Replica

“Uh….” You can’t think of a thing to say. A part of you just can’t get over the surprise and sheer incongruity of it all. A minute ago, hell 30 seconds ago, you were walking down a back lane next to a parking lot and, well, not exactly minding your own business but not doing anything wrong either. And now here you are, in a totally different world, with an angry woman pointing a handgun at your face.

“Answer me! Who are you!” Her hand is shaking, and the part of you that isn’t frozen in disbelief is starting to to realize that a scared person with a gun might be even more frightening than an angry one.

Stammering, you lift your hands up higher, “No one! My name is Zach! I work at Bathurst, uh, I know Jayne! She’s with me!”

“Jayne?” the woman seems to pause, confused, then looks around as if remembering she’s holding a gun on a stranger in the middle of an alley. Clearly thinking furiously, she keeps the gun pointed shakily at you, then walks to the fence and reaches in to open the gate into the backyard of the red brick home. She takes a step back and gesture the gun at you, and you step slowly into the yard.

She leaves the gate open and walks in behind you as you stop several feet away, your hands still held in front of you. The gun must be heavy, or else she is concerned about someone seeing her over the chest high wooden fence, because she holds the gun lower but still pointed in your direction.

“Why are you looking for me? Where is Jayne? Is she part of it? Was it her?” Karen is clearly scared but seems to be calming down, which makes you slightly more relaxed. Also, the fact she hasn’t shot you yet helps, and you try to think about what to tell her and how. You get the feeling the whole truth might be a bad idea, but you also can tell that lying might be very unwise. So much for pretending you were just sightseeing in Newmarket.

Just as you open your mouth to ask her to put the gun down so you can talk, you both hear the scuff of a shoe and Jayne appears standing in the open gate, holding the gift bag you brought from Toronto in her hand. “Zach? What-” she turns from you to look at her old coworker and she gasps, “KAREN! What are you doing!”

Eyes darting from Jayne to you, Karen lifts the gun up again right at you and you’re very glad she isn’t pointing it at Jayne. “Was it you Jayne? Are you the one who was watching?” Her eyes fix on Jayne as she holds the gun on you and you see the hand trembling again. If she pulled the trigger, you think she would be almost as likely to shoot the grass or the neighbors house as shoot you, but you’re not in any hurry to find out.

In a panic, Jayne quickly says, “Watching? I have no idea what you mean Karen! Please don’t do anything crazy, we just want to talk! Don't hurt him!”

Breathing hard, Karen studies Jayne for a moment before saying, almost to herself, “Yeah, it doesn’t make sense if it was you down there. But why are you here, and why was this guy snooping around my house?” The gun is not longer aimed directly at you, but it is still pointed in your general area.

Clearing your throat you say, “I am Zach, like I said, I’m an Infra Network Analyst II, and I took your old position a few months ago. On Monday I was in the asset disposal case and I plugged in the old SGI server and started it up, just out of curiosity. Then I ran… the program on it and, long story short, I showed it to Jayne and here we are. We just want to talk to you to find out what you know, I swear.”

“Yes Karen,” Jayne says in a soothing voice, “I looked up your mailing address because we needed to talk to you. I recognized your handwriting on the diagram we found, and the server was in your old office, so we came here. Weird things are happening, and I can see you know what we’re talking about, but please please stop pointing that gun at my boyfriend I’m begging you before something terrible happens.”

The curly haired woman lets out a long breath, then drops the gun to her side. “Yeah, you’re here about The Affection Multiplier. Obviously. I knew I should have smashed that damn thing before I left.” With a shrug you see the tension drain from her as she gives a shaky laugh, “Well, I guess I better invite you two in huh. Before the neighbors see us, or Timothy looks out a back window.” She drops the gun back in her handbag and walks to the back door of the house, waving at you both to follow. She seems to be a bit unsteady on her feet, or maybe that’s you as you follow her on legs all aquiver. Before you can take a second step Jayne has hurried to your side to grab your hand, her eyes wide with concern.

Standing on the steps leading into her house, Karen turns and looks at you both standing a few feet, Jayne holding tightly onto you. With an embarrassed shrug, she says, “Sorry about the, uh, welcome. Come on if you want to talk.”

Squeezing your hand but with a firm voice Jayne says, “Karen we’ve known each other a long time, but I’m not comfortable with the gun. Can you, I don’t know, leave it out here?”

After a brief pause Karen laughs again, louder, and shakes her head, “Oh I couldn’t figure out how to get a real gun, this is a fake.” Reaching back into her bag she pulls it out and casually holds it grip first out to to Jayne, who slowly takes a few steps forward with you and takes hold of it. “It was hard enough to find one like that looks real, this is from an old prop company that went bankrupt. None of the parts even move.”

Holding it gingerly between two fingers Jayne simply hands it back. Honestly, even standing a few feet away from it the thing looks pretty real to you, but Karen takes the gun back and, holding it as casually as you would a stapler, and places it on the shelf of a closet just inside the back door as you all enter the house.

Karen gestures to you to sit at the dining room table and Jayne places the gift bag down with a small thud before taking the chair beside you and gripping your hand again. Karen continues in to the kitchen, where she places her own bags down before picking up a piece of paper from the counter, then walks back towards you holding it. “Ah, I see you met Timothy. Well, it's good that he's not here, but he’s going to be back soon, so you better tell me what the hell is going on before he does.”

“So, he doesn’t have anything to do with TAM?” you ask.

Karen flinches and casts her eyes down, mumbling, “No he doesn’t know about anything. I guess we both have some stories to tell.”

**Author's Note**
Sorry for the long delay, especially since it was left on a bit of a cliffhanger. But I've been working on a few other things and may be updating this story less frequently, just for a few weeks. On the plus side, if you read my other stories you may like the new one, it will be a very simple and pretty short (for me) **** story featuring some new characters. It won't take away too much focus from this branch, don't worry, and I won't just stop these updates.
I've also done a lot of work on the TAM backstory that I'm eager to get into, starting next chapter. Hope you guys like scifi, spy conspiracies and computer shit! But this is an erotica story (maybe not a great one, but still) and the second date between Zach, Jayne and Karissa will happen very soon. I'm thinking Monday night, mainly because of what's going to happen during work Monday. Naughty naughty Jayne! You said you were going to keep things strictly professional at work! How can poor Karissa be expected to resist temptation?? ;)

Oh, and I'm doing the initial planning for my Ella and Evan summer story. It's a big undertaking which will involve at least two pieces of art (I love it! the artist did a great job!) and a new prologue and a bunch of cool stuff. Very eager to get going on that once my quick one-off new story is done. Thanks for your comments, likes, and simply for reading this, it means a lot to me.