Three months prior

Zoe waited at Nan’s apartment door, her heart still thumping like crazy. Her best friend appeared in a simple black suit and silk shirt. The long white sleeves and neck scarf covered most of the tats. All of the pink hair stripes were gone, along with nose, eyebrow, and lip rings.

“Did someone die? You look so…different.” Zoe followed Nan into the small apartment, carrying a bag of their favorite Chinese takeout.

“Had a job interview today.”

“No way! You swore you’d never go legit.” Zoe gave Nan an awkward hug. More like a pat on the back, but it was a start.

Nan raised her eyebrows and removed round aluminum containers. Somehow, she found a spot for paper plates between the laptops, printer, and monitors. There was an external hard drive, and a couple other electronic devices that Zoe didn't recognize on the chairs as well.

“First things first.” Nan placed a pile of textbooks on the floor and sat. “What’re you working on that would send some stalker after you? I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to take any more questionable jobs unless we talked it out.”

“I swear I’ve done nothing since my parents died.”

“Any freelance jobs on Craigslist?” Nan’s intense stare would make her an awesome cop someday.

“Absolutely not. I’m working for that place, Broad Street Computer Security. They have real clients, real paperwork. I even filled out a W2 form. They love me there. Might even give me a raise. Besides, I need the insurance for–” Zoe swallowed hard and looked down at her hands. “My therapist. You know I wouldn’t jeopardize that.”

“So when did you first notice this guy following you?”  Nan slipped the chopsticks out of their paper, and separated them with a click.

“I don’t know…” Zoe found the least occupied chair, moved the stack of papers, and sat. “Maybe a couple weeks ago, but who knows how long he was following me before that.”

“Okay, download.”

“I noticed the guy when I left Broad Street. Second time this week that he’s been waiting for me after work.” The tremor in her hand made chopsticks an impossibility. She grabbed a fork from the drawer and plopped back down. “So I picked up my pace and thought I’d lost him. but all of a sudden he’s like right behind me. His hand almost grabbed onto my arm. He would’ve too, if this big guy hadn’t pushed him aside when I screamed.”

 Nan shook her head and frowned.

“But that’s not the worst of it. I’m sitting on the subway and look out the window and there he is on the other side of the plate glass, just staring all weird-like. Creepy as hell. He makes a gun with his fingers. One thumb up and the index finger pointing.” Zoe emulated the virtual gun and pointed it at Nan. “And then he mouths the word, ‘Bang.’ I was shaking like crazy but I had my cell phone in my hoodie. So I snapped his picture.” She pulled her phone out and opened the photo. “I went three stops in the wrong direction before coming back here, just to make sure I wasn’t followed.”

Nan stretched to see the shot on Zoe's phone. “Too bad. He’s pretty hot. Nice suit, too.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “He’s not hot, he’s a nutcase.” 

“Send me the picture. I just got access to some pretty cool facial recognition software. We can try it out.”

Zoe raised her eyebrows and sent the photo to Nan’s email. “Facial recognition software?”

“Relax. I’ve been helping out NYPD with some terrorist shit. They’re the ones that called me in.”

Nan wiggled her eyebrows and it finally dawned on Zoe what was up.

“Thus, the suit? Oh my God.” Zoe squealed, jumping up and down in her seat. “You had an interview with NYPD?”

“Not exactly.” Nan stood, then twirled in front of her. “Do I look FBI?”

Zoe snorted. “Except for the sword tattoo up the side of your neck.”

“That one is hard to hide.” Nan grinned, pulled off her scarf, and unbuttoned her shirt, revealing her favorite camouflage cutoff tank top. “The department I’m interviewing for doesn’t seem to mind the body art.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Zoe stabbed at a chicken ball.

“Happened last week. I haven’t had a chance.” Nan waved her chopstick in the air. “There was a terrorism attempt that I found out about. I was on site with a team, like in a big war room, helping out.”

“Were you snooping through government files again?”

Nan wiggled her eyebrows.

Zoe laughed and swallowed the wrong way. She grabbed a glass of water, gulped, and sat back down. “What if they caught you?”

“Never gonna happen.” Nan put down her chopsticks and typed at lightning speed on her keyboard. “Anyhow, looked like the city needed my help, so I pretended to be a terrorist.” 

Zoe froze mid-bite. “You pretended to be a fucking terrorist?”

