Taking Chances

Toronto: Somewhere downtown. La’an’s apartment 

The darkness in the apartment was broken only by the outside lights from the nearby buildings, a small reading lamp near the sofa and the flickering light from the TV taking up space on one of the walls. To an outsider looking in, the brother and sister seated on each end of the couch were absorbed in the movie playing on the TV, the only sound filling the room were the voices of the actors and the action taking place on the screen.  

The younger sibling sat with her back against the arm of the couch, her feet on the seat, her bent knees being used as support for the paper pad she was using to scribe a few notes. After a while, she clipped the pen on the pad and used her foot to slowly push them toward her older brother.

Without taking his eyes from the scene playing in front of him, he pulled the pad into his lap. He adjusted it carefully so he could read the notes without needing to move his head much. Aware that behind his back was one of the many vigilant cameras scattered around the apartment—one of the concessions La’an had to make with Sa’an and Runu for her to be granted the permission to live outside of the Institute dorms and laboratories. They still need a way to keep tabs and study their perfect subject.

Manu frowned at what he was reading and stole a worried glance at the tense figure next to him. Removing the pen, he wrote something on the pad and dropped it on the space between the two.

Picking up the tv commands he paused the movie while rising from the couch, “Do you want something to drink?” he asked, walking to the minibar next to the small set of stairs that led to the balcony that flanked the entire glass wall of the room.

La’an read his note, before looking at him, “No thanks, I…” The sound of the bell ringing interrupted her. 

Brother and sister shared a look. It was almost midnight—well past the time for visiting hours. Signaling her to stay seated, Manu left the room to see who was at the door.

La’an turned around in the coach to get a better look at who that person could be.Her eyes widened in surprise when her brother's greeting reached her ear. 

 “Doctor Chin-Riley?” Manu greeted, not fully opening the door.

“Is La’an in?” Una asked, not waiting for a response. She pushed the door fully open and brushed past the startled man,“La’an!” she called. 

“Una?” La’an appeared entering the small hallway that connected the entrance and the living room, her bare feet soundless on the wooden floor “Is everything ok?”

“I need to talk with you,” Una said, adjusting the strap of her briefcase. She opened the bag with her free hand. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Manu said while putting on his coat “La’an, we talk tomorrow,”  his eyes bulging and his head tilted in warning behind Una’s back. “Nice to see you again Doctor Chin-Riley.”

“Mr Noonien-Singh.” Una replied without turning her eyes from La’an who gave her brother the tiniest shoulder shrug and a small wave of goodbye. 

Not even a second after the click of the door closed behind her and Una was removing the file from her bag. “We really need to talk about this file that showed up on my desk,” Una said, walking farther into the apartment.

La’an’s eyes kept widening with each step and word, panic growing within them. 

Una should have been leaving the Institute, not coming here asking questions. And not in a place where the Institute had eyes and ears.

”Actually, I can’t talk right now.” La’an interrupted while her mind screamed at her for not seeing this outcome.

In an uncharacteristic move, the younger woman grabbed the arm of her friend and halted her progress. Forcing the hand holding the file down against the briefcase. Her fingers curled tight around the slender wrist. The skin turning white from the pressure.

“La’an?!” Una was startled by the small hand in her arm, “This involves you..:”

“Look Una, this is not the best time. I really need to go and so do you.” ‘For more reasons than you need to know’, La’an thought. 

This was turning out to be a nightmare. Her wish to protect her best friend was backfiring spectacularly. She needed to get Una out of her apartment and the Institute fast.  

 “La’an, this is important. I need to understand what’s happening with my work and...” Una explained trying to free her arm and to move past the shorter woman, but La’an was like an immovable force showing a greater strength then her shorter statute should pose against the much larger geneticist. 

“I really need to go,” La’an released Una and hastily grabbed her jacket from her closet, picked up her keys from the bowl on the counter in the entrance hall. 

Opening the door and looking at Una, “Manu was just here informing me of a problem in one of the labs that needed my immediate attention.” La’an lied, saying the first thing that came to her mind.

"And are you going barefoot?” Sarcasm filled the blond’s voice. She made a point of looking at the other woman’s bare feet, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow lifting in disbelief. “And couldn’t he have called you for that, if it was that important?”

“Huh?!...No,” La’an answered flustered, looking down at her own feet. She made a fast move to put on her boots, internally shudding of having to wear them without socks, “and yes…and since when do you care about security?” she asked, opening the door wider and looking at the still unmoving scientist, ”and speaking of security, I don’t know how you got whatever that file is and, as the head of security, it troubles me that you were able to get that out of the Institute building.” La’an forced the coldness in her voice, “It makes me wonder what else you took before. Isn’t that friend of yours, Pike, working for our competition?” La’an conjectured disdainfully, kicking herself internally for how she made her friend recoil at those words.

