Page 70 of Convergence

The door opened, and a cop delivered another Styrofoam cup of coffee. I hadn’t asked for anything, and Agent Allen hadn’t asked for anything, so I knew I was being watched through the mirrors. “Thank you,” I told the cop as he left.

“Was she involved with Everett?” Agent Allen asked.

“In the beginning, they hooked up. But it wasn’t anything serious,” I said with a shake of my head. I sipped the fresh coffee, relishing in the hot liquid on my sore throat.

“How do you know?” he asked.

“The three of us are close. We lived together and could only speak to and see each other for most of that time,” I explained.

“Define close.”

No sense in lying to a fucking Federal Agent.

“We love each other.”

“The three of you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Being isolated then going through a trauma and being named as terrorists together has a bonding effect,” I said with a small smile and shifted in my seat, feeling sweaty and uncomfortable.

He chuckled. “You could say that.”

He asked a few more questions about the experiment, getting some specifics on our findings and the bacteria we were working with. He asked about the intentions we had with the bacteria, and our plan for finding a cure for it. I was more comfortable talking to him than I had expected. But it’s what I needed to do to get to Ev and Nate again. Then we continued discussing the timeline of our project and what it was like finding out it wasn’t real. We spoke for another hour about what the bacteria we had been working with would do to a person and how we knew that. We talked about the samples we had studied the past few days and how we arrived at our conclusions. He didn’t ask about where we ran to or the stolen car, and I wondered if he already knew about it and maybe worked with Easton.I definitely didn’t bring it up.

“Now, let me ask you this: why blow up the lab?” He sat back in his seat again, studying me.

“To destroy the bacteria and our research. If it wasn’t being used the way we had intended it to be used, and if Hoffmann had threatened us after we tried to back out, we knew it couldn’t continue to exist,” I replied. “I know it’s not good to blow up a building. I know I’m going to get in trouble for being involved in that. But I need you to know it was ‌either that or potentially have a risk of the bacteria getting out.”

“Nothing got out in Cleveland, then?” he asked.

“Nothing as a result of the fire,” I said with confidence. “But if they’ve had samples this whole time, then I can’t be sure. I’m sorry.”

Agent Allen was quiet as he considered me for some time. “Why’d you go along for so long and then change your mind? I know the steps you went through, but tell mewhyyou wanted out when you got out.”

I considered this for a moment. It’s what I’d been mulling over for days. “I’ve never had a purpose other than getting out of my home life. And I’ve never been a person of value to anyone. This project was supposed to give me value and purpose by creating something novel and helping others. I would get my PhD, get my schooling done, and then I’d continue that purpose. If it weren’t for Everett and Nate, I’d have likely stayed to be completely honest. But not because I agreed with the mission, but because I feared the confrontation and losing something I had worked towards. Nate and Ev showed me ‌that I, my time, and my work have purpose and value simply by being mine and not only because of my contributions. They gave me what I needed to say ‘no, thanks’ and try to leave.”

Agent Allen was quiet again as he looked me over. “Thank you, Miss Reid.” He stood and shook my hand before leaving me alone in the room.

I waited in the room, anxiously stretching out my knees and my back. The door opened about fifteen minutes later and a cop handcuffed me again before he escorted me to a jail cell. It was a holding cell, so it wasn’t far from the interrogation room. I was alone in the cell, and I sat on the cot near the back. Talking with Agent Allen had exhausted me, but I didn’t want to sleep. A few minutes later, I was leaning against the cool painted cement brick wall, and I heard footsteps coming down the hall outside my cell. Nate was being escorted past me, and I assumed he was going to the interrogation rooms. I said nothing, but he looked up and our eyes made contact. I tried to smile soothingly, knowing he had been waiting in his cell for hours, probably anxiety ridden over what was going to happen. His lips quirked up in a little smile, and I saw his posture relax slightly as he left my field of vision.

I nodded off a few times as I waited for Nate to come back. When the doors beeped open and he came back through, I stood at my door. I raised my eyebrows at him as if to ask if he was okay. He gave a small nod and smile as he went past me. He looked more relaxed than when he went by the first time. I supposed it was a relief to get his story out and to tell it from start to finish, with no confusion.

Everett was next to go by, and the first exchange was like Nate’s. I had fallen fast asleep by the time he came back through after his own interrogation. I didn’t see any sign of the suspect they had taken in before us. Agent Allen’s questions about Daisy made me think it was her they had caught, but I had no confirmation.

Despite the cot being uncomfortable, I slept deeply and soundly, feeling like someone had lifted a weight from my shoulders. If they had gotten enough incriminating evidence against us, we’d be in prison and not a holding cell. Maybe Everett had been right in saying it was only a formality to keep us there. The hope of being acquitted held my dreams until morning.

28

They held us for the full seventy-two hours they could legally hold us for without enough evidence. I had not seen Ev or Nate since we were separated for interrogations. But I knew they were down the hall from me- waiting for our time to leave, like I was. Knowing they were with me was the only thing that comforted me.

Agent Allen had us brought to a meeting room on that third day. I finger combed my hair and wiped my face on my shirt sleeve before I saw the guys, knowing Ilookedlike I’d been in a jail cell for three days. My heart lifted when I saw them, grungy and stinky, but standing with me free of handcuffs. I refrained from running to them when I saw them and settled for holding both of their hands and smiling. I would properly greet them… later.

“Francesca Rossi, aka Daisy, was arrested,” Agent Allen told us.

The three of us let out relieved sighs and nods.

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