Nan shrugged and popped a chicken ball in her mouth, chewed, then smiled. “I just bought way too much fertilizer and some other stuff that I knew would flag me. And it did. I got arrested.”

“That’s kinda over the top, even for you.”

“I know, right?” Nan laughed. “There was a maniac hypnotizing people online. Friggin’ incredible. I caught his site and recorded it when no else could. I can’t even talk about it. But my awesome hacking skills helped them catch the bad guys, and I met this hot cop.” Nan closed her eyes with a dreamy look that Zoe had never seen her use before. “The guy is unbelievable in bed.”

“I leave you alone for a few days and this is what happens?” Zoe exhaled and it came out with a whoosh.

“Finding the bad guys is way more fun than being the bad guy.” Nan began to close up the leftover food in the containers and put them in the refrigerator. She pulled out a bottle of wine from the bottom rack. “Hey, look what I found. Want a glass?”

Zoe nodded, found a couple glasses, and took them over to the counter. She poured, took a sip and grimaced at the cheap wine.

Nan sat down on the old grey couch and patted the spot beside her. The only other furniture that could fit in the tiny room was a coffee table and a wall with a monitor. Instead of sitting next to Nan, Zoe perched on the edge of the couch.

“So, while we wait to see if something pops up on your stalker, did you find your great-aunt yet?”

“You mean the witch?” Zoe rolled her eyes and laughed. “That was one strange weekend.”

“I hardly remember much of it.” Nan smirked. “Or your parent’s funeral. We drank what was left of their wine collection?”

“I’m surprised we finished before the cops locked us out of the house. How the hell does anyone rack up over a million in debt?”

“Probably ‘bout a hundred thou’ a year for ten years….” Nan chuckled.

“Ha. Ha. Thanks for the math lesson. But I am glad we got my papers out of the filing cabinet. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have even known where to start looking for my biological family.”

“I still can’t believe they never told you, you were adopted. Your parents had some serious issues…” Nan stopped as if she’d stepped in a pile of dog shit. “Oh Zoe, I’m so sorry.”

Crap. Here it comes. Zoe tried to swallow back the horrible memories, the anxiety that formed a baseball size lump in her throat. But just as her therapist, Doctor Larry, had explained, the more you try to stop it, the more it’ll attack. She let a few pictures of her past dribble into her mind like a leaky faucet. Man. Her father was so screwed up. What kind of pervert got jacked up over touching a kid?

When the memories faded, Nan was there, watching her patiently.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Zoe shook her head, then took a deep sip of her wine.

“Okay.” Nan gave her a sad smile.

“Don’t do that pity thing. I hate that almost as much as the memories. Dammit. How long you think it’s going to take before I don’t feel so shitty every time someone mentions his name? It’s like having my own personal Susquehanna Hat Company.”

“I don’t know.” Nan put her hand on Zoe’s leg, then drew it back when Zoe flinched.

“I didn’t find anything else about the…” Zoe made air quotes. “Witch. But, I did connect with a distant cousin on Facebook. She wants me to come visit.”

“Hmmm…Maybe that’s our answer to the stalker. You can work remotely, right?”

“I guess.” Zoe frowned and glanced down at her wine. “I can ask.”

“I think you should clear out of town for a little bit.”

“I’d miss you.” She hated how whiney she sounded, but the thought of not having Nan to talk to left an empty space in her chest. “You’re my only family now.”

“And you’re my little sister, but I’d feel better knowing you were out of the city because I think my new job might be sending me overseas.”

Zoe’s mouth dropped open in shock. “So soon? For what?”

“Well they didn’t tell me exactly, so I kind of snooped around.”

“Shit, Nan, you hacked into the FBI? Your would-be employer?”

“Well, let’s just say that some of the guys just happened to be logging in as I walked by, and I just happened to remember their keystrokes. I found an empty computer on the way to the lady’s room.”

Zoe held out her empty glass for Nan to fill, and shook her head. “So where are they sending you?”

 “Looks like Afghanistan. There seems to be an influx of slave trade to the U.S. that we’re supposed to track.” Nan held up her hand when Zoe started to protest. “I’ll be fine. Trust me. Now let’s pick a movie to watch while we wait for the computer to identify your stalker guy.”

Zoe gave her friend a rare hug and sat down on the couch. Three movies and two bottles of wine later, they fell asleep.

A little after midnight, the computer program gave up with an alert, PERSON NOT FOUND.