Chapter 4 – Another Day, Another Anomaly

Danny Quinn jogged down the corridor as the anomaly alert siren sounded. Becker and Sarah joined him as they all moved quickly to the Main Ops room. Connor was at the ADD console waiting for the location when Abby came down from the ladies room. Her eyes darted to Connor and away again as she took her place near Sarah.

Connor grabbed his hand-held device and turned to the group. "I have the location. It's several miles out of town in a forested area."

Danny nodded, "Connor and Abby, go with Becker. Sarah, you're with me."

The team quickly got to the cars and drove away following Connor's directions. When they were very close, they parked the cars and walked into the trees.

From the edge of the forest, a young man watched the team. His source told him there was big money to be made if Connor Temple could be distracted long enough for the competition to make certain developments. He would be paid extremely well if he could just make Connor's life difficult for a while. He watched very carefully, noticing how Connor's eyes repeatedly searched out the young blonde walking near him. Satisfied, he silently made his way to a hidden car.

By the time the team spotted the anomaly, the shards were already flickering weakly. They watched it close.

"It was a pretty small one," Becker said hopefully.

"Yeah, but sometimes bad things come in small packages," Connor replied.

"Right, let's search the area," Danny suggested. "Becker you stand guard here in case the anomaly opens again. Sarah, you're with me. Connor and Abby, you two head that way," he said pointing to the South.

Abby walked into the forest with Connor following slowly behind her. As they walked, Abby tried to find a way to fix things with Connor. "Connor… I saw you and Jayne kissing," she began.

Connor glanced at her guiltily as he began to ramble, "Well, we've been having lunch together and she's really great. After all, I don't want to always be getting in your way and I just thought…"

"Connor!" she snapped in irritation. "It's all right. I think you should date Jayne. She seems like just your type."

He turned his face away from Abby feeling deeply distressed. She didn't care in the slightest that he was seeing someone else. He had hoped she might be the tiniest bit jealous. Hiding his hurt, he answered, "Yeah, we get along really well."

Abby quickened her pace trying to stay in front of Connor. She had just encouraged him to date someone else and it didn't feel right at all. She needed to distract herself. "Good. Well, I think I'll go to the Pub tonight. Sarah told me there's a really good-looking bloke that hangs around there. Maybe I'll get lucky," she said as she tried to smile at Connor.

"Abby, you can't try to pick up some guy in a bar. It's dangerous!" he said desperately.

She gave him a look and then laughed in merriment, "You're worried about a guy in a bar? After what we do every day?"

Connor cocked his head to one side as he realized she had him on that one. Suddenly a bug the size of a Great Dane moved across the path in front of them.

"Well, that's not too bad," he said optimistically as he watched the creature climb the side of a tree. "Call Becker and tell him to bring a net."

"Either that or a very large fly swatter," Abby joked as she contacted the rest of the team.