*
Entering her darkened apartment, Dallas moved forward into the hallway and nonchalantly reached back to switch on a light. A second later, a glove hand encircled her head from behind and clamped over her mouth.
Swallowing a scream, Dallas fought an instinct to hold still while squirming to face her assailant.
But he held her back tightly against his body and in his grip she nearly missed the strained sound of a man rapidly confessing, "It's me, it's me. Don't scream." Dallas twisted around in his arms as Marco let go and removed his hand. "Sorry, I did not mean to startle you," he hastily stated. "But I did not want you to scream or throw something at me."
Shaking in shock, Dallas backed up against her front door. "Oh my God!" she responded.
"Sorry, sorry." Marco took her hand and led her to the living room sofa. "Sit down." Dallas dropped onto the sofa and stared at Marco. "I'll get you some water." Marco ran to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, which Dallas accepted with an unsteady hand.
"What are you doing here?" She finally managed to ask.
"Are you all right, feeling calmer?"
"I guess."
Marco sat down on the couch next to her. "I had to sneak in, sorry I startled you."
"What are you doing here?"
Marco took a deep breath. "What are you doing with the information you read in the fake policy files?"
Dallas stared at him. "You snuck into my apartment to confront me about the files?"
"What are you doing with the information?"
"Nothing."
"You wrote an article about online education."
"And?"
"And the speculative hints you added were mysteriously similar to the content of the education file in the documents you found."
"Is that a problem?"
Marco bristled. "You promised not to refer to the content."
"I did independent research."
"Don't split hairs, Dal. You are trying to draw out the writers of those documents."
"And if I was, why do you care? You said you're not the writer. FedSec is not the writer."
"I care because from the beginning you have associated the files with FedSec, and we do not want to be associated with somebody's random thought pieces about the future."
"And you had to break into my place to remind me of your concerns?"
"Yes. I cannot be meeting you all the time during business hours. And I cannot drop by and officially visit you at night. I had to covertly come over here to specifically remind you of your promise."
"I'm keeping my promise."
"Dal, your article is not a joke. You are trying to work around your promise by writing about the very issues you should be avoiding. Is gender bias in code up next?"
"No."
"Okay, one of the other topics? Either way, drop the idea right now."
"And if I don't?"
"Dal..."
"What's the real story here, Marco? You must have more because you would not go to all this trouble over a little online education piece if you weren't engaged in some kind of cover-up."
"Cover-up?"
"Yes."
"What are you talking about?"
Dallas hesitated. "I know there is a bigger story, Marco. I literally know and I'm not the only one. Why don't you come clean, be the one to break this wide open and we can have a proper public debate."
Marco narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you are talking about."
"Marco, give up your plan and tell me the story. I can protect you, as a source."
"You're crazy, Dal." He stood up. "There is no story. And let me tell you, I am not going to accept your idea about doing an end-run around our deal. You publish another story containing content from those files, and I'll personally request the warrant for your arrest."
"For what?"
"You'll find out when you hear the charges."
"The files are authentic, right?" Dallas stood to face him. "The documents are not some policy speculation. The information is real, right?"
"No comment."
"You think your threats will stop me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because FedSec has extraordinary resources, Dal. Don't make me use them."
"Go ahead Mr. Director, use the best you've got. Because I know about the project you are planning. I know about your unconstitutional infiltration into our personal privacy. And I'm not the only one. Go ahead and take me out if you want. But remember there will be others behind me."
Marco fought to keep his eyes from clouding over in shock, and his face from betraying his galloping concern. "You expect me to believe you shared this potentially explosive story with another reporter, no way."
"Go ahead with your theory."
"Be careful Dal, I will."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"It's not me you need to be afraid of. That's your challenge here, Dal. I'm not your enemy. Your enemy is not someone you can see. And you will realize too late, just how vulnerable you have been from the beginning."