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Chapter 1 – Part 5
The VIP let his anger show and pushed Jenks back, knocking the Dean as she tried to defuse the situation. Now, in hindsight, every move seemed to be in slow-motion, but in the heat of the moment, on that day, everything had felt so condensed. If someone had asked him just afterwards who threw the first punch, he couldn’t have said for sure… but now, in sports replay mode, he saw the truth. What he’d intended to be a push back had turned into a heavy slap as the VIP shifted his weight. Then there were a few test-swinging fists from Jenks – but this VIP landed every punch, drunk or not. Yes, Jenks got a couple of lucky blows in, but nothing special.
And then another scream went up, ‘Bastard!’
And he’d looked.
Why had he looked? Had he known that she’d find it? Was it his own shame that had really distracted him? Jenks just couldn’t say. But that single second. That single distraction opened him up for the jaw cruncher from the VIP. Jenks had gone sprawling, landing by Ms. Hathaway, she’d twisted around to confront him, pointing at the computer screen, fury written all across her face, ‘You stole my code!’ she screamed at the prone Jenks.
The whole hall had gone deathly still. ‘Who else have you plagiarised?’ she accused.
The Dean blathered something about academic rigour, Jenks felt the hot jibes of the VIP, his laughs echoed in his ears. His stomach turned over, again, just like it had that day. The pain was as visceral now as it was last week.
As the vision of that horrid day evaporated, leaving the emotional pain in its wake, Jenks could hear – clear as a bell – the Dean promising a full review of Jenks’s work, and any wrongdoing would be fully punished within the letter of the university’s policies.
In a dark panelled room, the Dean’s voice reverberated in Jenks’s head, her voice like ice, ‘Mr. Jenkinson. I trust you’re aware of the gravity of the situation?’
‘We take accusations of plagiarism very seriously here at the university,’ the Dean continued, her tone stern. ‘And given the evidence presented against you, I’m afraid we have no choice but to launch a full investigation.’
Jenks felt his stomach churn at the thought. The investigation meant digging into every aspect of his work, every line of code, every algorithm. If they found even a hint of wrongdoing, his career would be over before it had even begun. The promise of taking his groundbreaking work to any of the world crypto and blockchain events had already fallen out of reach. If only he could just escape to…
Now, Jenks stood there, waiting to go in, waiting for the executioners’ blade to fall. What could he say to them, to convince them, to keep his dreams alive?
‘Come!’ came the call from inside.
Jenks drew in his breath, looked around to Emily, and forced his lips up into what he thought should look like a smile. She returned the favour. They exchanged a look, an acknowledgment. She tried to reach out a caring hand. But it never reached him.
Jenks took a step to the door. His hand grasped the handle.
He slowly let out the breath and used all his strength to turn the handle.
Jenks opened the door to his future.
And stepped through.
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