s sake. He collapsed. And you come with armed guards? And then you say he’s a representative from the Chinese government? And Nano has an infirmary? And . . .”

“Pia, I thank you for calling me. But now you have to trust me, and stop asking questions! We have to leave. Are you coming? We need to get this man back to the facility a-sap.”

Pia was still dressed in the borrowed lab coat, and, more important, she realized she’d set down her phone somewhere in the ER. “My phone . . .” she said, looking over her shoulder, momentarily torn about what she should do.

“We can’t wait for you. If you want to stay, you’ll have to make your own way back. But come back immediately, Pia, we have a lot of work to do.”

Pia nodded and turned to walk back to the ER. Mariel spoke up once more. “And, Pia,” she called out. Pia faced Mariel and squinted against the low sun behind her.

“Just forget about all this, okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, Mariel hauled herself up into the front seat of the black van and slammed the door behind her. Pia stood there and watched the two trucks drive away.

14.

BOULDER MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, AURORA, COLORADO

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 2:05 P.M.

Pia walked back to the ER, her head full of questions. Most of them centered on Mariel Spallek. Mariel wasn’t an overly friendly person, which was something that Pia usually appreciated, as she thought it was more honest. She was authoritarian, to be sure, but was knowledgeable and a good supervisor, both constructive and demanding. She could also be passive-aggressive, which she’d been that morning, but Pia didn’t care, she wasn’t looking for a social interaction. Pia had gotten to the point of knowing what to expect from Mariel, at least up until having called her for help in regard to the downed Chinese runner.

But Pia could never have imagined that Mariel would show up with four armed guards and proceed to sign out a patient without a diagnosis or even a hint of an explanation for the man’s apparent cardiac arrest!

Pia reentered the ER in somewhat of a daze. She saw the place was getting back to normal. There were still a few clusters of people standing around, talking about what had happened. The cop who had shown up with the ambulance to pick up the runner was still there, but he was deep in conversation with several of the hospital security people. Pia couldn’t help but wonder where he’d been when the Nano contingent had first shown up and stormed into the ER. A few of the administrator types were still there, but not the hospital president. Apparently, with the acceptance of Mariel’s money, he felt the situation had been resolved; the patient had been seen and the bill paid.