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Joan nodded,her chin "That's why I was sent here The department doesn't want to lose you and your freakish brilliance, but we just can't afford the additional expense right now Since your salary coet, we had the final say I'm so sorry"

Noelle closed her eyes What would she do now? Finding a job that didn't require her to say, "Do you want fries with that?" was going to be nearly i at her door, begging her to couistics wasn't exactly a boo field Someone in an obscure career like hers would need months, if not years, to find another suitable position--likely one that would have to be built specifically for her What would she do until then?

She had racked up tons of debt in student loans just to get her PhD The loan pay expenses combined She could hold off the bill collectors for a while, but she was going to need a decent incoers

Noelle sed past the panic that clogged her throat It was just money She'd find some way around this obstacle

"You could always take the grant," suggested Joan

Noelle wished it was that siive in and make her life a whole lot easier But for soe at sixteen, easy clearly wasn't her modus operandi "I can't do that It's blood money"

"Don't be so dra you to hurt anyone In fact, it's entirely possible that doing this could save lives"

"And if you're wrong?" Noelle stood and shoved her laptop into its black nylon tote "I can't take that chance I wouldn't be able to sleep at night wondering if my work cost the lives of innocents"

"This is your career we're talking about--your entire future rests on this decision"

"Noho's being dramatic?" scoffed Noelle

"I'rant, chances are you won't find another position anytime soon If you take the job, then you stand the chance of beco famous in academic couistics"

Noelle rolled her eyes "I'ht next to the part about how I helped kill thousands of innocent civilians in some country where the children don't even knohat math is"

"I can't let you do this to yourself" said Joan "You're too brilliant to slaughter your career because of soht happen"

"It isn't your choice tohed at the scrawny kid with more brains than social skills You are more than just my mentor, you're my friend, but you can't ask , no eneral thinks it may be"

Noelle shoved students' hoiven her nothing but good advice and steadfast support

"I'll call you mis weekend, after you've had some time to think," said Joan

Noelle didn't bother to tell her that she'd already done all the thinking she needed to Her mind was e her mind when the financial panic truly set in, Noelle pulled her laptop back out from its case and typed the command that would kill every trace of data on her hard drive tied to the project

There was no going back now

She'd be out of a job co, but at least she'd be able to live with herself and that was sorant money could buy

Fired or not, Noelle still had a job to do until spring, and she had just settled in for a wild Friday night of grading cluhts in her tiny rental house went black With a sigh that came all the way from her toes, she pulled open a drawer that held one of hts in her horeat amounts of charm and character, but in her experience, they si, abundant drafts and faulty wiring It was the third time this week that she'd blown a fuse in the house's ancient fuse box

Making her way to the baseht, Noelle descended the bare wooden stairs With the speed of much practice, she unscrewed and replaced the sao Mentally, she made a note to speak to Mr Hasham about this problem when she paid him next month's rent

Even with the new fuse in place, the lights didn't come on That had never happened before

Above her head calass, followed by theto the hardwood floor

Noelle ju The sound had co into her house

CHAPTER TWO

Noelle's heart slammed around inside her chest as she ruht so she could hide in the dark basement Overhead, she heard the slow,over the floor

She prayed that they'd just take whatever they wanted and go As silently as she could, she tiptoed over the dusty floor toward the stairs The base place was behind the creaky stairway

Noelle held her breath until her lungs burned, listening as the footsteps caht flashed into the base only seconds before In the center of the white pool of light sliding slowly over the floor was a tiny red dot--the kind cast by a laser pointer like she used when lecturing

Or like the laser sight on a weapon