“What?!?” Una blanched at the accusation, “I would never do such a thing, you know that! Where did that idea come from? I told you someone dropped it on my desk with a warning note.”

“So you say... Really Una, I need you to go. Not the place or the time to talk about whatever you want to talk about. Whatever it is, it will have to wait for another day. You really should go now Una.” There was an urgency behind the frigid tone.”On top of everything else I need to discover who’s messing with the Institute documents and making baseless accusations,” La’an griped,“I think I'll take that file with me” she said making a move to grab the file still in Una’s hand.

“Fine.”Una said, taking a step back and holding the file firmly in her hand, fingers wrinkling the brown envelope, ”But I will get to the bottom of this. And this file stays with me!” Una said, shoving the file back into her briefcase. Distraughtly she adjusted the shoulder strap and brushed past the shorter woman, forcing her against the door frame.

La’an watched as Una walked fast paced to the elevators. Tension, anger, disappointment, confusion, sadness all rolled in waves from her friend’s posture. 

When the blond woman entered the elevator and the doors slid closed, La’an slacked on the door frame closing her eyes. How could she be so wrong about Una’s actions? Was she wrong in alerting her friend? La’an only wanted to protect her only friend inside the institute. Of her life really, besides Manu, there wasn’t anyone else that she could call a true friend. And now? She may have put Una in more danger if she insisted on knowing more instead of just leaving, like La’an had hoped. 

When La’an and Manu went full speed ahead with their plan, and all eyes would be on the Institute and its work, Una would be long gone from it and spared the scrutiny and the fallout from the scandal.

But now, everything with Una was going so wrong, if she insisted on her inquiries or snooped around the laboratories, the Institute wouldn’t stand for it. Her life would be in danger. A far more damning outcome than a public and professional scandal.

La’an would have to keep an eye on her and if Una still wanted to investigate the file, she would find a way to talk with her outside of prying eyes and ears.

Opening her eyes, she entered her apartment, kicking her boots across the floor, she rested her back against the door, closing it with a soft click. Slowly bagging the back of her head on the wood, she kept the mantra of wishing for Una to move far away from Toronto running in her mind.

Toronto: NSI headquarters

The thrum of the old Cadillac motor was the only sound breaking the eerie silence of the almost empty underground parking lot of the Noonien-Singh Institute building.

Una put the car in neutral and with trembling fingers turned the key in the ignition. The resulting silence added a feeling of suffocation to her already frail emotions. She felt drained, her confrontation with La’an leaving her hurt and confused. It was obvious that the young woman was hiding something. The whole interaction felt surreal. Both siblings were acting strange. Even Manu, the always gentle young man with a nice word and a soft smile on his lips, acted like he was ready to bolt. The geneticist was certain that she interrupted something, though she wasn’t sure as to what.

And La’an. If there was any doubt about the information on the files, that vanished during their interaction. The way Una couldn’t pass around the smaller woman, it was like a brick wall was in her way. And the force of the hand holding her wrist? It may not have been La’an’s intentions, but Una still felt the lingering pain where the slender fingers had pressed against her skin. The powerful strength they possessed was at odds with the small hand they belonged to. 

Dropping her hand from where it was clutching the steering wheel, Una pushed up her cuff to look at her wrist, the skin was still pink with the imprint of fingertips.

How did this day turn out to be one of the worst of her life? Bone tired and fighting back the tears, she let her head fall back against the headrest of the car seat, closing her eyes. Her thoughts were racing like a horror movie, revisiting every dreadful moment of that day. 

Finding that her childhood dream was a scam, the betrayal of the Institution that she had so much pride to be working for, the tarnishing of her accomplishment in her field of work, and La’an...the lies. Their interaction felt unreal like a bad dream—it was like Una was interacting with a stranger.

Lost in her thoughts, Una was startled by the sound of someone knocking on her car window.

“Hey Doc, you’re okay in there?” It was Jenna Mitchell, the young security guard that usually did the night rounds.

“Yes, sorry, just lost in thoughts,” She replied, rolling down the car window, “I’m actually just going in.” Una said, picking up the briefcase from the passenger seat. She opened the door and got out of the car, her tall stature towering over the shorter security officer.

“I’ll go with you; I was just finishing with my rounds when I saw you in your car. You seemed so still that I just wanted to check if everything was ok,” the officer explained. “Don’t forget your window, Doc.”

“Hah. Sorry, thanks Mitchell,” Una opened the door again and rolled up the window, “My head is in the work I have running in the lab.” She tried to make an excuse for her absent-minded behavior.

“No problem, Doc. Will you be staying long?” Mitchell asked as they started to walk in the direction of the elevator that would take them to the laboratories.

