“Did they say I committed a crime?”

“I came in late to the broadcast, but I doubt it. I think they want to keep you as mysterious as possible.”

“Do you think we should lay low here even longer?”

“Not unless you were wearing a mask when you checked in. You’re face is pretty unforgettable if you ask me.”

“Shit!” said Erin as the full realization hit. She was in some kind of mad death spiral. Her life had become a runaway train.

How had it come to this? She had been a model citizen all of her life until she had let Drake, in the guise of Hugh Raborn, suck her in, convince her to rethink her ethics, and break the law. And now she was in the center of a nightmare with no end in sight. But that was the danger of electing to set foot on a slippery slope. And it wasn’t as though she hadn’t been able to see that the walls of this particular slope were made of pure ice—she had just chosen to ignore this.

So she had been drawn in. Inexorably. As though in her zeal to understand and attack the condition of mind that had destroyed her family, her reason had been impaired. When the first inmate died in his sleep, she had already taken that first step from the cliff, and gravity had taken hold. She couldn’t find a way to reverse course. And even as her thinking evolved, she had gotten herself in so deep she felt she had no other option but to see it through to the end. And she had developed a relationship with a man she had thought to be Hugh Raborn, biotechnology executive.

Part of her didn’t want to let him down. And the more she expressed her concerns to him, the more zealous and impatient he became. He applied subtle psychological pressures for her to continue, so much so that her subconscious wasn’t eager to find out what he might do if she did pull the plug. Would he threaten her with blackmail?

And all the while she was continuing to immerse herself in philosophy and ethics; to evolve, grow, and see the world differently than she ever had before.

Now she was being hunted by an arms dealer intent on killing her, and by every citizen and police officer in the area.

She thought of her advisor, Jason Apgar. Of her ray of sunshine, Lisa Renner, whom she already loved, after knowing her only a short time. What would they be thinking when they saw her face on TV?

Would Erin ever be able to explain? Could she explain? After all, she had to face the truth: she was one of the villains in this tale.

And she had to admit the very real possibility that she wouldn’t live out the week.

“Kyle, I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered, now fully dressed. “I want out.” Was her life really to be cut short just when she had found someone like Kyle Hansen? She felt cheated.

Hansen sighed and gave her an empathetic nod that said, “I feel your pain,” but not one that said, “I support this decision.”

Erin stared into his eyes. “I know how much is riding on seeing this through,” she said. “But I can just give the winning gene mixture to you. I know I can count on you to check things out before you give it to Drake. I can turn myself in. Take my chances with the police. Explain everything. Do whatever time I have coming—God knows I know my way around a prison. The more I struggle, the tighter this noose is becoming, and the more criminal acts I commit in the name of staying free. And I’m endangering you as well.”

Hansen sighed deeply. “No one wishes more than I do that you weren’t caught up in this,” he said. “But if you turn yourself in, Fuller will get to you. Period. It doesn’t matter how honest the cop, he’ll have the correct paperwork to have you delivered into his hands. Look at how easily one of his men was able to impersonate an FBI agent to confirm that the treatment works. He’ll torture you to find out what you know about me and Drake.” He turned away. “And then he’ll kill you,” he finished, his eyes becoming moist as he said this, as though the thought of losing Erin was unbearable to him.

Without knowing exactly how it happened, they found themselves in each other’s arms.

“You’re right,” she acknowledged unhappily. “I know you’re right. But it’s never going to end, is it? We’ll be on the run our entire lives.” She managed to force a wry smile. “Which at this point will be very short—so at least there’s that.”

Hansen shook his head. “No. We’ll have to survive for a month or two—which won’t be easy. But once the genie is out of the bottle, killing us won’t change anything. Psychopathic Fuller would do it anyway, just out of hatred and spite. And for the pleasure it would give him. But once he’s cured, he won’t be the same man. He’ll call off the dogs.”

Erin nodded and her strength and resolve seemed to return. “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what got into me. I guess it’s been a stressful few days.”

Hansen took her face gently in both hands and tilted it up, kissing her lightly on the lips. “No one has ever handled this much stress any better.”

They separated. “So now what?” she asked with a sigh. “This room could already be surrounded for all we know.”

“If that’s the case then we’re well and truly screwed. So let’s imagine we still have at least a little more time before they learn we’re here.” He paused. “Think. What do we do? You’re the brains of this outfit.” He looked her up and down. “And the beauty as well,” he added appreciatively.

“What are you?”

“Hopefully, the one who inspires the brains of the outfit to come up with an idea.”

Erin smiled. “Okay. Let’s think out loud.” She paused. “I guess the first thing is, we need transportation. We won’t stand a chance on foot.”

“We can’t use a rental car. We’d have to show our driver’s licenses, and we’d be traced right away. Any idea how to steal a car?”

Erin frowned and shook her head.

“Isn’t this kind of thing done all the time in the thrillers you read?”

“Yeah. They pick locks too. I don’t know how to do that either.” Her eyes narrowed. “And now that I think about it, transportation isn’t the first order of business, after all. We have no idea how long it might take us to figure this out. So we need to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks.”

Hansen didn’t respond. He tilted his head to the ceiling. Without a car, where would they go? They were in a sparsely populated part of Tucson with only a sprinkling of buildings and roads, and with long stretches of flat desert terrain in between. The motel was the only decent hiding place for quite a long stretch if they were on foot.

His pulse quickened as he arrived at a solution. “They didn’t show my picture on TV,” he pointed out. “The motel clerk doesn’t know me from Adam. And no one knows I visited your room last night.”

Erin looked confused. For once, her agile mind hadn’t raced ahead to the punch line.

“So let me get out of here and get a room of my own. At this motel. Then I can sneak you in. When the bad guys crash through the door to this room, they’ll find it empty. They’ll assume you ran off during the night and continue their search elsewhere, while we lay low here for another night.”

“Brilliant,” said Erin admiringly. She leaned forward and wasted an additional twenty seconds kissing him with enough passion to melt his socks.

“Go!” she said when their lips had parted.

“Perfect,” said Hansen wryly as he took the short walk to the door. “You get my motor revved up and then kick me out.”

He opened the door and surveyed the area as well as he could. He didn’t see anything suspicious. He knew it was still possible the room was being watched, but he had no other choice but to assume otherwise. He made his way to the small lobby and paid for a room, wanting to glance around furtively the entire time he was checking in, but fighting off the impulse so he wouldn’t look like the fugitive he was.

When he had been given his plastic room key, he retrieved Erin and escorted her to the new room, making sure to stay out of sight of the lobby and the petite woman in her midthirties manning the desk. Entering the new room was like a magic trick. It was identical in every way to their last one, down to the framed painting of a desert sunset hanging on the wall, except the bed was now perfectly made and the towels were fresh and folded.