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Author: DG Fisher 1. LOST PART 2 CHAPTER 24 CHANGE IN PLANS2. LOST PART 2 CHAPTER 25 WHAT'S IN A NAME?3. LOST PART 2 CHAPTER 24 REARRANGING

G - English - Drama/Romance - Published: 12-06-03 - Updated: 01-31-04 id:1630716

LOST - PART 2

What's In A Name?

Chapter 25

The next morning Adam and Nate arrived at the building that housed Pinkerton's New York City office at eight o'clock on the dot. Nate was trying his best to hold back his excitement, but Adam could tell he was fighting a losing battle.

"Nate, why don't you let me do the talking at first," he said in a low and soothing voice, alarmed by the high spots of color on the blond man's cheeks.

Nate nodded vigorously and Adam sighed as he opened the door and went in, with his friend practically walking up his heels. He stopped at the reception desk and an annoyed expression passed over his face when Nate bumped into him. Smiling pleasantly at the young man behind the desk, he knocked Nate back with an elbow.

"Excuse me, we're here to see Mr. Pinkerton." The young man smiled back.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Not a set time, no, but he did tell us to come see him this morning."

"Your names please?"

"Nathan Anderson and Adam Eden," he answered and had to elbow Nate again when he heard his friend's quick intake of breath, knowing the blond man was about to burst out in nervous laughter.

The young man's smile widened in amusement as he quickly stood, went to the door directly behind his desk, knocked once and went in.

"When did you decide to use that name?" Nate asked, still fighting back laughter. Adam gave him a quick, annoyed look over his shoulder.

"When he asked for our names, and back off would you? You're breathing down the back of my neck!"

"Oh sorry," Nate answered, got a firm hold on his sense of humor, and stepped up to stand beside his friend. The office door opened then and the young man came out with Pinkerton right behind him.

"Adam! Nate!" he said with a smile, moving toward them with his right hand out. The three men quickly shook hands and Pinkerton turned to lead the way into his office.

"Have a seat," he said as he dropped into his desk chair, and then silently surveyed the two men.

"I'm glad to see you, I wasn't completely sure you would show up this morning," he said with a twinkle in his deep-set eyes.

"Why is that?" Adam said seriously, tipping his head slightly sideways.

"Well, my offer of employment was rather unexpected and your acceptance was immediate. I thought you might change your minds after having had enough time to reflect."

Adam shook his head. "I don't say anything that I don't mean, and very seldom ever change my mind," he said firmly and Pinkerton's gaze sharpened.

"I see," he said and continued to meet Adam's straight gaze for a few moments before turning his eyes to Nate.

"And you are also quite sure this is what you want to do?" Nate bit the inside of his cheek to hold back a nervouse giggle.

"Yes, I'm quite sure," he said quietly and mentally patted himself on the back for his restraint.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Pinkerton answered as he leaned back in his chair and turned slightly sideways. "Now I have to tell you I expect exemplary behavior from my people. I know a great deal about your background Nate, but almost nothing about you Adam."

"That's because there's nothing to know and nothing much I can tell you," Adam answered quietly then went on to explain. "I was attacked some months ago and thought to be dead, so I was taken to the morgue at Graylane hospital. The doctor who was slated to do the post mortem realized I was still alive, but I died on the table in front of her. She saved my life."

"She?"

"Yes, Doctor Theadora Westwood."

"Oh yes, I remember hearing that name before. When did you get out of the hospital?"

"A week after the attack. Since then, I've been living in her home," Adam's expression plainly said he wasn't happy with the personal questions he was being asked.

"You still live there?"

"Yes I do..."

Nate quickly jumped in, and received a deeply annoyed look from his friend. "They're engaged."

"I see..." Pinkerton responded while giving Adam another assessing look. "Have you set the date yet?"

Adam sighed, "The tenth of July."

"Good! Congratulations, and I assume you will want at least a few days off then."

"Yes I will, but only three. We won't be going anywhere."

