Marty shrugged. “You asked. That’s the truth. Claire did nothing wrong. She wanted to help me. She insisted on it.”

Chip took a swig of water and stared at him. That, at least, checked out. He sat back down. “Why do they think you’re a spy?”

He leaned forward. “How much do you know about wildfires?”

“Enough, I think.”

Marty reached into his bag and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He started writing, “Fuel, heat transfer, conduction. Moisture levels. Topography. Wind.” He drew lines between the words, listing more beneath each.

Chip watched intently, listening as Marty explained the wildfire model he helped create. For the first time in their conversation, Chip had no doubt that what Marty was telling him was true. The kid was an expert, speaking quickly and passionately about the program he’d help develop.

“Sounds pretty cool, Marty,” Chip said, studying the paper in front of him.

“It was cool.” Marty sat back. “Except no one wanted to give us the time to perfect it.”

“Perfect what? The program?”

Marty nodded. “Yeah – SureFired. They wanted to sell it to the highest bidder as fast as they could. That’s where the problems started.”

Chip listened with increasing discomfort as Marty described a scenario that Chip was far too familiar with – profit over people.

Except in this story, unlike in his own, Marty chose to do the right thing. He had chosen to speak up.

Though Chip forever regretted not trying to do something about what he’d seen before the economic crash, he’d never considered what it would’ve meant for his career. He would’ve lost everything.

Not that it mattered. He’d lost everything anyway.

But would the bank have gone after him and framed him, the way that Marty claimed he was being framed? It never occurred to Chip before, but he could see it. Whistleblowers ended up in jail cells more often than not.

Marty kept talking, and as Chip listened, he pulled out his phone. He wasn’t so worried about letting his guard down any more. Marty was the least threatening fugitive he’d ever known. It didn’t hurt that he looked like Claire.

Chip searched for “SureFired,” pulling up an article about the company being eyed by a buyer – Steel and Steal. Chip laughed out loud.

Marty leaned forward. “Did you hear from Claire?”

“No, unfortunately not. I just found SureFired’s buyer. Steel and Steal.”

“Oh.” Marty shifted in his seat. “Yeah, they were in talks for a while. They wanted to see the contract with the feds go through. I guess it finally did.”

“I know these guys,” Chip said, standing up. “Well, Steel Montgomery in particular. I worked with him for years. He’s ruthless.”

Marty hung his head. “I don’t doubt it.”