Operation by Tony Ruggiero Page A

ashamed to say this… I am not sure if it’s the effect of the creature’s influence or my own thoughts which are causing my attraction for her.
    The man’s heart raced as anger filled him.  He hurled the notebook at the nearest wall. There was a resounding as the leather made contact with the cinder block followed by a  sound as the book fell onto the floor.

C HAPTER T HIRTEEN
    ***
    After Barkley left his office, Reese returned to his desk and the folder he had yet to review. He looked up at the clock on the wall and saw it was nearly 6PM. The realization that he had been awake for over thirty six hours reinforced the physical effects brought on by lack of sleep. Fatigue was catching up with him.
    His mind was beginning to blur with the possibilities discussed with Barkley combined with the search parameters that had been put into place. If he opened the folder and looked through any additional information, he doubted he would even be able to comprehend it in any useful way.
    He pushed the folder aside deciding that a few hours of sleep would do him good. The folder could wait. As it slid across the desk, the business card with Christina’s phone number slipped out onto the desk blotter. He remembered that he had started to call her earlier, but then Barkley arrived interrupting.
    He picked up the card from the blotter and held it between his fingers. The flowing script of Christina brought a smile to his lips. He remembered when she had written it and what she had said about calling her soon because she might have to leave town for a while. But he didn’t have time tonight, and…
    Agreeing with the subconscious thought, his hand went to the telephone and dialed the numbers. The phone rang once and he felt his stomach begin to tighten. On the second ring, he felt his hand nervously twitch and he grasped at a pencil to keep it still. On the third ring, he was poised to hang up the phone because he decided he didn’t know what he would say if she answered the phone. As the fourth ring began, he was ready to remove the handset from his ear, but then a voice answered.
    “Hello?”
    Reese hesitated.
    “Hello?”
    Say something, his inner voice demanded.
    “Chris-tina,” he said struggling with the syllables as if he were learning to talk for the first time. He felt embarrassed and thought about hanging up. This wasn’t how he wanted to come across, weak and unsure and sounding like a wimp.
    “John? Is that you?” she asked.
    Busted, he thought. He had to talk now. “Hi,” he said, struggling to place some normalcy back into his voice.
    “Hi yourself,” she said in return, “I’m very glad you called.”
    Really, he thought to himself. Was she really glad?
    “I thought I’d give you a call when I got a chance,” he began. “Sorry about the time, it’s been one of those days.”
    “I know what you mean,” she said. “Have you had a chance to get any sleep yet?”
    “No. In fact, that was what I was going to do. Grab a few hours and then start back at work. I wanted to call you…and…maybe when this is over, I…we…can…”
    “I have an idea,” she said not addressing what he found so hard to say. “I need to take care of some things, and you need to get some sleep. Why don’t you let me bring you dinner later on tonight?”
    “Dinner?” he asked.
    “Yes. You know… food?” she said playfully. “You do eat, don’t you?”
    “Ah…yes,” he said although his voice sounded skeptical. He tried to focus and calm down so he would sound normal.
    “Well then, it’s all settled then, I’ll see you—say around midnight?”
    “Midnight…”
    “Yes John,” she said.
    He thought he heard a little laughter in her voice. Stop screwing it up you idiot, he told himself.
    “Do you always repeat everything?” she asked.
    “Repeat…” he began then caught his words. “No—well sometimes…”
    “You’re cute when you get flustered.”
    “Ah…” he stuttered feeling himself flush