Apolonia

“Rory!” Dr. Z said in a loud whisper.

“It’s okay.” Ellie grinned. “She just wishes she had br**sts.”

Her comment forced Dr. Z and Cy to glance down at the pitiful barely B cups on my chest and then at each other, both wishing they hadn’t. My blood boiled, mostly because it was true.

“Ellie, that’s…quite enough,” Dr. Z said, looking uncomfortable.

“Dr. Zorba, I need the flash drive,” Cy said.

“The—”

“Yes, with the data we’ve collected and your complete set of notes.”

“Cyrus, I regret that I cannot. It’s the only complete file I have. It also contains my thesis. With Tennison snooping around, I cleared everything from my computers and—”

“Good,” Cyrus said. “That saves me a trip back to campus. What about your personal computers?”

“They’re all wiped. I didn’t want my hard work getting into the wrong hands.”

“Me either. That’s why I need it.”

Dr. Z stared at Cy for a long time. “I’m sorry, Cyrus. I appreciate all you’ve done, but—”

“It’s important, Argus,” Cy said. “Please.”

Dr. Z’s eyebrows pulled in, forming a deep crease between them. “Argus is my first name, and no one calls me Argus but my mother. How do you know that name?”

I looked to Cy, wondering how he knew half of what he did. Part of me wondered what side he was on. He had helped Dr. Zorba, but then he was going to steal the specimen from him. To anyone else, Cy would seem like the enemy, but something inside of me told me he wasn’t.

“Dr. Z,” I said quietly, “give it to him.”

The professor’s eyes bounced back and forth between Cy and me, and then he let out a sigh in surrender. “I don’t suppose you’re both working for Tennison?”

Ellie crossed her arms. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“You know all of zero about this, Ellie, so shut the hell up,” I hissed.

“We’ve spent all day in this house and in that attic. I know quite a bit actually.”

Cy looked at the professor. “What have you told her?”

“Nothing sensitive,” Dr. Z said. “Almost nothing. It’s been a long day. We ran out of things to talk about.”

Cy took Dr. Z’s arm and led him into the professor’s study. They conversed quietly, leaving Ellie and me alone to glare each other down.

“Is that who spent the night in your room?” she asked, nodding to Cy.

I could tell she was goading me, so I said nothing. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.

She laughed once. “What am I saying? He is way out of your league.”

My eyes targeted her. “At least I don’t have to f**k geriatrics for grades.”

Ellie smiled, clearly amused she’d gotten under my skin. “Oh, Rory,” she lilted and then circled slowly around me, “I could smile at them and get the grades. I don’t have to f**k anyone. I’m just attracted to intelligence, which is why I find nothing appealing about you at all.”

Just when I was about to spit more venom at her, Cy and the professor returned.

“I have it, Rory. I’m afraid it’s time for me to go.” He glanced at his broken watch. “I must be at the remaining foundation of that old gas station next to the Old River Bridge at a very specific time. If I’m not, I don’t know what will happen.”

Ellie leaned down. At first, it didn’t occur to me to react. Even when she pulled a small pistol from her boot and pointed it at Cy, it took me a second to register what was happening.

Dr. Z’s eyes widened. “Ellie, what on earth—”

Ellie kept her gun on Cy. “Before you scoot along, handsome, how about you give me that flash drive?”

Cy was disturbingly calm. “I knew Tennison had to have a contact on campus.”

Ellie laughed, and then suddenly her Southern accent disappeared. “You’re a goddamn genius, aren’t you? Hand it over.”

“But…you’re a student.” My brain couldn’t wrap my head around it. I kept thinking that she must have been sleeping with this Tennison and got pulled into this somehow.

“Rory, really. For someone who watched her mother and best friend get raped and murdered right in front of her eyes, you’re so naive.” My jaw clenched. She looked at Cy again. “Give me the flash drive, or I’m going to put a bullet right through your heart.” She shrugged. “Or the general area of what should be your heart anyway.”

My nose wrinkled. She didn’t make any sense.

I walked up to her.

“Rory, don’t,” Cy warned.

I stood between Cy and Ellie. “Don’t point that at him,” I said, my voice low and full of warning.

Ellie smiled. “You really are thick, aren’t you? Get out of my way before I shoot you in your f**king face.” She looked around me. “I’m going to kill your little girlfriend, Cyrus. How is that going to sit with your council?”

“Rory, move. Ellie, just…let’s all calm down. I’ll give this to you if you guarantee Majestic will leave Rory alone. Forever,” he said, holding out his fist.

She chuckled. “You know I can’t make that promise. There’s at least one jackass in our department who can’t stay away from her.”

“Benji,” Cy said.

I looked at Cy and then at Ellie. “You’ve wanted to believe he couldn’t be trusted from day one. That doesn’t make sense anyway. Benji’s not even twenty, and you immediately assume that he is working for the CIA?”

“I’m willing to believe it,” Cy said.

“Of course you are! But it’s ridiculous!” I said. “Someone else is out there, watching us, and you’re so set on Benji being the bad guy that you’re going to overlook clues to who it really is!”

“Aw. Are you going to cry now? Does it hurt your feelings to think that you might not be able to trust the only friend you have?”

Dr. Z watched Cy, Ellie, and then me. “Rory…”

“No.” I shook my head. “Just think about it for a second. How many hoops does a person have to get through before being accepted into the CIA?”

“How old is Ellie? They could be recruiting out of high school for all you know,” Cy said.

“Yes,” Ellie sneered. “Because there’s no way I could be older and just be posing as a college student. How did any of you make it into KIT without being able to add two and two?”