-1Chapter 1: Coffee Talk
Regina checked her watch and decided that she had time to do something, before she had to be back at the bureau.
"Damn curfew!" thought Regina, putting the golden pocket watch back into her black and green trench coat, "Well, at least I have an hour!"
"An hour for what!" came a voice from off to the left.
Regina turned sharply to her left side. In the doorway of the shop stood Gary Carmichael, the shop's founder. Gary would be considered a tall man, only about an inch taller than Regina. Although he was old enough to be her father, Regina considered him more of an uncle figure instead of a father.
"I'm meeting up with a friend in an hour and a half. So that gives me an hour until I need to be on my way!" replied Regina.
"Well do have enough time to come in and sit down for a bit!" asked Gary.
"Sure." she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Regina gave the television set one final glance, then followed Gary into the small shop.
"The usual!" he asked.
"Yup! Nothing but!" she replied.
Once inside, Regina noticed that television at the end of the bar was on, except it was that same show she had just seen outside.
"Hey Gary! Why do you watch this crap!" she said aloud, while making her way pass old record players and pawned guitars.
"Why not!" replied Gary, handing her a cup of her usual coffee drink;
"Here you go."
"Thanks."
"It's very interesting. Boy! I would love to meet Hellboy!"
"You know it's all just a hoax, right!" Regina said, taking a sip of the warm, beautiful liquor and thinking to herself, "You don't know the half of it!"
"No way!" replied Gary, "If it were all a hoax, then why is the F.B.I. involved!"
"I don't know? Why do we blame the president for all our country's problems!" Regina asked, rhetorically, taking another sip of heaven.
"Good question. Oh well I still think it would be awesome to meet him." replied Gary.
"That it would be, Gary, that it would be…" she says, just be fore taking another gulp of coffee.
After talking a short while about Hellboy and the government, Gary decides to change topics by asking, "By the way, who is this friend of yours that your meeting up with later! I've never meet any of your friends before, except that one girl with the black hair and shy domineer. What was her name again!"
"You mean Liz! She's not shy, she's just not as outspoken as me." replied Regina.
"But how come she is the only friend of yours I've meet!"
"Trust me, Gary, you not knowing my friends is a good thing!" Regina says firmly. She takes another gulp of coffee and retrieves the watch from her coat pocket. She frowns once she sees that a good amount of time has passed. How did a whole hour just go by? "Oh well," she thinks to herself. "Sorry Gary, but I got to split! See later!"
She gets up from her seat and starts for the door. Once she's out she looks around. Something is out of place. She's not sure what it is exactly, but she figures that she should check on it first. She goes over to bench at the park across the street and sits down. She closes her eyes and "sends" herself out. She sees children at play, a house wife beating the dust out an old rug, and a couple of what seemed gang bangers deciding on robbing one of the local banks. She now even more work tonight. She tried to pick up part of their conversation.
"Don't forget! Lincoln and First at seven tonight." said one the men, in a harsh and deep tone. Something about this man didn't seem right. He smelled different. Different from a gangster. Something that almost made him seem un-human. The other guy wasn't much different either.
The two men shock hands and then paused. "What was that!" the first man asked abruptly. Regina froze. Had they picked up on her eves dropping? She made a hasty retreat back to her body. Once she was coherent again, she opened her eyes and looked around the area. She looked over to where the two men had been, but no body was there. She quickly stood up and began to walk in the opposite direction.
"Lincoln and First? Tonight? At seven?" Regina asked herself. Why would somebody target Lincoln and First? The only thing that was worth targeting at Lincoln and First was and the old Mackin Library, a type of museum that hosted "rare" artifacts from around the world. The current exhibit there was called "Magick", a supposed collection tools used during ancient times for acts of magic and spirit craft. But there was nothing "rare" about this exhibit. They were all fakes anyway. But that man was very clear on what he said. 'Lincoln and First at seven tonight.' What could possibly be worth stealing there? Whatever it was, Regina now knew that something was going down tonight at Lincoln and First at seven. And with that thought, she pressed on homeward, determined to be ready for whatever would happen that night.