I could barely make out her voice, but no matter how much I strained my ears and begged my parasite for help, the words remained unintelligible. The cold of the fridge raised goosebumps on my arms, and I bounced in place and hugged myself in a pathetic effort to stay warm. I was a delicate southern flower, and anything below fifty degrees required a parka.
I jerked as my phone buzzed. My dad. I’d call him back as soon as Sorsha left. I sent it to voicemail, but a few seconds later it buzzed again. Crap. Maybe something bad had happened?
No, this time it was Portia’s number. Puzzled, I hit answer, then remained silent as the sound of voices came through clearly.
“—appreciate your cooperation,” Sorsha was saying.
“It’s no trouble at all.” Dr. Nikas. “As you can see in this chart, there are a number of phases associated with the progression of LZ-1.”
Portia had called and left the line open so I could hear what was going on! What a marvelous, clever woman. I did a happy-boogie that warmed me up for about three seconds, then I went back to bouncing, hugging, and listening. Sorsha was being very nice, and everyone else was being super cooperative, using the “be accommodating and maybe she’ll go away faster” tactic.
A phone rang in the lab. “Would you excuse me one moment, Agent Aberdeen?” Dr. Nikas said.
She murmured assent.
“I see,” he said after a few seconds, I assumed to the caller. His voice was grave, so I doubted it was good news. “I will review the details shortly. Thank you.”
“Is everything all right?” Sorsha asked politely.
“Ah. Yes. Everything is fine,” he replied in a tone that oozed not-fine. “A young intern of mine had a hypothesis concerning an entirely unrelated subject. And I’ve just learned that there is evidence to support it.”
Oh, man. Dr. Nikas was a terrible liar. Could he be talking about me and my mosquito bite hunch? If so, did that mean he’d confirmed LZ-1 was being deliberately spread?
“Speaking of young inte
rns,” Sorsha said, “I was under the impression that a Miss Angel Crawford had been working with you here. Is she around?”
Fuuuck!
“Oh dear, she just left,” Portia said, a billion times more convincing than Dr. Nikas. Then again, it wasn’t a total lie. I had indeed left the room.
“Ah. That’s too bad. I’ll have to catch her later.”
Gah! Did she mean literally?!
“Dr. Nikas,” Sorsha said. “I’d like you to give me an idea of what you’re doing to counter the LZ-1 epidemic.”
“Certainly.” He launched into an exuberant explanation of the progress of the disease and the search for a way to treat it, masterfully steering clear of anything zombie-related.
When Dr. Nikas referred to the chart and started an explanation of the LZ-1 signs and symptoms—which I figured would take at least a minute—I put Portia’s call on hold and listened to my dad’s voicemail.
“Hey, Angelkins. I guess you’re busy. That’s okay cuz I can tell you here just as well. I’m level nineteen now with Barney the Barbarian! And Andrew found me in the game—cuz last time I told him I was this guy and not your Momzombique gal. Anyway he said that this Harlon Murtaugh character has worked for Kristi here and there on Saberton’s dime and was doing stuff for her just a coupla weeks ago, but he don’t know if he’s working for her right now. It ain’t much, but I figured it can’t hurt to pass it along. Shoot me a text so I know you got this. Love you.”
Hot damn. Confirming any sort of connection between Kristi and Baldy was more than I had before. I texted back.
I returned to Portia’s call as Dr. Nikas was winding up his explanation of the hunnnnnngry phase. I expected Sorsha to ask him about zombies like she had with Kristi. But though she bombarded him with questions about LZ-1 and his research, she never once brought up the subject of zombies. Was that good or bad?
“And how do you like working with Dr. Charish?” Sorsha asked.
“Her assistance has been most helpful in this endeavor,” Dr. Nikas replied without hesitation.
I let myself chortle since no one could hear me. Her assistance! Ha!
“No,” Sorsha said. “How do you like working with her? Personally.”
“Oh. Ah . . .”
I sent Dr. Nikas a thought-wave of think-on-your-feet-good-liar juju while Sorsha remained silent.