Chapter 4
Danny groaned as he rubbed his chest, he was going to be cool and mysterious. When he'd learned about the surveillance on the original ARC members, Danny just became more determined to see them, especially the Temples. So he'd broken into their house and waited on the couch for them to get home.
Unfortunately, he hadn't factored in their new 'protective parents' reflexes. So when they'd opened the door to see someone sitting on their couch, neither of them hesitated.
"Again, I'm really sorry for shooting you, Danny." Abby told him, setting down the cup of tea. Connor grinned, which he'd been doing since he was sure Danny was alright.
"Yeah, it's just you've got to be careful with kids, you know." Connor added. The kids in question were sitting on the couch, watching some odd, completely impossible to understand cartoon full of flashing lights and weird noises. They were enthralled.
Of course, they'd been terrified when their parents had shot someone with a gun their mother pulled out of her purse, but when Danny had shown them that he wasn't hurt and convinced the kids it wasn't a real gun, they'd warmed right up to him. And then Abby gave Connor twenty pounds, which gave Danny the cause to act overly offended.
"You two bet twenty pounds on whether I was still alive or not?" He'd asked, grinning the whole time. Connor had just laughed.
"I never lost faith." He assured Danny, "And now I gained some money out of it too."
So now the three of them were sitting around the table, preparing to catch up. Connor was looking over the blueprint Steve had for the anomaly locking device. It had been Steve's condition for giving him the Temple's new address.
"So how'd you get back?" Abby asked first, "The anomalies have all closed." Danny had already decided how to answer that question.
"Got lucky, I suppose." He said, "I just saw one and took it." Danny tried not to feel guilty about lying to his friends, after all it was partially true. He knew that if Connor and Abby knew the anomalies were back, they'd both want to jump in, and he wouldn't let them do it, not with two children at home.
"What about Patrick." Connor asked, making a note on the blueprint. "Did you ever find him?"
"No," Danny replied truthfully, "gave up looking to be honest. I realized he didn't want to be found after the first year, so eventually I stopped searching for him and started looking for a way back. After four years, I found it." Abby frowned suddenly.
"But why did you break in?" She asked, looking at Danny with concern. "Why didn't you just knock on the door?"
"I heard from a friend of mine that works in MI5 that old ARC members were under surveillance." Danny lied easily. Surprisingly, Abby slapped the table in joy while Connor groaned.
"I told you he was watching us." She said loudly, "Random coincidence my butt. Pay up." Connor groaned again and glared at Danny as he pulled his recent winnings out of his pocket and handed them back to his wife. She grinned widely as she put her money back into her purse.
"Danny," Connor asked suddenly, looking up from the blueprint, "Why am I working on an anomaly locker if there are no more anomalies?" Abby stared at the blueprint and back at Danny.
"Anomalies have begun showing up again, haven't they?" She asked in mild fear. Danny saw her give an involuntary glance at her two children, who were sitting on the couch, still watching their show. Danny nodded slowly, knowing he couldn't keep it a secret any longer.
"And you're planning on stopping them yourself." Connor accused, his voice rising. "Well, I hope you can manage, because we have a family now, Danny. You can't ask us to risk that again." Danny stopped, he'd never seen Connor get angry before, even when Abby yelled at him on the other side of a anomaly in the future. But now, he seemed livid at the thought of Danny trying to bring them back into their old lives. Danny looked at Abby, she looked just as resolute. Danny looked back at Connor. who seemed ready to explode again at any moment.
"I don't want you coming back in, Connor." Danny told him calmingly, "That's why I didn't tell you about the anomalies in the first place."
"Oh," Connor said, deflating a little, "so you plan on trying to control anomalies all by yourself, then?" Danny shook his head.
"There's actually a team already in place." He told them, "They call themselves the New ARC, but they're doing pretty good. It's all unofficial, but they've been at it for a month now, and they haven't died yet." Abby nodded., looking thoughtful.
"Matt always said the anomalies would be back." She said, "I've always thought that's why he left."
"What happened to him?" Danny asked, "One of the guys on the new team said that he just fell off the grid and hasn't been heard from in years."
"He and Emily, his Victorian era girlfriend, traveled through an anomaly that led into the future." Connor explained, "He wouldn't give a lot of reason why, he just said he had to."
"After he and Emily went through, the anomalies closed, seemingly for good." Abby added. "We haven't heard anything about them since." Danny nodded, trying to digest the news. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Danny tried to steer the conversation towards happier topics.
"So," he began, "sorry I missed the wedding." He grinned and sat back as Connor launched into a full blown description of their wedding, talking animatedly with his hands. Listening to Connor, Danny felt happier than he had in a long time.
