"Why haven't you said something before?" the blonde asked after Ryan had explained her involvement in her serial killer case.

"Because it's dangerous. The Facility won't hesitate to send an assassin to solve their problems." Ryan quickly dismissed the thought of her cousin.

They were sitting in the small living-room while Jerry played outside. During the last half hour Ryan had explained everything she and Calvin had dug up on Adrian over the last few weeks.

Sam had listened with a blank expression, taking a sip of her tea now and then, avoiding eye contact as best as she could.

Ryan's story was unbelievable, but it sounded so plausible the way she explained it. Now everything made perfect sense.

"And why are you telling me this now?" Sam asked, puzzled after a moment of silence.

Ryan shrugged, folding her hands over her knees. "I didn't want to lie to you." She looked the blonde in the eye and they stayed like that for a long moment until Sam looked away.

She couldn't quite explain it, but the way the brunette looked at her make her feel uneasy. Not uncomfortable, but it stirred her deep inside. Her heartbeat quickened and she was having a hard time processing all the latest developments.

"If you don't want to see me again, I can understand, but please believe me that I didn't know you'd be involved with this case when we first met." Ryan felt miserable, like she was losing her best friend even though they had only known one another for a few weeks.

"I believe you." Sam just said. She didn't know what else to add. The only thing she was sure of was that she needed to talk with Tony about everything she had just learned. But what would happen to Ryan then? All these thoughts made her head spin. Getting up she walked to the window and looked outside into the dark without really seeing anything.

"I wish I could go back and change things." Ryan walked up behind Sam and looked at her through the reflection in the window. "I would have introduced myself differently. Something like, Hi, I'm Ryan. I'm hunting down a sociopathic serial killer protected by a mysterious organization and the government. Nice to meet you."

Chuckling with the irony, both women gazed at each other.

"I want to be mad at you. For not telling me sooner, for getting me involved. But I know that it's not really your fault." Sam sounded physically and mentally tired.

"It's frustrating, isn't it?" Ryan took another step closer. Sam drew her like a moth to a flame. She knew she would be burned, but she couldn't stay away.

Putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder, Ryan pulled it back when Sam shied away.

"I need to go check on Jerry." Sam tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear with shaking fingers.

Outside, Sam drew a deep breath which didn't calm her as she had hoped it would. Calling out for Jerry, he came running from the woods.

Fixing him a portion of dry food from the truck, Sam fetched the bowl and walked to the outside tap.

Jerry being taken care of, the blonde watched him for a moment and tried to decide what to do. And think about why she was so shaken. Earlier in the house, she had longed for a hug, to release some of the tension that was bottled up in her. But the same time she wanted to appear brave and confident.

+++

Police Headquarters, the following day

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Tony asked Sam the next day at the office. Sam had called in and said she'd be late. She'd been lost in thought ever since, and he had to call her name three times before she recognized he was talking to her.

“Any luck on the DNA results yet?” Sam asked and Tony shook his head no.

“You know I’m always there if you need to talk, right?” he watched her carefully as she nodded and walked to the spare office that was assigned to her.

The phone rang when she sat down at her desk.

“Do you still want to see me?” Ryan had finally found the courage to give Sam a call. Closing her eyes, Ryan listened to the breathing on the other end of the line and waited.

“Yes,” Sam paused, “I told you I needed to sleep over it.”

“I’m gonna be tied up at work pretty much all week but why don’t you meet me at the cottage on Saturday when you finish work?” Ryan felt hope.

“I’d like that,” Sam smiled.

+++

When Ryan returned to her townhouse the following night after work, she found a single rose with a card laid on her doorstep. Looking up and down the hallway, she couldn't see anyone. Bending down she picked the flower up and tucked the card from the envelope.

The small smile on her face quickly disappeared when she read what was written on the note.

Sam.

But it wasn’t a signature; the blonde’s name was crossed out with a red marker.

+++

The Facility, a little later

"This is not good." Calvin mumbled and dialled Ryan's cell.

"Those two names, I found them in our own database." the tech informed his boss.

“Is this line secure?” Ryan cut him off.

“Uh, no.” Calvin held the receiver away from his ear and starred at it.

“Calvin!” Ryan startled him, “I’ll meet you in the park in ten minutes.” The brunette threw the cell on the passenger’s seat.