"All right then," Pinkerton smiled as though genuinely happy for his new employee, and Adam relaxed, sure that the personal questioning was over now.

A knock sounded on the office door, so Adam and Nate turned to look in that direction as Pinkerton called out, "Come in!"

A tall, raw-boned man with cool gray eyes and iron gray hair opened the door and stepped in.

"Adam, Nate, this is Jerry Culpepper, one of my best men. He's going to give you a quick tour around the place, and then bring you back here so we can talk some more."

Jerry waited just in front of the door as the two men got to their feet, and then shook their hands as they introduced themselves.

"Be sure to be back by nine-thirty," Pinkerton called as they went out.

"Yes sir!" Jerry gave the man behind the desk a salute that managed to be both snappy and slightly flippant before shutting the door on Pinkerton's deep laugh.

"We might as well start downstairs," Jerry said to his two charges as he led the way down a long central hallway. He stopped at a door set in the middle of the long wall and ushered them into a huge room full of ranks of file cabinets. A slender, brown-haired woman was at the front counter handing over several files to a young man. She turned around when Jerry came up behind her.

"Kate, how are you? I didn't know you were back in town," Adam's eyebrows rose at Jerry's deeply respectful tone.

"I'm fine Jerry, how are you? Have you been sniffing around any arson cases lately?" her sparkling eyes laughed up at Jerry and his cheeks flushed slightly red.

"No ma'am, seems like no one has been inclined to commit arson recently."

"Well it's no wonder, every firebug out there shakes in their boots at the mere mention of your name," she gave Adam and Nate quick appraising glances. Jerry turned even redder then realized Kate was waiting for an introduction.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "Kate, this is Adam Eden and Nathan Anderson. Nate, Adam, this is Mrs. Kate Warne...she's supervisor of all our female agents."

Adam's eyebrows rose even higher as she held her hand out to him first. When he took her hand in a firm grip and shook hands, she let out a quiet chuckle in appreciation of his silent message.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Mrs. Warne," he said, quite seriously and she nodded to him with a wide smile, before turning to Nate who followed his friend's example and shook hands with her too.

"I'm giving them the guided tour," Jerry said when Kate turned back to him.

"Ah! So you're the two new hires Allan was talking about," she glanced at the watch pinned to the bodice of her dress. "I'm very sorry, but I'm late for a meeting." Giving each man another brief nod, she started for the door.

"Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you two settle in," she finished and was gone.

"Interesting woman," Adam murmured and Jerry laughed.

"I'll say! She's been with Pinkerton since '56!"

"And she's in charge of women agents," Adam said, merely stating a fact.

"She kind of reminds me of Theadora," Nate offered and his friend laughed.

"Oh definitely!" Adam agreed.

"Who's Theadora?" Jerry asked.

"His fiancé," Nate answered and smiled at Jerry's frown of concentration.

"That name sounds familiar...wait a minute! Is she a doctor at Graylane hospital?"

"She used to be," Adam said, giving the other man a narrow-eyed stare.

"You're actually engaged to her?" Jerry blurted out before he had a chance to read Adam's expression.

"Yes I am," Adam said tightly, but then relaxed when the other man clapped him on the back.

"Congratulations you lucky bugger, that woman wouldn't even give me the time of day!" he said with enthusiasm before turning to the clerk behind the counter who had been enjoying watching the exchange.

"Beau! Why don't you show these two around the files and I'll be back in a few minutes to pick them up."

"Sure!" the young man agreed and hurried around to open a door set in the sidewall.

Jerry watched them go through and when Beau shut the door, he hurried from the room and dashed down the hallway to the stairs. He raced up the stairs, two at a time, and then down the center hall on the second floor, skidding to a stop at the last door on the right.

"Hey!" he said as he stepped through the open door. "I believe each of you owes me a dollar, my friends...they're here!"

A heavily muscled man of average height, with curly brown hair and almost olive complexion rose to his feet.

"You're kidding, those two bartenders actually had the nerve to show up?"

