Unknown Enemy

Ginny steeled her resolve, thinking of the letter and its demands for her to abandon this project and pass off—or destroy—her research. Could it have been the product of a jealous colleague, eager to learn her research to publish it as his or her own? Stranger things had happened in academia. “There’s not much, but we can work through what I have. You’re the consultant, after all.”

For the next two hours, Ginny walked Dr. Hilden through her theories, explaining her current ideas and responding to his criticisms while trying to ignore Colin’s occasional glances into the room. Together, she and Dr. Hilden were able to map several preliminary translations of two small tablets, and Ginny was elated to discover that one of them contained a subtle reference to a royal building.

As she packed the tablets back up, her heart pounded double time. The royal building reference had been written using a specific ancient Amaran hieroglyph that she’d been theorizing for a while might refer to the king’s summer palace. If that was the case, she’d already come one step closer to confirming the palace’s location. To have found anything this soon after beginning work on the tablets went far beyond her wildest expectations.

“Great work this afternoon, Professor Anderson,” Dr. Hilden said, inclining his head as he withdrew from the room. “You’re quite persistent in your research. I have no doubt you’ll find what you’re looking for in due time.”

“I sure hope so,” she murmured. A glance at the clock in the corner of the room made her heart lurch into her throat—it was five minutes to four. The time had passed quickly. Had Colin learned anything useful from the security footage? Bag packed, she stepped out of the room to find Colin also packed up, shaking Dr. Hilden’s hand and making introductions.

“Former Secret Service?” Dr. Hilden was saying, looking mildly perturbed. “I see. How unexpected to meet someone of your trained caliber here. If you’ll excuse me, I have a scheduled conference call. Good day.”

As Dr. Hilden walked away, Colin turned to Ginny and shrugged. “I get all kinds of reactions,” he explained. “Sometimes it makes people nervous. I’m used to it by now. We should get going.”

The library had quieted at this time of day, with most students still in class or heading to the cafeteria to eat before evening classes began. A student behind the circulation desk waved at her and Ginny waved back, recognizing the student from one of her classes.

“You okay, Professor?”

Had the whole school heard about what happened? “I’m fine, Shelby. It’s Donna I’m most concerned about.”

Shelby grimaced and bit the corner of her lip. “I heard about that this morning. Some of the library staff are going to head down and visit her at the hospital tonight.”

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.” Ginny glanced at the clock, feeling the urge to keep moving. “Give her a hug from me, all right?”

Shelby nodded as a slow grin spread across her face. “I will, but you can come too and give it to her yourself, if you want. Plus, Roger left another note for her last night. He must have come in to clean up after the explosion and heard about what happened. Awfully sweet, don’t you think? I just wish we could set them up for real.”

Ginny smiled at the memory of her last conversation with Donna. “You and me both, Shelby.”

“We should move,” Colin said, touching the small of her back. She jumped away at his touch, then felt her cheeks grow warm. He’d only tried to direct her away from the circulation desk and toward the front door. “I realize this might sound counterintuitive, but we should head to the quad. You’ll need to tell me where it is, though. I’m not fully familiar with the campus yet.”

Go to the place the letter writer wanted them? “Won’t we be walking into a trap?”

“Trust me, please. Location?”

Ginny felt like hoisting her bag and running in the exact opposite direction. Could she really trust him? He had been kicked out of the Secret Service, after all. Maybe he wasn’t as good as he claimed. But what other option did she have? “It’s like a square courtyard in the center of the main college buildings. Quadrilateral, so it has four main paths at the edges leading from the different buildings around it. You probably walk through it every day, several times. There’s a bench, a bulletin board for student announcements, some light posts and a trash can...”