“I’m gonna barf! I mean right now! Ride the vomit comet, toss my cookies, shout at the floor—pick your saying.”

“It certainly seemed like a surprise,” Dmitri commented, his hands in his pockets as they followed the security guard to the lab. “Lord knows you were surprised.”

“A surprise? No, Dmitri. A surprise is when someone hands you a present and it’s not your birthday. A surprise is when a pal picks up the drink tab when you were supposed to go dutch. This is a total fucking shock, representing the beginning of the end of human society.”

Dmitri snorted.

“Yuk it up, pal. Meanwhile, my world is crumbling around me. Frankly, I was gonna bug you about what happened on the jet, but all I can think about right now is…is…how could she? Him I get, he’ll do anything to torture me, but what was she thinking?”

“As much as it pains me to say anything remotely positive about Gregory Hamlin, I’m not sure his…assignations…with your friend are about you at all.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“She knows his real name,” he explained quietly. “It took me eight years to find out his real name. The only way your friend could know is if he told her. And he never tells anyone.”

“So, what? What are you saying?”

“I’m merely suggesting there might be more to this than you think.”

“Gawd. I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.” She paused for a moment. “Worse. A million times worse. Bad enough if they’re doing it just for the hell of it. But if they’re in a relationship…” Caitlyn shook her head. “Well, she’s ruined Christmas, that’s for sure.”

“Your friend seems very…sure of herself.”

“She’s the stubbornest person in the world,” Caitlyn snapped.

“And it was interesting, the way she defended him.”

“Interesting like horrifying? Interesting like really, really weird and fucked-up? Interesting like being trapped in a waking nightmare? Help me out here.”

“Just…interesting.”

“This is it,” the security guy (M. Daniels, his name tag read, and what kind of a name was M?) announced. “Room six twenty-four. Dr. Miller’s still in there. If you could tell me when you’re done, I’ll get the room processed.”

“Very good,” Dmitri said.

The guard stood there while Dmitri opened the door (holding a handkerchief in his hand as he did so, Caitlyn noticed) and walked in. After a moment, she followed.