The research lab at NTRC (National Treasure Research of Canada) was especially quiet that night. Most of the researchers had gone home, and only a few had stayed later to work on some projects the Lead Officer had given them. The halls were empty and dark around this time in the night. As empty as the halls were, the faint noise of the janitor's floor polisher could be heard echoing throughout the facility. But the darkest and the quietest rooms of the facility, were the laboratories. Nobody were in these rooms, neither were they allowed in these rooms after 8:00 PM when the last lab supervisor went home for the night. Unless there was someone there that had access to the laboratories, they were strictly off limits.
Leonard Bean examined the ripped fabric very carefully, looking for any symbols, markings or strange oddities. The fabric had been found in southern Europe, somewhere on the island of Crete. The researchers had thought that the fabric was of Minoan descent, but the way it had been stitched and created was much more primitive than Minoan society. There was one symbol roughly stitched into the fabric, but the fabric was torn revealing only half of the symbol. It looked nothing of ancient Greece, or anything prehistoric. In simple terms, they had discovered something new.
The door behind him at the other side of the room opened and quietly shut, not alarming him. Himself and Quinton Elliot were the only two people in the facility at the time that had the key cards for the material laboratory. Leonard looked behind him anyways, knowing he had to be safe at all times in the facility, but sure enough it was his comrade. Quinton gave him an uncomfortable smile and approached the table, almost as if he were tiptoeing through the room.
"What have you found so far?" Quinton asked him. Leonard put down the fragile fabric gently on the examining table and moved his hand through his hair.
"Nothing. I just can't seem to find anything." he replied exhausting.
"What about that symbol?"
"It's of no origin I know," he explained, "it's not Greek, it's not Latin, it's not Minoan, and it's not even prehistoric…" he stopped himself and rubbed his eyes। Leonard leaned on the table with both hands, looking at the object in denial, but amazement.
"Could it be proof of another possible race or culture?" Quinton asked. Leonard looked over at him with an astonished look.
"Only one way to find out." he said. He quickly walked over to the phone and started dialing. Quinton took a few hesitant steps towards him.
"Who are you calling?" he asked suspiciously. Leonard spoke quietly one he phone for a few moments ignoring Quinton. Quinton crossed his arms and let out a deep sigh. Quinton wasn't a very patient man, and lately wasn't the best time to test his patience. This piece of fabric they found on Crete had been under research for three weeks now, and by then they usually already had it being mailed to a treasury or a museum.
Leonard put down the phone and turned towards Quinton but leaned on the table behind him. Quinton stepped towards him curiously and glared at him.
"I called Jake, okay?" Leonard said after a long pause. Quinton's eyes widened, and he became furious.
"You called that moron?!" he yelled. Quinton stood up straight up taking offense to the insult. Jake was one of his colleagues, and one of his best friends, and he wasn't about to stand for the insults.
"How dare you call him a moron? He's figured out more codes and hieroglyphics than any researcher in this facility." he said loudly.
"Do you remember the last time he ran security? What was the body count?"
"Look, I know he's, different but you have to trust him. He's the best we got."
"No, our supervisors, directors and officers are the best we got."
"Well, I'm not calling any of them, their all pricks." he said walking back to the table. Quinton followed him over and they both looked down at the mysterious fabric. Something about it was dark. Darker than anything they've ever seen.
It was raining around 11:30 PM when a black Ford Crown Victoria pulled into the NTRC parking lot right outside the front doors. The lights of the car dulled to nothing and the engine stopped. The car door opened and Jake quickly emerged from the car and ran into the building. The rain was very cold for late spring, and felt more like snow. The fog was still as thick as before, getting thicker by the minute, which made the lonely research facility seem alone in the dark, surrounded by a wall of fog.
Jake walked up to a desk with a security guard behind it. The young security guard, no older than 25 had short blond hair, and he had a bored smirk on his face. He wore a very nice security guard outfit, which was nothing like the regular mall cop outfit. He looked proud of his position, and proud of the gun in his holster, which no matter how much Jake knew the person, made him nervous.
