Chapter 20

MARI

The rest of the day passed quickly after we found it impossible to get into Pierce’s office. The only other way was through a door on his balcony at the back end of the house, but that would require me to scale a brick building using only a rain gutter and my nonexistent Spider Man abilities.

My video screen on the laptop crackled, froze for a second, but then picked back up as Betty, an older woman with graying hair who devoted her life to the cause and third-world countries came back into focus in our video chat.

"Do you plan to see your parents before you return to Guatemala?" she asked. I hadn’t given Betty the truth about why I was staying in Pelican Bay for the next six months. It wasn’t a lie… mostly. I did my best to explain the funding needed and how Pierce asked me to stay and look into it, but I suspected she knew something else was going on. She just has no clue what.