XXXXX
Ben walked into his dorm room on campus and tossed his bag beside his desk. He sat down with a groan and put his head in his hands. The weeks of late nights and last minute alerts had finally caught up with him; he'd just received four flunking test grades from separate classes. He'd known he'd fail all of those tests anyways, he never found time to study anymore. Any free time that he had where he wasn't chasing dinosaurs, he had to use to sleep so he'd be able to keep chasing dinosaurs.
Ben gave another groan as his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, expecting to see Steve calling him to tell him about another anomaly. Instead he saw his mum's name on the caller id. Ben mentally prepared himself to talk with her. They loved each other, but occasionally, she could be a bit overbearing. Ben flipped his phone open and hit accept.
"Hi, mum." He said immediately, also wondering why she'd be calling at all.
"Hi, Benny." She responded. Ben winced internally, he hated his childhood nickname of Benny, but his mother wouldn't hear a word against it.
"I was just wondering what's been going on with you." His mum continued. Ben nodded to himself, she was sticking to her standard questions.
"Nothing much," He replied, "Just, you know, school and studying." Ben gave the pile of failed tests a guilty glance.
"Well I was just talking to Ryan Matthis' mother the other day. And she said Ryan told her you've seemed a bit distant. he says he rarely ever see you. I just wanted to call and make sure everything was alright." At that moment, Ben felt the weight of everything he had to do bearing down on his shoulders. He wanted to tell his mother the truth; that he wasn't ok, that he worried about making a decision that would get himself or one of his friends killed every day, that he couldn't sleep at night worrying over everything that was going on in his life. While he was struggling over whether to tell her everything, his phone beeped. Ben looked at it and saw Steve was calling. Ben knew what he had to do.
"Mum, I've got another call. I'll have to call you back another time."
"Can't they call you back?" His mum asked, "I am you mother, you know. I think I take priority." Ben shook his head, classic mum.
"Not over this mum," He replied quickly, "I've got to go, I love you." Ben quickly disconnected the call and answered Steve, snapping into leadership mode.
"What's going on, Steve?" He asked as soon as the call connected. Steve sighed.
"We've got another weird one, boss." Steve replied, sounding exasperated.
"Underwater?" He asked.
"It doesn't seem like it. It keeps flashing, it'll be here for a minute, and then gone. I don't know what's going on with it." Steve said, sounding confused.
"Right, check the old ARC records for anything similar and meet me there, I'll call the others." Ben told him. On the other end of the line, Steve sucked in air through his teeth.
"Might be a slight problem with that." He said, "Darren and Taylor are out of town, Darren had some photos he had to take in the country, and Taylor went with him. They're hours away." Ben cursed under his breath, he didn't want to respond to an odd alert without two of his team while they had an untrained centurion and a loose cannon old ARC leader.
Ben still wasn't sure where he stood with Danny. He didn't know if Danny would take orders from him, or if he'd try to take charge. To be truthful, Ben almost wanted Danny to be in charge, to have the responsibility of keeping the team alive off of his shoulders. Ben decided to focus on the immediate problem and cross the bridge with Danny when he got to it.
"Fine, then send everyone else the coordinates and meet me at the anomaly site." Ben said, standing up to leave. Steve sucked in his teeth again.
"Another problem," Steve began. Ben groaned internally. "I can't be there either, I've got to go to the central office."
"Can't you reschedule it?" Ben asked angrily, "I need my whole team on this one Steve."
"Look, sorry boss," Steve replied, "but I responded to the last anomaly while I was working and ended up telling an old lady to go bake cookies in hell. They kind of frown on that up at central. So I've got to go and get myself a new asshole torn, and you're on your own, buddy."
"What about Danny?" Ben asked, feeling desperate, "Do you know where he and Lucien are?"
"Lucien's at his monthly National Guard training." Steve replied, "And Danny went to go visit the Temples, I don't know about Gartus."
"What the hell is Danny doing at the Temples?" Ben asked angrily, "He knew they were being watched. How did he even get the address?"
"I gave it to him." Steve said calmly. That made Ben even angrier, Steve should've known better than to let Danny run wild.
"So you told him where people, who we know are being watched, live?" Ben questioned. Surprisingly, Steve scoffed.
"Of course not," He replied, "that would be stupid. I gave him the blueprints we have for the anomaly locking device and told him to get Connor Temple to fix it up for me. Then I told him where people, who we know are being watched, live." Ben sighed, it couldn't be helped now and at least they might get a working anomaly locker out of it.
"I don't know about Gartus, though." Steve continued. "I mean, we gave him a spare phone, but I don't know how much he remembers about how to use it."
"Don't worry about Gartus." Ben replied, "I know where he is. Send the coordinates to me and Danny, we'll check it out." Ben grabbed his car keys and began heading out of the door.
