Behind Closed Doors

There are many secrets that one can with hold, and there are also many different emotions one can feel...

Chapter 2

Later, Michael lead Evangelista to her room and mumbled a quick goodbye to her before he scurried off down the corridor, once again, to Jack’s office.

Evangelista sighed as she shut the door behind herself and tossed her bags on the floor, with little to no regard where they landed. She then promptly flopped down on her stomach on the insufferably small bed and pulled out her mobile, she scrolled through her address book until she found her friend's name. Pressing the call button she waited for the phone to be answered before she cut her friend off saying “Clara I am so sorry, I was on my way to your place but this weird thing happened and now I am in this underground base...place, thing; these people, whoever they are, are looking after me. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what I am doing but I guarantee you I will find a way to make good on my promise.”

“Eve, where are you? What are you talking about? Who are ‘these people’ you referred to, have you like...lost it?” Clara spoke into the phone, the concern evident in her voice.

“No, Clara, I haven’t ‘lost it’,” Evangelista quoted to her friend before continuing “I can’t explain; I honestly am not sure what is going on right now but I will get back home to you as soon as I can.”

“Don’t make a girl a promise if you know you can’t keep it,” Clara said sadly, trying to trust her friend but having heard too many lies from people in the past to trust someone now.

“Clara please, just trust me a little while longer...I haven’t given you reason to doubt me yet have I?”

There was silence on the other end for a moment and Evangelista half wondered if Clara had hung up before a soft “guess not,” came through the line.

Evangelista let out a sigh and the faintest of smiles before continuing “good, so you can trust me just a little longer; I promised I’d get you outta there, get you to Mexico, and I am still going to make good on that promise...just as soon as I can get back home.”

There was another pause on the line before Clara said “okay...okay Eve...Mexico; I’ll trust you just untill we get to Mexico.”

Evangelista smiled, even though she knew Clara could not see her, before she said “thank you, I know it is hard for you to trust me, but thank you for not giving up.”

“No need for that; if anything I should be thanking you for being there for me no matter what,” Clara said into the line.

Evangelista smiled once again before she said “let’s just agree that we both need each other, okay?”

“Okay,” Clara said with a slight giggle.

“I should go now, for all I know these lunatics have my phone bugged.”

“Okay, bye Eve.”

“Bye Sweetie, call me if you need anything,” with that, Evangelista hung up the phone and rolled over onto her back to look at the ceiling before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

Michael let a small smile cross his face as he realized just how accustomed he had become to the staircase and catwalk that lead to Jack's office; sighing when he reached the top Michael, once again, knocked softly on the shut door before walking in. He let a frown crease his forehead as he saw Jack putting some files in a small box, he cleared his throat before saying “I showed Evangelista to her room as you asked, sir, do you need help with those files?”

Jack looked up sending Michael a flirtatious grin before saying “Michael you don’t have to call me ‘sir’...especially when we're not working.”

“I don’t believe you answered my question, sir,” Michael said trying to change the subject to distract the butterflies that were flying around in his stomach.

“No, Michael, I don’t believe I will need your help; I’m just taking these files home,” Jack said politely to the younger man.

Michael shifted on his feet for a moment before saying “if you don’t mind me asking, where do you live Ja- sir?”

Jack snapped his head up from where he had been skimming over a page before grinning and saying “you called me Jack...almost; and in answer to your question, Michael, I live in an apartment three floors up.”

Michael looked at him, shocked, before saying “wait, you live here? I mean, like, how long have you lived in HQ?”

Jack smirked as he realized that he had made the young man's barrier fall for the faintest of moments before answering “I have lived here since forever, why would I leave when work is never truly done.”

“But don’t you get lonely; in here all alone at night?” Michael asked, actually feeling sad for the immortal, seeing as how Jack almost never slept.

Michael saw what looked like a flicker of sadness crossed Jack’s face before he masked it with a grin and said “goodnight, Michael,” Jack patted Michael on the shoulder before walking out of his office towards the elevator; oblivious to Michael’s soft voice whispering “goodnight...Jack,” as the immortal walked away, leaving Michael to tend the base and go home to an empty bed.

When Evangelista awoke the next morning she let out a sigh as she rolled onto her side to glare at the door out of her room.

Eventually Evangelista gave into the hideous morning breath she had been sporting and got up, cursing the cold tiles on the bathroom floor as she went. This place she was in was very strange indeed, it seemed like an office, a prison, and, at times, a gas station all in one. She set her hair and tooth brush down on the bathroom counter before she grabbed her clothes and went into one of the stalls to get dressed, checking for security cameras before she did.

