– XIX –

We were driving for probably ten minutes when Jenny tried to reach for her bag.

“Ugh”, she said exasperatedly. “I left my phone in the stupid bag! May I use yours?”

“Sure”, I smiled and handed her my phone.

I knew that she was going to call Tanner.

“Hey babe”, she said in a minute or so and laughed slyly. “No, it’s not Connor. It’s me… Huh? What do you mean?” she frowned and looked at me.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

“Give him to me”, I said. “He probably doesn’t wanna sound like a loser with a broken car.”

She blinked in great confusion and handed me the phone. I pulled over to the side of the road and pressed the phone against my ear.

“Hey, Tanner”, I said with a smile and threw the gear in park.

“Connor…?” he muttered. “What are you… What is Jenny…”

“Did you fix your tires yet?” I asked lightly and he stopped talking. “Not yet, huh?”

I grinned at Jenny.

“Oh, hold on a second, will you?” I said into the phone.

I put the phone down, pressing it slightly against my shoulder and put one of my hands into my pocket.

“Jenny”, I said in a low voice. “You’ve got something on your jacket…” and I patted my right shoulder.

She blinked and grabbed her shoulder.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Looks like a moth or something”, I squinted my eyes. “Right by your collar…”

She turned her head, trying to look at her shoulder and I pulled the syringe out of my pocket and sunk the needle into her exposed neck.

“Ow!!” she yelped and whirled around in her seat.

She stared at me with such stupefied expression on her face that I found it comical. She blinked several times and then simply slid down in her seat. I put the syringe back into my pocket, pulled her up a little bit to make it look like she was asleep, and then I pressed the phone against my ear again.

“You still there?” I asked cheerfully.

“What did you do to her?!” he screamed.