The Thunder Rolls
By: Jake Boney
Chapter 1: Breakfast
It started out as a typical August morning for Secret Service Agent Pete Lattimer. It was sweltering hot outside, in the South Dakota badlands, making him all the more thankful for the window A/C unit that his partner Myka had given him for his last birthday. The smell of bacon in the frying pan caught his attention, and immediately garnered a smile and a groan of excitement from Pete. He bounded down the stairs as quickly as he could, bacon was his favorite breakfast food. As he skidded around the corner, he had to chuckle, the sight that met his eyes was exactly what he expected to see. Myka was absent mindedly eating fruit salad with her nose glued to the newest member of her private library, a mystery novel. Artie and Claudia were having a quiet discussion about the latest ping on the Warehouse's radar, and he knew that this would mean that he and Myka would, no doubt, be on the road before lunch. Leena was at the stove frying up some bacon and scrambled eggs. Pete tore into his breakfast with all the vigor of a man eating his last meal, knowing full well that he would probably be missing lunch...again.
Agent Myka Bering let out a low chuckle, her partner always looked like a man who hadn't eaten in days when he sat down for breakfast. He must have noticed that her attention was no longer on her book, because he was grinning at her with his cheeks packed full of scrambled eggs. He looked so much like an overgrown chipmunk that she laughed out loud. Apparently she laughed a little louder than she had intended, because Artie and Claudia's hushed discussion had ceased altogether. This caused her to blush and slide back behind her book. Books always made her feel safe, other than that time in Ireland with that Druid Manuscript, but that wasn't a normal book, so it didn't count.
Claudia looked at Artie after Myka's rude interruption and said "I suppose now is as good a time as any, right Geezer?" She knew that Artie disliked the nickname that she had given him, but that just made it all the more fun. She had been working at the Warehouse for nearly a year and a half, and felt more at home here than she had anywhere in her life. She had a family here, and her unique set of skills were actually useful on a daily basis. Claudia was very adept with computers. She was an expert hacker, she had actually hacked into the Warehouse's computer system once, which has some of the most sophisticated security and firewalls on the planet. Also, if it was on the internet, Claudia could find it. Her comment to Artie had to do with Pete and Myka's next assignment, and she was thoroughly enjoying keeping them guessing a little. Claudia was sure that they would not be very happy once they found out what they would be facing. The Warehouse system was pinged late last night, while they were all asleep. Since she was an early riser, she was almost always the first one in the Warehouse every day. Today, when she arrived, there was an alert flashing on her computer monitor that she hadn't seen before. The alert said "CLASS 3 DANGEROUS ARTIFACT DETECTED!" She immediately went and filled Artie in on the situation. That was why they were talking so quietly when the agents walked into the dining room, they didn't want to get them too worried before breakfast.
"Alright Claudia, let's fill them in, and quit calling me Geezer!" said Agent Arthur Nielsen, more commonly known as Artie. He was not thrilled with the situation at hand. This artifact had surfaced once before, nearly one hundred years ago, and the agents sent to retrieve it were never seen again. He knew that the agents sitting before him were some of the best that the Warehouse had ever seen, but that did little to quell his fears.