Jerry laughed. "That's right Mikey, and I expect payment in full today!" The other resident of that office laughed too.

"What do you think is so funny John, you lost the bet too!"

John shook his head, his open boyish face flushed slightly red with laughter. "Too true, but I made a side bet of two dollars with Jerry that you'd refer to them as 'those two bartenders' in your first sentence, so I'm actually ahead by a dollar."

Mike stared at him speechless for a moment in disbelief, then burst out laughing. He walked over to his partner's desk and sat on the edge as he reached out to ruffle his friend's light blonde hair.

"You are learning, me boyo!" Shaking his head, he laughed again. "Who would have thought such sneakiness lurked behind that sweet baby-face."

Jerking his head away, John smoothed his hair back into place and grinned. "That's my secret weapon, now isn't it? Get a suspect to trust you and they'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know."

"Damn it John," Jerry chuckled, "how the hell did you know he'd say that?"

John shrugged, "I just did...you can't work with him for as long as I have and not get his pattern down pat."

Mike was still smiling, but also giving John an intense look. "Something tells me I better start paying more attention to what you're up to," he said and the smaller man rolled his eyes.

"Sure, and that will last all of about fifteen minutes before something else grabs your attention."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike's tone was definitely bordering on annoyed.

John's pale blue eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to answer when Jerry banged on the door.

"Excuse me! Now is not a good time for you to have one of your little spats! You need to be ready and present a united front when Pinkerton brings them up here. Adam and Nate may have been just bartenders before, but let me warn you, both of them have a lot going on upstairs. And you two idiots are going to have to haul it to keep up."

Mike and John gave each other bleak looks as the tall man turned to go.

"But cheer up, boys! Who knows, maybe you might learn a thing or two from them," Jerry said over his shoulder as he left the room. Then he smiled a very wide smile, hurrying down the hallway.

"My, my, my...this is going to be very, very interesting!" he said to himself while clattering down the stairs at full speed. He stopped outside the file room to catch his breath and wipe the grin off his face before going in to collect his two charges.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The three men made it back to Pinkerton's office ten minutes early, but Jerry knocked on the door anyway. When Pinkerton called out, "Come in," he opened the door, waved the other two men in, and then closed the door behind them.

Pinkerton looked up with a broad smile, and motioned for the two men to take a seat, and then turned his attention back to the document he was holding. He quickly finished reading, signed it then placed it on a stack of similar papers set to the right side of the blotter.

"Well!" he said and let out a deep breath. "What do you think of our organization so far?"

"I am incredibly impressed," Nate answered calmly, and after slanting a sideways look at him, Adam sighed silently with relief that his friend had settled down and was being his normal self.

"You are?"

"Yes sir, I've read a great deal about police procedures and investigation. Now that I've seen your organization first-hand, I can understand why you and your people are both feared and respected by the criminal element." He stopped and steadily returned the older man's sharp gaze.

Adam raised a hand to cover a smile he just couldn't keep back. After slanting another quick look at his friend, he turned his attention back to Pinkerton when the man spoke again.

"What about you Mr. Eden?"

Smiling at Pinkerton's subtle joke, Adam paused before answering.

"Unlike Nate, I haven't done extensive reading on those subjects, but I CAN say that I'm also impressed with everything I've seen. In particular the attention to detail and your methods of recording information." He smiled when the man behind the desk laughed at Adam's oblique reference to their first conversation.

"Excellent!" Pinkerton said and chuckled before continuing. "You two will be spending your first two weeks becoming familiar with every aspect of being a Pinkerton agent, from weapons training to questioning suspects. Did Jerry go over the code with you?"

The two men glanced at each other, and then shook their heads.

"No Jerry didn't," Nate offered. "But I'm very familiar with it."

Pinkerton's eyes narrowed as he focused on the tall blond man. "I see....please continue."

