Chương 51: The Agent and the Archaeologist

Regina checked the time. Where the hell are you coming from? She wondered, strumming her fingers on the desk. It had been an hour now since she had given the voice the directions to the rest stop and still no word. She checked the time again, as if somehow it would speed things up. It didn't. It just made her more keenly aware that this was taking forever. She checked the surveillance monitors and there had been no security breaches, so she doubted the communicator they had given her had a tracker in it.

That at least was a positive sign. It meant that this woman, whoever she was, wasn't feeding her a line of garbage in order to flush her out.

"Regina?" the voice asked through the communicator sitting on the desk. Regina jumped at the sudden break in the silence of the bunker. She scrambled to press the button to respond.

"I'm here," she replied.

"I was beginning to think you stood me up."

"I'm at the rest stop, as you requested," the voice stated.

"I apologize about the wait; it took me a lot longer than I thought it would." Regina began pressing buttons and typing. She pulled up the security feed on the high-resolution monitor. She had hidden security cameras at the rest stop years earlier, surprisingly they worked as well now as they did when she installed them. She didn't see anyone on camera one so she clicked on two, checking the strategically placed cameras, one at a time. The place appeared to be deserted.

She was about to ask the mysterious stranger where she had parked, then she saw it, a black vehicle parked in the shadows by the old snack shack.

"I want you to put the interior lights on inside your vehicle before stepping out with your hands in the air," Regina said, coldly. The interior illuminated and she saw a solitary female sitting in the driver's seat. She saw her reach for the door handle and carefully watched her as she stepped out.

"Open your coat," Regina demanded.

"Now turn around slowly." The woman did as instructed.

"Now slowly go to the other end of the building, you will find a vehicle parked there. The entry code is 7443. I will have eyes on you the entire time," Regina instructed, clicking to open the other monitors. The woman slowly began to walk in the direction of the building with her arms still in the air.

"You can put your arms down," Regina said before snickering. Regina's eyes moved from one monitor to the next, being sure there was no one coming out of the woman's vehicle or surrounding the perimeter. She watched while the woman punched in the security code and entered cautiously.

"Now start the vehicle. I have already plugged the coordinates into the auto-drive function. Just sit back and enjoy the ride," Regina said. Regina waited, watching the side-by-side monitors. On one side she had the vehicle's interior displayed in night vision, on the other, the long drive up to the barn. When she saw the lights pulling up the drive she got up from the desk, grabbed her weapon and exited through the side door. She stood in the shadows watching and waiting to see if anyone had followed.

Once she was sure the coast was clear she called out to the vehicle.

"Slowly get out of the travel pod with your hands up and walk toward the barn." The woman did as she was told, while Regina scanned the perimeter.

"Closer," she called out. The sound of gravel crunching under the stranger's feet cutting through the air was like a fog horn in the bay.

"Keep coming until I say stop," she said, watching the woman cautiously.

"Okay, stop. Do you have any weapons?" Regina asked.

"No, Regina, I am unarmed," she replied. Regina inched her way out of the shadows with her weapon trained upon the stranger.

"I'm coming up on your left side. Keep your hands in the air please, and don't make any sudden movements. I would hate to have to shoot you before we have the opportunity to become acquainted," she said, with calculated confidence, to be sure the stranger got the message.

"I would too," the stranger said, almost laughing.

"I understand why you're doing this, but this is overkill, even for you." Regina patted the stranger down with one hand as she kept the gun skillfully trained on her.

"Alright, you can put your hands down, you're clean."

"I told you that, Regina. If we are going to work together, you need to trust me," she said, smiling at her.

"You seem to know far more about me than I do you. So, why don't we start this chat with you telling me who the hell you are, and what you want from me," Regina said, holstering her weapon.

"My name is Dr. Elena Rasmussen," she said holding out a hand.

"It's great to finally meet you face to face," she said warmly and just a little too perkily for Regina's taste. Stolen novel; please report. Regina glanced at Elena's outstretched hand like it had offended her ancestors in some way, before folding her arms.

"I think you will be very interested in what I have to say," Elena said withdrawing her hand, which seemed to have been standing in the abyss for eternity. She looked at her hand, shrugged then placed it by her side.

"Is there perhaps a place we could sit down and talk?"

"For now, right here will just have to do," Regina said, coldly.

"If you're a doctor, what do you want with me, I'm not sick."

"I'm not that kind of doctor, I am or was, an archaeologist," she said, sadly.

"What do you mean by was? Isn't that something you are or you're not? I didn't realize was an archaeologist, could even be considered an option," Regina asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Well, I was an archaeologist until Blackwood systematically discredited me and my colleagues and then sent his goon squad to shut not only us down, but to squash the discovery we made," she said, shaking her head in disgust.

