Read Exo: A Novel (Jumper) for Free Online Page A

reasonable.”
    He blinked. “This isn’t drug money, is it?”
    “No laundering going on here, Doctor Matoska. Or should that be Professor Matoska?” I hoped there was no laundering going on. It was from Dad after all.
    “Call me Cory.” He was still staring at the cash. “I’ll need a hell of a lot more money than this if I don’t get my prototype out of the lab.”
    “So, Dr. Hannum really is after it?”
    “You heard that?”
    “Pretty much,” I said.
    “He was courting me pretty hard but I finally ran out of maybes on Monday. I got the termination notice Tuesday.”
    “Where in the lab is the suit?”
    “It’s in the corner, on a stand, with the life-model pressure sensor.”
    I must’ve looked confused because he said, “The life model is like a mannequin, inside the spacesuit. There are two USB plugs coming out of the neck, one that powers the sensor multiplexor, and one for data. There’s also a power supply hooked to the suit. I need to get that back from the bastards, too.”
    “Okay,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”
    “What?”
    “Later. But before your friend Hannum does.”
    He looked alarmed at that. “You don’t think—”
    I shrugged. “If everything else you said about him is true—”
    He turned back toward the door.
    I said, quickly, “I know you did that video inventory, but does he know what’s in your lab?”
    He paused and shook his head. “No. Kept him out of there.”
    “Then let me take care of it,” I said. “I have resources.”
    He gestured at my shoulder bag. “Unless you have a law firm in your bag, too, I don’t see what you can do.”
    I said, “I think that —” I jerked my chin toward the money. “—earns a little trust. Besides, you get jailed by the campus police, you won’t even be able to finish clearing out your office. Where you moving this stuff, anyway?”
    He frowned and took a step back, turning to look at the boxes and piles. “I was going to rent a storage locker. I’m pretty sure I can secure another teaching position PDQ, but I don’t have room for this stuff at my place—it’s an efficiency.”
    “Hmmm. I can help there, too. You finish packing the boxes and I’ll get them moved to secure storage.”
    “I’m supposed to be out by six,” he said, doubtfully.
    I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and converted to the local time zone in my head. “Ah. Half past one. Not a problem.”
    He looked relieved. “That would be great.”
    I killed an hour and a half helping him pack, though we ran out of boxes before we ran out of books. I sent him off for more and checked the lab.
    A freshly mounted padlock hasp had been attached to the metal door frame and door with tamper-proof screws. In addition to the security padlock in the hasp, a holographic sticker labeled evidence seal had been affixed across the gap between door and frame.
    I looked through the wire-reinforced glass of the door’s rectangular window. It was dark inside and I was blocking most of the light from the hallway. I pressed my cell phone to the glass and turned on the flashlight app.
    That gave me enough light. I heard footsteps from around the corner and jumped inside, the flashlight still on.
    The prototype was at the end of a heavy steel workbench, looking spookily like a man. Well, a headless man. The suit was light gray, with a rough-woven texture, leading up to a stainless steel neck flange. The two USB wires Matoska, uh, Cory had mentioned emerged from the headless neck, but the free ends were coiled loosely on the workbench, unconnected to anything. There was a plug just below the neck flange with a thick cable running over to a power supply which, in turn, was plugged into the wall.
    I unplugged the power supply from both ends and wrapped the cables around it, then jumped it to the warehouse in Michigan. I came back for the suit, lifting it from the two curved brackets that supported it under each armpit. Whatever the mannequin—the life-model