Chapter 2

John sat in his Jeep staring at the main entrance of the Federal Building in Phoenix. He didn’t want to enter, but knew he couldn’t postpone it any longer. For the past three days, he had been driven by the urge to come to this place. He got out of the car slowly and looked at his walking stick. He thought he wouldn’t be allowed to bring it through security, but decided to try it anyway. Rover leaped out of the car and stood next to him. He closed the door.

People stared at him as he walked to the building from the parking lot. He cut an imposing figure at 6 foot tall and 200 pounds. His snow-white beard reached the middle of his chest. His hair, brown with the exception of two white streaks, hung down to the middle of his back. He wore his cloak over his blue jeans and blue work shirt. Rover glided along beside him.

He entered the building through the regular doors. He had no idea how Rover would deal with the revolving door and didn’t want to chance a major scene. Walking to the security gate, he handed his walking stick to a surprised guard. He stepped through the metal detector without causing a beep. Rover followed right behind him.

The guard stepped up and said, “Excuse me, but animals are not allowed in here.”

John held out his hand for his walking stick. The guard automatically handed it back to him.

John said, “You try telling Rover that. He doesn’t listen to me.”

The guard frowned and said, “He’s supposed to be on a leash.”

John laughed at the suggestion of putting Rover on a leash. He said, “That’s a wild animal, not a pet. You don’t do anything to that animal unless he wants it.”

“It’s with you.”

“Yes, but I don’t own him. He followed me out of a forest and hasn’t let me get out of his sight, since.”

Rover sat down and stared at the guard. He licked his paw. The claws were clearly visible. The guard stared at the cat in fear. John headed towards the elevator. The cat followed along, pausing only once to look over its shoulder at the guard.

At the elevator, John studied the directory. One office stood out from all of the others. He pressed the up button and was surprised when the elevator door opened immediately. He stepped into it, followed by Rover. He pressed the button to the fifth floor. The elevator door closed. Rover looked around at the sensation of moving up and made a funny chirp. The chirp was repeated when the elevator stopped. The door opened to three people waiting to get on the elevator. They all jumped back in surprise when they saw John and Rover moving towards them. Rover pushed one of the people out of his way in order to walk beside John.

John walked over to the receptionist’s desk and looked at the young lady seated there. She was talking on the telephone and from the sound of the conversation it was a personal call. John waited patiently, looking around the room as he stood there. Rover wasn’t quite so patient. He put his front two paws on the desk and stood on his back legs looking at the woman. She started in surprise when she saw Rover, but didn’t lose control. Calmly, she put the call on hold and looked at John. In a very matter of fact voice, she asked, “May I help you?”

John nodded and answered, “Yes, Ma’am. I’m here to see Agent A. Moore.”

“Is she expecting you?”

“I doubt it.” John now had a clue as to the gender of the person that he was about to meet.

The receptionist was taken by surprise by his answer. She had been expecting a yes or a no. She replied, “I doubt she will see you.”

John smiled and said, “Ahh, I’m positive that she will see me.”

The receptionist said, “If you give me your name and nature of business, I’ll see if she’s available.”

John replied, “My name is John Carter. I’m here to include her in a conference call with Mike Holden.”

It only took a few minutes before John was led into the office of Ann Moore. Rover took a seat in the corner of the room. Without rising, Ann greeted him, “Mr. Carter?”

“Yes, I take it you are Agent Moore.” He looked at the name on her badge and saw that her first name was Ann.

She nodded as she said, “You stated that you have some business to discuss with me and Mike Holden.”

John nodded and then looked at the telephone on the desk. He asked, “Do I have to dial 9 to get an outside line?”

“Dial 8.”

John turned on the speakerphone and dialed a number. The telephone rang once before it was answered, “Director Holden’s office.”

Rover got up and looked on the desk to see where the voice originated. John answered, “This is John Carter, may I speak to Mike?”

“Oh, Dr. Carter. He’s in a staff meeting. Let me see if he’ll take your call.” The receptionist put them on hold. Elevator music played from the speaker. Ann stared at John as he sat there and smiled at her.

Rover was sniffing at the telephone. His head jerked back when Mike’s voice broke the silence. “Hello, John. How are you?”

Rover looked at John and decided the speakerphone was safe enough. He got down and went back to the corner. Ann stared at the cat with a look of incredulity. It acted more like a bodyguard than a pet.

“I’m fine. I’m talking to you on a speakerphone in Agent Moore’s office, here in Phoenix. She’s here with me.”

Mike said, “Hello, Ann.”

