American Mutant Read Free Page A

Karen Blakely’s single minded obsession with her work, coupled with the almost unlimited funding, had only added a slight arrogance to the young woman Quenton had recruited out of Harvard. That arrogance could not be detected in her face now.
    Quenton motioned for her to sit down. He took a seat next to her, and leaned back wearily. “What did you think of all that Karen?”
    “More importantly Sir,” she began quietly. “What will you do with him? I always thought of Mr. Connor as a very dangerous and deadly tool. The last few times you used him for interrogation, he did only what you asked and no more. For some reason, this Hutchison fellow triggered him into revealing himself.”
    The hard edge to her otherwise soft, throaty voice, stayed steady. Her voice carried no tremor at what she had witnessed. Quenton again felt justification for having brought her into Connor’s case. All thought of developing him had been removed as an option. He had hoped Dr. Blakely would be able to come up with a way to get Connor to lose his quirky comic book and movie line persona. Blakely had agreed with him as to the drawbacks of having a man as dangerous as Connor lose touch with reality, and consequently his usefulness to the NSA.
    “Very perceptive Doctor, but I believe Mr. Connor has been using us, rather than the other way around. I do think this case, and his loved ones’ deaths brought him out. He wishes to deal with this on the outside in person. Frankly, as you observed, he can pretty much do whatever he decides. I never meant for anyone to see what you have seen. You have been included in something, which must remain top secret, whether we want you in or not. Do you have any recommendations?”
    “I want to study him of course,” she answered without hesitation.
    Quenton looked at her in complete bewilderment. “Were you not watching this demonstration? Connor can turn you inside out.”
    Quenton laughed out loud at a ridiculous thought. “The man reminds me of that old Santa Claus song. ‘He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake’.” Quenton shook his head. “Be good if you do not wish to die screaming.”
    “He likes you Sir. I can tell,” Blakely replied. “Connor did not have to make a deal with you. He needs you and your resources. I would be safe with him. You need to find a way to regain control over him. I can help you.”
    Quenton stood up and ran his hands back through his hair, pausing as he looked down into the room at the cleanup crew removing Hutchison’s body. He turned back and grabbed her shoulders. “Karen, he knows where I live. He can mimic anyone, and kill or maim in a split second. Get a clue woman. Connor takes what we thought of as dangerous to a level in some other universe.”
    Dr. Blakely sat back in the chair. “Please control yourself Sir. I am in this now. The risk will never outweigh the reward of studying Mr. Connor’s progress. I will have to come up with a way for us to reason with him. He must have a weakness.”
    Quenton backed away from the woman. “You just do not understand what you saw with your own eyes. You wish to play Delilah to Connor’s Samson, but you neglect the fact Samson did not have the power of a living lie detector.”
    “I have no intention of seducing Mr. Connor Sir. I will ask him if I can conduct a study on the progression of his power. I will not lie to him and I will not mislead him. Will you authorize and help me with this study? It appears to be our only course of action.”
    “Why not do exactly as he says?”
    “Our superiors do not pay us to take orders from the inmates here. I would be forced to report this incident.”
    Quenton began to sweat again. “Karen, you don’t know what you’re saying. You could get us all killed, and I mean all of us.”
    “I believe you may be overstating the danger now Sir.”
    “Yea, tell that to the twenty-eight