"Good luck." Steve said finally as he hung up. Ben went to his car and got in, checking the location Steve had sent him. The anomaly was at least an hour away. Ben nodded to himself as he pulled out of the parking lot, he wasn't looking forward to this.
XXXXX
After he got off the phone with Ben, Steve called Danny to let him know about the strange anomaly alert they'd gotten, maybe it was something he'd encountered before. Danny picked up after two rings.
"Quinn here," The ex-cop said as he answered, "what's up?"
"We've got an odd anomaly alert, it keeps flickering." Steve told him, "But half the team is occupied. it looks like it'll just be you, Ben, and Gartus; but I have no idea where he is."
"Oh, Gartus?" Danny replied, "Gartus has been tailing me all day, I think Ben put him up to it." Steve was shocked into silence for a moment.
"Well, that's... nice of him." Steve said after a moment. "I didn't think he'd do something like that, I'm a little surprised." Danny didn't seem worried.
"Nah," He replied, "it's good leadership skills. I'm a wild card, see, so sending someone to make sure I don't get into trouble is a good idea. Of course, my first pick wouldn't have been the Roman centurion with two days worth of experience in the 21st century, but the choices were limited." Steve nodded to himself, surprised at how unoffended Danny seemed to be about being tailed.
"Right, well, I'm sending you the coordinates and you can lead Gartus there." Steve told him, "The Temple house is much closer to the site, it'll take Ben at least an hour to get to you, so be careful."
"No problem," Danny replied, "I just left Connor and Abby's a few minutes ago, I've got your plans, by the way." Steve nodded to himself, if they had the updated plans, he could easily build the locking device in a week.
"I've been meaning to ask you." Danny continued, "When I visited the ARC the second time, they had a collection of creatures that weren't able to return to their own times. So what happened to them when the ARC shut down?"
"Because of convergence and the anomaly spike that followed," Steve explained, "there were anomalies opening up to every time period out there. A special crew was put together just to transport creatures from the ARC to the anomalies. They managed to send every creature back to it's own time."
"That's good," Danny said, "I'm sure Abby was thrilled. One more question, what happened to all of the ARC's equipment? The ADD, EMD's, and locking devices?"
"Locked up." Steve answered, "Before we even met the others, Darren and I scoped out the government warehouse where they keep it all, but it was way too heavily guarded. Like, shoot on sight guards surrounding the entire facility. We can't get to any of that, only the files."
"Ok then," Danny said after a moment, "I'll go check out that anomaly."
"I'll send the location to your phone." Steve told him, "Good luck."
"Thanks," Danny replied, "I'll see you later." And he hung up. Steve texted Danny the address and continued driving to the central office, waiting to get yelled at by at least four different people, he wasn't looking forward to this.
XXXXX
Danny stopped in the street and stared at his phone in shock. The anomaly site was the same house where it all began for him, where Patrick had disappeared and where he'd spent so long looking for answers. He tried to force himself to move, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. He sank to his knees and leaned against a nearby building for support. A man kneeled in front of him.
"Are you alright?" The man asked. Danny looked up and saw Gartus talking to him. Before Danny could respond, Gartus lowered his voice.
"Someone is following you." He said in a low tone. "Go somewhere quiet so we can take care of him." In a louder voice, Gartus said, "If you're alright, I'll just be on my way." Gartus walked off, leaving Danny still sitting on the ground. He knew he had to move, had to get to the anomaly site. The house was probably still abandoned, they could take care of the tail there.
As he walked down the street, Danny silently berated himself, he'd been careless at the Temple's, and now their watchers knew that they were meeting with someone who didn't want to be seen and knew about the surveillance. Danny focused on catching his tail and finding out how much he knew and how much he'd passed on to his superiors.
Danny could see the bridge that led to the abandoned house where he'd lost his brother almost twenty years before. His thoughts flashed back to Patrick, the fun they'd had as children, and the total despair and loss that had hit him when he'd disappeared. Then the shock of seeing Patrick alive after fifteen years and finding out that he was a murderer and a terrorist. A woman's voice cut into Danny's reveries.
"You can't go in there." She said. Danny hadn't even noticed the girl walk up to him. She looked young, with short brown hair and a schoolbag slung over her shoulder. Danny frowned at her.
"Why not?" He asked, with a slight tone of accusation.
"Because that house has very rabid and angry bats." The girl told him. Danny stared at her, she was obviously hiding something.
"Bats?" He said, giving her an amused grin, "You really expected me to believe bats?" The girl sighed.
"Fine," She said, exasperatedly, "If you really want to know, there's a camouflaging gremlin that lives in that house that will kill you if you step inside." Danny was taken aback at her blatant honesty, although he was sure she meant it to confuse people. Danny played along.
