19 Conrad Make Choices

At their booth Sylvia sat across from Conrad. They both ordered coffee. He looked depressed and obviously did not want to talk. When she tried to get him to open up, to explain what had happened last night and this morning, he just said let's wait for the others. She saw Fletcher come through the door. He took a seat and picked up on the heavy shadow over Conrad. Within a minute the hulking Jiho lumbered through the doors and joined them.

Conrad finally looked up. She guessed that his initial attempt to turn the girl's boyfriend did not go well. She asked, "So, Conrad, what happened?"

"I found John in his hotel room and ghosted him to my place. He's a police detective as we heard. He's no longer in any sort of relationship with that girl, whose name is Georgia Lass. They had to break it off. He's planning to marry her living younger sister, Reggie. And his sister, Grace…I think he said Grace Hernandez is with them along with his future mother-in-law named Joy. Odd little group. It seems upstairs management directed he was to accompany this Georgia Lass and the others invited themselves along."

Sylvia didn't mind the details. They might be useful later. Jiho met her eyes. Conrad took a sip of his coffee and continued, "He was very clear that taking him that way, ghosting him away, was a big mistake in his opinion. He predicted she, the girl, would react badly, and I have to say he was right. In any case he refused to cooperate and I had to step in and save the intended myself."

Jiho asked, "What do you mean he was right? What did she do?"

"Well, when I returned him to within a few blocks of his hotel this morning and invited him to breakfast she found us and walked in on us at the restaurant. She ordered something and the moment I tried to reason with her…she shut me down…and told me to leave."

"Told you to leave?"

"Yes."

"And you did?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

That stumped him. He thought for several long moments. "John told me that she is not a normal reaper. And she's not a girl. She died some 11 years before at age 18. She looks young but has…how did he put it?…has got some mileage John said at one point." He smiled. "He wouldn't elaborate, but she is very powerful…"

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure."

"So. Why did you leave? That one on one, or two would seem to be a perfect situation to talk her into some understanding of what we're trying to achieve."

His brow creased. "I felt something when I looked into her eyes. Something…dangerous coming to the surface. I felt…I had to leave." He picked up his coffee again and took a longer drink.

It was only mid-morning. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally Fletcher spoke up. "I'm getting something. Odd."

She felt it too. It wasn't a reap. It was a direction to be at that hotel in just about six hours. They all looked at each other. She looked at her watch. Late afternoon. About four o'clock.

She spoke first, "So then. Shall we go forward as planned? We have our say at the meeting and…"

Conrad seemed to find himself. "Yes. As planned. Fletcher will go first. Then you, Sylvia, followed by Jiho and finally I will speak." He looked to each of them. "OK, then we'll meet there." He got up and left the three sitting.

Fletcher said, "Well, I'll get going. I want to practice a bit. I haven't spoken in front of a group…since I died." He got up and left, too.

She looked over at Jiho. "Well?"

"I think we need to go with our back up plan." He added. "Make it clear to her that she needs to listen."

"Exactly. We shouldn't just show up without demonstrating, forcefully, that she needs to listen to our point of view, that she has a lot to lose if she doesn't."

He considered that and said, "What about her being so powerful? Conrad seemed unnerved."

"He had a feeling. She scared him before he tested that feeling and he left. And then…I've heard a lot of stories about that Paul and Joan. They did some pretty nasty things, downright evil, and nothing really happened…"

"Ah, Sylvia, I heard that they got terminated…and it was by this particular girl. Pinky said she was there."

"Well, they are gone, but come on. We've seen some seriously supernatural things go on in this reaper world we've been forced into, but my suspicion is that a lot of the control mechanisms or whatever you want to call them depend on empty threats. I mean, I hear about this Dark, but have any of your reaps gone over that way? Not one of mine. And then…and then that Joan and Paul never got taken as I heard many reapers believed they would be. Nothing any of us saw, anyway. I have yet to see one reaper get taken by this Dark." She could see doubt on Jiho's face. For a big man he could be very cautious. "Come on. I never met this Pinky before that day she came in here, did her drama queen act, and walked out. I wouldn't be surprised if Conrad's boss didn't put her up to it. I mean, Jiho, we're dead. What more can they do to us?" She leaned in closer. "On the other hand, Conrad has started something big. We're not doing evil, Jiho, we're trying to stop evil. Think about it. What if we stopped all violent death? The only deaths would be from natural causes. No more accidents, murders, all stopped. My guess is that the power that put us here is afraid that more of us will get the message and simply refuse to cooperate. This girl, Georgia, she's the one actively supporting all this evil in the world." She considered the look on his face. Still some doubt. "Jiho, I had a little brother. When I was 12 years old he was only eight. I was babysitting. I left him outside in the backyard. Someone grabbed him. The police found his body the next day. Some evil shit grabbed him…and did terrible things to him before he died. There is no way that something like that should be allowed to happen. Our priest told me and our family that it was all part of God's plan. What a crock. How could any god allow things like that to happen to the innocent. Well, then I died and I met Conrad, and I found out that it's not necessary. Not at all. Conrad showed me that murders like that don't have to happen. We, you and me, and all the other reapers can stop them. We don't have to sit idly by while they just happen and then we escort the soul to the other side. We can stop all of it today. Now my little brother isn't coming back but I know there are a lot of others like him and all that's standing between little kids like him growing up or dying is our having the backbones, like Conrad, to stand up and say no. No more."

Jiho sat back. "OK. You know I'm on board. My problem is crossing that fine line between doing good and doing bad in order to achieve our goals, however noble those goals may be."

"We absolutely won't hurt a single living soul. But…Jiho…we have to get this girl's attention…make her listen…convert her to our side if possible. And to do that she has to be pushed out of her rut…her acceptance of this evil all around us."

"OK. Sylvia. How do we do that? We don't have a lot of time."

"If we bring the reality of death front and center to her in a concrete way…"

"She's dead like us."

"I know, I know, but…Jiho…these travel companions…all of them are very much alive. If the prospect that they could die…"

"It didn't work with her when Conrad tried it."

"It didn't work because it's kind of obvious that Conrad won't actually let anyone die." She considered that. "We have to set it up with a lot more uncertainty. So she doesn't know." OK, now she had an approach that might work. "Jiho, we've got to move fast."

"We bringing Conrad in?"

"He can't get his hands dirty. Too holy for what we need to do."