“Depends how far the electrophoresis I left in progress is, and I have to change the matrix of one of the machines. It kept giving me an error.” Una explained, her left hand pushing the button to call the elevator.

She enjoyed talking with the night security officer. Mitchell always looked out for her if she was having long nights, even going as far as bringing some coffee to her office if it was a slow night at the Institute. 

Una always wondered if the gesture was actually something that La’an instructed the employee to do. Shaking her head, Una entered the elevator, willing any thoughts of her friend…ex-friend?...out of her mind. She needed to pull herself together. She had more important things to worry about and to do. 

“And we’re here,” Mitchell said, holding an arm out to stop the doors from closing. She let Una go in front of her, “come and get me when you’re finished Doc, I’ll walk you out back to your car.” With a final wave and adjusting the radio on her shoulder, the security guard walked away to do her inside inspection of the building. 

Watching the woman go, Una took a deep breath to center herself and turned around to face the security door that would give access to her office and the genetics laboratories. Laying her hand over the security biometrics pad, she waited for the red light to turn green, before pulling the door open. 

Once she entered her office, Una didn’t waste any time. Turning on the small dual lamp on her desk, she pressed the button to start her computer. 

While she waited for it to reboot, Una walked to the near bookcase and selected some of the books that were actually hers and stacked them on top of her desk.

A picture on the middle shelf caught the corner of her eye. She slowly walked back, her fingers tracing the edge of the frame. A younger La’an, was posing next to her, one of those rare smiles on her face and a husky puppy in her arms.

Una remembered that day, the pale nineteen-year-old still recovering from an illness had spent the afternoon with Una, and they had gone for a walk in the park where they met the little puppy. Una didn’t know who was more taken with whom: if La’an was with the husky or if the dog was with La’an.

The geneticist even joked that La’an finally found a rival in the department of piercing “I could kill you” looks set in a small frame. In the end, Una had asked the owner if they could take a picture with the puppy.

The sound of footsteps walking down the hall broke her line of thought and with a sign she turned the picture upside down on the shelf. 

Going back to her desk, she sat on her chair and removed a small compact hard drive from her jacket pocket, she inserted the USB connection into the computer, and with a flick on the touchpad, brought the monitor alive. Picking up the reading glasses she had discharged hours earlier, she adjusted the frames on her nose and typed her credentials. Words and pictures reflected on her eyeglasses as she proceeded to go through her files. Selecting all of her work, she copied it to the drive. She wanted to compare her work with the projects mentioned in the file. See which of hers, if any, were used by the Institute in that dreadful project. 

Looking at the remaining time for the download to be finished and seeing that it would take a while, she decided to actually go to the lab and look in on her work and maybe actually change the matrix on the electrophoresis chamber. It would give her a good alibi for what she was doing at the Institute at that time of the night—more so if some of her fellow colleagues saw and talked with her. 

With one last look at the timer, she picked up her office keys, locked the door and turned left in the direction of Lab 04.

A little over an hour later, Una was back at her office. She juggled an empty cardboard box in her arms and inserted the key to open her door. Kicking it close, she dropped the box on the floor and removed her lab coat, throwing it on the rack on her door, before she walked over to her desk to see how far the download was.

With the notification window informing her that she still had 20 minutes to wait, the blond-haired woman pulled her hair back in a messy ponytail and began to put the books she previously selected inside the box. Joining them were some diplomas, awards and ornaments she collected over the year.

Finishing that and with still time to spare, she sat at her desk, opened a blank page and proceeded to write her resignation letter. The monitor lights the only source of light illuminating her tense face. She set her email to be sent at an hour the administration offices would be open.

When the download icon flashed green, indicating the ending of the download, she safely ejected her drive. Removed it and put it back in her pocket, while her other hand removed her glasses, and long fingers folded them next to her desk lamp.

With one last look around her office, her eyes fell on the bookshelf and on impulse she grabbed the picture frame and tossed it into the box, before closing it with a tape.

Picking up the now heavy box and with a mental goodbye, Una turned right outside her door and walked out of the labs and offices area in the direction of the elevator for one final trip to the underground garage and out of the building.

When she passed Mitchell working station she found the security guard behind the desk, her small frame partially hidden by the multiple security monitors that surrounded her.

“I’m heading out Mitchell, have a goodnight,” Una said, adjusting the box in her arms to free one of her hands. Seeing the security starting to rise, she signaled the other woman to stay put. “I can walk myself out, this isn’t heavy… just junk from the office and a couple of books for homework and my car is parked near the elevator’s door.” 

“Okay, goodnight to you too Doc, don’t come too early today.” Mitchell gave a small wave and watched the tall figure walk away.

Having not walked but a few paces, Una turned back around and asked, “Has La’an come in tonight?” if La’an had indeed come back like she said, maybe Una could try one last time to talk with her.