Ann snapped back to the conversation at hand. She was surprised that he knew her first name. Mike Holden was several levels above her in the FBI hierarchy. She replied, “Hello, Sir.”

“What can I do for you, John?”

John paused for a minute and said, “Do you remember the item that brought us together?”

There was a long moment of silence. “Is there a problem with it?”

“Not really. I now have two of them.”

Mike was quiet for a moment. Then he asked, “Ann, would you describe the item to me when John shows it to you?”

John reached under his shirt and pulled out the medallion. Ann looked at it for a moment. She looked confused and said, “It looks like two coins fused along a single side hung on a chain.”

“Did you say two coins fused together?”

“Yes, Sir.” Ann looked confused. She didn’t understand a word of this conversation.

“Could you try to remove it?”

Ann attempted to remove the medallion, but it slipped out of her fingers. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t get it off. She said, “I can’t, Sir.”

Mike’s voice answered, “Excellent. John what can I do for you?”

John was quiet for a moment before he said, “I really hate to ask for you for this. However, I’m being driven to it.”

“What is it?”

“I need credentials that will allow me to investigate things. I need to be able to call on law enforcement back up. I also need to be able to leave once the action is over.”

Mike was silent for a moment. He then said, “I guess FBI credentials should suffice. Ann, I want you to meet Special Agent John Carter, our newest volunteer agent. He answers to my office.”

Ann looked shocked. This was not how someone became an FBI agent. She stared at John. Mike waited for a reply. When one didn’t come, he said, “Excuse me, Ann. Did you hear what I said?”

“Oh! Yes, Sir.”

“I’ll need you to set up credentials for him.”

“Excuse me, have you seen him?” Ann asked.

Mike laughed and asked, “You mean the long hair and weird colored beard?”

John interrupted, “It’s now a white beard and weird colored hair. Oh, and I dress weird, too.”

Mike laughed and said, “I should have known. To answer your question, Ann, yes I have seen him.”

Ann was even more shocked. She asked, “Does he have a clearance?”

Mike answered, “Yes, he’s had a Top Secret issued from this office for four years.”

John looked surprised and asked, “Really?”

Mike answered, “Really. I put the paperwork through after our first meeting.”

“Gosh, I didn’t know.”

Mike said, “Well, I figured that it would come up sooner or later. Might as well save time.”

Ann asked, “Is there anything else I should know?”

Mike answered, “Not that I know of.”

John answered, “No.”

When the call was over, Ann turned to John. She stared at him for several minutes, her eyes flicking over to Rover. She asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m John Carter. I thought I introduced myself already.”

Ann looked up exasperated. “No, I mean who are you that you can call a director of the FBI and have him drop everything to talk to you?”

John thought about it for a while. He realized that he didn’t know how to answer that question. His urge had been driving him to this action. That it might be unusual never occurred to him. He chose to answer the question with a question, “Rather than me tell you, why don’t you check it out yourself?”

Ann picked up the telephone and dialed a number. She called down to her assistant to start the paperwork that would be necessary to get him identified as a special agent. Once the call was over, she looked at the cat. She asked, “What is his name?”

“Rover.”

“Isn’t that the name of a dog?” she asked.

Rover uttered a low growl, and stared at Ann.

“It’s his name, and he likes it. So do I,” replied John. Rover moved closer to John and rubbed his head against his knee. John rubbed him behind the ears.

The assistant, a prototypical looking FBI agent, came up to get John. John and Rover followed him down to a conference room where a stack of paper was waiting. As they went, Rover paused and looked in every office they passed. Once there, the assistant pointed to a chair, indicating where John was to sit.

John sat in the suggested chair. He looked at the assistant and said, “I’m John Carter. My friend here is Rover. Who are you?”

“I’m Agent Fred Hopkins.”

“Okay, give me the papers, and I’ll fill them out.”

Fred pursed his lips. Ann had requested he take as much time in filling out the forms as possible. Towards that end, he was to verify as much information as he could. She wanted time to find out more about this guy. He replied, “Ann told me to fill out the paperwork and perform as much of a background check as possible while we work.”

As Fred asked questions that appeared on the form, he made telephone calls to validate the information. A simple form that could have taken five minutes to complete took close to two hours. Finally, they reached a question that concerned identifying marks, including tattoos and scars. Fred asked, “Do you have any identifying scars or tattoos?”

“Yes.”

“Describe them.”

John frowned at the impossibility of that task and said, “I think it might be much quicker for me to show them to you and let you describe them.”

“Why do you have that many?”

“Yes. Just about every inch from my neck down to my ankles is scarred.”

“Okay. So show me.”