Nate flushed a little, not sure how to read the other man's expression, but went on. "Your agents do not accept bribes and never compromise with criminals. They cooperate with local law enforcement agencies when necessary, refuse divorce cases or those cases that will involve scandal, and they turn down reward money. Your general policy is to never raise fees without a client's pre-knowledge, and you keep them apprised about the status of the case on an on-going basis."

He relaxed some when the older man smiled slightly while nodding his head. "No agent is to have any addiction to drinking, smoking, card playing, low dives, or any other socially unacceptable behavior."

"Correct!" Pinkerton almost crowed and Adam held back a laugh at the man's enthusiasm.

"Very good Nathan, you seem to have a better understanding of the code than some of my agents that have been here since the beginning!" He turned to Adam with a subdued twinkle in his dark gaze.

"Do you have any questions?"

"Not on that subject, but I would like to know if the assumptions I have made are correct."

"And they are?"

"First, I received the impression that you are just as interested in the criminal mind as you are in anything else."

Pinkerton nodded in agreement and gave Adam an expectant look.

"Second, I could see that you record every bit of information on each person that is available in an effort to know the character of each criminal AND the character of their work."

"Yes absolutely!" Pinkerton interrupted, fired up by Adam's astute assessment of the heart of the agency. "You see, by putting my personal experience and my familiarity with these matters together with the information in our central files and the character of the work, I can often determine the person or person's who committed the crime."

Both Adam and Nate were leaning forward in their chairs, fascinated by the picture Pinkerton was painting.

"We also use the information we receive and record to teach preventative measures to businesses and to help the police. Especially in the area of handling and movement of money...after all, that's what the criminal element is usually after in one way or another."

He paused to smile at how similar the two men in front of him now looked while wearing the same intense expression.

"Now you understand why our field agents send every bit of information they come across, no matter how small, to be added to our central files. And why we record a detailed physical description as well as a picture of the person. This way, we can use our card filing system to cross-reference everything about each one, including their method of committing the crime. You will find that they all have something, something that they typically do that is as good as a signature to identify them."

"Then the trick is to find that particular detail or group of details," Adam said low and the older man chuckled.

"Exactly!" Pinkerton slapped his palms on the desktop as he stood and the other two men quickly rose too.

"I think now would be a good time to take you upstairs so you can meet the other two agents you will be sharing an office with." He strode quickly across the office, opened the door and went out, not looking back and assuming Adam and Nate would follow. They hurried to catch up with him.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mike and John were sitting at their desks on the right side of the room while Jerry leaned up against the wall near the door. All three men heard Pinkerton's voice rumbling as soon as he reached the top of the stairs and entered the second floor hallway.

"So Pat has already hired replacements and only asked you two to stay on for another week? Good! Then you can start this coming Monday." Pinkerton reached the last office door on the right a few steps ahead of the two men following. Adam quickly stopped when the older man did and rolled his eyes with a deep sigh when Nate couldn't stop quickly enough and bumped into him again.

He shot an irritated look at his friend over his shoulder, and when he turned back he saw Pinkerton had entered the office and was watching them both closely. So were Mike, John, and Jerry, and each man's expression said they were amused by Adam's annoyance. Pinkerton waved them in as Mike and John stood and walked over.

"Adam...Nate...this is Mike Mahoney," he said and Mike held his hand out to Adam who grasped and shook it firmly then waited for the other man to let go first. Mike flushed slightly as his eyes narrowed, aware of the tactic and that he had been standing there holding Adam's hand for too long. He hastily let go.

Pinkerton held back a chuckle. "Mike," he continued, "this is Adam Eden and Nathan Anderson." He indicated each man with a nod and Mike quickly shook hands with Nate and murmured, "Pleased to meet you both," while moving back.

"And this is Johnnie Breckenridge," Pinkerton continued and Adam noted a slight wince pass over the young man's pleasant boyish face.

"I'm very pleased to meet you John," he said quietly and smiled when the younger man's eyes briefly widened in surprise before they shook hands.

"Likewise," John said, smiling up at Adam, and then quickly let go to shake the tall blond man's hand.

"Glad to make your acquaintance too," he said and Nate smiled widely as he nodded at the youthful looking agent.

