Page 46 of Jacob

“When I was recruited, it was a dream come true. Something I’d been dreaming of, working toward since forever. There’s no higher job I could have in my field. No better job. We study life itself. We save lives. We are on the cutting edge of science. We’re well paid. Certainly well paid for scientists.”

She sounded insane even to herself. Who wouldn’t be happy with that?

“But?”

She drew in a deep breath, blew it out. “It’s—it’s hard to pinpoint. We’ve had three Directors in as many years, and it seems like each Director is more political than the last. There are also people in middle management more interested in PR than in the actual science. As if talking a good game is the exact same thing as making discoveries. Science is messy. There are a lot of dry holes. A lot of mistakes are made in getting to the established truth and there are some who want easy fixes. Something to announce, particularly at budget time. Sometimes—” she looked away.

“Sometimes?” Jacob prodded.

She gave her head a sharp shake.

He took her chin between thumb and index finger and gently brought her head around. “Finish that sentence. Sometimes…”

“It’s silly.”

He waited. He didn’t look impatient. He also looked like he could wait forever.

“Ok. Sometimes I think about quitting. I have a colleague, Darby Robbins. And a really good friend I met at Harvard who is a materials specialist. May Chou. Really smart. We’ve been sort of toying with the idea of designing a new type of biohazard suit that would be easier to wear while offering more protection. The idea is to have a gel?—”

“Whoa.” Jacob jolted. His whole face lit up, dark eyes wide, as if he’d just received an electric shock. “A better biohazard suit! My God, that is something we really need! I’d finance that, absolutely. Any amount you need, sky’s the limit. I lost two good men in a sarin factory in Syria last year. You’d be saving lives. And they would sell. Fuck, how they’d sell. How far along are you?”

“Hmm.” Alex took her cell out and scrolled. “Here.” She showed him the design of a prototype she, Darby and May were working on. Instead of the bulky space suit-like balloon look, it was sleek. Like something Spiderman would wear.

Jacob put his nose next to the screen. “What’s that material?”

“That’s May’s masterpiece. It’s a graphene-based material, you could stab it and it wouldn’t tear but it’s very thin.”

Jacob lifted his eyes to hers. “In the Teams, we lost a medic because the suit caught on a bone spur and tore.”

“Never happen with this. We’ve subjected the material to everything but a nuclear blast. The tensile strength is through the roof.” She looked at Jacob, who seemed so excited. Did she trust him with this information? Yes, she did. “As a matter of fact,” she said slowly, “the tensile strength is greater than steel. That is privileged information.”

“Your May really is a genius.” Jacob tapped her screen. “I hope she is planning on patenting it.”

“She is.” Alex smiled. May was ferociously defensive of her material, which she called ‘Smoke’. “It’s also lightweight, not bulky as you can see. Very flexible, with articulated joints. The user has full range of movement.”

“If it doesn’t breathe, are there temperature control issues? MOPPs get insanely hot, as you know.”

“There’s a memory foam element for comfort and it adjusts to the wearer’s body heat and the external environment. And we designed special sealable openings so the wearer can get in and out of the suit quickly. It also has a built-in life support system, supplying oxygen and removing carbon dioxide, with biometric monitors to track vital signs and detect any breaches or contamination.”

“Now I have suit envy.” Jacob sighed. “I want those suits. As many as you can provide. At whatever price you ask.”

Alex smiled. “Not so fast, slick. We’re still very much in beta. And though we think we will eventually have a very, very viable product, none of us are businesswomen. We can manage the technology but not the commercial aspects. I’ve been boning up on business, but I fall asleep on page two of any book on economics.” It was true. She’d inherited that from her folks, who could talk about Gone with the Wind and Ulysses and the biology of ants forever. But they hadn’t been able to balance their checkbooks.

Jacob tilted his head. “I definitely have a solution for that. Black Inc. has some amazing financial officers, but we’ve got one who is a genius at managing businesses. Nicole Sorenson. Can plant umbrellas in the ground and make them flower. Can make deserts bloom. You’d like her a lot. She often complains about working in our mostly male environment. Says we bring the average IQ down. She’s not wrong. In your brainy female environment, she’d blossom. And she was engaged to one of our guys who died because of a leaky suit in Syria, so she’d be highly motivated.” He put his hand on her forearm. “What about it, honey? Oh man, I can just see it. I’d throw money at you, so you can work without financial concerns. You and your partners would be happy, guaranteed.”

Hmm. She’d probably already lost her job at the CDC. She’d downplayed how unhappy she was there, too. A whole new influx of middle managers and top managers had arrived with, apparently, one goal. Making the lives of the scientists miserable. What Jacob proposed was amazing and opened up new vistas. She, May and Darby, working together on a project they were passionate about.

And they had other ideas in the pipeline.

They’d batted around another idea—better detection of viruses via sensitive nucleic acid detection assays. Cutting down on antibiotic use, screening of donated organs, knowing fast whether to take isolation precautions… the advantages were enormous.

Not having CDC bean counters constantly poking their noses in… Yeah. She had no doubt Jacob would make good on his promise of generous funding.

But… she’d be tying herself to him on the basis of what?

Probably really good sex, if she was honest with herself.

Probably not a good idea.

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