When she walked out of the stall she was wearing a pair of boot cut jeans, a plain skin tight black T-shirt, a pair of non-matching socks, and she had her elbow length caramel hair, which looked a sunset orange in the cheap lighting of the bathroom, in a loose braid on the right side of her face. Evangelista walked up to the large mirror and pulled gently at her hair to give an elegant proof to the braid before grabbing her toothbrush and beginning to scrub her teeth clean, she almost jumped as the door swung open and Michael walked through, avoiding eye contact as he did. Evangelista’s green eyes watched Michael in the mirror as he walked into one of five stalls in the bathroom before turning back to the sink and spitting, she then proceeded to go back to fussing with her hair. When Michael walked out of the stall he looked at her almost disappointedly before he tugged his suit jacket and said “good morning, Evangelista, you’re looking very smart today.”

Evangelista turned away from the counter to face him before saying “thank you; and please, call me Eve.”

Michael sent her a tight smile before “well just so you know, Eve, your socks don’t match,” with that parting shot  Michael walked out of the bathroom and shut the door a little harder than necessary.

Evangelista looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes, observing the yellow and purple fabric move on her respective feet, before muttering to no one other than  herself “there not supposed to match; duh.”

When Evangelista walked out into the corridor that lead to the main part of the base she was startled by a ding from an elevator that she hadn't noticed until just then. Jack walked out and jumped as he ended up face to face with the teenager.

“Where’s that lead?” Evangelista asked with a jerk of her head toward the elevator.

“Nowhere,” Jack answered sternly, squaring his shoulders in an absent minded attempt to look stronger than he was.

Evangelista picked up on this, as well as the fact that, that meant Jack was probably hiding something from her, but settled for sending him a cheery smile and saying “well, good morning; oh and fyi...the eye-candy in the suit is in a mood.”

Jack nodded and walked down the corridor, fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt that he always kept tucked up over his elbows as he went.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say they didn’t like me,” Evangelista muttered to herself before walking back in her room for a while to give Jack and Michael some space.

Michael jumped as he felt the heat of another body millimeters away from his before he turned to see Jack standing behind him, a pointed look on his face.

“Is there a problem, sir,” Michael said with a raised eyebrow.

“You tell me,” Jack said, once again squaring his shoulders as he tried to ignore the heat coming from his employees abdomen.

Michael brushed past Jack and walked down the staircase to set mugs of coffee on the teams desks, Jack not far behind the young man saying “you want to tell me why the kid reported to me that you were ‘in a mood’ this morning?”

Michael knew that wasn’t a real question and turned to face Jack, handing him his mug, before saying “my apologies, sir, I just can’t seem to get a read on her and I suppose it is putting me on edge a little; it won’t happen again I assure you.”

Jack gave Michael a soft smile and, despite his better judgment, put his hand on Michael's shoulder before saying “don’t fret...just be careful how you act around her; no one has ever, nor should they, ever survive falling through The Tear with no protection. We really have no idea who or what she is just yet, that being said; we also don’t know what she is capable of so until we know such things we all need to proceed with caution around her okay?”

Michael returned Jack’s smile and said “yes...Jack,” before taking a step back and walking back up the staircase.

“Oh Michael, one more thing,” Jack waited for Michael to turn and face him before continuing “when the rest of the team get here I want all of you in the conference room; not the kid though.”

Michael nodded and responded “yes sir,” before continuing to go about his daily tasks.

Jack smirked at the lovely view of Michael’s a*s from his perspective before walking up the staircase towards his office. Once inside; he sighed and sat down in his office chair before remembering the files, the files he had taken home last night. Jack winced and scrubbed his hand over his face before he thought ‘I’m going to have to get those back into the archives before Michael realises they're missing.’

As usual, everyone started piling in at about eight thirty Michael rolled his eyes as he thought about he fact that they were technically on the clock by eight O’clock ‘must just be a side effect of working somewhere with a staff of five people and a far too lenient boss,’ Michael thought as he saw Tommy and Melissa come walking in. Melissa went straight to her workstation and began to boot up her computer while Tommy walked up the staircase to where Michael now stood.

“Hey Starbucks,” Tommy called to get Michael’s attention as he reached the top of the stairs.

Michael turned to face Tommy and said flatly “good morning to you too Tommy; what d’you need?”