Jerry had moved to half-sit on the edge of one of the unoccupied desks when he had heard Pinkerton coming, and he was now practically strangling as his throat worked, trying to keep his laughter back. But he quickly wiped the grin off his face and straightened up when his boss turned in his direction.

"Adam, Nate, you two can fight out who gets which desk over here on the left, and don't worry about Jerry. This isn't his office, although you might think so with all the time he spends here."

The tall man ran a hand through his iron-gray hair and gave Pinkerton a smart-aleck grin. "I can't help it that nobody's been setting fires or blowing anything up lately."

"Hmmm...I guess you're right about that," Pinkerton said dubiously then turned back to Mike and John.

"I expect you both to be here next Monday bright and early to start showing Adam and Nate the ropes. Neither of you have an assignment right now, so that shouldn't be a problem." He turned back to Jerry.

"Jerry, please take them down to the accounting office so they can be added to the payroll," he said, couching an actual order as a request and the gray-eyed man straightened up as he nodded.

"I have an appointment or I'd take you down there myself," he explained to Adam and Nate as he shook hands with each man again. "But I'm definitely looking forward to working with you both." He smiled as he made his last comment then was gone.

The five men still in the office listened to his footsteps hurry away and Jerry had to clear his throat and swallow hard before he could speak without laughing.

"Well, come on you two and welcome to our happy little family," he said as he moved past them. Nate quickly followed him, but Adam paused to sweep his sharp gaze around the room.

"See you Monday," he said quietly and looked at each man with his half- smile and hooded eyes for a few seconds. John smiled and nodded in response while Mike frowned as Adam turned and strode away.

As soon as he was gone Mike took in a deep breath and let it out noisily. "That big one's gonna be trouble, I can feel it in my gut."

"Oh I don't know," John said softly and his partner elbowed him in the side, almost knocking him over.

"WHAT!" he demanded, his gold brows snapping together as he frowned at Mike.

"Just because he smiled at you and called you 'John' instead of 'Johnnie' doesn't mean you can trust him, chucklehead."

"Mike, why do you always assume I have to agree with your opinion? And I'M telling YOU that if you have any brains to speak of under all that hair you'd be smart to stay on his good side."

"Oh so YOU"RE telling ME now sonny boy?"

"Yes I am, damn it, and don't try to drag me into some stupid territorial war between you two. And you know why? Because you will lose, you stubborn thick-headed mule!"

The two men stared at each other with true hostility for a few moments until Mike suddenly started to laugh. "Thick-headed mule?" he gasped out and John flushed red.

"I'm sorry, but sometimes you just push me too far."

"I know, I know, but I still say the big one's scary looking."

"I don't, I kinda like him and the other one too, even though they DID steal our idea about rounding up that gang."

Mike was still chuckling. "Yeah I guess you're right, and technically they didn't really steal that idea. I mean everybody was talking about it and we didn't have a complete plan anyway. They figured out how to bring them in after all."

"True," John agreed quietly as he walked over to his desk and sat down. Mike came over to do the same.

The two sat there silently for a few moments, just thinking until John broke the silence.

"You realize if we're supposed to show them the ropes next Monday it might be a good idea to bone up on that subject ourselves. Something tells me Adam won't be very happy if we get anything wrong."

"Good God yes!" Mike agreed and reached behind him to pull two binders from the bookcase there. He paused to blow some dust off of them before setting one down on his desk and tossing the other onto John's.

"Well let's get started then," he said, definitely unhappy. He opened his and started reading while John fastidiously cleaned all the dust from his.

A few minutes later Mike grinned and slanted a sideways look at his partner.

"Hey!" he said.

"What?" John answered without looking up.

"I always knew your were smart Johnnie, but when did you grow a set?"

John's lips twitched as he kept his gaze fixed on the page he had been reading. The seconds ticked by and Mike was shaking with silent laughter until his partner sighed.

"Mike."

"What?"

"Shut the hell up!"