"That's ok then," He told her, "I was part of a secret government agency that dealt with things like this. That gremlin came through a tear in time and space called an anomaly." Danny noted her look of surprise, but he continued. "Now when was the last time you saw this gremlin?" He asked. The girl looked shocked at the turn the conversation had taken.
"I haven't seen it in years," She told him. That was good, she was probably referring to the one he'd encountered with Abby and Jenny.
"I used to feed it at night." The girl continued, "I'd make sure it had enough food so it wouldn't hurt anyone. Then a woman named Abby Maitland told me that she would make sure it didn't hurt anyone." Danny nodded.
"I met that one too." He told her, "I shot it in the head so it wouldn't hurt anyone. I'm Danny Quinn, by the way." The girl looked even more shocked than before.
"E-Emily Davis," She responded, sounding a little frightened.
"Nice to meet you, Emily." Danny said, patting her on the shoulder. "Now run along, I've got to check out the house, I think another anomaly has opened up in it and there might be more gremlins."
"I'm coming with you." Emily volunteered suddenly. Danny was surprised by her decision.
"No, you can't." He insisted, "It'll be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt." Not to mention the government tail that would be coming to the house any minute.
"You might get hurt if you're in there alone." She said, sounding concerned. Danny shrugged.
"I'll be fine," He told her, "my Roman centurion friend will be coming soon." Emily looked skeptical at his answer, but she seemed ready to believe anything at that point.
"Well I'm sticking with you until he gets here." She stated. Danny sighed.
"Fine," He said finally, "but you listen to everything I say and follow my every order." Emily nodded and walked behind Danny as he crossed the bridge and got to the front door.
"I think there's an open window in the back." Emily told him. Danny kicked the door in instead.
"The only part of being a copper I actually enjoyed." He told her. Emily shook her head and followed Danny inside.
The house was clearly deserted, and had been for far too long. Danny could smell the must and of an empty house and he saw mold creeping along one of the walls. Emily looked around, obviously worried.
"Do you think there are any gremlins in the house yet?" She asked, still looking around.
"No way to know until they make a move." Danny responded, "We'll go check out the upstairs anomaly in a minute.
"Why do we have to wait?" Emily asked, looking curious.
"Because my centurion friend is bringing a guest." Danny said with a grin.
XXXXX
Gartus Iorta was a worrier, it was just part of his personality. So when he'd gotten behind the man who was following Danny, he was sure the man was on to him. Gartus was worried that he'd overplayed his hand by tipping Danny off about his pursuer, but he still couldn't figure out how to use the phone Steve had given him.
When he got closer to the house Danny had gone inside with a young woman, Gartus moved to hide down an abandoned side street. Soon, the follower had passed by him, seemingly oblivious. As the man got closer to the house, Gartus silently began to follow him, moving from one area of cover to the next, trying to remain undetected. But the man seemed focused on getting to Danny and the woman he was with.
Gartus still didn't know what to make of Danny, or any of the others for that matter. Steve and Darren seemed like good men, they'd given him somewhere to live while he was stranded in the future, and they seemed to like him. He'd barely gotten to know any of the others since he'd arrived in the future, the only person he'd even seen more than once was Taylor, and she seemed to come to Steve and Darren's home just to see Darren.
Thinking about Darren and Taylor reminded Gartus of his wife, Phillipa. She had probably been forced to remarry since he'd been gone to help provide for their six year old son, Titus. He missed them both and fervently hoped he'd find a way back to his family.
The man reached the front of the house and stood in front of the steps, seeming to compose himself. Gartus ran at full speed, not caring about silence anymore. He got behind the man and wrapped his arm around the man's chest, pinning his arms to his chest. As the man struggled to get free, Gartus placed the tip of his knife against the man's jugular. The man froze.
Danny opened the front door, ushering them inside.
"C'mon," He whispered, "the neighbors will be watching." Gartus looked around in surprise and fear, but there were no other houses within eyesight. He frowned at Danny, who sighed.
"It was a joke, Gartus." He explained wearily, "Now hurry up and get that guy inside." Gartus nodded and dragged the mysterious man into the house. He saw the brown haired girl look at him and Danny in shock.
"Are you kidnapping someone?" She asked, terrified. Surprisingly, Danny shook his head.
"Nope, this man is a government spy; he doesn't even exist." At Danny's words, Gartus squeezed the struggling man.
"He feels real to me." Gartus told Danny. Danny sighed again.
"It's a figure of speech." He explained. Gartus nodded, trying to understand all of the new rules of language he'd missed in the last two thousand years. Gartus tightened his grip on the government spy.
