On a side table in the room where the runner had been taken, Pia found her cell phone. She figured she’d take a cab back to Nano—in her cell phone case she kept a twenty-dollar bill for emergencies.

As she retreated toward the ER’s front desk where she intended to inquire about getting a taxi, Pia recognized she was more shaken up than she initially had admitted to herself. The sight of guns disturbed her. It was a common enough occurrence to see armed guards with weapons, even assault rifles these days, especially at an airport, but the memory of seeing Will McKinley getting shot in the head at point-blank range was still fresh, and she herself was kidnapped by men with guns. She’d seen firsthand what a bullet could do to flesh and bone.

As Pia approached the desk, she heard her name being called. It was Paul Caldwell.

“You’re still here. I thought you had abandoned us with the rest of the Nano contingent.”

“My phone,” said Pia, showing it to Paul. “I left it behind.”

“Are you okay? That was a weird experience.”

“Sure, I’m fine. But it was weird, as you say.”

“Hey, how about we get a coffee in the hospital coffee shop,” Paul suggested. “Now that things are back to the usual emergency room stuff, the team here can handle it. I want to hear more about this Nano place. It must be very exciting if things like this are going on every day.”

“Hardly,” Pia said seriously. “At least not in the section I work in. It’s a research facility, and nothing exciting has happened since I’ve been there for almost two years.” As Pia spoke she realized that a lot of things could be going on at Nano that she would have no idea of, given the size of the facility and the staff.

“I’m teasing,” Paul laughed. “But I’m not teasing about the coffee idea. What do you say? I’d like to hear how you happened to come out here to Boulder rather than start your residency.”

A red flag went up in Pia’s brain. Although she was ravenously hungry, having missed a meal following her attenuated run, she couldn’t but help wonder about Paul’s motives. He was a man, a good-looking man, but she had had quite enough of men since she’d been a young girl in foster care. Perhaps more important than her need for food, she was really curious about the Chinese runner’s situation. She wanted to find out what Paul might be thinking as to his diagnosis. And she wasn’t excited about getting back to Nano quite so quickly and having to face Mariel. With such thoughts in mind, she decided to ignore the red flag, at least for the time being.

“What do you say?” Paul repeated. He could tell that Pia was miles away.

“Okay, sure,” Pia said. “Would they have something to eat as well as coffee?”

“Absolutely,” Paul stated. “But for food I’d recommend the cafeteria. A much bigger selection.” He motioned for Pia to follow, and together they went to the hospital cafeteria, still bustling with its lunchtime crowd.