Read Online Overload Flux by Carol van Natta - Free Book Online

slice-and-haul.”
    “Why didn’t they kill Schmidt first?”
    The phantasms from his memory stirred uneasily, so he focused on Morganthur more closely. The spiky, asymmetric cut and darker tips of her pale blonde hair suited her strong but striking cheekbones and jawline, he decided. “They tried to, but Balkovsky got in the way. He was protecting her.”
    Her incredulous look said she thought it unlikely that an ex-Jumper needed protecting.
    “He was in love with her, which made him feel protective of her. Her waster’s disease was well into stage three, so she was slowing down. He was trying to distract their attackers and give her room to fight. He didn’t know two of them had forceblades.”
    He sighed in frustration at facts that didn’t make sense. “I’m not surprised a theft crew had misters, because those are good for derezzing comps and disabling unexpected guards, but forceblades need skill and make for messy kills. Not the usual thief’s choice.”
    “Reconstruction told you all that?” She wasn’t exactly accusing him of extrapolating well beyond the actual evidence, but her tone was skeptical.
    He realized that it was too fökking easy to talk to her, and now he was on dangerous ground. The reconstruction at the warehouse, what little he’d had time for, had only confirmed what his talent had already told him. “Mostly. Leo was a good friend, so I already knew how he felt about Adina, and that he’d have risked anything to keep her safe. She made it out of the service pretty much whole, but the waster’s was going to force her into retirement soon enough.”
    “It’s not in your report.”
    “No, it wasn’t relevant to... wait, you read my report?” She nodded, her face serious. None of his current or previous assistants had ever read his reports. Leo used to tease him mercilessly. Even Zheer had probably only skimmed it. “Most people don’t bother. They’re kind of dry reading for non-specialists.”
    “I’ve read worse.”
    He snorted. “Really? Name one.”
    “The most recent Etonver traffic study.”
    He laughed out loud. “Good lord, why did you read that?” He thought a moment. “Oh, I get it. Driving for me. Has it helped?”
    She shrugged a shoulder. “Too soon to tell.”
    “What other hobbies do you have besides reading odd things?”
    The look she gave him said she wasn’t sure why he wanted to know, or that she wanted to answer. Finally she said, “I run.”
    Yet another reason he was glad to have met her. “Would you go running with me? Velasco and Alhamsi won’t.” He smiled at her hopefully.
    Traffic forced their vehicle to a standstill. The dashboard display gave them an estimated delay countdown from Etonver’s traffic control system in Arabic numerals and Chinese characters.
    She gave him a long, assessing look, then looked forward again. “Yes.”
    He was inordinately pleased. Even Leo, his only real friend in Etonver, had refused to do that.
    The independent testing lab was in a medical building, one of several on the block. After Luka gave the lab custody of the packaged squibs from the warehouse, he and Morganthur went to meet with a pharmaceutical researcher named Dr. Eglatine Tewisham. Luka had arranged the meeting to get an expert’s view of the pharmaceutical industry, because Luka’s intuition said it was a key to understanding the case.
    Tewisham turned out to be a big-boned, furry man with red hair who looked more like a frontier farmer than a scientist, but his stylish clothes were expensively hand-tailored and his standard English accent was distinctively posh, maybe even Albion Prime posh.
    Luka introduced Morganthur as his assistant, then wondered why he’d never introduced Velasco in similar situations. Maybe because Tewisham’s eyes kept returning appreciatively to Morganthur. Which was an idiotic reason, because Luka was pretty sure he wouldn’t care if Tewisham was interested in Velasco.
    Tewisham invited them to sit, then