"Can we restrain him?" He asked Danny, tired of trying to keep the man from getting away. Danny pulled a sash from the curtain over the window. He tied the man's hands behind his back, allowing Gartus to put him down. The man slid backwards until he was pressed against the wall and glared at the three of them.
"I'm not saying anything." He spat. Danny just smiled at him.
"That's fine," He responded, "you just sit there and not talk, we've got bigger fish to fry at the moment." Danny turned to Gartus.
"I like that trench coat," Danny told him, "it sort of suits you." Gartus grinned.
"Thank you," He responded, "I chose it for the inner pocket." Gartus held open his jacket to reveal his sword and scabbard, which he'd placed into the inside pocket of the coat Darren had given him. The young woman looked shocked.
"You really are a Roman centurion, aren't you?" She asked in disbelief. Danny slapped himself on the head.
"I forgot to introduce you." He said apologetically, "Emily, this is Gartus, commander of Caesar's fifth legion. Gartus, this is Emily Davis, psychology student." Gartus frowned.
"What is psychology?" He asked, confused. As Emily was preparing to explain, they heard a gurgling noise from the government spy.
All three of them looked at the same time to see the man's mouth foaming and his eyes rolling back into his head.
"Help him!" Danny yelled as he rushed to the man, kneeling beside him. But it was already too late, the man was dead. Gartus looked in disbelief at the man who'd been alive and healthy moments ago; what cruel god had done this? Danny suddenly pried the man's mouth open and stared at his teeth. He sighed and pointed to a missing tooth that Gartus was sure he'd had before.
"Cyanide capsule." Danny explained to Gartus and Emily. "He killed himself rather than tell us anything. I think this is getting bigger than we'd thought." Danny began going through the man's pockets. Gartus, to whom looting the dead was nothing new, was unsurprised; but Emily seemed almost offended.
"What're you doing?" She asked angrily. Danny looked at her plainly.
"I need to see what information he might have passed on to his boss." He explained. Danny pulled out the man's phone and his wallet. He tossed the wallet to Gartus.
"See what you can find out about him from that." Danny instructed, "I'll go through the phone."
Gartus opened the wallet and looked at the picture in the front and center of the wallet. It had the man's picture and name, along with other descriptive information.
"It says his name is- was Roger Templeton." Gartus told Danny.
"Check behind it." Danny said without looking up from the phone, "He probably has more." Gartus pulled out the first card and saw several more behind it.
"Tom Mahoney," Gartus read, looking over the different names with the same information. "Simon Bellamy, Rudy Wade, Owen Harper; he's got more of these than I think is normal."
"That's spies for you." Danny told him, looking up from the phone. "They're a different person each week. What else does it have in there?" Gartus looked at the unfamiliar cards and assorted pieces of paper. Surprisingly, Emily took the wallet out of his hands and began flipping through it.
"Nothing unusual here, Danny." She said. Danny looked up in surprise.
"What are you doing?" He asked as she kept looking through the man's numerous cards.
"I'm helping." Emily replied.
"I don't want you to get involved in this." Danny said firmly, "You shouldn't be going through the dead man's stuff, you should just leave right now, forget you ever saw us and this Roger Templeton."
Emily shrugged, "I just saw a man die in a house where you say there's a tear in space and time," She replied nonchalantly, "I think I'm involved enough as it is." Danny looked at her angrily, but shook his head.
"Well, he hasn't made any calls in the last eight hours." Danny informed them, "And he's only received one text, which told him to follow white male, medium build, red-brown hair, green shirt and jeans." Danny gestured at what he was wearing, "Which means me. So, on the upside, they don't know who we are or what we do. On the downside..."
"There's a dead man in a house we're trespassing in." Emily finished. "And there might be camouflaging gremlins in the house." Gartus looked at Danny in alarm.
"You didn't say that creatures might already be in the house." He said accusingly. "We should have been checking on that."
"These things can change their color to match their surroundings." Danny explained, "We won't even know they're there until they strike. So I decided to take care of the government spy first."
"I think he is taken care of." Gartus stated simply, "We need to watch that anomaly." Danny nodded, looking at the stairs. He began patting the dead man's body, talking to the others as he worked.
"It should be upstairs, but Steve said it was flickering, so it might not even be opened right now." Danny said, "But let's go have a look." Emily looked at the dead man with concern.
"What about him?" She asked, pointing to the dead spy. Danny shrugged.
"Leave him," He said casually, "We can deal with it later." With a grin, Danny seemed to find what he was looking for and pulled a black object with a cylindrical top and a rectangular bottom, meeting in an L shape. Danny looked at Gartus and displayed the object in his hand.
