She connected the power cord to the wall socket behind the flowing curtain and exited the room, hoping she had made the right decision.
*
An hour later, she was walking the halls of Absolom Sciences’ main research building, the Intern badge hanging around her neck, the new burner phone in her pocket.
In the reception area of Elliott’s office suite, his long-time assistant rose to greet Adeline. “Hello, dear.”
“Hi, Gloria. I’m here to meet with Elliott.”
She glanced at the computer screen. “Well, I’m sorry, but you’re not on the schedule, and this is a very busy—”
The office door opened, and Elliott leaned out. “It’s okay, Gloria. Adeline is always on the schedule.”
Inside the office, Hiro was sitting in a chair by the window. He rose and nodded to Adeline. His eyes were more kind than she was used to, as if they had a bond now. Adeline had wondered how him divulging his secret to her would change things between them. Would he feel shame at seeing her? It seemed the opposite was the case. The man before Adeline was more at ease, as though revealing his secret had lifted a burden, removed a barrier that had been between them.
Elliott took a chair opposite Hiro and motioned Adeline to another.
His phone lay on the coffee table, the VoiceActivate app opened. Daniele was speaking, but Adeline missed what she had said. To her surprise, Constance spoke next.
Hiro turned to the window as if looking for a way to escape what was being said. “This is private. We shouldn’t be listening.”
“It might be important,” Elliott said, holding out a hand to silence everyone.
“They’ve found another one,” Constance said. Her voice was faint, but the phone speaker was turned up enough to hear it.
“Where?” Daniele asked.
“In Germany. I’m leaving today to go meet with him.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Very.”
“You’ll do fine. Your body is weak, but your mind is strong.”
They made small talk then, but there was never any mention of Absolom or Adeline or her father or anything that might be of interest.
Silence followed for about fifteen minutes. Elliott took the break to order sandwiches for them.
Thirty minutes later, Hiro wiped a glob of mayonnaise off the corner of his mouth and said, “We’re supposed to meet in the valley in two hours. Maybe she’s done at home for the day.”
But as he said it, Daniele’s voice called out through the speaker. It was far off. Adeline estimated that Daniele was in the foyer. Another voice joined hers—a woman’s voice, but Adeline couldn’t make out what they were saying.
The voice drew closer—very close—as if one of them was sitting in the chair where the phone was hidden. Adeline realized then that they were not speaking English.
Elliott pointed to Hiro, but the scientist shook his head. “They’re speaking Korean, not Japanese.”
He waited, listening, then drew out his phone.
“What?” Elliott said, moving to the chair to stare over his shoulder.
“They’ve mentioned a non-Korean word a few times. Syntran. It’s a Korean company.”
“It’s one of Dani’s investments,” Elliott said. “One San Andreas funded. What do they do?”
“Synthetic organs. They grow them for transplant.”
Elliott exhaled. “It’s just some update from a portfolio company.”
*
That afternoon, Adeline sat in a seminar entitled “Entanglement: The Quantum Tie that Binds.”
Halfway through the lecture, the lights dimmed. The presenter smiled. “Don’t be alarmed. That’s just the machine transmitting. There are typically a few departures each week. That power fluctuation is the sign of a very bad person leaving this Earth.”
Not always, Adeline thought.
*
When she got home, Adeline found Daniele sitting on the back patio, an empty wine glass on the table, staring at the sun hovering over the mountains beyond the sea of glass.
“Tough day?” Adeline asked, motioning to the wine glass.
“No. I’m celebrating.”
“Celebrating what?”
“A discovery. One that could change everything. A very unexpected discovery.”
“In the desert?”
“No. I knew what we would find in the desert. This… this I didn’t see coming.”
Adeline asked a few probing questions, but it was clear Daniele was keeping whatever this discovery was to herself.
That night, Adeline texted Elliott.