Separation Read Online Free PDF Page A

beneath the
surface, perhaps twenty meters down if not more.
    Staring at the picture, Harry wondered who
might by down there, although he was pretty sure. The question
remained as to why those people had taken up a position under so
powerful an organization. “Do we go?”
    Anastasia seemed to arrive at the same
conclusion and a thoughtful look appeared on her face. “Those
people might be like us. They also might have clues to where other
transgenics are hiding.”
    It was also possible Istvan was still alive.
“Are you thinking the same thing I’m thinking?” asked Harry, trying
not to sound too positive. Even if this was some kind of trap, he
felt obligated. Istvan had saved his life in Russia, freeing him
from a jail cell, and he owed the little man.
    She nodded. “Istvan, yeah, I’m thinking about
him. If he’s alive, we have to go after him.”
    “Agreed,” Farrell said. “He’s too important,
and we need him.”
    The meeting soon broke up after that, with
Farrell saying he needed some time to make the proper calls.
Sitting in a lounge downstairs, Jason leaned against his girlfriend
with a look of love in his eyes.
    “Yeah, we’re going to get married one day,”
he said after Anastasia asked him about it. He put his arm around
Maze’s shoulder and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “And you,
Harry, you wifed her! That is totally cool!”
    Trust Jason to come up with a dumbass
statement. His best friend had often used the term, “wifing
someone,” and now that it had come to pass, he felt more than a
little uncomfortable hearing it. “I married her, Jason. Use a
regular term, please.”
    “Well, I think it’s cool, too,” Maze
affirmed. She’d gotten a few chocolate bars from the candy machine
down the hallway, and was busily shoving them in her mouth as fast
as possible. “Are you into having kids?”
    Fur or not, the red in Anastasia’s face
showed clearly. Jason withdrew his arm and elbowed his girlfriend.
“That’s a little personal, don’t you think?”
    After his previous social faux pas, he
shouldn’t have said anything, but he had, and Maze got an annoyed
look on her face. “No, it’s not,” she replied with an air of
indignation. “Married is married, and sometimes kids happen.” She
nodded at Anastasia. “Am I right?”
    Nothing came out of Anastasia’s mouth except
for a mumbled, “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “See?”
    Harry said nothing, but decided if his wife
wanted children, he was all for it, although he wondered what their
kids would look like. When he’d done the DNA scan on himself as
well as Anastasia, it showed an almost perfect split of feline and
human. Since she was healthy and physically capable of having
children...
    The sound of coughing interrupted him.
Farrell walked over to them, his hand over his mouth. He cleared
his throat and said, “Sorry, the air’s sort of dry here.” He
thumped his chest as if to clear away any obstructive inner
materials. “I’ll run you two back.”
    In spite of the hacking fit, he seemed more
comfortable now, and his color had returned to normal. Jason and
Maze went back to work, but not before congratulating the Goldman’s
on their marriage once again. “We gotta keep in touch,” Jason
said.
    “Count on it,” Harry replied. At first, it
seemed odd to hear the name Anastasia Goldman, but at the same
time, he found it a distinct thrill. Another rite had been passed,
another step in his journey to adulthood.
    Farrell drove steadily along the highway, and
soon the noise, concrete and steel of the city transitioned into
the green and quiet of the countryside. After he’d dropped them
off, once inside their cabin Anastasia flopped down on the couch
and waved at Harry in a playful come-here gesture. He willingly
joined her and they put their heads together.
    “Sorry about today,” she began. “It wasn’t
your fault. It was mine. That host,” she practically spat the word
out, “was a total jerk. I thought the attitudes