“It means almost everything. The only person more important to me than Annabelle is you.”
“I don’t get her, either, not anymore. She just told me she’s staying here, that she’s taking open-line university courses.”
“That’s right.”
“She was going to go away to university. She used to have big plans for her life.”
“She still does.”
“She’s not Annabelle, not the girl I…used to know.” He nearly said: loved.
“I’m sorry, Tim,” Jeff said. “But she is exactly the same. And I haven’t changed so much, either. Sure, this body means I can have a decent sex life again, but that’s about the only difference. The rest of me’s the same, the way I think, the way I behave. It’s your perception of me that’s shifted. You know me a lot better now than you ever did before.”
“Really? I sometimes wish I didn’t.”
“Maybe I wish I wasn’t what I am. But I did what I did, I fucked up, and I’m not going to try and gloss it over or justify it. All I can tell you is that if you ever need me, then I’ll be here. That’s the bottom line, Tim.”
“I guess I know that now,” Tim said sheepishly.
“I’d do that again, you know. I’d do it every time for you.”
Tim cleared his throat, looked at his shoes. It wasn’t anything he could answer.
“Do you want to move back here?” Jeff asked.
Tim flinched. His gaze went back to the window again. Yoni was on her back now. She’d lifted her legs so they were pointing straight up into the sky, with her hands holding her knees. Presumably it was some sort of stretching exercise; Tim could only think of a tortoise on its back. “Colin’s parents have a bungalow in Norfolk; there’s a few of us going down for a week or so. Vanessa’s going to France before the end of the month, and she says I can come. And I promised Mum I’d visit the new house. Then I need to get ready for Oxford. But I was thinking, next holiday, when term’s over, would it be okay to stay here for a while then?”
Jeff’s smile was joyful. “You’ll be here for Christmas?”
“Guess so. A couple of days anyway.” Tim sort of smiled back at Jeff; it was hard not to. Maybe happiness was infectious.
“I’d like that a lot,” Jeff said.
LUCY DUKE ARRIVED at the manor forty minutes after Tim left. She walked through the hall with a quick nod to the Europol officer on duty. In the living room, she frowned disapprovingly at the sight of the two naked girls sunning themselves on the terrace. Yoni was rubbing sunscreen into Annabelle’s skin, taking a lot more time than she really needed.
Lucy went into the study. Her flexscreen fell from shocked fingers, bouncing on the tough carpet. “Shit! Dr. Baker? Jeff. Jeff, what is it? What’s the matter?”
Jeff was lying on the floor behind the desk, curled up in a fetal position. His skin was pale and glistening with sweat. When she knelt beside him she could feel his whole body trembling softly. He was conscious; dull eyes stared at her.
“Jesus Christ,” she gasped. His flesh was freezing below her fingers. “Help! Someone, help me. Get in here. Now!”
54. …IN THREES
IT WAS ONE OF THOSE HOSPITAL ROOMS that could pass itself off as a decent three-star hotel room. The furnishing and decor were new with carefully neutral colors; a band of double-glazed windows provided a pleasing view out over the broad expanse of parkland that circled the Brussels University Medical Centre. Medical modules were all built into a tall wooden bedside cabinet, with a row of small high-resolution screens on top that monitored his body. There were sensor pads stuck on most parts of him, sprouting fiber-optic cables that snaked out from under the thin bedclothes to merge with the electronics. A single intravenous drip stood guard at the head of the bed.
Physically, Jeff was perfectly comfortable. He suspected part of that sensation was due to the sedatives. But his body temperature was constant and normal now. And there were no more headaches and chest pains and muscle tremors. It had taken the medical team the best part of a day to stabilize him after the EuroAir Defence Force emergency flight delivered him to Brussels. The symptoms he displayed were relatively easy to treat and contain with conventional drugs.
The cause of the problem… that was something else altogether.
It had taken two days of tests before the delegation shuffled into his room, led by Dr. Sperber. In his stuttering broken English the good doctor had slowly explained what they’d found, the implication. He’d looked fearfully at his patient and creation as the news sunk in.
All Jeff had done was smile faintly and thank them. After all, what else was there?
At his own request, they’d left him alone after that. Annabelle had stayed, of course; beautiful, terribly young, and fragile Annabelle. She lay on the bed beside him, hardly moving for hours, just looking at him in that adoring way she had. It made him feel guilty, which was a first.
A love like hers, he reflected, was such a strange emotion, so completely beyond any form of control. Half curse, half blessing; and always so desperately unfair in the pain it inflicted.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered to her. “I wish I could undo ever meeting you. You deserve so much more. I can’t stand the idea of this hurting you. That’s what I truly hate about this, the only regret.”
She squeezed his hand in hers, bringing the fingers up to touch her cheek, smiling dreamily at the feather- light contact, the reassurance it brought. “I don’t regret it. And I would never change a single moment.”
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you. Nothing in this life, that’s for sure.”
“A million things in this life.”
The next time Dr. Sperber came in he was by himself. “How do you feel?”
“It hurts when I laugh.”
Sperber frowned in concern. “Where?”
“English sense of humor, Doc. Ever watched
“No. I’m afraid not.”
“I’m actually quite comfortable, thanks. I think the drugs are working.”
“That is good. We are putting together a treatment schedule for you.”
“Speaking of drugs, I’ve been taking a few nonprescription ones recently.”
“I know.” Dr. Sperber’s expression never changed. “Our analysis uncovered traces of Viagra in your blood. It was easy to find, the traces were quite large.”
“I was wondering…did that trigger this?”
“No. That is not possible.”
“Ah. Pity, really.”
That actually managed to shock Sperber. “A pity?”
“Yeah. Now that would have been true rock and roll.”
“I understand.”
“I really am feeling a lot better. I’d like to go home now, please.”
“Of course.”
55. STEALTH ECONOMY
GRANADA’S ONE COMMERCIAL AIRPORT had once caused a war simply by being built. The Pentagon
