New Beginnings by Marcia Gaines
Chapter Five
"Stasis?" asked Steve Jinks. "What do you mean I was in stasis?" He stared at Adwin Kosan. The fire in his eyes revealed a rising anger he was doing his best to conceal. It had been three days since he awoke in the morgue and, since then, he had been sequestered from anyone who could supply him with answers until now. He was determined to find out what happened and was refusing to cooperate until he did.
"As I was starting to explain, Agent Jinks," began Kosan. "We were correct to assume Walter Sykes had every intention of treating you as a loose-end." Kosan rose from behind his desk and walked toward Steve. "You were injected with a poison. Had it not been for Cleopatra's Coin, you would have died within mere minutes."
"Would? I would have died?" yelled Steve. "I woke up in a morgue not fifty feet from here!" The look on his face showed his incredulity with the situation. "You promised me!" Steve pointed an accusing finger at Kosan. "You said you would keep track of me at all times, and at the first sign of danger you would pull me out!" He threw his hand backward with disgust. "So much for promises, huh?"
"Agent Jinks," was all Kosan could say before Steve exploded on him.
"Don't 'Agent Jinks', me!" he yelled. "I want to know. What happened out there? Where was the cavalry? Where were the people who were supposedly looking out for me? Tell me, Kosan, where were you?" He struck Kosan's chest with the tip of his finger. Kosan looked down and then back up into Steve's face without flinching. Steve's voice took on a decidedly derisive tone as he continued his onslaught. "You sent me in there knowing the probability I could die – and all the while my team was kept in the dark. They couldn't have my back so you were supposed to! That's what you told me!" His voice rose as his anger boiled into outrage.
"Where we were," replied Kosan in an even tone, "was trying to secure the safety of the Warehouse and the Agents trapped inside."
In an instant Steve's anger gave way to concern and his eyes widened with the realization Kosan's words presented. It never occurred to him Sykes might actually succeed with his plan to take down everyone and everything related to the Warehouse. "Oh God, what happened? Who was trapped inside? Is anyone hurt? Please tell me everyone is okay." He pleaded with his eyes as well as his voice.
"There was, unfortunately, a loss of life." Stated Kosan. Steve's face fell.
People died, he thought. After everything I did to try to protect my friends and the Warehouse, it still wasn't enough. He turned to face the wall as he asked his next question. "Who? Claudia? Is she okay?" He braced himself for the answer.
"We lost Ms. Wells… regrettably. Ms. Donovan, however, is fine. Everyone else is fine." Steve sighed and his face registered his relief, but his look remained troubled. He barely got to know Helena before his world went black, but he knew she was in grave danger. Sykes went to a lot of trouble to secure Emily Lake and the Janus Coin. H.G. Wells was the key to Sykes' master plan, and Steve hoped his revelation to Claudia and the team had given them enough time to prepare. He only wished he had more time to explain everything. Sykes was not just determined. He was also very thorough. In the moments before losing consciousness Steve learned how thorough.
"Sykes?" asked Steve as he turned to face Kosan.
"Mr. Sykes died." Answered Kosan. He failed to emerge from the portal between the Sanctum and the Warehouse before the connection was severed. "It's over," he said with finality.
Steve contemplated Kosan's face before his own darkened. "No," he said gravely. "It's not."
Claudia and Pete poured over files for over an hour looking for anything to shed light on the connection between Steve's message to Claudia and Sykes' plan against them. They added a few more notes to the board, but for the most part were unable to find anything conclusive. Nothing stood out to either of them. Although Claudia remained on task and diligently kept looking through the piles of folders, Pete's frustration got the best of him. He gave up mining for information and plopped down in the recliner with a comic book to take his mind off the hunt for information. Just as he opened the cover to his special first edition of "Manhunter", Myka walked into the room.
"Did you guys find anything?" she asked them as her eyes swept the room.
"Nope," said Pete. "Big fat bupkis." Claudia looked at him and then at Myka before adding her own thoughts.
"I feel like Mr. Magoo trying to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey," she lamented. "There's nothing we can find." She tossed an open folder to the side.
"I was thinking…" Myka replied and walked to the board. She looked over the columns of jotted notes. "When Steve said 'keep the faith' he was speaking in present-tense. He meant for us to keep an active faith, and I think it's safe to assume he meant to keep the faith in him. And that means, he wanted us to believe things weren't as bad as we might think they were." Pete closed his comic book and stood. He walked over to Myka and was joined by Claudia a moment later. "And since we know he made the video only in the event of his death…" her voice trailed off, but Pete picked up on her thought.
"Then it wouldn't make sense for him to say that…" Pete looked at Myka and they exchanged glances.
"Unless…" she said, "he knew his death wouldn't matter." Myka looked at Pete and a smile spread across her face.
"Wouldn't matter…" Claudia looked back and forth between Pete and Myka. "Wouldn't matter? In what universe would it not matter?" Claudia's confusion filled her voice.
