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| Story: A New Life - Chapter 25 Tuesday, 23-May-2000 23:14:54
Sarah leaned back in her chair at the office, absently massaging the arch of her left foot with her fingers, thinking of the best way to finish dictating the closing paragraph of her article for the Denver Post, relating to the first day’s proceedings over Michael Harris’ trial. She wanted it to sound as unbiased as possible while remaining informative. This was proving more than a trifle difficult, but not because of the trial’s limited excited-ness. No, Sarah found that she had, through the past week’s “adventures”, lost most of her objectivity. If someone had asked Ms. Carter a week ago what she thought of the trial, she would have stated matter-of-factly that she had no feelings one way or the other. But now - - now, it wasn’t so simple. There had been two separate attempts on her life, and the would-be perpetrators said that Mr. Harris had hired them to commit the act. That, if taken by itself, would have ordinarily been enough for her to go to the police and request charges being pressed against him, with the failed assassins testimony. She, as her Gammonian self, could have easily kept them in custody for the officers, and Sarah would have had plenty of evidence against the shipping company president to have put him behind bars for a long time. But she had not done so; something just didn’t’ seem right about either attempt. The first was by a gang leader – he had ended up dead by her own hands (she still had nightmares over it). The second had happened just yesterday, but had missed her and had almost killed her friend Andrew Peters. Neither attempt had seemed very professional – the gang leader didn’t even know it was her until he had dragged her into the janitor’s closet with him. Then there had been the first attack, in the park, walking with Andrew. They hadn’t tried to kill either one of them, but had wanted to deliver some kind of message, and didn’t particularly care if they got hurt a little in the process. They, too, had confessed being hired by Michael Harris. ‘It just doesn’t add up.’, she thought. ‘I’m missing something here…something vitally important. I wonder…… Do those two women I met yesterday have anything to do with it? They didn’t seem as if they wanted to harm me. In fact, I think Dana had nailed it on the head when she said they seemed almost – respectful around me. Like they knew something that I didn’t’ Sarah smiled ruefully. ‘Heck, they probably know a LOT more than I do about certain things. There’s just something about them that has been nagging at me since I met them.’ She looked at her computer screen, frowning in mock disappointment. ‘Well, I can see that the article didn’t go ahead and finish itself, and I just don’t feel like working on it anymore right now.’ She swiveled her chair around to look through the large windows facing the large city park. ‘I think I need a little air….’ Sarah turned back around and slipped her foot back into its pump. She saved the article and placed her computer in standby; leaving her office area behind, the journalist popped her head into the Ms. Wayne’s office and said that she would be taking a longer lunch than usual. Lana acknowledged her, the majority of her attention focused on the party on the other end of the telephone. Sarah walked into the elevator and pressed the polished “down” button. As she waited for the elevator car, she mulled over the previous day’s activities. After the excitement in the courthouse’s park, she, her adopted sister, and Andrew had all driven to a distinguished Italian restaurant, drowning their troubles and memories away with pasta galore. Afterwards they had all retired to Andrew’s apartment, where they had talked about various things – with a distinct (and surprising) lack of conversation over Sarah’s dual identities – and drank a few nightcaps. They had made their farewells, and the sisters had returned to Sarah’s apartment. Since Dana had missed her flight, Sarah said that she would be happy to “put up” with her until she could book another one. The elevator doors opened, and she stepped inside, smiling politely at the two men who stood inside. They shifted over slightly to give her some room, and she selected the “B1” button for the parking garage. As she listened to the contemporary guitar music being played over the car’s speakers, she felt a small shiver run down her back. She surreptitiously glanced over her left shoulder towards the two men. They didn’t seem to be paying her much attention, and she turned back towards the closed doors. Still the feeling clung to her; she felt like she was being watched, as if hidden eyes were observing her for who-knew-what reasons. Sarah, feigning a stretch, used it as another excuse to look the two men over. Again, neither one was looking at her – one was seemingly engrossed in the latest copy of “The Wall Street Journal”, the other poking his stylus around a PDA device. The car slowed and came to a gentle stop, the