"It's called a gun." He explained, "Think like a bow that fires tiny metal arrows that can tear through a man's body." Gartus looked at the device with a new interest and held out his hand for a closer inspection. Danny pulled back his hand.
"I don't think so," He said quickly, "I'll let you play with the gun after this alert is over and I can make sure you won't hurt anyone." Gartus nodded, it seemed fair given what Danny said this gun could do to someone. With the issue settled, Danny began walking up the stairs, leaving Gartus and Emily to follow him.
XXXXX
Emily Davis stood staring at the glowing ball of refracting shards of light for at least five minutes before she could say anything. Even when she could, all she'd managed was a weak, "wow". And even now, after half an hour spent watching the anomaly, she was still fascinated by the constantly changing ball of light.
She and Gartus were facing the anomaly while Danny stood with his back to them, watching the back room and stairs for any creature activity. Emily tried to stop and realize what had happened to her; that she was somehow part of a group of people who's main job seemed to be controlling the anomalies and keeping people safe from the creatures that came through. Emily thought back to her childhood, when she'd decided that was her job and had taken it upon herself to feed the tiny gremlin creature that lived in the big house she was now standing in.
The door creaked downstairs, snapping Emily out of her thoughts. Gartus hefted his sword into a defensive stance and Danny pulled the dead man's pistol out of his jeans, aiming it at the top of the stairs.
"Danny?" A male voice called from the foyer of the house. "Gartus? Is anyone here? Where- Oh God, what the hell happened?" Danny grinned at Emily and Gartus.
"I guess Ben met good ol' Roger." He said, sounding way too calm for a man discussing a dead spy. "Gartus, stay up here and watch the anomaly." Danny instructed, "Emily, you're with me." Emily followed Danny down the stairs into the foyer, where a young man was backed up against the far wall, staring at the former Roger Templeton. He looked at Danny with a mixture of relief and concern.
"What the hell is going on?" The man asked instantly. Then he saw Emily and his eyes got even wider. He pointed at her, "And who the hell is that?" He asked, frantically.
"This is Emily," Danny explained calmly. He gestured to the dead man, "And that was Roger Templeton, or Tom Mahoney, or Simon Bellamy. He had some other names too, but I can't remember them all." The young man still looked incredibly worried and seemed unable to panic about both things at once. He looked directly at Emily, refusing to even glance at Templeton.
"What is she doing here?" He asked Danny, anger rising in his voice. Danny shrugged.
"She volunteered, she dealt with anomalies before, she's good in a pinch, isn't that the only criteria you lot have?" The other man seemed to deflate and give up the argument. He extended his hand.
"Ben Trent, New ARC team leader." He said, his voice sounding dull. Emily shook the outstretched hand.
"I'm Emily," She told him, realizing as she said it that Danny had already introduced her. "I dealt with the creature that came out of this anomaly six years ago." Ben seemed to perk up and he looked more interested.
"Has there been an incursion?" He asked Danny. Danny shrugged.
"They look like little gremlins, and they can camouflage themselves." Danny explained, "But there hasn't been a problem since we've been here." Emily gave an involuntary, humorless laugh. Danny nodded at the dead man, conceding the point.
"There hasn't been a creature problem." He amended, "One poked it's head through about fifteen minutes ago, but Gartus waved his sword at it and it scarpered."
"So Gartus is here?" Ben asked, looking around. Danny nodded.
"He's upstairs, watching the anomaly." He told Ben. Ben nodded, looking thoughtful. After a few moments of silence, he gave a deep sigh and pointed at the dead man.
"Explain to me why there's a dead guy in the house, Danny." He said, obviously trying to keep calm and collected.
"He's a spy." Danny informed his boss. "He picked up my tail and followed me here. Gartus saw he was following me, so he tipped me off without being noticed." Emily frowned, a question forming in her mind.
"Why did Gartus need to tell you about the tail without being noticed?" She asked. "Wouldn't he have been with you the whole time?" Surprisingly, Danny looked amused about something while Ben looked extremely guilty. Danny patted the younger man on the shoulder.
"Ben told Gartus to follow me." Danny explained to Emily. She looked between the two of them with a shocked expression on her face, but Danny waved his hand jovially.
"It's what I would have done." He asserted. Ben looked up in shock. Danny shrugged.
"I've got a reputation for being a loose cannon." Danny added, "Ben made the right choice to send someone with me while I was out. It probably saved my life." Danny gave Ben a reassuring smile. "Just don't do it again." He added in a menacing tone.
Suddenly, Gartus walked down the steps, looking triumphant. "The anomaly is closed." He announced happily. "And I did not see any creatures." Ben gave a sigh of relief.
"I think this is the first alert we've ever had where there wasn't an incursion." He admitted. Emily looked at the three men, who were all grinning at a job well done, and asked the question that had been on her mind almost since she'd gotten inside.
