Page 47 of Clap Back (Carter Brothers)

I smiled at her way of greeting. Never a dull moment with my genius best friend.

“I mean, I guess.” I giggled. “What’s the photo and the DNA for?”

“Well,” she said, “I was building the app, as you suggested…”

She trailed off, and I waited patiently for her to continue.

Since it was such a normal thing for her to just forget that she was having a phone conversation with me, I didn’t try to catch her attention.

It took her a solid two minutes, and I went about what I was doing before she’d called.

I skipped through two rentals that had really weird five-year leases required, then came to a stop at one that looked like it was perfect for my needs.

I bookmarked it and kept searching.

“Anyway,” she started back up again like it hadn’t just taken her two minutes to speak in the middle of a story. “So I was thinking last night that when a child goes missing, they collect the parents’, or even the child’s, DNA and upload it to the NCMEC—National Missing Persons DNA Program—DNA database. And so I want to write that program into this app, too. Like, if someone is interested in submitting their DNA because they feel like maybe something’s off about their living arrangements? I don’t know. I just felt like it would be a great idea to upload it into the app. Plus, if not you, I’d have to ask my mom to help. And she told me to stop looking a long time ago.”

I remembered that.

When Athena’s sister first went missing, Athena’s parents had gone ballistic, and spent every penny they had on private investigators and any resource that might help them get their daughter back. In the end, they ran out of money. Her husband died, her son died, and Athena’s mother just couldn’t handle the heartbreak anymore. So she’d asked Athena to stop looking.

Honestly, I could understand. Really, I could.

But I knew that Athena would never stop.

Not until she found what she was looking for. I mean, she was building her entire life and skillset around finding her sister. Why would she quit?

“Well, then sure. You can use anything of me you want,” I said. “Will your app be able to access the DNA database?”

My question had an answer about thirty seconds later. “Yes, it will. Eventually. I’ll have to ask for permission first. It’s not like they’ll just give everyone’s DNA out to some rando off the street. But if the app gets popular enough, there might literally be people reaching out to me to add their DNA outside of the database. People want to find their loved ones.”

Just like she did.

“How do you want it?” I asked.

“Mouth swab,” she answered. “I’ll bring the kit over. Then run it through the lab at school and upload it from there. I can access one of your photos that we’ve taken on my phone.”

“When are you…”

There was a knock on my door, and I knew without checking it was Athena.

I hung up and swung the door open wide, revealing my best friend.

Athena was short, Asian, and the cutest little thing that you’d ever seen.

Her parents had adopted her at the age of three, bringing her home from Japan to a house full of other adopted children. Gavrel had been from Russia, and their little sister was brought home from a hospital in Portland, Oregon.

She was a firecracker, though, and so full of life at times that it was blinding.

“Hey,” she chirped, waving her cell phone at me. “I’m here.”

I snickered and waved her in.

“What’s new with you?” she asked as her eyes zeroed in on the table where my computer was resting. “New places?”

“Yeah,” I said. “So listen to what happened to me today.”

I explained everything, telling her every detail of the last couple of hours.

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