Chapter 1
They ran through the dark, wide open grounds toward the woods that led out of the cemetery, chasing after a couple of grave robbers, who had just finished digging up an unmarked grave, then ran as soon as they had arrived, the reason for the invasion unknown to the warehouse agents that had been searching for an artifact for the last few days and had ended up here. However, as soon as Pete and Myka were about to catch up to the slower runner, the invaders split up and Pete took off after the faster one, leaving Myka to catch the other.
The female half of the duo finally tackled the thief to the ground and as she pulled off the dark hoodie to find out who she was chasing after, she found that it was a woman, years younger than she was, younger than Myka would have expected to see rob a grave unless she was a teenage hoodlum.
Myka sat on the girl's legs as spoke up first asking, "How old are you?"
The girl tried to swing her fist at Myka, who easily deflected the punch and held her arm against the ground, then finally answered, "I'm sixteen and old enough to be doing this."
"And what is it you're doing here tonight exactly?" Myka asked in confusion, wondering if the girl had any idea what she was really doing.
"What's it to you, lady?" the girl asked briskly. "Grave robbing might be illegal, but you're not my mother or my lawyer. I don't have to answer to you. Now, get off of me. I doubt I'd be able to get away from you again, so I won't try to run, I swear."
Myka released her and let her up, then scoffed as she replied, "Trust me, kid, I'm glad I'm not either your mom or your lawyer, but I really need to know what you're doing here tonight. We're looking for something that, I'm assuming is in your boss' hands, is pretty, valuable I guess you can say. It doesn't belong to him."
The girl responded, "I don't know what you're talking about and the person I'm working for isn't a man, but a woman. She's my friend. If you want any information about her, you won't get it from me."
"What is your name?" Myka asked.
"My name is Christine, Christine Bellows," the girl answered. "Who are you and why does someone, who claims to be a CIA agent, come all the way out here to arrest a couple of grave robbers? Isn't it a little beneath you?"
Myka shook her head in frustration and then replied, "There's more to this than you know. Now, I have to go after my partner, to see if he was able to catch your friend. He's good, but sometimes he needs a little bit of help. You'll wait here."
As the warehouse agent chained the girl's wrist up to a tree at the border of the woods, the girl tried to protest, but Myka only ignored her and then swiftly ran into the woods in order to track down Pete and the woman he had chased after, as a deep fear gnawed at her gut that something was wrong, since he should have been back by now.
By the time Myka finally found her partner within the trees, Pete was slowly walking toward her as he rubbed his hand over the back of his head and as she noticed, she suddenly ran toward him crying out, "Pete, are you all right? What happened?"
"It's wonderful to be alive," Pete responded as she finally caught up to him. "I'm sorry, what did you just ask me?"
"Are you all right?" she asked again as she gently placed her hands on the back of his head and began to look him over for any signs of bleeding.
When she did so, Pete pushed her away as he answered, "I'm fine, Ag… Myka. I think I underestimated, whoever that was, that's all. I think he hit me and knocked me down, then took off."
Myka replied, "She hit you, you mean."
"I beg your pardon?" he asked in confusion.
"Our grave robbers are women, one of whom is actually a sixteen year old girl," Myka responded. "You're lucky I was the one to take her down instead of you, or Claudia would never allow you to hear the end of it if she managed to outsmart you. As it is, you already have to admit to her and Artie that you allowed a woman to best you."
Pete smiled oddly as he answered, "I suppose that's no different than any other day now, is it? I would think there are plenty of circumstances that he… I give everyone to poke fun of. Am I right?"
Myka noticed the strange look on his face and the few small slip-ups made while he spoke, then replied, "I suppose. Are you sure you're all right? You're acting a little, strange. Even stranger than usual, I mean."
"I told you, I'm fine, Myka," Pete responded as he looked behind him as if he were looking for something. "It's just a headache coming on. It's nothing that a little sleep on the plane ride back home won't fix."
"I suppose, but we have to finish our case first, remember?" Myka said again, confusion still sounding in her voice. "I'll go call Artie and let him know we hit a snag."
Pete shook his head, then pulled something out from his coat pocket while holding onto it with a pair of their purple, rubber gloves so as not to become affected by its power, and answered, "No need, I managed to grab the artifact from our thief after she knocked me down; the egg of Columbus. Artie's been looking for this thing for awhile now. I wonder how this thing got into a petty thief's hands, or why she would even want it."
Myka thought for a second and then replied, "It fries anyone who touches it. It's a good way to kill your enemies."
"That's true," Pete responded. "Let's go home. I'm anxious to get back."
"Me too," Myka added. "I could use some sleep myself."
As they arrived back at the outskirts of the woods, where Myka had left the girl handcuffed to the tree, she found that the young thief was gone, her cuffs still attached to the tree and Myka cursed, then said, "It looks like I underestimated my opponent as well; slippery girl. While we're here, it'll probably be a good idea to check the grave they were digging in order to try to find out what they were after. If we don't, Artie will never let us hear the end of it and you know how he is."
Pete shook his head as he made a gesture to allow Myka to take the lead back toward the grave, then answered, "Believe me, I do."