"Remind me to remind you to go for target practice the next time we're stumped," said Pete. "Claud, it doesn't matter because Jinksy never intended on staying dead."
"Wait. What?" Claudia asked.
Myka's smile grew into an ear-to-ear grin as she spoke. "Think about it. It's the only thing that makes sense! If he knew he wasn't going to really die, then his message to you makes complete sense. 'Keep the faith', Claudia. He was telling you not to worry because he knew he'd be back at some point."
"Yep! Ole Steve-o is alive-o," said Pete happily.
"How do you know?" Claudia asked skeptically. She wanted more than anything to believe Steve was alive, but it was hard for her to understand how he could be. She remembered his lifeless body, all color drained, sitting in the chair at Sykes' airport hangar. She remembered when the Regent's staff members showed up and took charge of him. There were hardly any words exchanged as they moved him to the stretcher and transported him to the hospital in the back of the unmarked hearse. When the hospital staff met them at the morgue Claudia heard them pronounce Steve as 'dead on arrival'. It was impossible for her mind to wrap around the idea he could be anything but dead, but she desperately wanted to believe he could be alive.
"That is what we don't know," said Myka in response.
"It has to be an artifact," Pete said. "Right? I mean that's the only thing it could be."
"There's a way to find out for sure," said Claudia with hope in her voice. "Let's check the manifest!" She headed toward the Warehouse office with Pete and Myka trailing her.
Adwin Kosan sat quietly. He folded his fingers together and closed his eyes, pausing for the briefest of moments before he spoke. "You are sure of this?"
Steve nodded and said, "Yes. That's what Sykes and Marcus discussed at the hangar. I tried to ask questions to get more detail, and I think that might have been what tipped them off." Steve grew somber. All he wanted to do when he heard their full plan was to make a phone call to try to warn everyone at the Warehouse, but that was impossible to do with Marcus always keeping an eye on him. So he sat and listened and tried to remember as much as he could, but none of that ended up mattering. Marcus injected him and he never had the chance to put up much of a struggle. His world went dark too quickly, and the next thing he knew he was in a freezing cold morgue. The thought of it made Steve shiver. It was one thing to have a near-death experience. It was another to be pronounced dead and placed in cold storage.
"Do you have any more details than this?" Kosan looked at him over the top of his folded fingers. Distinct concern tugged at his face and brought a slight scowl to his face.
"No, that's all I know," said Steve. "With the Warehouse back in operation, it may already be too late."
"Yes. Most likely it is." Kosan stood and looked at Steve. "Agent Jinks. I am glad you're okay. I want you to know that. Working for the Warehouse is a dangerous thing – for everyone. We do our best to mitigate against circumstances whenever possible, but there are times when even our best efforts fail." He paused to consider his words and placed his hand on Steve's shoulder. "You put yourself in harm's way and gave the ultimate sacrifice. There are no words to thank you enough for your service." Steve looked at his hand and then at Kosan. He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
"There's only one thing that matters right now," said Steve as he stood. Kosan headed for the door and Steve followed.
Claudia led the way into the office with Pete and Myka trailing her. Artie was seated at his desk and was intently checking news reports and videos on the internet. He often browsed online data streams looking for strange patterns or other unusual events. More than once they found cases through his efforts rather than waiting for a ping to come to them through typical channels. He glanced up at them as they came through the door and lowered his head again as he went back to browsing. Claudia rushed to her desk and flipped open the lid to her laptop. Pete and Myka came to a stop behind her.
"Artie?" she asked. "Do you know of any artifacts that can prevent someone from dying?"
Artie lifted his head and swiveled his chair to face them. "Why? What are you three up to?" he asked with an air of skepticism in his voice.
"We think Steve may have had an artifact with him when he died," answered Myka as she stared at Claudia's screen.
"When he didn't die, you mean," offered Pete as he gave Artie a knowing look.
"What does that mean?" asked Artie.
"It means, we don't think Steve is dead," came Claudia's reply. "We're looking for an artifact that could have prevented him from dying that day. Do you know of any that could do that?" She looked up at Artie as she spoke.
Artie was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was under orders not to disclose what he knew about Steve, but he also knew his team. They were dedicated and they were smart. They were onto something, and now that they knew where to look it was just a matter of time before they figured it out for themselves. Moments like these annoyed him to no end. His face reflected his inner-conflict and he turned around to avoid letting too much show, but it was too late. Pete was the first to speak.
"Artie, what is it?" Pete watched him turn away. He knew Artie's facial expressions and could tell there was something Artie was not telling them.
"Do you know something, Artie?" Myka said picking up on Artie's hesitation.
"Spill, old man," demanded Claudia as she stopped typing and joined in on the interrogation. They stared at the back of Artie's head and watched him heave a large sigh.
"It's alright, Artie. You may as well tell them now that they're this close." Mrs. Frederic's voice filled the silence.
