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“Right here?” Agent Garcia asked, looking at her intently.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You didn’t cross the river, go anywhere else?”
“How would I have done that? There was no way across that I could see.”
“And you spent the night there alone?”
“Yes, like I said.” Nayome allowed a bit of the discomfort to shine in her eyes, as she looked up at Agent Garcia. “Look, I’m trying to cooperate here, but…am I in some kind of trouble here? Should I be calling a lawyer? This is feeling like an interrogation, especially the way you guys brought me in.”
Agent Garcia sighed, leaning back in his chair as he inspected the map, now marked up with notations. “Please understand Nayome—may I call you Nayome?” Agent Garcia continued at her nod. “You have stumbled into something highly classified, so we are taking every precaution. Your story checks out, from what I can see, but we are going to have to hold you for observation.”
Nayome frowned, an icy chill making her hairs stand on end. “Hold me for…observation? What does that mean?”
“I am not able to explain the details. If everything you have said is true, you should be out and back at work sometime next week.”
“Is this…is this legal? I don’t understand.” Nayome was trembling now, and didn’t bother to hide it.
“You may reach out to an attorney, of course, but I’m afraid you will find that in matters of state security, we are well within our rights to hold you.”
“State security.” Nayome’s eyes moved back and forth frantically between Agent Garcia and Crawford. “Can you tell me anything? I…I’m really struggling to understand how any of this makes any sense.”
“You will be set up at one of our safe houses. You are not being sent to a holding cell, because you are not under arrest. But, I will warn you the property is heavily surveilled. An agent will be posted there to make sure you remain for the duration of our observation. Think of it like a temporary house arrest. Either myself or Agent Crawford may stop by if we have any additional questions for you.”
“So you will be watching me for…what?”
“We cannot disclose that information.”
“Right.”
Agent Garcia’s eyes appeared to soften a tiny bit as he regarded Nayome, whose hands were now clenched nervously in her lap. “I know this must be strange, scary. Remember that it’s only for a short time. Keep cooperating like you have been, and everything will be alright.”
“Am I allowed to contact anyone, or am I going to be cut-off while I’m there?”
“You can contact anyone you wish. Just keep in mind any communications will be monitored.”
Nayome nodded silently, feeling resigned. She had a small glimmer of hope thinking Bal and Gabe would be working to get her out, but at the same time maybe it was best to let this play out? She would give them such a boring show, they would be happy to release her back to her regular life.
* * *
Nayome sat perched on the corner of the springy bed in her temporary new home, waiting for her phone to power on. No point keeping her location on the down low now that she was in federal custody.
She watched as message after message poured in from the last week she had been offline. Mostly junk emails, but she felt a stab of guilt when she saw concerned texts from Dani that had gone unanswered. Nick had tried to call her a few times today as well, probably trying to figure out what the hell was going on after she had been escorted off his property.
Nayome rose and made her way to the window, pulling the beige floral drapes to the side to peer out. She was in a pretty standard looking townhouse, somewhere in the East Village with a steep set of stairs leading to the narrow front entranceway. They were off the main street, so there wasn’t much traffic as she peered outside. Her federal agent roommate, a burly, strong silent type, was in the living room, which was on the main floor just below her bedroom. He had settled his weight onto the old couch, which looked to be straight out of the nineteen seventies, and flipped on the TV to a news channel. Nayome hadn’t gotten more than a few words, and a couple of grunts out of him. She was in for an exciting few days.
Breathing out, she paced around her small room as she flipped through the missed calls on her cell. She was disappointed to see nothing from Bal. Of course, he probably couldn’t risk communicating with her while she was here. But still, it would have been nice to not feel so alone in this. Wondering what ‘heavily surveilled’ meant, she took a tentative look around her bedroom. There were no obvious cameras, but that didn’t mean her room wasn’t bugged. She would need to be careful and keep to herself. Feeling uncomfortable, she wondered if there was anywhere she could have privacy in this place—even to change clothes, without being on camera. Maybe she would ask Mr. Stoic downstairs. That was a reasonable question, after all. Being modest shouldn’t raise any suspicion. The agents had escorted her to her apartment to pack a bag on the way here, so she had enough outfits to get her through a few days.
Deciding a conversation with Dani couldn’t do anything but support how normal of a person she was, Nayome dialed her number.
“Nayome, thank God—I’ve been worried!” Dani answered after a couple rings.
“I know, I’m sorry I’ve been offline through the last week.”
“Is everything alright? I tried to stop by your apartment too, to drop off a care package but you weren’t at home.”
“Oh, wow.” Nayome was touched, and felt guilty at how distant she had been, letting everyone believe she wasn’t feeling well. She should have realized an unexplained absence from work would be cause for concern. “That’s so thoughtful, I wish I had been there. I wasn’t feeling great, and took a friend up on an offer to stay with them. The place was kind of like a retreat, there was meditation practice and it was a good time to try going fully offline, disconnecting.” Nayome closed her eyes as she spouted out the lies, trying to draw on her actual experience so it wasn’t completely fabricated. She had, after all, practiced meditation almost every night on the rooftop.
