Free Plague World (Ashley Parker Novel) by Dana Fredsti

ours to get a litter box and cat food delivered to her room.
    “Do you think she’ll show up?” I asked Simone once we reached the elevator, and didn’t have to worry about Lil listening in with her enhanced hearing.
    “I hope so.” Simone sighed heavily. “I gather she needs to be on medication.”
    “You know about it?”
    “Gabriel updated us in one of his last reports.”
    Relief washed over me. I wasn’t alone in this anymore.
    “What did Dr. Arkin say about her condition?”
    Simone asked.
    “I don’t think she even
knows
about it,” I said. “I haven’t been able to talk to her about Lil since we arrived.”
    Simone gave me a sharp glance. The elevator arrived and we stepped in. She pressed a button, and the doors closed.
    “Dr. Arkin hasn’t seen her?”
    “Dr. Arkin is a very busy woman,” I said neutrally, in case they were good friends. “At least that’s what her assistant told me.”
    Simone frowned. “We’ll see about that.”
    Hmmm. Maybe not best buds.
I tested the waters a little further.
    “Given what happened when we arrived, I doubt Lil would agree to any kind of examination from Dr. Arkin anyway.”
    “I can’t say that I blame her,” Simone said with a sniff.
    I raised an interested eyebrow. “You know her, then?”
    “We’ve crossed paths.”
    I waited for more. The elevator doors opened. I followed Simone as she strode purposefully down the hall.
    “I need coffee,” Simone said unnecessarily. I suspected we were done with the topic of Dr. Arkin for the time being.
    That was okay. I could always use more coffee.
    * * *
    We sat at a corner table, large cups of hot coffee in front of us. Mine was heavily laced with cream and honey. Simone’s was black. Both of us sat with our backs to the wall, facing the rest of the room so we could see who was coming and going.
    “Tell me about Lil’s behavior,” Simone said. “Gabriel’s report indicates a bipolar disorder.”
    I took a sip of coffee. “That’s what Josh thinks, too—Arkin’s assistant,” I clarified. “Bad mood swings. And that’s putting it mildly. It’s like dealing with a kid hopped up on sugar. I never know when a tantrum or a crash is gonna hit.”
    Simone nodded. “Then the sooner we get her back on her medication, the better. What did Josh recommend?”
    “Er…” I fished the napkin out of my pants pocket and held it out to her. “These.” She looked, squinted, then fished a pair of reading glasses seemingly out of thin air, nodding in satisfaction as she looked at the napkin again.
    “This seems straightforward.”
    “Josh is going to check the lab’s inventory,” I said. “If they don’t have it, I’ll find it. And then we’ll just have to convince her to take it.”
    “If she has a resistance to taking her medication, we can also consider Fazaclo.” Simone smiled over her coffee mug. “It’s approximately the same thing, but dissolves quite easily in liquid.”
    “So we ask Dr. Arkin if they have any on hand, and if not, I locate the nearest pharmacy.” I took a comforting gulp of sweet, cream-infused coffee. “Just make sure you write the F-one’s name down.”
    “I will.”
    We sipped our coffee in silence for a few minutes. Then I asked the question I really didn’t want to ask.
    “How bad are things out there?”
    Simone flinched. Then she took another long draught of coffee before replying.
    “It’s bad, Ashley.”
    “How bad?” I regretted the question the second the words left my mouth. I really didn’t think I could handle the answer.
    “Ashley!” The sound of someone squealing my name provided a welcome distraction. I turned to see Jamie, Simone’s assistant, bearing down on us from across the room.
    Barely topping five feet, Jamie was a symphony in black and pink, starting with her shocking pink hair, descending to a pink top covered by a black Victorian jacket that nipped in her already tiny waist. Her black pants had laces up the sides and were tucked