EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (17 page)

“For a minute, I thought you were going to take a photo.”

I laughed and made a silly face at him. Not admitting that I had almost done just that.

Daniel
opened a drawer and pulled out some menus.

“What would you like to eat?”

“I really don’t care.”

After going back and forth for some time, we decided on
a pizza and a Caesar salad. We sat in the living room to wait for the food to arrive. Daniel put on some classical music, which was soothing and helped calm my nerves. He walked across the room and opened a large, built-in wooden armoire with glass doors and inside was a wine rack and refrigerator on the left side and on the right a sink and lots of glasses. He brought over a bottle of sparkling water and glasses.

I
n the corner of the room, there was a guitar and I remembered that Daniel said he played. I asked him to play something, but he said, “Maybe later, I don’t want you to lose your appetite.”

“
I'm sure I wont. Later, there are no excuses,” I warned jokingly.

I walked over to the piano and started playing a Sara Bareilles song.

“Why don’t you sing? I’m sure you have a nice voice.”

Feeling self-conscious, I refused. I only sang in my bedroom or with Lily.

When I finished, I looked around the room. “I can’t believe your uncle doesn’t live here fulltime. This is amazing.”

“Well, his job and family is in DC.”

“Then why does he keep such a large apartment in New York?”

Before he could answer,
the doorbell rang and he went to get the pizza.

Daniel came back
holding the box and said, "Let's go in the kitchen."

I sat at the table and Daniel brought over plates and glasses.

"Do you have red pepper flakes?" I asked.

Daniel
nodded and grabbed the bottle from the spice rack in the cabinet.

As
I sprinkled the pepper on my pizza, Daniel was amazed at the amount.

“Wow! You’ll be breathing fire soon,” he joked.

“Very funny,” I said and kept shaking.

“My uncle likes red pepper too
, but you win the prize.”

“Where does your uncle work?”
I asked.

“I told you
. He works for the government.”

“But
where in the government?”

“
The NSA.”

“What does that stand for?”
I asked, knowing that I should know.

“
The National Security Agency.”

“Oh...right,” I said feeling stupid. “
What does he do there?”

“He’s an intelligence analyst.”

“So what does the NSA actually do?”

“It’s responsible for
foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence." When Daniel saw my confused expression, he continued. “Basically, they protect US security systems. They prevent adversaries from accessing classified national security information. They also collect foreign intelligence to support military operations that fight terrorists’ actions, here and abroad.”

“Do you mean like the CIA?”

“Yes and no. The NSA is concerned with communication intelligence. They collect information from foreign communications and protect our government’s communications from being accessed by other countries.”

“Do you mean computer intelligence?”

Daniel nodded, stood up and went to the refrigerator for more bottled water. When he sat down, he changed the subject by asking me a question. The conversation about the NSA was over.

We were
talking about France when Daniel’s uncle walked into the kitchen. “How was your pizza?” he asked, noticing the box on the counter.

“Good,” We answered simultaneously and laughed.

His uncle looked at us, but didn’t seem amused. “I need to make some phone calls,” he said brusquely and walked out of the room.

Daniel looked at me and said, “Do you want to
get out of here? Go for a walk and get some dessert?” he asked. “I’ll give you a rain check on the guitar solo.”

Outside, we headed
towards Columbus Avenue. Daniel was in a great mood and we stopped at a café a block from my house. We sat outside and shared a lemon tart and a cup of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. We were having fun teasing each other, but it was short-lived once Daniel answered his cell.

“What! …I’ll be right there,
” he said, visibly upset. He stared at me and looked dazed.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

He said, “I’m sorry. I need to go. I’ll walk you home.”

“Don’t wo
rry. I can walk home by myself.”

“I insist. I’ll feel better knowing where you are.”
That remark concerned me. Why did he have to know where I was? He never told me what happened and before I could ask again, we were at my building.

Daniel quickly
ushered me into my lobby and said, “Good night. I’ll call you soon.” As he exited the building, a grey SUV pulled up and he jumped inside. I didn’t even say goodbye or thank him for the evening. My parents still weren’t home so I took Amber outside and tried to make sense of the evening.

When I got back, I glanced down at my cell and saw that it was dead. Now my battery wasn’t keeping a charge. I had forgott
en to text Lily. I called her from the landline and she was so happy to hear from me. She’d been freaking out.

After I told her the strange way the night ended, she said,
“I’m sure everything’s fine, but I have to tell you something really weird. The photo of Daniel is gone. It’s not in my book where I put it or on my computer. It totally vanished.”

“Maybe you misplaced it and hit delete after you sent it to me. Don’t worry
, I’ll email it to you.” I went to the computer. Nothing happened. The screen stayed black. “My computer’s not turning on. Wait here it goes.” I opened the photo file and couldn’t believe it. “Lily, my photo’s gone, too.” I don’t know why, but I didn’t mention the copy that I had in my bag.

“
This is freaking me out. How could it disappear from my scrapbook and on both of our computers?” Lily asked. I had no idea. We made plans for her to come over the next day.

