“I’m having an . . . interesting day. Guy, I want to apologize for what happened today. I take full responsibility for—”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I should.” I lift my hand. “I absolutely should. It looks like something weird is happening—I’ll show you. But that doesn’t matter. With your safety at stake I should have been more careful. I take full responsibility, and—”
“You shouldn’t,” he repeats, his tone a touch firmer. Something about it rubs me wrong. His eyes are usually a warm golden-brown, but tonight there’s an odd coldness about them.
I realize that I have no idea why he’s here. Well past eleven. In my office. After a day spent at the hospital, shouldn’t he be resting? I’m pretty sure he should be resting.
“Are you . . . did you forget something?” I stand to obstruct his view of my monitor, not quite knowing why. “It’s late.”
“Yeah.” He shrugs. I’m acutely conscious that he’s blocking the only exit. I’m also acutely conscious that I’m a raving lunatic. This is Guy. My friend. Levi’s friend. An astronaut. I just gave him a seizure, for fuck’s sake. Of course he looks weird.
“Are you . . . I was heading home. I’m done with . . . what I came for.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Want to leave together?”
He doesn’t move. “You said there was something weird you wanted to show me?” Why is he not smiling?
“No, I . . .” I wipe my palm against the side of my thigh. It’s gross, clammy. My grandmother’s ring catches on the seam. “I misspoke.”
“I don’t think you did.”
My heart skips several beats. Then it gallops, twenty times faster. “It doesn’t matter.” I need my stupid voice to shake less. “I gotta go. It’s late, and I’m technically off BLINK. I shouldn’t even be here—Boris will have me arrested.” I lean back. Turn off my computer, keeping my eyes on Guy the entire time. Then I make my way to the door. “Well, have a good night. Could you let me through? I can’t quite—”
“Bee.” He doesn’t move. His tone is slightly reproachful. “You’re making things complicated for me.”
I swallow. Audibly. “Why?”
“Because.”
“Because . . . what? Is it the seizure? I really didn’t mean to—”
“I think it would be hypocritical of me to get testy about that.” He sighs, and I’m instantly aware of how much larger than me he is. He’s nothing like Levi, but I’m as big as five bananas in a trench coat, which might be a . . . a problem?
“What’s going on?” I whisper. “Guy?”
“What have you told Levi?” he asks, his expression a mix of calm and irritation. A parent cleaning up after a child spilled a glass of milk.
“。 . . Told Levi?”
“About the security footage. Did you talk to him on the phone after you emailed him?”
I freeze. “How do you know I emailed him?”
“Answer me, please.”
“H-how do you know? About my email?” I retreat until the backs of my legs hit my desk.
“Bee.” He rolls his eyes. “I’ve been in and out of your email for a long time. Making sure Levi’s messages couldn’t reach you. Creating some . . . miscommunications. You know, there’s a reason websites tell you to use difficult passwords, MarieMonAmour123.”
“It was you.” I gasp, trying to step even farther away. There’s nowhere to go. “How did you get into my computer?”
“I set it up.” He gives me an incredulous look. “You’re not very good at technology, are you?”
I frown, pulled right out of shock and into furious outrage. “Hey! I can code in three programming languages!”
“Is one of them HTML?”
I flush. “HTML is valid, you stemlord. And I minored in computer science. And why the hell were you in my damn email?!”
“Because, Bee, you wouldn’t just mind your damn business.” He takes a step toward me, nostrils flaring. “Did you know that the Sullivan prototype should have been called Kowalsky-Sullivan? Of course, Peter had to get his head smashed—” He stops, pausing for a moment. “Okay, this came out wrong. I was sorry when it happened. But my work on BLINK was erased. By virtue of dying, Peter got all the credit, and—it would have been fine. But then Levi offered to lead BLINK out of some misplaced guilt, and they chose him over me. I had no control over something I spent years working on.” His voice rises. He comes closer and I flatten against the desk. “And for so long I was sure BLINK wouldn’t get done, that it’d be delayed, that Levi would move on to other things—he wasn’t even doing neuroimaging anymore, did you know that? If it hadn’t been for Peter, he’d still be at the Jet Propulsion Lab. But no. He had to poach my project.”