“Yes. I’m on his team. As of the beginning of this year. You must be Cami Lark?”
“On his team, as of today,” Cami agreed, and to her surprise saw a flash of humor in his expression. He had good looking features: hazel eyes and an open intelligence to his face.
“I heard about you.”
Cami stared at him suspiciously. So, this guy knew she was a felon who’d escaped arrest? That didn’t put things on a good footing. But his next words told her differently.
“You’re the IT whiz helping with the case,” he said. “That’s really cool. Something we need. I know a bit, but not enough. You’re at MIT, right?”
“Yes, about to graduate,” Cami said, feeling surprised by how the word must have spread.
“Who are you?” she asked, wanting to level the field, seeing he knew so much about her.
“I’m Ethan Myers.”
“And you’re an agent?” Cami hadn’t thought that FBI agents came in this particular package. Ethan was definitely more relatable than Connor. And he seemed friendly too. Normal. He didn’t seem disapproving of her, rather more admiring. That was a relief.
“Yes. As of the beginning of the year. So fairly new on his team.”
Cami decided she liked him right away. He seemed to be more of a free thinker and less bureaucratic, from the way he spoke so far.
“Why did you join?” Cami asked curiously.
“I began to be motivated by the fact that I could help fight crime. I have, you know, a family background of being affected by crime.” Cami sensed there was more to it, but that Ethan didn’t want to tell her. At any rate, she felt sympathy for him. She knew what that predicament was like, even if it had sent her the opposite way.
“I was working in IT, but more on the management side, as a project manager. So, I decided to make a move. I wanted to apply what I knew and use it to make a difference,” he continued.
“So, you actually applied to join?”
”I applied, and I guess I checked out all right, so I got the job. I went to Quantico for training, and then I joined Connor’s team.”
“And are you working on this case?” Cami decided if he was, it would make life a lot more interesting. But to her disappointment, he shook his head.
“I’m working with my investigation partner on a different case, but we still have to check in with the boss. And Connor asked me to bring along all the equipment. So, I’ll go find him now, and brief him on what we did today.” He hesitated. “Nice meeting you. Nice to be on Connor’s team with you.”
“Likewise,” Cami said.
She watched him walk back to the elevators, feeling more positive. It seemed like there were some cool people in the FBI. Ethan could definitely be a friend. He was cute and smart. And he’d chosen, actually chosen, to join? That surprised Cami.
The elevator pinged again, and this time it was room service with her food.
She ate quickly, remembering what Connor had said about taking the chance to eat, because you never knew what the morning will bring.
Cami had an uneasy feeling about that, based on the blank, implacable eye of that camera.
She remembered how it was tilted down and watching them. Who had guided it there? Surely it must have been the killer. Perhaps he’d been checking up on other people in the game who he knew had interacted with his victims.
If she was this killer, and she knew law enforcement was now tracking down people in the game, she would personally be scared and be looking to cover her tracks.
But she wasn’t the killer.
Cami guessed that if he had seen them, it might inspire him to do the opposite. If he was on a murder spree, and he had seen the FBI arrive, it might encourage him to speed up what he was doing and kill again.
She had a very uneasy feeling that they weren’t going to be lucky enough for a sneaky, psycho guy like this to quit what must surely be an obsession.
She felt worried about what the morning would bring.