overhead sign displaying “Lobby”. The doors smoothly opened, and both men walked through the doors. As the passed, Sarah caught the right-hand one giving her a once-over through the corner of his eye. And then they were gone, and the doors closed again, the car continuing its descent to her destination. Sarah finished tying her cross-training shoes, leaning against the rear bumper of her little dark-blue Corolla. A smile was on her face as she began to lightly jog down one of the wide park avenues. This was one of the few times where she could get away from everything and clear her mind. She had picked this little exercise up shortly after moving to Denver. The journalist really enjoyed this park, with all of its trees, manicured bushes, and well-kept, luscious green grass. There were always people out here, and she enjoyed watching them as she jogged, seeing what they were up to. But she found that she could only do this once or twice a week, as work and home business kept her too busy to make this a daily event. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day for a jog, and Sarah took the most of it, feeling the tenseness flowing out from her body. In fact, the ending of her article was beginning to form in her mind, and she knew that she would have no difficulty typing it out when she returned to her office. ‘I just need to get out and do this more often.’, she decided. When the new year rolled around, that would be a resolution she would make sure to keep. Suddenly, that chill ran down her spine again, and Sarah whipped her head around, a nervous expression on her face. Again, she felt like she was being watched. She slowed down and turned around, jogging backwards, looking around behind her for any signs of someone observing her, but saw nothing. She pivoted around again and picked up speed again, the feeling as strong as ever. She was almost back to the park’s car lot, and she suddenly wanted to be nowhere but the safety – imagined or otherwise – of her desk at The Post. The steady sounds of her lightweight shoes striking the ground counted down the time and distance until she reached her Toyota. She could feel the light sheen of sweat on her face, and brought a hand to her face to wipe a trail of sweat that threatened to fall into her right eye. The feeling was still there, but she didn’t feel quite as bothered by it as she had a few minutes ago. Then the parking lot was in sight. Sarah slowed down and walked the rest of the way to her car. The feeling of being watched had faded again, and now she felt a little foolish. Girl, you’re jumping at shadows. Besides, you know that you have ways of protecting yourself.’ Even though that was true, Sarah wanted to limit her Gammonian exposure as much as possible – and she especially wanted to keep her transformations as secret as she could. And though both Dana and Andrew now knew about her other life, Sarah wasn’t really comfortable with even them witnessing her changes. It was….. Well, it was personal. Having her body grow and alter in size, shape, and appearance into her “true” form was a very intimate time for her – especially when she wasn’t wearing her special outfit, like today. She had looked at it quickly as she had been getting dressed that morning, but had forgone putting it on because she didn’t have the time to spare to put it on. ‘Hopefully I won’t have to use my abilities today.’, Sarah hoped. ‘I mean, I won’t hesitate to change if someone is in real trouble and I’m close by - - but it will cost me another outfit….not to mention a little of my pride and modesty.’ She fished her keys out of her rose-colored sweatpants and unlocked the Corolla’s door. She slipped in and grabbed the towel sitting on top of her folded business clothing. She wiped her face off, glad that it wasn’t a hot day. She threw the towel in the back seat and started the car up. Looking at her watch, she decided that she would finish up her day’s work in her jogging outfit; it was almost 3:30, and she didn’t have any interviews or events to cover for The Post. Actually, all she had left to do was to finish up that article, and she was basically done for the day. Maybe she would hang out in Andrew’s cubicle and discuss their possible future together. She was glad that he knew of her secret, and of her love for him. Both had been tremendous burdens upon her chest, and she felt much, much better with the knowledge that her friend knew those two most important things about her. The drive back to the office was uneventful. Sarah parked in her usual spot and walked towards the garage-level elevators. The uneasy feeling of being watched hadn’t re-occurred, and she was still feeling a little silly at making a big something out of nothing. She entered the waiting elevator car’s doors and pressed a button, starting it’s journey towards the nineteenth floor. Humming along with the light pop song being played, Sarah walked to the rear of the car, turning halfway towards the nearby wall, and pulled her Palm PDA out of her purse and began going over