He put his hand on a scanner and draw a tiny bit of blood from his fingertip to check his DNA and fingerprints to make sure it was actually Jake Delaware. Jake thought this was a very tedious process, and figured if the guard knew him it was alright. Jake was a very impatient person, and he had been known as a very short-fused man. Then it came to mind that the facility held top secret projects that if got to the public, could raise hell.
"Casey, you know me by now. Do I really have to do this man?" he asked sarcastically. Casey looked over at the computer and typed in Jake's access code.
30-DRTCH-32
Jake didn't mind the fact that he had to scan his hand for faulty print signatures that much, or even the fact that he had to have his finger pricked for a DNA sample, but remembering a 4 digit 5 letter code was going to far. Excluding the fact that it changed every month, or every time somebody was fired.
"Sorry Jake, it's standard. Otherwise I'd just leave the door open all night." he replied as he looked back at Jake with a smile. Jake patted his shoulder and walked to the door.
"Glad to see you care Case." he said as he walked through and the door shut behind him. Casey had worked there for about three months now, and was getting well acquainted with Jake. Casey originally worked a security guard job in British Columbia, but moved when a better job came up.
Jake continued down the hallway, as the arms from his leather jacket he wore 24/7 rubbed up against each other. His gun was held at his side, not proudly but cautiously. Jake was never happy to hurt or kill anybody, but if the situation regarded Jake's possible death, he'd use it. It was a 9mm handgun, and Jake thought it was one of the best guns ever made. Light, easy to shoot, and could pack a punch from close range or long distances, if you had good aim.
The hallways weren't lit from the ceiling like most facilities, but was lit from the floor. Two very long light bulbs followed along the bottom corners of the hallways, covered by a thick sheet of glass. The hallways were mostly sided with metal slabs, and every 10 feet were bullet proof windows revealing laboratories, research rooms, and office cubicles. NTRC was a very well known research facility, and had only been around for three and a half years now.
Jake stopped at a laboratory door and slid his key card through a small computer by the door and again, punched in his password. The door slid open and he walked into Quinton and Leonard waiting for him. He approached them with a tired smile, and the two responded the same.
"Jake, how are you?" asked Leonard. Jake shrugged and looked at Quinton. Quinton gave him a disgusted look but hid it with a small smile.
"Jake." he said with a nod.
"Quinton." he replied. Leonard could already feel the tension between them, and the room was silent. Jake and Quinton had gone a long way back, and it wasn't a very nice story. It was known amongst the opening team staff, and some three year employees.
Jake and Quinton had applied for the position of Secondary Officer, which gave them the right to pick their own crew and search for artifacts when enough evidence is gathered that there may be something. Quinton felt he was the more experienced of the two, and felt he should have got the position. Jake got the position, and was very proud of himself. Quinton confronted Jake soon after, and told him he wasn't the right man for the job. They had gotten into a large argument that ultimately ended with a fight. They were both suspended from the facility for two weeks. They returned and everything after that, was history.
"What do we got?" asked Jake. Leonard carefully lifted up the piece of fabric and gently handed it to Jake. Jake took it to the examining table and looked at it under the light. Quinton waited impatiently as Jake did so.
"Well? What is it?" Quinton asked, having as much disgust in his tone as ever. Jake turned his head to Quinton and back to Leonard.
"Well, it's nothing I've seen. It looks ancient Greek, or maybe even Roman." he replied.
"Could it be prehistoric?"
"It sure could be, the only thing I can think of is an unknown or unspoken of race."
"Nobody here studies unknown races."
"No, but Oakville Research Center in British Columbia does." he said proudly. Quinton rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, hating the idea.
"You love travelling, don't you?" he asked. Jake nodded and put the fabric in a small manilla envelope. He slid it into his inside jacket pocket and zipped it shut.
"I'm taking this for now, if you don't mind." he said as he walked out of the laboratory. Leonard chuckled and looked over at Quinton, receiving a terrible look. Leonard laughed even louder, but more sarcastically at Quinton.
"Shut up." Quinton said quietly.
END OF PART I
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