by Alton Reich
> [JEH Building, Memorial Wall. 8:50 am]
> The service lasted less than a half hour, with Directors Flansberg and > Peters giving short speeches about Jeff Calderon and the contributions he > had given to the X-files. Looking around, Leo saw that besides Zulu, there > were some trainers from Station X, including Richard Corrigan, and members > of Team Bravo was scattered amongst others from the Bureau. Teams Delta > and Echo were on assignment some-where.
Jordan sat through the memorial service reflecting on his good fortune. There had been some close calls over the past few months, but he hadn't lost an agent. Would his luck turn out to be finite? He certainly hoped not.
After the service ended Jordan headed back to his office. With any luck, he would finally finish the paper work their trip to Montana had generated.
***
[New York City - D-line subway tunnel]
Joe Richards wanted nothing more than to be on his way home. Instead he was walking along the access platform on the Brooklyn bound side of the D-line tunnel looking for Pete.
At 10 am Richards and his 3 man crew had gone into the tunnel to track down and electrical problem. It should have been a one day job to trace the problem and repair it. Now it was 5:30 pm and only 2 of his men had made it back to the platform at DeKalb Avenue.
"Yo, Pete! Where are you? I don't know 'bout you, but the rest of us want to go home!"
Richards muttered under his breath and turned into one of the electrical equipment rooms they had worked in earlier. The room was empty except for a screwsriver they had left behind. He picked it up and slid it in his back pocket. He was about to walk back out on to the access platform when he caught sight of the elecrtical access tunnel to his left.
He squeezed through the narrow opening and into the somewhat wider tunnel beyond. The air smelled vaguely of stale urine, hinting at the use the are was most often used for. The light filtering in from behind him was faint and Richards pulled out his flash light and turned it on.
"Pete! You back here?"
Richards thought he heard a sound from further down the tunnel, but wasn't sure if it was just an echo. He moved ahead, flashlight beam penetrating the darkness. He came to a corner and turned right, shining his beam ahead of him.
Richards screamed and ran back the way he came. He'd found Pete.
***
[JEH Building - Jordan's office]
The phone rang, and Jordan, grateful for any distraction, answered, "Stern."
He listened for a few minutes, growing more interested. "Mauled by an animal in the New York subway system. I've heard there are some big rats down there."
"What about the paper work?" Jordan asked. A slight smile formed on his face before he hung up.
Jordan stood up and walked around the divider to where the rest of the team was already gathering their things.
"Were you listening in on my conversation?"
"Who us?" Leo asked innocently.
"Yeah, you. Anyway, we're going to the Big Apple. Apparently a subway worker was mauled to death by something. We're supposed to find out what."
NRPG:
A long awaited new mission. Let me know you're all still here and we can get this thing rolling.