Tommy smiled fondly and sipped his coffee for a moment before saying “so, how’s the patient this morning?”

Michael shrugged, seeing as how he didn’t know that himself; he hadn’t let the conversation get that far with her, before bending the truth in saying “I don’t know to be honest, she didn’t hardly say two words to me...I think she is in her room.”

Tommy nodded and raised an eyebrow as Michael turned and started walking away “Michael?”

Michael turned to face Tommy, question evident in his gaze, before saying “yes?”

“Does she know that her room is actually an unlocked cell, mainly one with security cameras in it?” Tommy asked taking another sip of his coffee, sighing as the hot liquid burn the back of his throat.

Michael thought for a moment before shaking his head and answering “nope, at least I don’t think so.”

“You, uncertain? Well I guess there is a first time for everything,” Tommy chuckled only to burst out into a fit of laughter, and damn near drop his mug, when he saw the look Michael was giving him that promised a painful end.

Michael shook his head, annoyed, before smiling wickedly at the still laughing man and saying “yeah I guess there is, that being said you can clean up that  coffee you just spilled on the floor; and when you're done Jack wants us all in the conference room. Don’t bring the kid though.”

Michaels smiled morphed into a victorious grin when Tommy stopped laughing and immediately frowned at him saying “what?”

Michael sent Tommy a pointed look before saying “ well just like you said there is a first time for everything and now you are going to clean up your own mess, for the first time...see you in the conference room in fifteen.”

Tommy glared at the back of Michael’s head before hollering “I don’t know where you learned your people skills but you’ll be glad you never went to med school.”

“Believe me, so am I; my finger in a fat guys a*s was never my idea of a good day,” Michael called over his shoulder as he walked toward the conference room.

When Michael got into the conference room he was surprised to see Jack already standing in the room looking over some papers.

“Something wrong sir?” Michael asked after a moment of watching Jack skim over papers, a  frown creasing his lovely forehead.

Jack Jumped and felt his stomach flip for half a heartbeat before looking up at Michael and smiling at him fondly saying “no, nothing is wrong; I was just looking over the results of Tommy’s medical exams that he did on the girl yesterday.”

Michael smiled, more to himself than Jack, and said “ah yes...Tommy; he’ll be bitchy when he comes up here.”

“Why?” Jack asked, not that Tommy wasn’t usually in a bad mood; he tended to get pissed at the world and stay that way, but Jack did wonder what had put him in a worse mood than usual.

“He spilled coffee on the floor and I made him clean it up himself,” Michael answered simply.

Jack nodded and said “well, he can just catch up when he get’s here I suppose. Have you called the rest of the team up yet?”

“No, sir, I haven’t I was checking to see if you were ready first; I’ll go retrieve them now,” Michael said before turning on a dime and heading down to the main floor.

Michael walked up to where Agatha and Melissa’s desks sat side by side before putting his hands on the back rests of the chairs and saying “hey girls, Jack want’s us in the conference room pronto. I already told Tommy so don’t worry about him.”

“Okay Michael, thank you, we’ll be up in a few minutes,” Melissa said in acknowledgement of the archivist.

“Oh yeah, thanks pet,” Agatha murmured, not looking up from the magazine she was skimming through as she heard Melissa respond to him.

Michael walked off to make some more coffee and Melissa shut down her computer before standing and turning to face Agatha saying “coming, Agatha?”

Agatha spared her a glance from her bridal magazine and said “why all it is, is some poor prostitute who got ripped apart by a Sundono; it’s nothing we don’t see every day anyway.”

Melissa huffed and crossed her arms before saying “you're probably right-”

“Oh I’m always right sweetie.”

“But, it is still our job to protect the innocent and catch the aliens,” Melissa finished, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

Agatha rolled her eyes and slapped her magazine down on her desk before stomping up to the conference room, all the while mumbling about bleeding hearts in the world.

Melissa took notice of Michael coming up behind her with his tray and quickly turned to grab her coffee before taking a mouth searing gulp to swallow down her complaints as she watched Agatha stomp around the base.

“Must be something in the water,” Michael mumbled to Melissa as the two of them watched Agatha stomp through the base.

“Yeah, tell me about it. Hey what was up with you and Tommy this morning, you don’t usually let his remarks get to you?”

Michael sighed and said “I just suppose having the kid here is putting us all on edge a little.”

Melissa nodded and took off her glasses, setting them on her desk, saying “suppose so...we should get to the conference room, Jack’ll s**t a brick if we keep him waiting.”

