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chapter 25: One Year Later

Working at Los Alamos wasn’t the worst job Julian Davis had ever had. Far from it. It was, however, the most demanding.

He spent long hours struggling to unravel the complicated intricacies of online security. The internet underworld was where the real crime took place these days, and the Los Alamos base was where the government fought it. There were hundreds of people employed by this particular division of Homeland Security, the group of them spending their days in cubicles, trawling the internet, every keystroke recorded for posterity.

Some of these people Julian knew by reputation: the kid who’d hacked into the FBI mainframe, the virus programmer who’d brought Google to a grinding halt, and the teenage genius who’d designed the now-illegal interface for file-sharing. Others, Julian had met on-base: working out at the gym, or buying groceries at the on-base store. They were the best and the brightest from the tech world, and every single one of them had been brought in for the express purpose of protecting the US from attack. All of them lived in the gated community which surrounded Los Alamos. All of them were officially in jail, serving life sentences for their actions.

All of them, like Julian Davis, had a new identity.

For the first months after his official ‘disappearance’, Jules had simply struggled to keep up. The Fischer trial had dragged on for months, the end unimaginably far away. Jules had testified in closed court, earning him his second chance. A change from a jail cell, to Homeland Security – even when he had to wear a tracker twenty-four hours a day – seemed like a fair enough trade-off. Jules had a comfortable income, and a house, and a car, a retirement plan, and health benefits. With all that’d happened since last year, Jules didn’t regret a lot of what he’d left behind. And when he thought of what the alternative was – a prison sentence, in a real prison – it seemed like a good choice.

Most of the time.

In the past months, he’d finally begun to feel settled. He was keeping up with his workload, and had earned his first ‘points’ that could be used for off-base passes. The trouble was, he couldn’t forget Indigo. She was there, on the edge of his consciousness, waiting to be found.

The first time he looked her up, he discovered she’d graduated from university, and was applying for work at various design firms around the country. He spent an evening looking through the images she had posted on her locked Facebook page. The next morning, Jules was called into his supervisor’s office. Admiral Janet Artola gave him the same “You need to remember that she’s being protected by NOT knowing about you,” speech she’d given him when he had arrived. He earned ten demerits for the infraction, and his workload increased.

Jules left it at that.

The second time he found Indigo was almost an accident. He’d been battling depression for weeks, and Morgan Drake, once known as DemonDark, had suggested he give online dating a try. Jules had typed in his information on a whim, leaving the picture bare. (He didn’t want to give Artola any more ammunition than she needed.) Jules left his profile untouched for a week, before going back to look through his matches. Finding he had none – it appeared everyone wanted to see who they were talking to – Jules began probing the site.

The first name he searched for, once he’d hacked the program, was Indigo Sykes.

She was there.

He read through her file, heart in his throat. She was working in Colorado at a web design studio. She had listed a number of hobbies and interests, but no pictures at all. He stared at the summary at the bottom of the page.

I’m not looking for perfect anymore. I’m just looking for something good.

Jules began typing.

: : : : : : : : : :

Indigo sat in the coffee house, her eyes on the people milling through the snowy streets. She’d only tried the online dating to get Shireese off her back. They might live halfway across the country from one another these days, but that had never stopped her friend from trying to help. Indigo had decided she’d do this one date, and that was it. Shireese would be happy and she could move on. It was like the obsession Shireese’d had with Elliot last year. He was nice but there was definitely no click.

Today, Indigo was certain, would be the same.

Indigo sighed, fiddling with the handle of the coffee cup. The year had changed more than just where she lived. Her priorities had changed too. Indigo didn’t worry about the ‘right one’ anymore. Nowadays, she thought long term, about compatibility and friendship. Sometimes, it was hard enough just to get up in the morning, but Indigo figured if she kept going long enough, that one day, she might just find a way to be happy again.

She took a sip of coffee, her mind flickering to another time.

‘Maybe…’

The street was busy, the sunlight on snow leaving her squinting. Outside, a figure passed, and Indigo leaned forward, her eyes following him as he moved through the crowd. There was something about his walk – the gait of it, and the way he held his head – that, even from the back, had her heart pounding. The man disappeared back into the milling bodies, and Indigo slumped down, chest tight.

‘Maybe…’ she thought morosely, ‘I’m not ready after all.’

She set the coffee down with shaking fingers, reaching for her coat, hung over the chair behind her. The door opened at the front of the shop, a gust of icy wind leaving her shivering. She pulled on one sleeve, turning to put on the other, but stopped before she could finish.

Jude Alden was standing a few steps away.