her schedule for the rest of the week. She had been assigned two more days of covering Mr. Harris’ trial, and interviews with both the prosecution and defense in that trial. There also was another senatorial delegation coming to town on Thursday, and she was to cover their campaigning debates. The journalist was so caught up with her schedule that she failed to notice the elevator stopping on the tenth floor. She didn’t hear the rustle of clothing and muted breathing from the car’s additional passengers. It was only when the doors slid closed and she felt herself being pressed slightly against the floor again when she realized that it was moving again. And the only reason it was moving again was because it had, at some point, stopped. And the only reason it would have stopped is to let people on. Sarah felt eyes boring into her back, and the frightening feeling returned with a vengeance. She turned around slowly, raising her head from the Palm’s small display to look at her new companions. Her next breath nearly caught in her lungs with surprise…and a little fear. The two men she had seen nearly two hours ago where back - - and this time they were staring directly at her. “May I help you gentlemen?”, she asked in as innocent voice as she could manage, the lump of fear in her throat threatening to choke her words into incoherency. She wished she had remained quiet. Both men smiled, and Sarah Carter had a distinct feeling that they weren’t here to make pleasant conversation. The smiles were those of hunters that had caught up to their prey. “Yes, Ms. Carter.”, the left-hand one said in quiet, professional tones. “There is something very important you can do for us.” He took several steps closer to her, and Sarah backed all the way up against the car’s wall, splaying her hands against the faux wood. Her heart was beginning to pound in her head; her fear was driving the adrenaline through her body. If this kept up much longer, she knew the transformation wouldn’t be far behind. Then these two would find out that it wasn’t a good idea to corner this particular woman. He stopped within arms reach of her, but did nothing else. His companion was still in his original place behind him. The far one looked down at the elevator’s panel and pushed the “Emergency Stop” button. The elevator slightly jolted to a halt, almost having reached the seventeenth floor. Then he began doing something else, but the considerable bulk of the man standing in front of her blocked exactly what he was doing. “So, what do you want?”, Sarah asked as flippantly as she could. She didn’t want to clue them in that she was afraid – and the actions that would result because of that fear. There were times when she wished that what Xris had told her was untrue: that another side effect of the high nitrogen content of Earth was that, when undergoing severe mental and/or emotional distress, she would inadvertently trigger the change. She could think of all kinds of times when that would be totally inappropriate – and downright embarrassing. However, there were even fewer times when she was glad that she had that as a backup – albeit one that she had little control over. This was definitely one of those times. If these men kept up their threatening actions and silent treatment, they would discover a side of Sarah Carter that they most definitely would NOT like. Then the man standing near her moved his arm behind him. His companion appeared to hand him something, but she couldn’t really see. The man in front brought his hand back in front of him, and that feral smile had reappeared. She looked down at his hand, but could still see nothing there. With a movement that was almost too fast for her brain to register, his other arm shot out, grabbing her left arm. His other hand pressed something cold against the skin of her captured arm, just below the short sleeve of her white T-shirt. A small jolt of pain traveled through her arm, and then the man released her. Almost immediately, she began feeling groggy. She blinked several times; every time she did, her eyelids felt heavier than the time before. “Wha - - - What did you - - do to - - me?”, Sarah drawled, feeling more and more tired by the second. The man standing closest to her, smile still in place, answered, “We know all about you, Sarah Carter. We know what you can do, and we’re prepared for it.” Her heart rate was slowing back down, the fear being quickly replaced by an immense tiredness. It belatedly dawned on her that she had been drugged. She felt her back sliding down the elevator car’s wall as her body crumpled to the floor. Her head not-so-gently flopped to the floor, and she looked up with half-lidded eyes as the man knelt down beside her, that smile still plastered to his face. “Remember when I said that there was something you could do for us a moment ago? It’s a very important thing, Sarah Carter - - you can die……” To be continued Terry |
| Story: A New Life - Chapter 25 (Terry) (23-May-2000 23:14:54) |
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