Book I: The Others - Chapter 7 - Conner (Part 3)

Catherine chuckled at the memory as she changed into some loose fitting, dark clothing. She also remembered that after a brief ceremony of placing her diaphragm in a seldom-used drawer in the bathroom, Conner fulfilled his debt. Four times.

Unfortunately, getting pregnant wasn’t as easy as that. They tried for a year without success until finally they consulted a fertility clinic. After weeks of testing, they found that although both her eggs and Conner’s “little solders” (as he like to call them) were healthy, they just wouldn’t come together. Conner said it was because her eggs were just being stubborn, and, of course, Catherine blamed the “general” in charge of the “little solders”. Finally, they opted for artificial insemination, and nine months later, Jessica Lynn Connley was born.

Walking back into the bedroom, she noticed a paper bag sitting next to the wrapping paper. She opened the bag and pulled out a small, waistband holster and a new concealed weapons license for the state of California filled out in her photograph, name, and signature.

She shook her head in wonderment, “Who are these people?”

At this point she really didn’t care about the answer. She attached the silencer, put the gun in the holster and attached the holster to her belt at the small of her back. She grabbed a long black leather coat from the closet.

Catherine briefly looked at the bright lights of the city through the closet window and wondered what she was doing. Not waiting for a definitive answer, she grabbed some cash from her purse and headed for the elevator. Once inside, she pushed the button for the ground floor.

As the car arrived, she was through the doors as soon as she could fit through. She quickly passed the security guard.

“Good evening, Mrs. Connley ... Mrs. Connley? Do you have an escort? ... Mrs. Connley!” The guard stood at his station trying to get her attention, but she acted as if she couldn’t hear him. Before he could stop her, she was through the revolving doors and into the street. The guard picked up a phone and started dialing.

She hailed a cab and gave him an address. Within minutes she arrived at her destination ... a small, non-descript pub in a darker part of the city.

Across the street, a little park was struggling against the encroaching city. Catherine crossed and stood in the dark shadow under the only tree in the park waiting, watching.

After an hour and right on time according to his file, a cab pulled up in front of the pub. A man got out and stood in the shadows looking around. When he looked in her direction, the meager light caught his face. It was Conner. She watched as he walked around the corner into the alley.

Taking a deep breath, she followed. So ... this was the plan. It was crazy, dangerous, and possibly deadly, but she had to know for sure, see him with her own eyes, before she’d believe he was “unrecoverable”. She entered the alley just as he slipped around another corner.She picked up her pace a little as she approached the corner so she wouldn’t lose him in the darkness. She rounded the corner and almost ran into the silenced pistol that Conner aimed at her head.

Chapt. 7 - Conner (Part 4)