After my phone charged, I read all of Lily’s texts and saw that Martin had texted. I called him back and found out
that all three were home sick. Martin reminded me that I was babysitting next Tuesday and that they’d be over Sunday for Dad’s birthday.

I was lying on my bed when I heard my parents come in. They stopped in my room and then Dad went
to his office to finish some briefs, while Mom stayed behind.

“
How was your night? What did you do?”

“It was fine. I had pizza with Daniel.”
I prayed she wouldn’t ask where.

“I told your father
about him and he’d like to meet him.”

“Fine
,” I said, gritting my teeth. I knew there was no point in arguing about this anymore. “Just so you know, I met his uncle tonight and he works for the NSA. They’re not psychos.”

“
I never said they were. That’s a serious agency,” Mom said, raising her eyebrows.

“
Is it a spy agency?” I asked.

“No
.” She stopped, thought for a bit and added, “I do remember that there was some sort of scandal. About computers, I think. Ask your dad, I’m sure he knows.” I started getting a funny feeling. Computers? She left the room and I went to see Dad in his office. He was on his computer and looked up as I entered.

“Hey Buttercup.”

“Dad, do you know anything about a scandal involving the NSA?”

“
The National Security Agency?” Dad asked.

I nodded.

He looked back down and answered while he typed, “Well, some time back the NSA was charged with illegally bugging telephones of the general public and installing hardware to monitor computer communications. Why?”

Telephones and computers? “
Just curious. Mom mentioned a scandal. Daniel’s uncle works there,” I said.

“
Really! Speaking of Daniel, I’d like to meet him.”

“
Yes, Mom told me. I’ll invite him over soon, so you can grill him,” I said angrily.

“I
’m not interrogating him. I just want to meet him,” Dad objected.

In a huff, I stormed off to my room and sat at the computer. I researched the NSA and saw that the information for the NSA was listed as classified. Phone tapping and computer hacking? My intuition was saying that something was going on and I wanted to talk this out with Lily. Even though, I knew she’d say I was crazy.

Before bed, I wrote in my journal and filled the pages with the Pierce sighting, the Dakota dinner and all my new worries. I felt better after having written it down, but it all seemed so ridiculously impossible! I fell asleep highly amused at myself for thinking that Daniel was a spy and that people were watching me.

In the middle of the night, I woke up dreaming about masked men chasing me. Was my subconscious trying to tell me something or was my imagination working in overdrive? I lay in bed staring at the ceiling hoping to
quiet all the noises in my head.

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

Einstein

In the morning,
Lily called to say she was sick with a fever and not going to work. I was upset because I really needed to talk to her. Even after explaining away things before I went to sleep, I knew something strange was going on and that things weren’t what they seemed.

As I headed for the door to leave for work, Mom called out that she’d
walk with me. She had a meeting near Dad’s office. At 55th Street, Mom left and I got a sick feeling that I was being watched. I rushed into the building.

Jared
stepped in the elevator after me and distracted me from my paranoid thoughts.

“Morning. N
ot walking with your Dad today?” he asked. He must have found out who my father was.

“Not today. He had an
early meeting. I actually found my way to work all by myself.”

Jared laughed like he didn’t believe me.

“On second thought, my mom did walk with me,” I admitted guiltily. Someone I didn’t know in the elevator chuckled.

“Thought so,” he wisecracked. “I knew you couldn’t find it yourself.”

I made a face at him as we exited. Jared chuckled and went in the opposite direction.

Work did
distract me. After I finished photocopying, Todd Madison showed me how to scan files into the computer. At the end of the day, I went to see Dad in his office and found him talking to Maria. He seemed aggravated so I waited outside. Maria left looking harried and Dad motioned me in.

“
Sonia’s out sick. I’m so busy with this case and I can’t find some files,” he muttered and said he had to cancel his Paris trip. Distracted and upset, he said he’d be working late and he’d see me at home.

When one of the paralegals came in,
Dad gave me a hug goodbye and told me to head home. I offered to stay and help, but he said there really wasn’t anything I could do. As I left, three more people entered Dad’s office looking very somber. I wondered what was going on.

When
I walked outside, Jared was talking on the phone near the revolving door and called out, “Hey Paige, can I ask you a question?”

I nodded. He handed me a note.

“Do you know this restaurant on Columbus?”

“Yeah, you’ll like it. It’s really good,
” I offered.

“Is it on 69th Street?” he asked.

“No, its on 71st Street. I live on 69th.”

“Thanks. Y
ou want company walking home?”

“
Now you don’t think I can walk home alone?” I joked.

“We’re both going in the same direction and you never kno
w, you might need a bodyguard.”

Mom
called and said she was at the Lincoln Center library doing some research for work and wanted to go out for dinner once she was done. Since I wanted to do more research about the NSA, but felt funny using the home computer, I told her I’d meet her there.

On the way, Jared told me all about law school and how intense it was.
Passing a bookstore, I told Jared I had to get a present for my Dad’s birthday and he said he’d come in too. I found a new history book that I thought Dad would like.

As I was paying, Jared was looking at a magazine and he still had a bandage on his left hand.

Hoping to hear something other than the copy machine attacked him, I asked, “So what happened to your hand?”