Thanks for kendralynora for her review and for the wonderful help that she offered me on the last chapter.
Also to CS. Great comments, as always. :)
Onwards!
The old man continued his disjointed actions and ramblings. Pete could tell that his partner was trying to be patient with him. Through an unspoken language, Myka took over handling Artie, allowing Pete the time to come down from the nearly constant adrenalin high that he's been on nearly all day. Pete grabbed a small towel and tried to rub some of the dry blood from his neck. He glanced in the mirror and patted his hair. At least his moose held up. The same couldn't be said about his burnt and blood speckled shirt.
Artie slammed a book closed and shoved it aside to grab a different, really old and dusty book and violently flip through that book's pages. His hand went to his head and scratched in a sign of frustration. "I… If only…" he shook his head and flipped another page.
"Damn!" Artie loudly slammed his hand down on the desk. Taking a breath, he collected himself and hung his head. "We almost had him." He said softly. Myka looked at Artie with genuine concern then raised her eyes to Pete. Pete's heart went out to the big guy, but he didn't think there was anything else that they could have done. Artie muttered and let the guilt wash over him. "He almost came back. I was so close…"
Myka couldn't take anymore. She got up to stand next to Artie, her brow crinkled in sympathy. She put a hand on his shoulder and emotionally said, "It sounded like you did save him Artie."
Artie swallowed, taking in her words and nodded. He looked at Myka, who was intently backing up her words, and nodded again. "Yeah." It was more of an acknowledgement of Myka's attempt at comfort than agreeing with her.
Myka smiled a sad smile. She let a moment pass then said, "What was that voice from the portal?"
Artie glanced up, then suddenly took off across the room. In another moment, he was back with a picture frame. He handed it to Myka and roughly pointed a chubby finger on the glass. "Tony. Tony Harper. Disappeared in '86 doing inventory." A clean cut group of people looked out of the black and white picture. Among them was a young Artie and a same-age Mrs. Fredric. But Myka's attention was directed to the large man with the cropped hair cut.
"Apparently, he was trapped in a sort of time worm hole. The portal that you…" Artie stopped mid sentence and stared at Myka. "How did you get the portal opened again?"
Pete leaned forward. That was a very good question.
Myka tore her eyes from the old picture in her hands. "Oh! I recreated the event. Leena said that it all happened when she went does the zip line, so I just-" she trailed off.
"Just what?" Pete prodded.
"Sent Leena down it." Myka's eyes narrowed in thought. "She should be back by now."
"You sent Leena?" Artie asked carefully.
Myka thought a bit. "Ya. Once she explained what happened, we decided to use the zip line again. So she took a little shove to get her off, but who doesn't their first time?" Myka finished talking and looked at Artie and Pete, who were sitting in silence.
Suddenly, Artie was a flurry of motion. Pete jumped up to follow him in the search for Leena. "Where's the Edison car? Is it here?" Artie asked Pete, who shrugged and got an annoyed glare from his boss.
"It's down stairs." Myka filled in.
"Ok, we'll take that." Artie grabbed his bag and threw something random into it on his way for the door. Pete followed closely behind him and ran into the old man when he stopped. "Pete. Stay here."
"What? No Artie. You go, I go."
Artie drew himself up and went. "Uh hu." He stepped closer to his younger agent. Pete managed to prevent his leg from shaking in its silent protest of having to bear his weight again so suddenly.
Artie's eyes flicked down and he poked Pete right where he got kneed in the ribs. The ensuing grunt and slight cringe was enough to prove his point.
Artie sighed. "Stay here. We'll be back." He moved towards the door again. "Trailer!" Artie's dog lifted his head and perked his ears up. "Keep an eye on him." Artie held the door open for Myka and they both left down the Warehouse balcony to retrieve Leena.
Pressing his lips in annoyance at being left behind, Pete casted a frustrated look at Trailer who groaned and stared at him, following orders. "Oh very funny." Pete said back to the dog.