Parking on the visitor’s parking lot she walked the short way into the park and spotted Calvin nervously walking back and forth in front of a deserted bench.

“Ms Ryan!” the shorter man was relieved and tried to tame his mane and straighten his shirt when he noticed her raising an eyebrow over his looks.

“What’s so important?” Ryan asked and glanced around, trying to find out if they were watched.

“You asked me to find out more about Adrian’s background. Well, and I did.” He wiped his hands on his beige baggy pants and stepped closer to Ryan so nobody could eavesdrop though the park was mostly empty. “I was down in the archive,” he spoke to Ryan’s shoulder because he didn’t want to look into her eyes. It was most likely he would forget what he was about to say. “Did you know Adrian went to college?”

That got Ryan’s attention and she pulled the tech with her. “Let’s walk.” Her eyes kept roaming the front and windows of the Facility for surveillance. She knew the cameras were without audio, she had ordered them herself, but right now, she didn’t trust anybody.

“At age 12, one Dr. Newman suggested he’d participate at some courses for highly intelligent kids. The report says, the kid was under surveillance of one Prof. Dr. Chester, the same Mrs. Chester we found dead!” Calvin’s voice raised but he got himself back under control after one warning look from Ryan.

“Interesting, but why were those files not digitalized like the rest?”

“Good question. And I didn’t exactly find them where one would be looking.” Calvin stopped under a big oak three and turned to Ryan.

“I didn’t really use the official way to gain access to the archive,” the tech mumbled and waited for any comments. When there was none, he continued, “While I was down there searching the documents, I heard someone walk down the hallway towards me so I looked for a spot to hide. Really, someone should at least once a year send someone down there to clean up. Anyway, I hid behind a huge shelf in the dark and suddenly spotted lights shining on the floor. When the guy had walked away, I checked it out and found another chamber. It was locked and,”

“Is there a short version?” Calvin was cut off by Ryan.

“Yeah,” he sighed, “it was in fact a whole corridor that was hidden there. Most rooms were completely empty but one held more files.”

“And?”

“And I scanned some documents for you. I’ve returned the original ones right away. Here,” he handed Ryan a memory-stick.

“Thanks.”

“One more thing,” Calvin didn’t quite know how to interpret, “the whole back of the archive was dusty. But the hidden corridor, there were traces in the dust in the same room I found these. I tried not to leave any traces, but...”

“You did great.” Ryan assured him and they started walking back to their offices. “I’ll find out who’s been looking into these files.”

+++

Ryan’s penthouse

Back home, Ryan loaded the documents Calvin had dug up for her and spent the next hour reading through them. One file caught her interest in particular. What she was reading was a database of genetic material of everyone at the Facility. Employees *and* patients. Why the hell didn’t she know about that? It was her job to keep accusations away from the Facility.

Reading over the names, Ryan wasn’t really surprised to find her own name. Her whole family was registered. Scanning for Adrian’s file, Ryan grinned. There he was in bits and pieces.

The same moment her phone rang and Ryan picked absently up.

“Ms. Ryan?” Calvin asked, “I think I stumbled over something else.” The tech spoke slow and hushed.

“Which is?” Ryan tapped her fingers to the desk.

“You’re probably reading the same files I am right now. But I thought I run some DNA results to the databases and see if I can find any relations about Adrian or if the cops found his DNA at a crime scene.”

“And?” Ryan asked when Calvin stopped.

“It seems he did leave traces of himself behind at a crime scene. But what’s even more mysterious, I made a mistake and tried to find a match within our own database. And I got a hit.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan was all ears.

“Normally I wouldn’t check Adrian’s DNA with the database I got it from, but,” Calvin started but was cut off by Ryan.

“I got that, but what did you mean with, you got a hit.”

“There’s one Mrs. Evelyn Chester in our database. It’s 99% sure that Adrian’s her son.”

“Why’s Mrs Chester in our database?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know, but anyway, that’s not all because victim number one, Mr Saunders, is Mrs Chester’s son as well.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Ryan wasn’t laughing though.

“No?”

“Do Saunders and Adrian have the same father?”

“I can’t tell. You know, I’m no DNA specialist. I don’t even know much about medicine. All I do is run the programs.” Calvin babbled.

“Okay, fine. Thanks Calvin.” Ryan hung up.