I went home that day, feeling the strength leave my body. I let Niccolo finish rambling about his issue with customer service before I said anything.
“I can’t go back there. They think I killed the director.” I told him as I sank into a chair.
He stopped his quiet muttering. “How’d that happen?”
“They found a strand of my hair, and now they’ve got my picture plastered everywhere for everyone to see—the vicious Invalid murderer, Marcus Sullivan!”
“They won’t recognize you.”
“They will recognize me.” I looked at him. “They will, soon enough.”
“I don’t recognize you, okay?” he said, raising his voice. “Do you really think they’d believe that one of their own elites had been fooling them all this time? No, they won’t. So we’re going to continue as planned. That’s what we’re doing. You’re Lorenzo De Sanctis, one APEXIS’ elites.”
“I’m not Lorenzo De Sanctis.” I couldn’t help but raise my voice. “I’m the Invalid they’re calling a murderer.”
I grabbed the packs of blood and urine Niccolo had prepared for me and threw them straight to the trash.
“Hey, hey. What are you doing?” He looked up from his papers. “What are you doing!? That could last you several days!” He pushed his wheelchair towards me. “Stop that!” He moved closer. “Alright, you want to quit? Fine! After everything we’ve put into this? What’s next? I’m supposed to wheel in there and finish it myself?”
“Niccolo,” I sighed. “We’re both going to get caught.”
“You still don’t get it, do you? Just look at yourself. When people look at you, they see me.” He took the pouch of blood from my hands. “Now put those back where they belong. What were you thinking?”
The following day, I put more effort into scrubbing the loose skin from my body. Niccolo was right. I couldn’t give up just yet, not when the launch was only a few days away. I asked Niccolo not to stay up late for me that night as I’d be out with Madeline. We watched an opera that evening. The music filled my ears, which took my mind off things, even if only for a little while.
As we watched the performance, the investigation team continued its work at APEXIS, sweeping up every particle they could find. Luckily for them, they found the janitor working the night shift and took his garbage bag. That made things a lot easier for them. The bag was crawling with bacteria, including mine.
The night marked a celebration of the mission launch. Madeline and I joined the rest of the APEXIS workers in it. The opera cast bowed their heads as we filled the theater with applause.
At the investigation facility, the paper cup I had thrown in the garbage bag had already been scanned. Its particles formed a perfect match to the strand of hair they had found. It gave them enough reason to believe their suspect was still quietly lingering within APEXIS.