Not just any laser. Josie recognized the double undulators, compact accelerator, and experimental bending magnets right away. It was a prototype of a compact X-ray free-electron laser—an X-FEL—the multimillion-dollar piece of equipment Penelope had suggested they “borrow” from Josie’s mom for their science-fair entry. And it was sitting in Josie’s basement.
Wouldn’t someone at Fort Meade notice that an X-FEL the size of a minivan and worth more than the crown jewels had suddenly gone missing from a heavily secured government facility? How the hell had it gotten into Josie’s house?
Josie eased her way around an overturned table for a closer look at the laser. She’d never seen this version of an X-FEL before but she’d heard her parents discussing it excitedly over dinner for years. It had been one of the priority projects up at Fort Meade: millions in funding, a team of A-list scientists and engineers, top secret specs no one had ever seen.
Josie bent down and examined one of the undulators. It was one of the most high-tech, cutting-edge pieces of equipment in the world and yet . . .
Something wasn’t right. This rig wasn’t shiny and new and gleaming with custom-made components. It was old, gritty, and looked as if it had been pieced together with odd parts and discarded materials from earlier prototypes. Josie peered at the accelerator tube, her nose so close her breath made foggy little clouds against its metal surface. She could clearly see the seaming where different pieces of the cylinder had been fused together. An X-FEL of that caliber should have had a custom-designed accelerator of all one piece, and this one looked almost homemade.
Josie snapped upright. Homemade? Had her mom built a duplicate version of a top secret laser in their basement?
“What the hell is going on?”
The words might have come from Josie’s mouth, but they didn’t. She spun around, stumbling over a heavy steel box, and saw her mother standing at the top of the stairs.
“Oh my God,” her mom gasped, taking in the full extent of the damage.
“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” Josie said under her breath.
Her mom inched down the stairs, as if testing her weight against each step. Her eyes were wide with shock as she scanned the basement from left to right. “What happened?” she said at last, her voice shaky. “Tell me what happened.”
“There was an explosion.”
Her mom whirled on her. “Did you turn it on?” she said breathlessly. “Did you turn on the laser and cause an explosion? Where is the deuterium?”
“Wait, there was deuterium in the house?”
“Tell me!” her mom snapped.
Josie shook her head. “I was upstairs. There was an explosion. It blew the door open.”
Josie’s mom glanced up at the basement door. “Blew the door open?” she said absently.
“Yeah,” Josie continued, “and I found the lab like this.”
“Found the lab like this . . .” Her mom’s voice trailed off.
“Mom, what’s going on? Why do you have the X-FEL in the basement? And why does it look like you made it yourself?”
Her mom turned back to her and opened her mouth to say something, then clapped it shut. She stared over Josie’s head at something against the far wall of the basement. Josie turned, following her gaze to the mirror propped up in the corner.
“Get it out of here,” her mom said without looking at Josie.
“Huh?”
“The mirror. Get it out of the lab. Now.”
“Why?” Josie stared at her mom. The mirror? Really? There was a bootleg weapons-grade laser in the house and her mom was concerned about the mirror?
“I . . . ,” her mom started, her eyes faltering. “I don’t want it damaged. It was my grandmother’s.”
Josie sighed. Fine, whatever. She crunched her way to the back of the basement, lifted the mirror, then shimmied through the mess and up the stairs.
As she reached the hallway, she looked down at her mom to ask what she was supposed to do with the mirror. But the words froze on her lips. Her mom sat on a stool, head in her hands.
Josie had no idea what was going on, no hint of what her mom was involved in. Locked doors, homemade lasers, explosions, secrets.
Maybe this had all contributed to her parents’ separation? Maybe there was something going on—something major—that had shut her mom off from her family? Josie made a mental note to ask her mom about it. But not now. With her mom still sobbing in the basement, Josie quietly closed the door.
4:20 P.M.
Josie rested the mirror against the wall outside her bedroom and stared at it. So many odd things had happened since she picked up the stupid thing from her dad’s apartment. Could they all be connected or was it just a weird coincidence?
There’s no such thing as coincidence. That was practically a mantra around the Byrne household. So if it wasn’t a coincidence, there was something about the mirror that connected the disparate events of the last twenty-four hours. Something concrete and logical. There had to be.