Michael shook himself back to reality and said “right,” before the two of them hurried to the conference room.

Once everyone, save for Tommy, was situated in the conference room Jack began “alright so, we’ve got what looks to be a flesh eating alien,” Jack emphasized the point by scrolling through some ‘borrowed’ crime scene photos of random people with large chunks of flesh and bone ripped out of various parts of their body’s before continuing “we’ve never encountered an alien like this before so we need to approach the situation with caution. We’ve had three bodies in three days, all with varying age and sex. The bodies were found along Independence Avenue South West, the police think the have a psycho but I think we have an alien.”

“Wait, Independence Ave. isn’t that right next to the World War II memorial?” Michael said.

“Yep, it is within walking distance of us,” Jack answered calmly.

“Lovely...did I mention my cars in the shop so I’m walking home tonight,” Michael answered with exasperation.

Jack smiled before continuing “so here’s the game plan, Agatha and Tommy you’ll go to the crime scenes and see what you can find; Me and Michael will go to the morgue and try to figure out just what in the hell were looking for...and for you Melissa...you get to monitor our progress and play baby sitter. Any questions?”

Agatha opened her mouth only to be cut off by Jack saying “no? Okay, good.”

As everyone stood up and began to walk out Jack called to Agatha “you can just brief Tommy yourself,” before he turned to Michael and said “and don’t you worry, I’ll protect you from the monsters on your walk home.”

Michael rolled his eyes before saying “I can look after myself, sir, we should probably get going before the families come and claim the bodies though.”

“Well, what’s left of them,” Jack corrected before grabbing his coat from where it had been resting on a chair and leading the way out.

As Agatha and Tommy walked into the elevator that lead to the exit Agatha said “I am so glad to get out of this office.”

Tommy smirked and said “you do know we're going to a crime scene now right?”

Agatha rolled her eyes at Tommy and said “I’ll take what I can get; if I have to sit next to Melissa for another minute I will kill someone.”

Tommy laughed as the elevator came to a halt, him and Agatha walked down a short hallway until they reached the hidden door that let out into the world. Agatha pushed on the door and was nearly blinded by the bright sunlight that hit her eyes, but just squinted and stepped out onto the pavement of the World War II memorial before she shut the door behind herself and Tommy.

Agatha smiled as she thought about the fact that hundreds of people come to the memorial everyday but not a single person knew that there was a base beneath it.

“How is it that we can open and close the door as we please but no one ever sees?”

Tommy smiled at Agatha and said “it’s called a chameleon shade; it allows something to be there but it is only visible to those who know to look for it.”

Agatha nodded, though it was more of a rhetorical question, and said “well, let’s get to that crime scene before some idiot contaminates it.”

It was Tommy’s turn to nod before saying “right, let’s go,” and leading the way to Independence Avenue.

Jack and Michael walked to the car in a comfortable silence, Jack sending a quick glance towards Michale every now and again. As they came to a halt on either side of the black vans cab Jack looked to Michael and sarcastically said “so you gonna give me the keys or am I going to use mind control to get us there?”

Michael smiled and threw Jack the keys from his spot at the passenger side door before climbing into the large vehicle and saying “you do realize D.C. traffic this time of day will make it quicker just to walk right?”

Jack climbed in and shot Michael one of his ten thousand volt smiles before saying “I know, this just gives me an excuse to stare at you for longer.”

Michael smiled and rolled his eyes before saying “if it was subtlety you were aiming for, sir, I must say you did not succeed.”

Jack put his hand to his mouth and gasped playfully before saying “oh, how was I found out?”

They both smiled at each other for a moment before Jack put the key into the ignition and began the short drive towards the morgue.

Evangelista groaned as she woke up with hair and drool stuck to her face, she blindly felt around until her hand found purchase on her mobile. She sat up and turned on her phone to check the time, frowning as the clock read eleven thirty A.M. sighing once again she pulled herself out of bed and stumbled over to the door.

As Evangelista walked out into the base she was surprised to see only the Asian girl was there.

“Hey, where is everyone?” Evangelista asked groggily upon reaching Melissa’s desk.

Melissa turned around to face her and said “good morning, the others are out working on a case; I’m staying here to monitor their progress.”

“Cool, it’s...Melissa; right,” Evangelista asked uncertainly.

Melissa smiled and nodded saying “right, yours is Evangelista if I do recall correctly.”

Evangelista nodded before wandering off towards the kitchen in search of breakfast.

