The Leap by R. T. W. Lipkin

Author:R. T. W. Lipkin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eclipse Ink
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Would Charley be at the hospital every day for her if she were sick? Juno doubted it. He’d probably use her illness as another opportunity to avoid her.

He’d said he was coming over, said he had to talk with her immediately, had to ask her about location t523B, even called her a genius, something he hadn’t said to her in years, but then he commed to say he had to get back to the hospital. Something was going on with Althea. He wasn’t sure what. He’d see Juno later.

Juno paced around the apartment. With almost three hundred square meters of floor space, there was plenty of room to wander. That had been one of the main appeals of the Normandie—the oversize apartments. Juno thought better when she was on the move and she didn’t want to have to go outside to do it. When she had an idea, it had to be taken care of without delay. She needed her computer nearby. A scroll wasn’t good enough for the sorts of complex concepts and procedures that fascinated her, that were her life’s work.

She hadn’t heard from Jordan Fields in days. He was her spy at the hospital, but he was often unconscious, which was something Juno hadn’t anticipated. He was infected, but it was with a very weak strain of the virus, one she’d let mutate over several months, keeping a close eye on its progress. The mutation caused a rash and some other minor symptoms. The loss of consciousness wasn’t supposed to happen.

Jordan, without any hesitation, had agreed to her scheme. Maybe he was tired of polishing floors and waiting on the Normandie’s needy tenants. He’d stopped by Juno’s apartment after spending an afternoon looking at the damage to Sean Meade’s roof. As soon as Juno heard he was in direct contact with the detective, someone who might be getting closer to the truth, she realized she had to do something to keep them apart. Jordan knew too much, although he might not know exactly what it was he did know, but he was a talker. And Sean Meade was an observant investigator. Too observant.

When Juno’d brought up the idea of Jordan spying for her, he’d said yes, of course he would. He would love to help out Juno. She thought he was going to say he loved her—she often thought he did love her but couldn’t express it—yet he didn’t say it.

When she’d told him what was involved, that he’d have to expose himself to a virus and get admitted to the hospital, he was still amenable. “Sure, Juno, if you say it’s okay, then it’s okay.” She assured him it was okay even though she herself wasn’t certain it was. The virus had already morphed in ways she hadn’t expected it would, and what Charley’d done . . .

When she’d told Jordan to sit at her computer, he’d said, “Why?”

“Because this is the most convenient place for me to administer the virus. So I can keep track of it on the computer.

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