Inside Out by Lia Riley

Author:Lia Riley [Riley, Lia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781455585793
Publisher: Grand Central/Forever
Published: 2014-12-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Talia

Let me get this straight, Zavtra the Creepy is an old school chum?” I don’t even bother to restrain my chuckle. We sit in the backseat of a giant, gas-guzzling SUV as Katya, the hulk of a security guard, returns us to Bankside as promised. “Why aren’t I surprised?”

“Sander was an intense kid.”

“Coming from you, that’s saying something. Beth is fifty percent terrified of him and fifty percent in love with him. She says he sounds like sex. Is that true?”

“Not any sex I’d be looking for.”

“What’s he like?”

“I don’t know, like himself except grown up.”

I narrow my gaze with exaggerated menace. “Your descriptions are killing me, you know that, right?”

He rolls his eyes in response. “Don’t tell me you have a Russian recluse fantasy too?”

“No, but come on, you have to admit, the whole thing is fascinating.”

He shrugs. “He’s dark. Tall. A lot bigger than he used to be.”

“Big? Too many donuts and hours behind a computer?”

“More like he hires a SWAT team and kicks their ass in his spare time.”

I tilt my head to the side. “So he’s built, then?”

“I refuse to feed this obsession.” He tickles my ribs to let me know he’s joking, mostly.

“It’s like you met the Easter Bunny or something.”

“Easter Bilby.”

“Come again?” My eyebrows squish together.

“In Australia, rabbits are feral pests, remember? Screw the Easter Bunny. We celebrate the Easter Bilby, a desert marsupial with long ears.”

“That’s pretty cute. So your old buddy, Z, is sort of like the Easter Bilby, except instead of chocolate eggs, he brings offers of gainful employment?”

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

I lean forward. “Tell me more about the position.”

“It’s heading development of citizen science applications.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

He settles back and fiddles with the door lock. “So these days a lot of people have smartphones, right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“They can be tools for automatic data collection, a way to involve the public in science in an entirely new way.”

“Sorry, I’m guessing that’s supercool, but I just snored off.”

He rolls his eyes. “Think about it, smartphones can capture images, audio, and text—‘stamp’ the date, time, and geographic coordinates associated with an observation. It’s low cost, with huge potential impact. There’s scope for the general public measuring light pollution or local air quality. I mean, people could even track the energy usage in their homes. They already do with friends, books they’ve read, where they visit in a day, exercise—why not something with global implications? I don’t think I’m ready to work for Dad’s Lockhart Foundation yet. I’m open to doing some advising on the side, but want to do my own thing for a bit.”

“But can you work in the United States?”

“Zavtra human resources can sort me a specialized visa no worries.”

“This sounds kind of scarily perfect.”

“Maybe.” Uncertainty lingers in the back of the word.

“What’s the hitch?”

He stares out the window a trifle too long. That’s when I get it. He doesn’t want to say yes to a job until I figure my own shit out.

“Wait, it’s me, isn’t it? I’m the holdup.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.