CHAPTER 22
'Hello, it's cable TV. My name is Julia. How can I help you?'
'Hello! Could you put through to Linda Wu, please?'
'How should I introduce you?'
'Mr. May. Lurry May. I am calling about her reporting at the Central Hospital.'
'Thank you, Mr. May! Hold on, please.'
Linda was arguing with the evening news editor when a telephone rang on the table. She thought he was a stooping, bald rogue but she had to agree he was experienced. To Linda, though, her boss didn't understand that the news shouldn't just discuss patients and doctors relating to the virus, which threatened to quarantine everyone in the near future.
The phone's ring became more insistent as time went on. The editor nodded at it and turned away from Linda, showing that their conversation was over.
'Yes Julia, what's happened at the hospital? Sorry, I'll try to calm down, just put him through,' she leaned back in her chair, enraged. Linda's head was buzzing, not from pain, but from a lot of problems that she had to solve before her boss had left the office. In addition, he'd ordered her to create a series of patriotic reports praising the heroism of the doctors and nurses, although Linda didn't know where to find the evidence for this. A soft voice was heard on the other end of the phone, as if a young man was speaking, and Linda sighed and closed her eyes. 'Yes Mr. May, I remember the report, and there were a lot of people. Yes, I remember how he threw my microphone, I wish I could forget it. Hold on, please,' Linda pressed the phone to her ear and began to rummage around on her desk in search of a pen. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the gaze of silent judgment from her editor over the lid of his laptop. 'I'm ready to take notes now,' Linda declared, but soon her expression became one of annoyance. 'No, I can't go there. It's impossible now. Let's reschedule for next week,' Linda was about to hang up, but froze before she could, staring and frowning at her computer's black monitor. 'Er, yeah, I didn't know that. Are you sure? Where did you get that information? Of course, I'll need to check it. I get you, yes, what you're saying makes sense. Okay, thanks, we'll talk later.'
'What's happened?' asked her editor. 'Are they proposing volunteers, benefits and masks? Don't keep me in suspense.'
'Everything,' she answered in a very matter-of-fact tone, keeping her eyes on the monitor. 'Imagine if Bruce Willis had survived in Armageddon and returned home infected with a virus.'
'Okay, okay,' her boss noticed her sarcastic tone. 'For me, it'd have been more interesting if Liv Tyler had returned infected. She's great in that film.'
'I like Owen Wilson myself. Such a great looking man', came a voice from the next table. The top of a balding head slowly rose above another monitor revealing big glasses on a small nose.
'Terry, is your column finished?', the editor asked in a totally different tone. The glasses and bald head slid back behind the monitor.
'Okay, shoot. What's the plan?', said Linda. She felt her boss was now distracted from the conversation enough to stop asking unpleasant questions. 'Stop eulogizing and concentrate, okay? If you're right and tomorrow we're all quarantined, what are we going to do? Don't look at me like that,' Linda grinned, noticing that half the office had stopped what they were doing and were giving them curious looks, meaning she'd failed to distract their attention. 'Okay, I've just been invited by the President's secretary to the Oval Office to interview Trump about the emergency. Apparently, they couldn't do it without me,' she noticed her colleagues started to smile, but her boss shook his head in displeasure and waved his hand for her to stop. She only had to do what he said until eight o'clock, though. At eight thirty, she was out of there, at the entrance a stone's throw from their receptionist, Julia, who was also leaving for home. Then the phone rang.
'Good evening. Erm… who's calling? Okay, no problem, she's next to me, and I'll give her the phone,' Julia handed her the phone and shrugged, but Linda already knew who the caller was.
'I'm listening,' she said, looking at the wall out of the corner of her eye and catching Julia's curious glances. When short beeps sounded from the other end of the line, she sighed and returned the receiver to the phone. 'Are you off home?' she asked. 'I'll walk with you to the corner.'
Julia was surprised.
'Are you going my way? Isn't John giving you a lift today?' she asked.
'No, he's busy. I need to go pick up some pizza and cola – no diet for me!' Linda smiled, and she went outside.
A small eatery near the Metro was pretty crowded. Linda just took a can of cola and didn't order anything. As she took her first sip, a guy in a light jacket and jeans walked over.
'Linda Wu?' he asked, calmly, as if he knew her.
She nodded in response, before adding 'Yes…' Linda didn't feel thirsty anymore.
'Here, take this – I was asked to hand it over to you,' the man leaned over and gave Linda a napkin with a phone number scrawled into the paper. When she looked up, the man had left without a trace. Everyone around was talking quietly amongst themselves and there was a calming atmosphere. As no-one around was noisy, it made sense to make a call outside. She left her Coke at the table, left the café, and dialed the number. The person at the other end immediately picked up.
'Hello, this is Linda Wu,' she said slowly, not knowing what to expect from the other end. 'I recognize you and I'm not worried about this, but this looks pretty weird. Just don't tell me you're Batman or Captain America and that we've got to save the world!' the voice on the other end immediately asked her a question and the call turned serious. 'Of course, I did hear about that. Are you sure Lieutenant Lindstone's been dismissed now? For certain? You're saying it's thanks to me he's gone? I'm not complaining… alright, I'm listening,' for some time, Linda sat listening intently to the soft voice of the other end of the call, and when it felt quiet, she immediately asked a question. 'This isn't true, you can't prove it. How can you? Oh, is that right, you don't want to prove it? Why should I believe you anyway? Then you're lying to me,' at that exact moment, Linda was interrupted again, and was forced to listen closely to the other person's arguments for some time. 'Of course, what you're saying might be true, I agree in that regard. Everything's got to be checked, you're right. Alright, I'll go there and ask him like you've said. Yes, I get it, it's not so hard and this will make for an interesting report. How will you call back, though? Will you call me with the same number? Well, we agreed…' she ended the call and pondered for a minute. Even if all that was a practical joke, the thing she would lose the most of was time. This report was still better than making up reports on the outstanding work of nurses and doctors in the fight against this terrible virus. Besides, if this tip-off was true, the boss couldn't stop her and will definitely broadcast the report. Well, she could order a pizza at home, as night delivery hadn't been stopped yet.
She hailed the nearest Uber and then wearily fell into the back seat of the taxi, making a tired request to the driver.
'Twenty-two Low street, please.'