Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

and decide if we need to alert the council. In the meantime, go back to your lab. Now.”

Zach glanced at Phillips, who was sitting reading the data, the only one in the room not protesting. He could see it, couldn’t he? See what it meant. He should back Zach up. Instead, he looked up and nodded in confirmation of what Morrison had said.

“Go back to your lab, Benesh. Finish your quarterly report.”

The chill in his tone implied Zach might not be able to call it his lab much longer, but this implied threat had no effect. In a few days, nobody here would have a lab or an office either. He wanted to tell Phillips to stick his quarterly reports where the sun never shone but managed to at least keep from doing that. Without another word, he spun and ran from the building.

He found his bike still lying on the ground where he’d left it. If he wanted to keep his job, he would go back to the Physical Sciences building as ordered and wait for his respected superiors—he snorted—to check the data. But he feared he already knew what would happen. They’d argue about the results and decide they needed to run more tests. Zach couldn’t wait around for that, whatever it meant for his job. His job had ceased to have any meaning the moment the full implications of the results became clear to him.

Zach rode off.

He didn’t go back to his lab.

* * * *

Adam saw him. He’d come out to the test fields to check the growth of a batch of plants and saw Zach riding fast down the road. He’d have to pass Adam, who was working near the road. Surely he’d stop to explain himself and apologize for his behavior last night and this morning.

Zach didn’t stop. He rode past Adam without so much as a glance. Rode like his ass was on fire and a hellhound was snapping at his back wheel.

Well, shit.

Adam began to use his trowel in an aggressive manner as he created a new hole for an uprooted plant. Looks like that was dead in the water, then. They’d been doing so well, but then it all suddenly went to hell. He hated feeling this annoyed about it. Zach shouldn’t be able to get to him like this. Adam barely knew him, and he wasn’t all that cute anyway. His nose was definitely too big. And the big-nosed bastard might at least have had the class to come and talk to him and end it face-to-face.

He stomped into the botany lab half an hour later and went over to the sink. As he scrubbed the dirt from under his fingernails, Jan strolled in, carrying a mug of coffee.

“Oh, there you are. Have you heard about the excitement over at the Admin building? Your new boyfriend’s gone crazy.”

“What?”

“Benesh. Burst into a meeting of the senior staff and started raving about the volcano exploding and throwing us all into the sea. Bill said they could hear the row all across the second floor.”

“The volcano?” Adam knew Zahara Island sat atop what had been a gigantic ancient supervolcano, but it had been extinct for millions of years. “That’s crazy. And he’s not my boyfriend.” Good thing too, if the guy was insane enough to burst into senior staff meetings. By God, most of those people had tenure. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”

She shrugged. “Hayley said he said the island was going to sink, not that the volcano will explode, but hey, pretty crazy stuff, right?”

“Erupt,” Adam said. “Volcanoes erupt, not explode.” He wiped his hands dry. “How could the island sink?”

“He’s the crazy geologist, not me.”

“He’s a geophysicist.”

“Aren’t you Captain Pedantic today? Anyway, if he’s as smart as they say, he’ll be hiding under a bench in his lab. Can you imagine what Phillips will do to him? Guy will be flinching at sudden noises for a month.”

Adam could believe it. You didn’t do an end run around your head of department. There were channels. He frowned, thinking about Zach passing him earlier—not even a glance—and the route he’d been taking. He hadn’t gone to hide in his lab; he’d been heading into town. Maybe he should go see what Zach was doing. Keep him from getting into any more trouble. He had no reason to, after the way Zach had jerked him around, but Adam had second thoughts about just ending things with him. Zach was too interesting to do that. Despite the nose. Actually, Adam liked the nose. Patrician, you might call it.

“I’ve got some errands to run,” he said. “I’ll be a couple of hours.”

“Okay. Are you taking the truck?”

“Yes.”

“You remember what Dr. Wilson said about treating it like it’s your own.”

“I know.”

“It’s for department business only.”

“I know. I’m going to…check out some of the test crops out of town.”

He was a liar. A few moments later, he maneuvered the botany department’s truck onto the same road Zach had taken.

Chapter Seven

“I’m sorry, but Ms. Johnson can’t be disturbed. She’s in a meeting.”

Zach had to wonder if everyone but him spent their entire time having meetings. How did they ever get any work done?

“But I must speak to her at once. It’s a matter of life and death!”

The secretary had no reaction to his dramatic statement. She must have heard all this before from people trying to get in to see her boss.

“If you’d like to wait, sir, it should only be another half an hour, and then she may be able to spare you a few minutes.”

Would half an hour make much difference? When she heard what he had to say, Johnson would spare him more than a few minutes. Should he wait? No. If she would listen, then the sooner she started listening, the better. He turned away from the secretary’s desk and headed toward the comfortable-looking armchairs provided for visitors. Apparently pleased with his cooperation, the secretary spoke in a