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Part 1
Cona followed Dr. Rogers off the train. The two walked across the busy station, Rogers’ shoulder bag hanging from his arm closest to her.
“Quickly. We have to hail a cab,” said Rogers.
Cona nodded. She too was eager to get the sample they had collected back to the lab.
Cona was a small-framed girl. She was in her early twenties – a Phd student, and Dr. Roger’s current lab assistant. An aspiring biologist, she had had the honor of accompanying Dr. Rogers to the site of a recent meteor landing. It was only as the two had begun to depart from the site that they noticed men in crisp suits closing off the area. Cona and Rogers hadn’t stopped to see what was going on, instead hurrying off to catch their train back into town. The last thing they wanted was for the sample to be confiscated by some brainless uniforms over unsubstantiated concerns.
“There,” said Rogers, pointing to a cab that had stopped for them. Tightly clutching the strap of his shoulder bag against him, he began to lead the way.
“Excuse me sir.” Someone in a crisp suit grabbed Roger’s arms. Roger turned and the suited man flashed an ID card that read CIA. Cona took a step back.
“Can I help you?” said Rogers impatiently.
“Do you mind if I check the bag sir?” said the CIA agent.
“I do,” said Rogers.
“Hand over the bag, sir.”
Cona continued to step back, watching a struggle ensue. The CIA agent had not noticed she was with Rogers. She watched the suited man tear open Rogers’ shoulder bag, causing papers to tumble onto the pavement. Rogers was yelling and causing a scene. Several other men in crisp black suits began to appear from nowhere and descend on the scene.
Cona slipped back into the train station and headed for the women’s rest room. She entered and immediately locked herself in a stall where she took several deep breaths before reaching into her pocket. She pulled out the sample. She had slipped it out of Rogers’ bag when she first noticed the agent heading their way.
It was a circular green elliptical object. The shape was imperfect, and it resembled a medium potato in size. Or even a large snake’s egg. Strangest, it was warm. Cona and Rogers had been desperate to study it. If it had come out of the meteor – as both of them suspected – it could turn out to be an invaluable scientific discovery. In fact, it could prove that there was something else out there.
Cona tensed as she heard someone else enter the bathroom. She climbed onto the toilet on her booted feet to keep her legs from showing beneath the stall door. She squatted down low. Someone was pacing the room. It might have been one of the agents.
I can’t let this slip away, Cona decided. This sort of discovery could make her career. She had to hide it where no one would find it. It was a crazy idea – she might even end up damaging the sample – but she had to give it a try. And so, opening her squatted legs and tugging down her panties, Cona pressed the sample between her vaginal lips and pushed. She muffled her groan in the sleeve of her shirt.
“Is someone in there?” a male voice called from the other side of the stall. He began to knock on the door. “Get out here.”
Cona’s face reddened as she pushed more, stretching herself more than she imagined she ever had. She almost didn’t think all of it would fit, when the remainder of the sample suddenly popped completely through her opening. She panted.
The man on the either side of the stall was now banging on it. “I’m giving you until the count of three-”
The door swung open and a composed Cona walked out, looking annoyed. “Geez, what do you want?” she said, walking passed him to the sink, where she washed her hands.
The agent peered into the stall then looked back at her. “Miss, I’m going to have to search you.”
Cona snorted. “Go ahead.”
An irritable expression etched on her face, Cona endured a pat-down, and watched the contents of her purse get dumped onto the bathroom counter. When the agent was satisfied that she wasn’t hiding anything, he let her go.
Cona walked out of the bathroom and back into the station to see that the CIA agents had overrun it. They were doing random searches of everyone. People were yelling. Children were crying. Her face flushed and groin sore, Cona bowed her head and hurried off.
On the cab ride home, she fidgeted and groaned. With every bump the car hit, she could feel the sample sliding deeper into her.