"He has got to be the evilest madman alive today." The words left an expression on her face resembling the look someone would have after taking an unknowing bite out of spoiled fruit. You forgot, dimwitted, narcissistic, megalomaniac, but who's keeping score? Regina's mind snickered.

"How so?" she asked.

"Regina, you don't have to feign ignorance. I know you have some pretty strong feelings about your boss and what he has been doing," Elena replied, shooting Regina a knowing look.

"How do you know so much about me?" Regina asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Well, my organization has operatives in some, shall we say, strategic locations. We began infiltrating key departments years ago.

"Once it became apparent what Blackwood's ultimate agenda was, we knew we had to push forward," she said.

"As creepy as it sounds, we have been watching you for years but needed to be sure of your allegiances before reaching out to potentially recruit you to our side." Regina sighed heavily. She looked at Elena with disdain and skepticism.

"How do I know you are legit? I mean for all I know, this is some form of test or trap? I mean you just told me you have been creeping around for years watching me. That alone is a big enough red flag for me to put a couple in your skull right now." Regina said, knowing all too well but trusting the wrong people had nearly gotten her killed once before.

"I have no way to prove any of it," Elena said, her voice now careful and guarded.

"I took a huge risk by coming here to you. I did exactly what you asked. I trusted in my belief that you are someone we want… maybe even… need… on our team. I'm asking you to do the same." Regina thought about this. Elena was right. She had done exactly as instructed. No games, no tail, not even a weapon. Either she was incredibly stupid, or she was placing a great deal of faith and trust into her.

"Alright, I'm not saying I believe you, but I'm not saying that I don't. I need more than just your word before I commit to anything. I need facts and concrete evidence that what you are telling me is on the up and up."

"Okay, how about this?" Elena began.

"Recently you were sent to another dimension of sorts, in a device that seemed out of the realm of possibility. That is only a small portion of the discoveries me and my team made before Blackwood had us shut down under the guise of a toxic waste site."

"You have my attention," Regina said flatly.

"He had sent you over there to find a baby, not just an ordinary child, but one that is foretold about in some ancient text," Elena said.

"He wants to eliminate this child because he feels it is a threat to his plans. I know you do not have access to a lot of the information, but that was the scope of your mission, was it or was it not?" Regina nodded her head. This Elena woman, whoever she was, knew far more than she should.

"What else can you tell me?" Regina asked. Maybe now I can get some real answers. Her mission was to retrieve this baby, but she didn't know why, and she knew nothing about some ancient text. That was all above her security clearance.

"Regina, how about I show you? I can tell you everything, but until you see some cold hard evidence, you will remain skeptical, right?" Elena asked, hoping that this would finally convince her that she was on the up and up.

"How are you going to show me anything? I made you leave your travel pod at the rest stop, you don't have anything on you, I checked. If you think I am going to rush off with you, you would be mistaken," Regina replied, almost laughing.

"Do you have a secure connection to Shadowlink from here?" Elena asked.

"I know stupid question, I don't think there is anything you do that is not secure," she snickered.

"Shadowlink was shut down during the regime change, there is no way to access it," Regina replied.

"Regina, I know you are probably more versed in the back door entry to the system than I am. Just because Mordak's TAP team shut it down doesn't mean it went away. It was just hidden," Elena said.

"TAP?" Regina asked.

"I'm really sorry, I don't know what that is."

"Titan Application Protection. They're the guys that shut down pretty much every database and search engine we had and replaced them with the Blackwood approved systems. I know you know what I am talking about."

"Yeah, I just wanted to see if you knew what you were talking about. To answer your initial questions, yes, I have access to a secure Shadowlink connection, but no, it's not here. I'm not that careless. This is just an abandoned farm, and from the looks of things, there hasn't been any connections here in decades."

"Will you take me to it? Without a secure Shadowlink connection, I cannot show you anything," Elena said.

"We will have to drive to it, and I will have to blindfold you. If you're okay with that then I can get you on a secure Shadowlink connection."

"Do what you must Regina. Blindfold me, tie me up and throw me in the storage area of the travel pod if it is going to make you feel better," Elena said.

"No, I don't think I will tie you up and throw you in there. I think the blindfold will suffice," Regina laughed. She was starting to like this Elena woman, now if she could only be certain she could trust her.

"Hopefully you have a blindfold, because I generally don't make a habit of carrying one on me," Elena said.

"As a matter of fact, I do," she said reaching in her coat pocket.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Elena said more than asked, turning around so Regina could put the blindfold on. Regina placed the blindfold on with practiced ease then guided Elena to the passenger seat of the vehicle she had Elena drive from the rest stop. She came around the vehicle and got into the driver's compartment.

"Please do not try to adjust the blindfold, or make any sudden movements, I will have my weapon on you the entire time."

"Got it," Elena said. Regina started the travel pod with the push of a button. The gentle hum of the engine filled the silence between the pair as Regina engaged the auto-drive.