With barely any sleep that night, Rowan still arrived at the ECBS bright and early the following morning with two, large cups of coffee in hand: one for herself to keep the eye bags subdued and another, she hoped, to loosen Dr. Phelps’ lips.

She had spent the rest of her night constructing the case she would make once he arrived for work. Rowan was top of her class, excelling in his program, the best assistant he’s had, and not to toot her own horn, but definitely his personal favorite. She deserved, at the very least, to know what was going on after last night’s confusion.

He owed her that much.

Even with her speech all planned out, Rowan sat outside his office with her back tense, legs bouncing with anticipation and gnawing rough on her lip with her nerves. Because something about what happened felt important. Important in a way she didn’t understand yet, but felt in her gut like a sixth sense. Like there was a reason she stayed late that night, seen what she saw. A reason beyond simple coincidence or probability.

Whatever it was, whatever the cause for his secretiveness, for the guns and the armored vehicles, she could handle it. Rowan was ready for something bigger. Bigger than a research analyst job at a small facility in the middle of nowhere. Phelps wouldn’t be able to argue. He knew her drive, her passion, her ambition, and she could tell this was her chance.

Of course, “chance” suggested a certain amount of luck Rowan did not believe in. Rather, this was an opportunity waiting to be taken, and Rowan wasn’t going to just sit around and let it pass her by or hope it would be handed to her. She’d gotten this far in her career only by hunting down every single opportunity that came, so this would be no exception. She wasn’t even sure what she was going into his office to ask for, but she knew she wasn’t leaving without a yes.

There was no way to argue against “chance” when it came to what she happened to hear while waiting for Phelps, though. Unintentionally eavesdropping on a conversation between doctors as they passed by, Rowan picked up a name she knew, a name she shouldn’t have heard, a name that turned the nervous fluttering of her heart into hard, heavy pounds against her eardrums.

“Did you hear? Adam said he saw Dr. Miller in the building this morning.”

“Yeah right. Adam likes to exaggerate.”

“Miller and Phelps went to school together, and they worked together on the influenza anti-viral. Maybe it was a friendly visit.”

“Even so, doesn’t Miller work for HHS now? Why would anyone on a government wage set foot in Eureka? The only way I’d show my face in this town after leaving would be if I lost a bet.”

Rowan didn’t have enough time to process the information. The rest of their conversation moved further down the hall, and approaching from the other end was Phelps, at a pace noticeably quicker than his usual mosey, similar to how he had rushed inside the building the night before.

His steps faltered when he saw Rowan waiting for him, knowing why she was there and reluctant to face her. He managed to push through the apprehension, though, and went right for his office door, fumbling with the key as he greeted her politely.

“Morning, Miss Platts.”

Stuck in a moment of disbelief, Rowan almost allowed Phelps to escape into his office completely unharassed, but managed to shake out of it just in time to keep him from closing the door behind himself.

“Is it true, sir?”

A flash of panic swept over his face at her question. “Is what true?” he asked, like there were a number of things she could be asking about, and her knowing any one of them was highly undesirable.

“Was Dr. Miller here?”

Rowan’s question came out too loudly, and Phelps shushed her, tugging her into his office and shutting the door behind them before someone overheard her.

“Does this have something to do with last night? This isn’t a coincidence, it can’t be. Miller was here because of the body, right? It was a body, wasn’t it?”

Phelps shushed her again to try and get her to lower her voice. He seemed worried at first by exactly how much information had just come out of Rowan that she probably shouldn’t know, but he gave in quickly. Dropping his pretenses while collapsing into his high-back desk chair, he gave a defeated sigh while adjusting his bowtie straight again.

“You’re too perceptive for your own good, you know that, Rowan?”

“Please, sir. You can’t lie to me. You know how I feel about Dr. Miller. Please.”

Rowan hurried to discard the coffees onto his desk and collect a chair to sit across from him. Although, it was barely sitting, with how rigid in anticipation she was.

Phelps gave her his “tough” look, an attempt at a scold he could never quite manage because he didn't have kids of his own. Offering another defeated sigh, he muttered that he’d be hearing about this later before answering.

“Yes. Miller is here, and as much as I’d like to say it was just to visit an old friend, I’ve never been paid such a pleasantry. And… And that’s already far more than you need to know so that’s all you’re getting out of me.”

His words were meant to sound like putting his foot down, but it came out more like a plea not to push it further. As if Rowan needed anything more to start piecing together a picture of what was going on. She was on her feet again, pacing across Phelps’ office as she put together the puzzle he’d presented.

“If Miller is here that means… That means this is something big. The government wouldn’t just send one of their top scientists off to the middle of nowhere for nothing.” Rowan couldn’t help her over-exhausted mind going to places it probably shouldn’t have, reminiscent of the alien talk the night before with Cameron. The possibilities made her head spin with foolish fantasies, and put a giddy, girlish grin on her face. “Something big, here in Eureka. Holy sh—”

“I’m stopping you right there before you get ahead of yourself. This has nothing to do with you and will have nothing to do with you. You’ve already seen too much, but I’m trusting you to not tell anyone about it. I can trust you, right? Rowan?”

