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

pressure sensor—was made of, it was nearly as heavy as a person. I jumped it to the warehouse and lowered it carefully to the concrete floor.
    I went back for the stand and that was when I heard the scraping. I held the cell phone against my side, to block the light. There was a shadow over the door window but it wasn’t someone looking in. I slid closer and saw, just outside the door, a stepladder and somebody’s feet on a step at my eye level.
    I looked up, through the glass. It was Dr. Hannum and he was pushing a suspended ceiling panel up. I looked at the ceiling above me. Enough light was coming in so that I could see this ceiling was suspended, too.
    I stepped back to the stand and jumped it to Michigan, then returned to the lab. Hannum’s feet were higher up the ladder but the noise from the ceiling didn’t seem any louder. I would’ve thought that an engineering lab would have firewalls above for safety, to keep fire or fumes from spreading.
    Then I heard a clanking noise and hinges squealing. Perhaps a firewall above, but with an inspection door through it?
    I jumped outside, to the other side of the ladder, and activated the camera function on my cell.
    Dr. Hannum was perched on the top two steps of the ladder, his upper body in the suspended ceiling and leaning to one side.
    “Dr. Hannum,” I called loudly.
    He flinched and one of his feet came off the ladder. His arm punched down through the adjacent ceiling panel, showering chunks of fiberglass and cellulose to the floor. He flailed and barely avoided falling the rest of the way down, hanging suspended by his other arm as his foot groped for the ladder.
    I watched, interested, as instead of falling, he managed to get his foot back to a step and his weight shifted back over the ladder. He twisted his head to look down at me and the flash, as I took the picture, froze him, wide-eyed, shocked.
    I examined the image on the phone. “Ah, good. It’s got your face and the university police seal. Have a nice day!”
    I turned and walked around the corner.
    “Wait!” he yelled, but then there was the sound of a crash as the ladder went over and something heavy fell. I kept going.
    I locked Cory’s office door from inside, turned off the light, and spent five minutes jumping all the packed boxes to the warehouse.
    As I returned from one of these jumps, I saw Dr. Hannum pause in the hallway and glance through the darkened window. I knew from experience how hard it was to see anything if the room was dark, so I just froze. If he unlocked the door, I’d leave.
    Hannum shook his head and kept going. I stepped to the door to watch, then grinned. He was definitely limping.
    By the time Cory returned with the last few boxes, I had the lights back on and the door open. He froze in the doorway, looking at the empty floor space.
    “I guess your guys came.”
    “I took care of the suit,” I said. “Just in time, too.” I showed him the picture I’d taken on the phone of Hannum up the ladder.
    His fists bunched. “That son of a bitch. I’m going to—”
    “He didn’t get it. I already had it by then. And he fell off the ladder right after I took that picture. He was limping the last time I saw him.”
    Cory stared at his fists and then exhaled, letting his fingers unclench. “How did you get the suit? Did you go over the wall like him?”
    I shook my head. “I’m not an amateur. Look, I’ll bet if you send this picture to Hannum, he’ll renounce any claim to the rest of your equipment. Or you could send it directly to Deputy Chief Mendez.”
    The corners of Cory’s mouth twitched up. “Where is the suit?” He looked around the office.
    “I thought it best if it got off campus as soon as possible.” I didn’t add that it was also out of state.
    “Oh. You had the guys take it when they took the boxes?”
    “The same people, yeah.” Person. “What sort of facilities do you need, to continue your work?” I was wondering if I’d need to set him up