“The boss left around 7.p.m., She didn’t come in after that, Doc.” Mitchell informed.

And with that the last nail in the coffin was nailed.

If Una needed confirmation of La’an’s lies, here it was. Anger and hurt all mixed into one propel her the rest of the way to her car.

Once inside she turned the engine on and drove out of the building, her mind already planning the rest of her night with the packing of her important documents and everything else she wanted to take with her. 

Pike would be passing by her apartment later in the morning to pick some of the stuff that she couldn’t fit in her car. She would be staying with him and Marie the remaining of the days she would have to wait for her paperwork to come through before she could finally travel to her next job at one of the Enterprise international facilities.

Toronto: La’an’s Apartment

La’an spent what was left of the night restless, tossing and turning around on her bed, her thoughts on how much her words and actions had hurt her friend. She couldn’t stop the image of the blue eyes filled with pain, disbelief and confusion from invading her mind. How much grief she had to utter those words back at Una.

Una.

How she misjudged Una’s reaction to the file and how La'an probably put the older woman in grave danger if she insisted on knowing more.

If she was anything like she was when she was near a breakthrough with her work—like a dog with a bone—the elder Noonien-Singh’s wouldn’t tolerate it. They had ample experience in making people go away. Disappeared without any trace or suspicion.

Una's face when she left her apartment was of a person on a mission. La’an had seen that same look and expression too many times to count when Una became invested in a new research. And under it, the blue eyes were full of sadness and disappointment that made La’an guilty for being the one to put those feelings there. 

Giving up on sleep, La’an rose from the bed and dressed in some black pants, a T-shirt and a grey sweatshirt that she had tossed on the chair some days ago. She grabbed her old headphones—a gift from Una—her house keys and phone, and secured them in her sweatshirt pockets, as she walked to her hallway shoe rack. 

Sitting on a nearby chair, she put on her rollerblades, deciding to go into the institute earlier than usual. Maybe the exercise from rollerblading would help clear her head and form a plan of action.

By the time the NSI building was in front of her, La’an had made up her mind to go meet Una in her office and ask for a stroll in the nearby park during lunch break. She would try to convince Una to leave the Institute. 

“Hey Mitchell, did Doctor Chin-Riley come in yet?” She asked the night guard, who was passing the night reports to the daytime officer, having just arrived at the time of changing shifts. 

“No yet, Boss,” Mitchell informed as she came around the security desk ”She left a couple of hours ago. I would imagine that she would be coming in later today.”

In the process of removing her rollerblades, La’an stopped to look at the older officer. “What do you mean she left a few hours ago?” Shit.The urgency of talking with Una just raised tenfold. 

“She was checking on some lab work she had left running.” Mitchell clarified.

“Okay.” La’an raised a hand in acknowledgment, as she was already walking in the direction of her office, the rollerblades swinging over one shoulder. Halfway through, she changed directions and went to Una’s office.

With her security master key, she opened Una’s door and quietly entered the room. The desk still looked the same, she didn’t know why she expected it to be any different. Una was always a perfectionist and organized—everything had a place and a reason to be. 

Walking to her desk, she sat on the chair and took a feeling of the room, something was nagging at her brain. The feel of the room was off. After spending so many hours there, Una’s office had become her safe haven inside the building.

With her foot pushing against the floor, she took a slow spin on the chair taking in the full room, the morning light still too pale to fully illuminate the office through the big windows. 

Una’s working files were still on the document case on her desk. So was her extra pair of reading glasses. They were the one thing that Una tended to misplace frequently to the point of having more than one pair. The big couch against one of the walls still had her favorite quilt draped across its back. The table next to it with the stack of genetic magazines, the bookcase…. the bookcase. Something was different.

La’an got up from the office chair and slowly walked to it. Her fingers tracing the well-used books…some of them were missing. La’an could tell, even if someone had tried to make their absence less obvious. So, Una had been into her office and actually removed something from it. As far as La’an could discern at first glance they all seemed to be Una’s belongings.

Her eyes roam the rest of the case, a picture of what may have happened forming behind her mind, cemented when she noticed the missing frame. She loved that picture and the day it was taken. 

Turning around she looked pensively at the black monitor. She needed to see if Una had done anything on her computer, but that she would do it from her own office. She had the tools there to erase any evidence of foul play or any possible action that the Institute could use against Una.

From what she could tell, Una had come to the office to pick up some things she deemed important, and if the picture frame was an indication, had left the Institute. ‘Unless she tossed the picture away because she’s done with you ,’ her mind supplied.

If it was the first, La’an would be relieved and run interference with her parents and their inquiries. If it was the last, well her job would just become more difficult in convincing Una to meet her outside the building. 

Her answer would come during her sweep of Una’s computer and the notification of a pending email message to be sent that blinked in the corner of the screen.