"Gah! Just…" said a startled Pete as he spun around in the direction of the voice. "Stop that! Geeze!" A few seconds later he added, "When did you get here?" Mrs. Frederic gave him a silent stare in reply.
"Tell us…what?" Myka looked at Mrs. Frederic and then at Artie.
Artie turned around and looked briefly at Mrs. Frederic before answering. "Yes. Steve had an artifact that saved his life." He took in the astonished faces of the team. "Steve is alive."
"Something is wrong," said Jane Lattimer. She was seated in a large leather chair in an adjoining office to Adwin Kosan's. She held up her right arm displaying her Guardian's bracelet.
"What's the matter, Jane?" asked Kosan in a concerned voice. He walked to the chair and looked at her wrist. The bracelet did not look to be active or abnormal in any way.
"I don't know," she said. "I just feel… odd. Something just seems… off."
Steve Jinks looked at the bracelet and asked, "Is that the bracelet that put up the shield around the Warehouse?"
Jane nodded and said, "Yes, Agent Jinks, it is. When the Warehouse is in immediate danger, this bracelet activates a protective barrier." She rubbed her wrist as she spoke. "It does many things, but it is the final defense of the Warehouse if all else fails."
"When you say you feel odd, what do you mean?" Kosan sat in a chair opposite to Jane. He took in Jane's countenance and decided she did not seem to be in any immediate danger, but she did look tired and her furrowed brow indicated she did not like whatever it was she was feeling.
"It's hard to describe," she looked at him. "It's like I pulled a muscle, or a tendon, or something. It's better than it was. When it started all I wanted to do was cut the bracelet off, but now it's really just a mild ache." She rubbed her wrist again. "I don't think it's serious, and if it keeps decreasing in intensity, I doubt I'll even notice anything in a day or two; but, the thing bothering me is that ever since the Warehouse returned I've been feeling like everything is just a little out of sync." Kosan turned his gaze to the floor. He knew what this meant and it was not a good sign. The Guardian for the Warehouse was tied to the building in ways few people understood, but he was one of those few.
"What you are feeling," Kosan said, "I think I know what it is. You are fine. The Warehouse is not."
"In what way?" asked Steve.
Kosan paused before speaking. He was not entirely sure how to explain the issue. "It is likely all was not returned the way it should have been." He looked to Jane as he spoke. "With the reaction you are having being as mild as it is, it is nothing severe. However, it is almost certain some level of continuity has been broken at the Warehouse location. When Agent Nielsen brought the Warehouse forward, we knew there was likely to be some sort of repercussion, but we could not anticipate what it might be."
"Continuity." Said Steve. "What do you mean, how can continuity be changed at the Warehouse?"
"I'm afraid I really don't know, Agent Jinks," replied Kosan. "But, I think I know someone who might."
Claudia reacted to Artie's news about Steve with a predictable outrage. "You KNEW?" She yelled in his direction. "You KNEW he was alive and you didn't tell us? What the hell, Artie?" She was joined by Myka and Pete who were also angry, but more controlled in their responses. They demanded to know more. When the volume reached levels making it impossible to distinguish what anyone said, Mrs. Frederic silence the room.
"Calm down!" She ordered as looked at the members of the team. "Artie didn't know until very recently, and he was ordered not to reveal any information about Agent Jinks' circumstances." They all looked at one another, but continued to glare at Artie.
"It was deemed in the best interests of Agent Jinks and the Warehouse, for his status to remain classified." Mrs. Frederic tried to explain but no one was sympathetic to her words.
"Classified? That's what got Steve killed in the first place!" said Pete accusingly. "He died alone. He died for nothing. He was cut off from all of us and died alone at the hands of a psychopath because we were kept in the dark in the first place!" Pete's anger was controlled but clearly evident. He was incensed to learn the Regents were still playing a game of secrets in the face of all that had so recently happened.
"Where is he?" asked Myka. The tension in the room bothered her, and she wanted to give them all something else to think about instead of their own anger.
"He is in a secure location," was all Mrs. Frederic answered.
"Where?" Claudia asked pointedly.
"At an undisclosed location," replied Mrs. Frederic flatly.
"Oh for crying out loud," lamented Pete. "This is ridiculous!" He threw his hands in the air. "What reason could you possibly have to keep his location secret at this point?"
"We have no way of knowing what Sykes had planned," said Artie.
"Sykes?" asked Pete. "Walter Sykes? It's been three months since Dr. Evil blew up the Warehouse, Artie. I watched him walk into that portal. I'm the one who cut the electricity and shut it down before he got through to the other side. He never got far enough to even put a foot in the Sanctum! Walter Sykes is dead," he finished.
"No, actually, he's not." Steve Jinks closed the door to the umbilicus as he stepped into the office. Everyone stared at him in complete shock. Steve looked around and said, "Walter Sykes is still alive."
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