"What are we going to do with this body?" She asked. Danny sucked in air through his teeth.
"We'll have to hide it somewhere." He said after a moment. Surprisingly, Ben laughed.
"I can do you one better." He stated as he pulled out his phone. Ben punched in a number and waited patiently. Emily saw Danny and Gartus exchange confused looks. Soon, someone on the other end of Ben's call picked up.
"Charlie," Ben said jovially, "I need a favor, a big one." Ben listened quietly for a moment. Emily looked at Danny, who seemed even more confused than ever.
"Definitely three rounds on Thursday," Ben said at last, "at a minimum. Here's what we need. I'm looking at a man who took a cyanide pill disguised as a tooth. He's sitting in the abandoned house on Pillsbury. Can you make this look like a regular suicide?. . .Uh huh, yeah, we can do that. . . yeah, it's closed. . . Alright will do, tell Ross I said hello and we'll see you at the Winchester on Thursday. Thanks, mate." Ben hung up the phone and looked at the shocked faces of his newest teammates.
"We saved a couple of cops once." Ben explained, "So now they give us a hand when they can. Delaying the authorities, keeping people away from anomaly sites, stuff like that." Emily was sure her expression of shock matched Danny's and Gartus'.
"We've got to go now, though." Ben added, "The police cars will be on their way in minutes and we can't be here when they get here." Emily nodded, shaking herself out of her shock. The four New ARC members hurried out of the house and into Ben's car, speeding away as the sound of sirens approached from the other direction.
XXXXX
As he pulled into the parking garage of his apartment complex, Darren looked at Taylor sitting next to him. It had been a long day of driving and photographing the countryside and he was glad she'd chosen to come with him.
"You wanna come in?" He asked. "I think Steve was planning on showing Gartus how to play video games; it'll be worth a few laughs." Taylor smiled.
"Yeah, I'll come up for a bit." She replied as they got out of the car. Darren took her hand and they walked to the elevator. Darren pressed the button for the third floor.
"Do you think Steve will be ok?" Taylor asked suddenly as they rode up. Darren looked at her.
"I'm sure we'll never know if he isn't." He responded after a moment. "He hides a lot of his emotions under his humor. Even I don't know if there's anything wrong half the time."
The elevator reached the third floor and they got out, Darren reaching for his key. As he unlocked the door, he was greeted with the sight of the rest of the New ARC team and a young brown haired girl who he'd never seen before.
"What's going on?" He asked, looking at everyone relaxing around his apartment.
"Seeing as half the team lives here," Danny said, leaning back on the couch, "we decided that your apartment made a great informal meeting place." Darren nodded, it made sense but still didn't explain who the new girl was.
"Who're you?" Taylor asked, walking over to her and holding out her hand.
"I'm Emily Davis." The girl replied. She looked at Danny, "Why does everyone seemed so confused when they see me?"
"Well, this is a secret organization." Steve supplied as he moved some papers off of a chair to give Darren somewhere to sit. "We really shouldn't be picking up new people every week." Darren sat down next to his friend.
"How was central?" He asked. Steve gave a large smile.
"Oh, you know, it was central." He replied evasively, "There was some reprimanding, some scolding, my pay got docked, you know, usual central stuff." Darren looked at his friend in concern, he was holding a beer can in one hand, and judging by the several cans on the floor surrounding him, he'd been at it for a while. Taylor sat next to Darren and looked at Emily with interest.
"So how'd you get involved with us?" She asked.
"There was an alert today." Danny told them, "And Emily was on hand and wanted to help."
"Plus she's had experience with the anomalies in the past." Ben added, "That seems to be our only real criteria." Darren nodded, feeling slightly guilty that he hadn't been there to help with the alert. Taylor seemed to feel the same way.
"Was there an incursion?" She asked. Gartus shook his head.
"We were lucky and unlucky at the same time." He told them cryptically. Darren saw Lucien frown.
"He was just about to tell us that when you two walked in." Lucien told the couple. Danny sat straighter in his seat.
"I got followed leaving Connor and Abby's house." He said, looking around at the team. Darren listened with rapt attention as Danny continued his story, from Gartus grabbing the spy, to the spy killing himself. When he'd finished, everyone was silent for a moment, gathering their thoughts. Lucien spoke first.
"So you think the government sent a spy to follow you, and then that spy killed himself." He asked Danny incredulously. Danny shook his head and Ben looked at him in surprise.
"I thought you were sure he was from the government." Ben said, looking at Gartus and Emily for confirmation.
"But now you're not so sure." Emily concluded. Danny nodded.
"Him killing himself doesn't add up." Danny said, looking at everyone.
