Protecting 4

Pete didn't exactly tell Amanda the whole story. He had decided to go with 'needing to help a friend who was in trouble'. It was as close to the truth as he felt he could go without risking a lecture from his ex-wife or, worse, her trying to change his mind. Amanda had balked when he told her he needed to keep the Warehouse from knowing what he was up to but she eventually relented after Pete explained helping out the friend could also help out Myka. It was obvious to him that when she met his Warehouse partner that Amanda liked Myka. More accurately that she liked Myka's positive influence on Pete.

They formed a plausible reason for her needing Pete's help. The military didn't need a confirmed artifact sighting to enlist his assistance so Amanda suggested Pete tell Artie she had called him after witnessing an unexplained phenomenon. It would give them not only a smokescreen but an easy solution when nothing would, obviously, turn up during the imaginary assist. One piece of his plan had fallen into place.

After a quick call to Artie, Pete had the leave he needed. His boss's only stipulation was that if things turned Warehousee with Amanda, Pete was to check in immediately. Pete gave Artie just enough resistance on his request as to not raise any red flags and Artie explained Steve would be placed on a plane to Winnipeg so Myka had back up. Any lingering concerns about the case Pete was bailing on were immediately resolved by Artie's plan.

Not big on lying Pete reminded himself that this mission was for the greater good and if Artie knew what he was really up it would be shut down. Convinced HG needed back-up Pete couldn't afford interference that might only make matters worse.

The next phone call was to Myka, who Pete woke up.

"Hello," the groggy voice of his partner whispered into the phone.

"Sorry to wake you Mikes."

"Pete, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yes. And I'm sorry but something's come up."

"What?"

"Amanda called."

"Is everything, okay?" Myka asked, instantly alert and with great concern in her tone.

"She's okay but worried about some unexplained thing on base so she called asking for my help."

"When are we leaving?"

Pete could hear Myka climbing her way out of bed and starting to move about her hotel room.

"We aren't. Artie's sending Steve in the morning to back you up. I'm leaving in a few for the airport."

"Are you sure you don't need me to come along?"

"No, it's probably nothing. Some strange military maneuver that she's not aware of or something but I thought it was better to check on it."

"Of course. Well, call if you need anything."

"I will. Go back to sleep. Get some rest."

"Travel safe."

"Don't have too much fun without me."

Another necessary lie complete and Pete packed up his stuff.

When he got to the hotel lobby he withdrew just enough cash from an ATM to get him what he needed without it looking like what it was, cash so that he could stay off the radar. After that he grabbed an envelope and a blank sheet of paper from the front desk and quickly scribbled a note and put an address on the envelope. Shoving one of his credit cards into the note and sealing the envelope Pete bought a stamp from the desk attendant and tipped him well to mail it.

Amanda and her husband were to use the card, sparingly, while Pete was AWOL. If the Warehouse went hunting, at first glance, nothing would seem out of place. Pete would have also sent his ATM card but he didn't want to explain why, after all these years, his pin code was still Amanda's birthday.

After arriving at the airport Pete purchased a ticket, using a credit card and ID that matched one of his alias passports from his days working for the more traditional arm of the US government. Unless someone were to review airport feeds his one hour and forty-five minute flight to Milwaukee was now untraceable.

The one hole in his plan was the flight to Virginia but he solved that as well. Going to another airline he purchased, in his name and with his ATM card, a ticket on an earlier departing flight to Norfolk. After some quick manipulation on the jet way he managed to get his ticket scanned and then told one of the flight attendants on the plane that he wasn't feeling well enough to fly.

There was a chance they would go back and mark him having not flown but it was the only thing he could think of to establish breadcrumbs to Virginia. Pete considered calling a friend who worked high up in the federal aviation administration and owed Pete a favor, but he didn't want to mess with the airlines anymore than he already was doing.

His ducks in a row Pete barely managed to sit down in his middle seat at the back of the early morning flight to Milwaukee before falling fast asleep.

Sitting at her desk with the office door locked, Helena clicked the link she had been sent at the exact moment she had been instructed to do so. When she did, a window on her computer opened and a light went on indicating her camera was live. Helena's screen filled with the face of Claudia Donovan.

"To say your message was a surprise was an understatement. What's up?"

"Thanks for answering, Claudia."

"Least I could do."

"Hardly."

"What can I help with?"

Helena took a deep breath. Trust wasn't something she did easily. "Before I tell you anything I need your word that you will keep all of this just between us."

"If you promise me you aren't going to go all evil on us again."

It was a fair request. "I promise."

"Good enough for me." Claudia said as she took a long sip from what Helena assumed was coffee.

Helena smiled at the younger woman's casual way of indicating her trust was returned. "I need your utmost discretion."

"I assumed that was the case. It's not every day I get an email to that account. So what do you need?"

"I have hit an impasse looking for information. I need your expertise."

"Hard to find information. You've come to the right place." The air of confidence from Claudia was something that could never be mistaken for arrogance. She was, in a word, endearing.

"I'm living with a family in Wisconsin."

"Pete and Myka mentioned Wisconsin but what's this thing with you and a family?" The thing Claudia wasn't asking was obvious. Her tone was almost protective.

"It's a long story."

The younger woman nodded, obviously knowing she wasn't getting an answer to her real question. "So, you need information, on what? The town? Maybe this family?"

"The family."

