[Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013) by Nicole Ciacchella Page B

ground. My dad said Javier has really thrown himself into his work, and people are taking notice.”
    “Andersen’s one of them, no doubt.” Letizia frowned. “What I can’t decide is if he’s drawing Andersen’s attention on purpose.”
    It seemed like a crazy thing to do, but then Javier wasn’t what Dara would call timid. “It’s becoming more obvious that something is going on with his sister. I’m seeing more posts on the networks, and they’re not as veiled anymore. Someone even went so far as to ask how her stay in the med center was.”
    “I’ve seen similar posts. Whatever she has, it must be serious.”
    “Raj will figure that out.” Dara rubbed her forehead. “Letizia, when you hacked into Javier’s systems and discovered that he’d stolen my plans, did you notice anything else?”
    “If I had, don’t you think I would have shared that?” Her former master’s voice was sharp, and the rebuke made Dara frown.
    “I wasn’t accusing you of holding anything back,” she said, honing the edges of her own words.
    “I know, I know.” Letizia sighed and tugged her hands through her hair. “I’ve been asking myself that question over and over again. I’m worried that I was so concerned about what Javier was doing to you that I might have missed something. For all I know, the evidence could have been right in front of my eyes and I overlooked it.”
    “Don’t be so hard on yourself. There are only so many things anyone can juggle.”
    “I’m thinking about leaving.”
    The abrupt change in topic stunned her, but not as much as Letizia’s announcement had. “What?”
    “I’m thinking about leaving the dome. I’m tired, Dara. I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. I want to be here for you, help you out however I can, but it’s wearing on me, and I’m afraid I’m getting sloppy.”
    Forgetting her own worries, Dara focused her attention on Letizia and was surprised that she hadn’t noticed the signs of strain. Bluish circles darkened the skin under Letizia’s eyes, though she could see that her former master had tried hard to conceal them. A faint line was beginning to appear between Letizia’s brows, and she was pale, washed out.
    “If you need to leave, you should do it,” Dara said, afraid for her friend. “You’ve been doing this for such a long time. No one would blame you.”
    “I might blame myself.” She gave Dara a tight smile.
    “I’m not your responsibility. I appreciate you looking out for me, but it’s not your duty.”
    “It is, though. I dragged you into this. I can’t abandon you while you’re in the thick of it. First we need to figure out what’s going on with this project. Once we know, then I can think about what I should do next.”
    Dara tried arguing, but it was fruitless. Letizia’s stubborn streak was a mile wide, and Dara was powerless against it, but the knowledge did nothing to dispel her guilt and worry.

Chapter 16

    Andersen gave no indication of how he felt about his meeting with the Creators, nor did he say anything more about the project. Dara doubted he’d gotten what he wanted, but whatever he’d been offered must have been enough to placate him, because she saw no discernible change in his behavior. Wondering if Andersen and the Creators had made any alterations to the plans, she tried to access them to see if she could discern something new, but access had been restricted. This wasn’t entirely surprising, given the impact of the project, but it still didn’t sit right with her.
    What could she be missing? New domes could lead to population expansion due to the increase in capacity, which would be welcome news to everyone, regardless of which dome they lived in. After all, the Creators had been promising since the inception of the domes that the limited capacity was meant to be a temporary situation. Their ultimate goal was to expand the human population and devise ways to solve the environmental problems that