THE CISTERN flushing was audible—and the current métier director of CDC, a woman in late thirties stepped out from a closed stall. Tina Martin joined another woman who was washing her hands outside. Tina stood beside and turned the faucet in front of her; she looked up into the mirror—it surprised her to recognize Lucinda Gates was beside her...

"Ms Gates, what are you doing here?"

Gates looked up smiling widely, "Ms Martin, it has been a long time. I came on an unofficial visit to see you," The older woman replied...

She still was washing the unseen psychological blood and dirt off her hands—since she was dragged by the president's crimes against the nation, as one of the conspirators in the death of Ann Rosewood...

Right now, Gates aspired to do the right thing by secretly rescuing the tactile twins of Samantha from being eradicated in Madeline Cory's future terrorist elimination efforts—that was the least that she can do as reparation so to come out clean from the political mess that she has been instrumentally involved with.

But Tina Martin was still sceptical of her visit—and she tensely grabbed some extra paper towel, wiping her wet hands. She had recently released an imprimatur bestseller based on her past research studies when she was the head of the IIRC (The Intersexual Intelligence Research Center) then at the Wesleyan University of Ohio—it was the same place which the mooting Lucinda Gates had shut down overnight due to preconception of budget cuts; during her similar surprise visit five years ago...

'She is back again today—but why?'

"I see...am I in some kind of trouble? Is it my bestseller, Miss Gates?" Martin's voice mitigated with doubt.

Lucinda Gates tried to ease the woman's nervousness and the once insubordinate nature she was into five years ago—while back then criticizing Martin's defence of the revel studies of the science of female-evolution. Gates prevaricated candidly to her cold demeanour; even though she has not read the book nor was she aware of its existence as such a bestseller published—but she had to break the ice fast and get the distrustfulness filled Tina Martin to cooperate openly by putting their past differences aside...

"Not at all, now relax, Tina, In fact, I like some of the things that you wrote in your book...

"...and by the way, it is my pleasure to also remind you Tina; from the board's feedbacks I got, saying that you are doing a fine job here as the director of CDC. But I am here right now because I need to talk to you about something in private."

Tina handed her some paper towel when she saw her closing the faucet valve—but she was still overwrought by the woman's surprise presence. Tina said...

"Okay, let's go to my office then, we will have some tea, Ms Gates."

"No, that is not necessary, I am going to be very brief—we can do it here." Lucinda Gates opened a leather file with notes, and she pulled out a photo...

"Tina, while you were back running the studies at Wesleyan University—there was this boy over there, do you recognize him?"

Tina looked at the photo of a twelve-year-old Joseph Edgar Cory—and she shook her head and returned back the photo...

"It was a long time ago, Ms Gates—it had been 5 years since I came here to Washington. What about him? Is he in some kind of trouble?"

Lucinda then deceived her intent.

"No-no, not at all, my dear; I am just curious about him and about his time spent at that University. In fact, it was I who placed him there in your care without your knowledge..."

Gates held up the photograph again to refresh her memory...

"You should remember the kid, Tina; the last time I heard, he tried to escape from the university with another boy—but they both were captured."

Tina now dredged up the past reminiscences of 'being there' during that haunting incident that sunny morning; other than hope that was lost in furthering her research on the female evolution when the university was shut down by the Whitehouse cogency which was directed by this same woman—there was this other gritty incident also happened the next day to the dark-haired boy who attempted to escape from the same Wesleyan University to find his mother—Tina then recalled looking into her computer's video-feed where she followed the two boys struggling to jump the wall to escape before they were shot by down by tranquillized darts by the ambushing police...

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This made her further distrust Gates' present visitation and with her suspicious vague inquiries of the boys—Tina Martin's eye caught again the last-name of the fat-boy in the open file by the washbasin—it was Cory—Tina Martin played along...

"Oh, this boy—yes, Joel or something."

"Joseph—Joe, yes, you must remember him then?"

"Yes, not much of him though...but he was a close friend of this other kid—Eve...yes, Steve, no—sorry, Reeves," she apologized for being bad at recalling names...

