Epilogue

“Where’s Leslie?” Eitan asked as he poked through the refrigerator.

“Still praying to the porcelain goddess,” Akemi said. “Did you review Sergei’s transcript of your last jump that I left on your desk yesterday?”

Eitan smelled the milk and made a face. He poured the contents into the sink before placing the bottle in the recycle bin. He went back to the refrigerator, gave the contents a once-over again and shut the door, emptyhanded.

“Sten called last night,” he said. He leaned against the back of the refrigerator with his arms crossed. “He and Tanisha got a little wild with two couples about three weeks ago. Two of the four got sick yesterday. The symptoms were brief and messy as with the others. The onset of symptoms is accelerating.

“Then Kavita got ticked at me for spending too much time on the phone and not with her. We argued, we kissed, we made up and made up some more. She was getting out of bed when I came over. So, no, I was busy last night.”

Akemi’s phone and Eitan’s phone both dinged with a text message. They both looked up from their screens at each other. “Oh shit.”

“Leslie!” Akemi yelled as she bolted from the kitchen table. Eitan charged out of the house and ran next door. “Kavita! Call Danielle and call your brother. I’ll alert Reggie and Bea in the New York office and text my parents.”

“What? What?” Kavita said, tying her hair in a ponytail.

“We just got a text from Hobart. He is going to speak in ten minutes. God only knows what’s coming.”

Leslie was sitting on the couch with a cup of tea in front of her. She tasted brighter to Eitan, but she was not showing yet. Akemi was holding her hand. Danielle came running in the back door in just her socks. “Didn’t take the time to wash off my boots,” she said. Akemi told her to take a pair of slippers from the front door if she wanted.

“What happened to Geoffrey?” Eitan asked Danielle as they waited.

“He had the bedroom skills of a bull moose in rut,” Danielle said. “The best decision I made concerning him is that I demanded he wear a condom. My God, he stank like a moose too. I sent him home yesterday. All I’m getting is prissy prima donnas and lunky dunderheads.”

Kavita came charging into the house with her cell phone in hand. She kissed Danielle on the lips before she ran over to the couch to kiss both women seated there. “I’m not late, am I?” she asked everyone. As she finished speaking, the front door opened again and Eitan’s parents stepped inside. Nikki did not stop until she had hugged every person in the room. Joseph staked out a position standing next to his son.

Akemi tapped a button on the remote and the TV screen loaded. An anchorwoman was interviewing a reporter who was delivering some tidbit with passion across a hideous chrome and plastic desk. Akemi kept the television on mute even though no one in the room was talking. After a few minutes, the woman’s eyes went wide. Akemi brought up the volume.

“After seven years of silence, Dr. Jeremy Hobart of Hobart NanoTech has emerged this morning. The following feed from Dr. Hobart was just released. We do not know...”