"Sure it does." Steve stated, "Spies do that all the time, watch some movies."
"But why would he?" Danny argued, "If he was from the government, then he knew we were in the wrong and we'd be punished. So all he had to do was keep himself alive long enough to miss his next check-in, and they'd start looking for us." Lucien leaned forward, looking thoughtful.
"But instead, he killed himself." Lucien continued, thinking aloud. "So obviously, he thought you were going to try and find out what he knew." Danny nodded.
"Exactly, I think this is bigger than we thought." He said, his face beginning to show the first signs of apprehension. "I think there's someone outside the government who's trying to keep anomalies secret. And I think they're a lot more dangerous." Following Danny's pronouncement, everyone was quiet, thinking about the added consequences their actions would now bring. Finally, Steve broke the silence.
"All the more reason to get drunk now." He said, looking at the others. Darren grinned as he got up and went to the fridge to get a case of beer. But at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but worry about what Danny said, and about how long they could keep the anomalies a secret. And what would happen when it did get out.
XXXXX
Jess sat on the couch watching the late night news with her husband; Becker's arm wrapped around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest. The top story was about a man named Roger Templeton who'd committed suicide in an abandoned home earlier that day.
Even though the news was on, neither one of them was paying it any attention. Though he tried not to show it, Jess knew Becker was constantly watching the door, waiting for Danny to appear through it. Jess had gotten the call from Abby earlier in the day, Danny was back and anomalies were open again.
Jess looked at her husband and hoped she didn't see the guilt in her eyes. She'd known the anomalies had been open for the past month, but it was something she and Lester had decided to keep to themselves. She knew Becker would want to get back into the action, he'd want to protect people again. She didn't fault him for it, after what happened to him with Sarah Page, and with Connor, Abby, and Danny disappearing for a year, she understood his need to protect the other team members.
But he was married now, with a safe, office job that Lester had recommended him for. And even though Jess hated herself sometimes for being so selfish, she couldn't bear to see him out risking his life again to fight dinosaurs. So she'd kept the anomalies to herself. But she did tell him Danny was back and he'd visited Connor and Abby. So now, he was watching the door, even at twelve thirty at night, waiting for Danny to come bursting through. Jess only hoped the new team had warned him about the government surveillance, otherwise, it would have been a short trip out of the Temple house.
Jess sighed and looked at the clock, it was getting late and they both needed to get some sleep, she just had to call Lester first.
"C'mon, baby," She said, sitting up and turning off the TV, "we need to go to bed." Becker gave the door one last hopeful look before getting up as well. He began heading to their bedroom and stopped, turning to look back at Jess.
"You coming?" He asked. Jess nodded.
"I'll be there in a minute." She assured him, "Just give me a minute, I don't think anyone told Lester about Danny." Becker frowned and looked at his watch.
"It's past midnight." He said, looking confused. "I think it can wait until morning." Jess gave an internal sigh, she hated lying to him.
"I'll just leave a message then." She told him, "He likes me more anyways, he'll get over it." Becker just shrugged and walked into the bedroom. Jess grabbed her phone and called Lester's number. After a few rings, a groggy voice answered
"Mrs. Parker, do you have any idea what time it is?" Lester asked grumpily. Jess enjoyed a small sadistic smile, now he got to feel how much fun it would be to get woken up in the middle of the night and get to worry himself back to sleep.
"It's Mrs. Becker, first off." Jess corrected with a small smile, she still loved saying it. "And secondly, Danny Quinn is back."
"WHAT?" Lester shouted suddenly. Jess winced and could hear someone waking up on Lester's end of the line.
"What do you mean, Danny Quinn is back?" Lester continued, "When did he get back? What happened to Ethan? How did you find out? Where is he now? It's nothing honey, go back to sleep." The last sentence caught Jess off guard before she realized he was talking to his wife.
"All I know is he's back and he visited Connor and Abby today." She told him. "That's it."
"What about the new team?" Lester asked, calming down a bit. "Do you know how they've been?"
"Abby said Danny told them he was working with some people who knew about anomalies. She said Connor updated the blueprints they had for a locking mechanism." Jess said, "So I guess Danny is with the new team and they'll have a locking device up soon."
"Good," Lester said after a while, "that's all very good. Well, keep me informed, Mrs. Becker, and good luck."
"Thanks," Jess replied, "you too." As she hung up the phone, her thoughts went back to the pair of boys she'd given the keys to the ARC to, and she hoped they'd managed to get more help, and that they'd managed to survive everything the anomalies threw at them. As she got into bed next to Becker, who was already fast asleep, Jess wondered, as she had for the last month, what the government would do if the anomalies went public. She shook her head, nestling in closer to her husband, there was nothing she could do about it now.