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He supposed she was too. Stopping evil sounded like a tall order.
“Do you ever think you’re fighting a losing battle?”
She exhaled a quiet laugh. “Yeah. Of course I do. There’s too much crap in the world to think I could stop it all. But then again, don’t you? How many researchers are devoting their life to fighting this terrible disease with nothing to show for it? Face it, Cole, if either of us makes a dent in the problems we face, we’ll be fortunate.”
“You can’t think like that. If you’ve saved one person, if I’ve extended one memory for one extra day… It’s made a difference.”
“Maybe. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that I’m fighting a battle in a war that’s already been won.”
Cole paused, letting her words register. “How do you mean?”
Joey shrugged and grabbed her food again. “I do everything I can to fight for good and justice in this world. To take down the bad guys, right? But in the end, God already won. Evil, sickness, death, and sadness are all cast away when He returns.”
“A lot of good that does when we’re here right now,” he responded bitterly. “Look, I love Jesus. But I’m not just going to sit on my heels and not try to help as people lose everything that made them who they are.”
He had to make her understand how important this was. Did she really understand what was at stake? “Yes, it confuses their memories. But it can steal their personalities and rob them of the ability to take a walk without becoming combative or confused. And their family can’t do anything but watch as the disease ravages their mind. It’s awful, Joey.”
Raw emotion burned his throat. How had they gotten here, with his heart torn open and poured out on the office floor in front of her? He pressed his eyes shut, afraid to see her reaction to his intense soliloquy.
“That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about my fight. People use others and toss them aside. They kill, steal, lie. Whatever it takes to get what they want. And it makes me physically sick,” she added. “Maybe we’re not so different, Cole.” He opened his eyes, and Joey leaned toward him in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees. “You’ve got skills that help you fight diseases. I’ve got skills that help me take down people that would use their power to marginalize the weak. God never told us to sit on our heels. We just can’t lose perspective or we’d give up in the face of such daunting odds. God doesn’t ask us to win the battle for him.”
He exhaled a laugh. “Have you been talking to Flint?”
“Do you trust me to help you fight the evil that wants to stop you from fighting this disease?”
Cole lost himself for a moment in her intense stare. He swallowed thickly and nodded. “Yeah. I guess I do.”
“Then be patient, and let us get there together. Don’t bring in anyone else.”
* * *
Joey poured a cup of coffee in the breakroom and listened to the conversation around her.
“When I was with Parsenix, we had an entire department that managed patient surveys. There were six of us, and we were a tenth of the size of Zia. I just don’t know how we’ll get this five-year patient questionnaire launched in the timeframe the executive team wants.” Joey searched her brain for the woman’s name. Cindy? Candi? Cheri, that was it.
“Seriously? What happened to all those folks from Parsenix?”
Cheri shook her head. “I was the only one who didn’t get a pink slip when Zia bought us out. It was awful. I think of the three hundred of us, there are about ten of us still here.”
“That’s just like when we bought out Iris Bio. I heard a rumor that the only people Kensington kept on staff were from one specific research lab. Everyone else…” The man sliced his hand sideways in a cutting motion.
Joey turned her back to the conversation and hid her reaction to it until she could school her features. She replaced her disdain with curiosity and turned to face her coworkers. “Wow. Does that happen a lot around here?”
Cheri was happy to draw her into the conversation. “Oh yes. I swear everyone around here just managed to sneak through the cuts during one acquisition or another. Even Patrick. He’s been here forever, but he was my manager at Parsenix. He took the buyout really hard. Especially after what happened to Michelle.”
Joey’s intrigue skyrocketed. “What happened to Michelle?”
Cheri’s original conversation partner dumped his cup and waved as he ducked out of the breakroom.
Cheri leaned in after looking around to make sure no one else could hear. “She was another woman in our department. She didn’t make the cut. She ended up getting a divorce and losing her house. We found out six months after the buyout that she killed herself.”
“Oh my goodness, that’s awful.”
Cheri nodded. “I know. Patrick took it really hard. Blamed himself.”
“Why would he blame himself?”
She shrugged. “I heard Kensington made him select the people to keep around.”