In fact, back then she only remembered the names of the top one per cent of the smartest congenital test subjects; until she met the enigmatic Reeves Jensen—who was brought in one day into her office in a straitjacket after beating up that 'same fat boy' whom he later ran away with—it was something about their friendship that still baffled her till today.

Tina felt she had disclosed a modicum too much to this Whitehouse aide, and she feared that she will be dragged further deep after some vague assumptions of this Gate's second visit...

Firstly, knowing that the fat boy and the president shared the same last name—and secondly, Tina Martin then wondered why the fat boy was secretly placed in the IIRC by Gates in the first place? This was getting into an unknowable furtive—just like the mudrakering conspiracy theories which she recently read speculated online—stating accusations that pointed to the president in having a hand in Ann Rosewood's gruesome car bomb assassination.

"I have surrendered all the records of every boy in IIRC to your staff on the day I left Wesleyan. I am sure you can look it up from there," Tina Martin said and washed her hands again to recant any suspicion...

The trained psychologist was avoiding eye contact of the peering Gates on the mirror—she felt the shrewd Gates was 'shrinking her' and was reading her body moves—just as how she herself had caught that clever and cunning test-subject before, who thought he can escape from the legerdemain one-mirror during his advanced series test...

She cannot afford to make that puerile mistake and get caught like that cocky boy named Eve—and who knows, it would end her up like the former director of CDC, Dr Judy Morris, who was sentenced to prison with some vague treacherous accusations.

"Yes Tina, but my question now is—do you remember if anyone outside the University who tried to contact this boy Joe—did anyone visit him back then?"

The tactful Tina Martin briefly clarified that the Wesleyan University was more of a closed government-funded education and specie intelligence research facility for both the new-breeds and psychologists—and it was not an adoption agency with any unofficial visitor dropping in...

"Why Ms Gates, is Joe in any kind of trouble?" she asked the second time out of her inquisitiveness.

"No, nothing like that...just asking if anyone from outside had any contact with him, it is just that." Gates felt that her investigation was heading nowhere and she too repeated a similar final response.

"No, I don't think anyone came, Ms Gates. Where are they now—Joe and Reeves?" Tina was interested to know the whereabouts of one of her mystifying subjects...

She had known Reeves briefly; the inscrutable loner who cried in isolation looking at his 'wall' and later brought into her office in a straitjacket where she had a stimulating conversation with him—where the twelve-year-old was cleverly 'shrinking her' back then to get information about his mother...

Then she regretted being nosy again in asking the boys whereabouts—especially after Martin had disclosed the identity of his mother whereabouts to Reeves before his escape attempt...

'Is this what Lucinda Gate's second visit was about?'

But Martin pondered again—'but Gates' inquiries were more on Joe—and not on Reeves Jensen.'

"They are now somewhere, in a college back in Ohio. Thank you for your time, Tina, I have to get going, thanks again," the preoccupied Gates bluffed again without a second thought, while she kept the photograph back into her file before stepping out of the ladies room in discontent.

The former psychologist was alone in the washroom. Martin turned back at the mirror, grinning to her reflection—for assuming the two unexceptionable Wesleyan rebels a little too well, and that had made Lucinda Gate's to visit her today after five years...

Deep down, she had known how the duo used to deviously slip away in the past undetected from the snafu in the cafeteria to go to their secret place at the abandoned Stuyvesant Hall—facing the old wall to have their privacy away from the rest of the institutionalized Wesleyan herd.

"Mirror-mirror on the wall, are they both up to something now?"

*

Someone was watching Lucinda Gates leaving the building lobby and was out of the CDC facade—gamut into the binoculars in a black SUV across the road; Secret Service Iris Green reported on her cellphone...

"Ms Gates has just left the building, Sir. She was with Director Martin of CDC in the ladies room earlier—but I did not go in."

"It is okay Agent Green, just keep on her tail. I need to know about all her whereabouts," the voice of the Head of Secret Service ordered to the operative from the other end in the Whitehouse.