A very tiny smile crept onto her face. Claudia looked over her shoulder and then moved closer to the camera. When she spoke her voice was excited but a whisper. "This whole thing's a mission? Like from the Regents or something."

"The less you know the better."

Claudia's face grew still. The youngest member of the warehouse team was wiser than her twenty something years.

"I need to find out everything you can about one particular person. All I can find is a wedding and a death announcement. Even in my day, the most insignificant of person had easily researched public history, if you knew where to look."

"And since the invention of the computer, no one, except a small hand-full, are truly off the grid. You think this person doesn't exist? Maybe under some kind of government protection?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I am grasping at straws."

"You're HG Wells. If I were a betting woman I would say you're onto something."

"Something just doesn't fit. And when things don't fit..."

"You see a mystery."

Helena smiled despite herself. "Precisely. Can I trust you will help me?"

"Sure. Email me what you have to that same address. I'll see what I can dig up."

"Thank you Claudia."

"You're welcome. I'll be in touch."

Helena knew if anyone could dig up something it was Claudia.

He had checked into a hotel using his fake identification and paying in cash. The front desk attendant looked at him wide eyed as she took the money and handed over a set of keys but only after Pete explained he didn't believe in credit card companies. The woman, in her mid fifties with long black hair and thick glasses, nodded at him. "Worse than the mob those companies."

Pete smiled back at her. "Exactly."

The room wasn't much different than the one he had left in Winnipeg. Plenty big enough for a good rest, which would have to wait until Pete finished what he had come to do. Throwing his bag on the bed he headed back downstairs to grab a cab, which he took to the local police station. It was late enough in the morning that he hoped Helena would already be at work.

Walking into the police station he flashed his Warehouse badge and asked to be taken back to see her. The kid, all of about twenty six, had explained she wasn't in her office but having remembered Pete from the case they had just closed the young man allowed him to go back and wait. It was no wonder the chief of police had managed a crime spree. The town police force wasn't exactly hard to get around.

Opening the door to the office Pete was struck at how sterile it was compared to when they had discovered Helena, having forgotten who she really was, living a life under the name Emily Lake. Emily's classroom was filled with bright colors and comfortable things however the woman working in a small town in Wisconsin didn't allow a drop of color into her private office or worse, a single book that wasn't related to her work.

A desk with nothing on it that didn't have a purpose took up most of the space. Two chairs for guests sat on one side, while a padded chair that didn't even swivel, much to Pete's disappointment as he took a seat in it and tried to spin it, took up the other side. Not only were there no books but also there wasn't a single photo of the family Helena had seemingly been trying to move on with by joining. The evidence before Pete only reinforced that something was very wrong in Boone.

...

Pete was experiencing with great satisfaction the biggest batch of fried chicken he had ever seen when he felt his body jerk forward and start to fall. The crash of his boots to the floor pulled him from his unintended sleep.

"Pete, what are you doing here?" Helena said from her place next to her desk. One hand was planted firmly on her hip; the other was gripping a coffee cup. She looked pissed.

"It's not every day I figure out the complicated stuff."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm here to help."

"Help with what?"

Pete stood. "After the number you did on my partner she couldn't see it, but I could."

"See what?"

"This isn't some change of pace, a chance at a normal life. You're working."

"Yes, because this is my office and now that the police department is in complete disarray I am likely to be working all day and well into the night. So if you would excuse me, I really need to get back to it."

"I'm not going anywhere. I know exactly what you are up to."

The mug that was in Helena's hand was placed rather firmly onto the desk. "What did Claudia tell you?"

"This has nothing to do with Claudia. Wait, how is Claudia involved?"

"Never mind." Helena said as she circled around the desk, an obvious attempt at avoidance.

Pete followed her around. "No, not never mind. What about Claudia?"

"I asked her for some computer help since I can barely turn one on. That's all." Helena said with one of her patented headshakes.

"You're a "woman from another time" but even you're better with a computer than I am. This isn't about tech support, Helena and I'm staying right here until you fill me in."

"Pete, leave it be."

Slapping the desk hard enough that he wanted to wince but didn't want Helena to see it, Pete then pumped the air. "I knew it. You're on assignment."

"Pete."

"Which means you need backup."

"You're delusional. I am living my life far away from the Warehouse."

"Under order of the Regents."

The reference to the secret order of protectors hung in the air and rattled the usually very steadfast time-traveled agent. "Pete, just go back to wherever you were and forget about what you think you know."

"Can't do that."

"Why not?" Her question was almost a yell.

Pete stopped his rapid-fire interrogation technique and looked Helena square in the eyes. "Cause agents look out for one another and, from what I can tell, you're out here alone."

"I'm just fine."

"Actually, you're not."

"Actually, I am."

"Helena, when we left here I was seeing it all wrong. I was only seeing what you wanted me to see and what I, obviously, needed to see, the possibility that this life might be able to include a white picket fence and a family at some point. As soon as I put some distance between all of this and what happened, I had one of my feelings, those really bad feelings. If I let you get yourself killed Myka would never recover and I would never forgive myself so, you're stuck with me."

Helena looked from Pete to her shoes and back up at him. Her eyes seemed tired and maybe even a little wet. She was holding back emotions Pete had never seen the strong woman before him display not even when she tried to sacrifice herself for the good of the universe. No words came, which, in his experience, was also something new. Instead Helena merely nodded in either thanks or defeat. Pete didn't know which and frankly didn't care. They were now a team.