Rowan brushed away his words, unable to help herself from prodding further. “Are you going to be working with Miller again, Dr. Phelps?” She couldn’t help the stars that were no doubt in her eyes at the prospect of the old colleagues reunited.

Her excitement only softened Phelps up further. He hesitated, but caved too easily, a less than humble smile crawling onto his face. “I have been asked to be of assistance, yes.”

Rowan couldn’t breathe through her excitement. “This is history in the making.”

Phelps chuckled, trying to brush her off. “Come now, it’s not—”

She scoffed at his attempt at regaining some modesty. “You two cured influenza the last time you worked together! This is huge.”

Rowan was trying to calm down her shaking, because he wouldn’t take her seriously if she was in hysterics, and an idea was starting to form. An idea of her, his assistant for over a year, shadowing him on this secret project. Or maybe… Working with them? She didn’t even know what the project was, what the study would be based around, what the gurney and the body and the armed men had to do with any of it.

And she didn’t care.

Whatever it was, it would be groundbreaking if Miller had anything to do with it.

While fantasizing, Rowan’s expression shifted to the big, doe eyes she’d use to get in Phelps’ favor, and once he realized what she was doing, he immediately protested. “No. Absolutely not. Get the thought out of your head, Rowan, because it’s not happening.”

“Please, Dr. Phelps. Please. This is everything I’ve ever wanted. A project like this could make my career. And to work with my idols. Sir, you and Miller were the reason I went to university, why I pursued biology, you’re the reason I am where I am. If I can so much as be involved in something with the both of you...” Rowan paused because she didn’t even have words to express the rest of her thought.

It was unfathomable.

Phelps stared hard again, like he was trying to muster up the last bit of his will to withstand her. Rowan promised herself a yes, though.

“Please Phelps, you can’t just let me not be involved. I can’t miss out on this, especially after knowing all this. Knowing about Miller. I’d spend the rest of my life wondering exactly what I missed out on.”

Rowan sat on her last attempt, waiting for Phelps to crack with her racing heart pounding away in her throat. She steady her wringing hands on her thighs, and watched the deep lines of the hard frown on his forehead loosen.

“You’re lucky that I’ve always liked giving Miller a hard time.”

Phelps sent Rowan home early with a thick folder of papers and specific instructions: read the lengthy contract front to back, think seriously on what it included, and return the next morning with it signed if she still wanted to be involved. When Rowan pressed about how Miller would react, he assured her everything would be handled when she arrived the following morning, leaving Rowan little more to do than sit down and get some reading done.

She had some errands to run, and since she expected to be tied up from the next morning forward, Rowan decided to make some pit stops before heading home with the contract. She’d have to pick up some groceries since she tended to fall into bad eating habits when work took over, and there wasn’t proper food in the house. She’d also have to pick up some migraine medication; she got them when she would forgo sleep, which she anticipated would be happening often.

Rowan was so caught up in her excitement and fantasizing, she didn’t notice the black SUV following her until she parked at the market and saw that it stopped at the other side of the parking lot, as well.

A chill seized the back of her neck, remembering the night before: the security personnel in dark suits and the feeling of a weapon to her spine. Rowan reminded herself that lots of people had SUVs, and everyone needed to shop. She was just being paranoid. That was all. With a deep breath, she forced the thought away.

She almost completely forgot the unpleasant idea, but it burrowed deeper into her bones with every nervous glance over her shoulder, leaving a chill that made her stiff and uncomfortable as she shopped. There was never anyone when she looked, but when she’d turn back, the hairs stood up on her neck like there was. The discomfort rushed her through the aisles, definitely forgetting something while counting the times she involuntarily checked behind her.

When she left the market, the parked SUV seemed empty, and Rowan felt momentarily relieved. She was being foolish, hyper sensitive in her exhaustion, and still dwelling on Cameron’s foolish fantasy from the night before. Maybe she’d allow herself to take a nap when she got home before diving into the contract, just to clear her head.

That was a short lived plan though, she realized, while exiting the pharmacy after picking up her migraine medication and seeing the same black SUV parked down the street, in plain sight of the exit she used to return to her car.

Rowan tried not to let her panic get ahead of her, but a churning dread in her stomach reminded her of the night before. This time though, it was the middle of the day, the sun was up, and she was surrounded by people. She would be fine. She was fine.

Even as she tried her best to act normal, to take deep breaths and calm herself down as she got back in her car and pulled out onto the road, the first thing she did once out of the parking lot was dial Cameron’s number.

“Row, what’s the occasion? You never call me during working hours. How’d it go with Phelps?”

“Cameron, are you home?”

There was a pause over the line. “I had to pick something up for the truck. Why?”

“Ok, no problem. I’ll just—” Her voice cracked. “I’ll use my key, then.”

He saw right through her weak facade. “What’s wrong, Row?”

“It’s not a big deal, it’s actually kind of stupid. You’ll think I’m going crazy.” She tried to brush off his concern, holding her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she adjusted her rearview mirror, the SUV four cars behind her as she drove.

“Why would I think you're going crazy?”

Rowan laughed nervously. “Because I think I’m going crazy.”

“Try me.” Cameron snorted.

She forced her eyes back onto the road ahead of her, exhaling shakily. After another breath, she swallowed hard and said, “I think I’m being followed.”