Meanwhile, as the van pulled to a halt in front of the city morgue Michael shifted in his seat to look at Jack before saying “if you don’t mind me asking, sir, shouldn’t we be talking to the police officers that are on the case? The people who work at the morgue won’t know anything.”

Jack turned his head to face Michael and said “true, and we will talk to those people later but for now we need to see those bodies to see if we can’t get a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”

Michael watched as Jack unfastened his seat belt and hopped out of the car before doing the same and following Jack inside saying “and how exactly do you expect to get a look at those bodies, sir, they can’t exactly put them in a to-go-box and send them home with you now can they?”

Jack smirked at Michael over his shoulder and said “oh, you just watch and learn baby,” before walking through the front door and strutting through the halls with a chip on his shoulder.

Michael rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop a smile as he wondered if Jack ever stopped flirting...not that he minded the captain's attention, it just kept him wondering where he stood with the man; he was never sure whether Jack was dropping a hint or just being, well, Jack.

Jack walked up to the front desk and smiled at the secretary before saying “hi, can I talk to James Tompkins please?”

The woman smiled back at Jack and said “I’m sorry, he’s working but if you leave a message I’ll be sure to pass it along.”

Jack took a deep breath and Michael watched as a hundred dollar bill appeared from Jack’s pocket as he said “just tell him The Captain is here to see him.”

 

The woman hesitated for all of three seconds before grabbing the bill out of Jack’s hand and walking down the hall towards where James Tompkins presumably was, Michael frowning at the scene he just witnessed.

“Might I ask what that display was sir,” Michael asked, wondering if this was part of how Jack solved all of his cases.

Jack smirked at Michael before answering “me and James dated, and I use that term very loosely, for a while back when was working a hard case that required I have constant access to the morgue...to make a long story short; he owes me a favor or two.”

Michael raised an eyebrow at Jack and said “seems to me, sir, that you are the one who owes the favors…”

Jack shrugged and said “like I said, it is a long story.”

Right about then a skinny man in a janitor uniform came walking down the hall, waving the secretary to go back to her desk as he did before coming to a complete halt in front of Jack and Michael and saying “what part of “never come near me again” did you misinterpreted?”

Jack raised a hand to silence the short brown haired man before saying “I know I promised I’d leave you alone but I need a favor, and you and I both know you owe me a few.”

James huffed and crossed  his arms over his chest before murmuring “alright fine, what d’you need?”

Jack smiled at him gratefully and said “I need to see the three bodies that have been recovered off Independence avenue recently.”

James shook his head and said “Jack I want you out  of my hair, I really do, but I can’t get you into the autopsy room again, I almost lost my job the first time. This time would be even worse because this case is under police investigation, I am barely getting by as it is; I can’t lose this job.”

Jack sighed and said “I know, I know...but James please; a lot of live depend on this. I need to catch whatever this thing is, it is eating people; while they're still alive.”

James rolled his eyes and fell silent for a moment before he dropped his voice to a barely audible tone as he said “fine, come back tonight, nine O’clock, and I will let you into the autopsy room. Under one condition, you never ask me for a favor again; deal?”

“Deal,” Jack said, secretly hating the fact that he knew it wasn’t a promise he would be able to keep.

James murmured “see you tonight I suppose,” before he turned and walked off down the hall to resume his tasks.

Jack sighed before he turned around to face Michael before he said “see, I told you I’d get us a look at those bodies.”

“I don’t mean to be out of line, sir, but do you make a habit of manipulating your ex's to get what you want?” Michael asked, for the first time having second thoughts about Jack.

Jack looked at Michael sternly, feeling anger rise in him because part of him knew the young man was right and he did manipulate people, but instead said “that was out of line Michael, and if you make any more inquiries about my personal life you will be looking for a new job; do I make myself clear?”

Michael was taken back by Jack’s outburst and actually had to take a moment to compose an answer, at which point he said “yes sir, it will never happen again.”

Jack felt a pang of guilt in the pit of his stomach but didn’t dare take what he said back, for that would mean he would have to admit he did manipulate people on occasion. He tried no to make a habit of using manipulation to solve cases but sometimes it was necessary and that was the last thing in the world he wanted to admit to the young man that stood before him.

Jack sighed again before walking back out to the van, not saying another word to Michael as he did.

Author's Note

Please forgive any errors you find, my computer has been buggy as of late. Also, please comment and tell me what you thought; they always make my day.
H.