Paul guided a tray past the food selections, and Pia absentmindedly placed a prewrapped egg salad sandwich and a bottle of water on it. She was not a finicky eater. She tried to pay, but Paul would have none of it, saying her money wasn’t good at his hospital. They took a table in the back of the room.

“So where do we start?” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. It was the only thing he had selected.

“What do you mean?” Pia asked, unwrapping her sandwich and opening the water bottle.

“I mean, that was pretty intense, right. You obviously know that woman who showed up. And what exactly is this Nano place? I don’t know anything about it.”

So Pia told Paul Caldwell about her work and about Nano. Paul had cycled on that same mountain route that she used for jogging, but he had no idea what went on inside the sprawling complex. As Pia talked, he began to think she didn’t, either.

“Your specialty is salmonella?”

“I did a lot of work on salmonella,” Pia said. “It’s what got me the invite to come out here to try to solve a problem that salmonella and other flagellated bacteria cause with a new way to fight sepsis through nanotechnology.” Pia stopped herself, remembering what Mariel had told her about secrecy. But Paul was an ER doctor—what interest could he have in nanotechnology, other than a professional curiosity?

“Go on,” said Paul. As he listened to Pia, Paul reconfirmed that she was undeniably gorgeous, with exotic features and lovely skin. He knew she had an athletic runner’s body, having caught a glimpse of her in her spandex when she’d first come into the ER and before she’d been given the white coat she was still wearing. And she was a medical researcher, operating on some technological frontier he knew almost nothing about. He was enthralled with her. But he sensed she was aloof and not completely comfortable talking with him. He wondered why. There were lots of things he wanted to talk to her about, but he restrained his usually ebullient and talkative side and concentrated on the medicine. He didn’t have to pretend. That, too, fascinated him.

“Tell me,” Paul said when there was a pause in the conversation. “Have you been taking advantage of the great Colorado outdoors? That’s what lured me here.”

“I have,” Pia said. “Mostly running, but I have been biking a bit, too.”

“No skiing?”

“Some. I at least tried it. It’s more of a commitment than I’m willing to make. How about you?”

“Skiing, mountain biking, running, even mountain climbing. I can’t get enough. It’s a major reason I’m in emergency medicine. When I’m off, I’m really off, and I’m out there doing something. Maybe we can hook up sometime and go for a run or something. I have to say, I like you.”

“That’s nice,” Pia said noncommittally. She wondered if coming to the cafeteria had been a good idea, remembering the red flag issue.