Kathy Abbott (2 page)

Clint repositions himself, allowing her to lay
her head on his chest. He strokes her back and runs gentle fingers
through her hair, all the while holding her close.

She falls asleep easily.

*  *  *

Clint waits for her breathing pattern to
change. Eventually it slows; she is sleeping soundly. He waits an
extra five minutes to allow the drug to take effect. Convinced she
will not wake soon, he climbs out of the back seat and into the
front. Behind the wheel, he puts the truck in drive and leaves the
parking lot, turning right onto Highway 35 South. He proceeds for
five minutes before making another right turn into the Apple Garden
restaurant’s parking lot and it doesn’t take him long to find the
black SUV, almost a twin to his own. Kathy is still passed out
on the back seat of his truck when he arrives. He has to bring her
in tonight and, despite his objections, the needs of the family
always come first. Disobeying an order is a guaranteed death
sentence.

Clint grabs Kathy’s coat and handbag, gets out
of his truck and walks over to John and Eve. He hands the items to
Eve through the passenger-side window.

“
Here’s her coat and bag, I’m sure
her keys are in there. She’s never coming back here so take her car
to the chop shop and get rid of her phone. Go back to her apartment
and pick up some clothes then meet us at Headquarters. If anyone
asks, you’re her sister and, Eve, please respect her
stuff.”

*  *  *

John drives his black vehicle back to the
Freemont Mall’s parking lot with Eve as a passenger. When they
reach Kathy’s car, Eve gets out. She’s wearing Kathy’s jacket and
carries her handbag. She unlocks Kathy’s car, gets in, and drives
off to the chop shop. John leaves in a different direction to meet
up with Clint.

1. *  *  *
   

Clint exits the lot and travels for thirty
minutes until he reaches a home in a residential section of Gull
Village on the west side. He takes a look in the back to see if
Kathy is still sleeping comfortably before driving up to the gate.
Beyond the brick gates are three- and four-bedroom homes,
originally built for affluent families. The modifications were made
right after the house, which they call Headquarters, was built. The
four-bedroom, single-family home sits on four wooded acres. A
holding cell was added under the garage, after the town’s final
inspection, and has been in use since its construction. The only
people who know about the underground structure are the designer
and the people who work there. Clint cruises up the driveway,
circles the house, and moves toward the rear where the doors are
open to the two-car garage. Ben is waiting inside.

Clint pulls in, lowers the windows, stops the
engine, opens the door, and steps out of the SUV. “What’s
up?”

“
Come take a walk with me,” Ben
says, walking toward the garage doors. “Peter and John will take
her in.”

“
Yo, man, why her?”

“
She must have had a blood test
that was processed at one of our new labs and got on the radar. I
don’t know how she ended up on the list. I don’t have all the
details of what’s happening with her right now, but as soon as I do
I’ll let you know.” Ben motions to Clint to open the back door that
leads into the house.

Once inside, Clint turns to Ben. “Tell Doc if
he touches her, I’ll kill him.”

Ben nods. “I know. Don’t worry about that,
she’s not like the others so she won’t be here long.”

Clint turns and kicks the wall with such force
a chunk of drywall fell to the floor. “This is bullshit, Ben. And
you know it.”

“
Go to the gym and work that out
before you do something you can’t fix. I’ll make sure she’s
comfortable but don’t press your luck.”

Clint turned and searched Ben’s face for any
signs of dishonesty before turning away to walk toward the gym,
but, instead of continuing down the hall, he steps out of the room
and stands to the side of the door and listens.

Ben takes his phone from his
pocket. He taps the screen once the call connects. “Yo, what the
fuck are we doing? I want to know why we picked up this girl and
I
need
to know
because I don’t have enough men to hold Clint down if he gets
stupid up in here.” Ben paces. “Uh-huh. Yeah, do that and get right
back to me. And don’t bullshit me because I will come up there … We
both know you don’t want that.”

Satisfied with what he hears, Clint turns and
continues down the hallway. He walks past the gym, out the door,
into the garage, and through a concealed door that leads to the
holding cells. He walks down the concrete steps into a hallway with
one room on the left and two rooms on the right. Each room’s door
has a small window. He stops at the first door on the right and
looks in. Kathy is lying on top of the bed, a comforter draped over
her body.

1. *  *  *
   

Kathy slowly wakes but her head
hurts and her eyes feel like they want to jump out of her skull.
She keeps her eyes closed and her head on the pillow.
I feel like I’ve been drinking all night, what
the hell? Clint must have taken me to his house. I’ll sleep a while
then I’ll get up and look for him.
She
pulls the comforter up to her shoulders and falls back to
sleep.

-End-

Note from The Author

I hope that you enjoyed Kathy Abbott. Her
story continues in the Regulator Series where you will learn more
about Kathy, Clint, John, and Eve. The series follows the lives of
a group of gifted people who live in the fictional town of Gull
Village, New Jersey. It takes place the year six girls are taken
and the Gull Village Division of the Regulators is formed. They
enter the race to stop an ancient evil.

If you would like to read more about the
characters or the series, please be sure to visit
www.ckjacksonwrites.com.

To my reading team, thank you for taking the
time to read Kathy’s story and for sharing your thoughts with me. I
would also like to thank my fellow writing-group members for
reading my story and helping me to become a better writer. Thank
you, Kat Betts of Element Editing Services, for reading my
gibberish and helping me to create something worthy of publishing,
you rock! And, finally, thank you to Frina at
SelfPubBookCovers.com/FrinaArt for creating the beautiful cover art
for Kathy Abbott.

Want to stay up to date with my writing? Take
a look at the right sidebar of my blog to find out how to join my
email list to receive free, no-strings-attached stories, as well as
and sneak peeks at my novels before they go on sale.

You can also connect with me on twitter
@ckjackson6, feel free to say hello, or stop by my website and let
me know what you think of Kathy Abbott.

I look forward to sharing my next release with
you.

C.K. Jackson

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of
the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is
purely coincidental.

KATHY ABBOTT.
Copyright
©️
2016
by C.K. Jackson. All rights reserved under International and
Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees
you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to
access and read the text of this short story on screen. No part of
this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled,
reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information
storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether
electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented,
without the express written permission of the author.

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