| "Timing: Why It Sometimes Sucks" | |||
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Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina May 22, 2008 1000 hours "What is this?" Carter squinted at the monitor hooked up to his microscope. He moved the slide slightly and refocused the image. He felt the sudden rush of anger creep up his spine, followed quickly by fear. "Message received," he said quietly. He pulled the small clear plastic bag off the stage and tucked it into his lab coat pocket. He grabbed the envelope and the stack of papers and made his way to Lacey's office. He dumped everything on her desk as she eyed him suspiciously from behind her glasses. "What's this?" she said lazily. He smirked at her, "some paper for your printer...and find out where this came from." He handed her the envelope. She shrugged, "I'll put it on my list of things to do before I die." "You do that," Carter smiled then made his way to his office. He sat down and stared at his email for a long time. A small knock at the door gained his attention. "Sir, just wanted to let you know that your hardware arrived safely up in..." "That's great," Carter cut him off with a wave of his hand and a smile. "Thanks." "Yes sir," the man dressed in army fatigues said and left. He knew what he had to do. He hated the thought but he had to push up the time schedule. He grabbed the phone. He dialed and listened to it ring a couple times before a smooth female voice picked up. "Yes," she said quietly. "Hi, it's me." "Doctor Carter. It's good to hear from you." "Yes, well, I have some news." "Yes." "We, uh," he didn't know why he felt uncomfortable talking to this woman, but he did. "We have a problem." "What sort of problem?" "We have to move the time schedule up." He waited imagining her soft brown eyes narrowing in concern, or delight, he could never really be sure with her. "I'll see what I can do." "Thanks," he said and hung up. He shivered just the slightest bit finding some refuge in the picture on his desk. He picked it up, a small smile automatically coming to his lips. "Maggie, my love." He traced his finger over the picture imagining touching her face. Just once more, that's all he would want. Just one more touch, one more time to feel her soft skin under his fingertips. What he would do, what he would give for that one more time... Return |
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