An Agent Named Nicolas Flint

Case Three part 1

My cellphone was ringing on my bedside table at two in the morning. I'd forgotten to turn it to silent when I went to sleep. It was rare I would get calls from clients so late at night, but it did happen on occasion. Normally I would let it ring and check the voice mail in the morning. Still half asleep, I looked at the number. It was Nick. He was a government agent that dealt with supernatural threats. I've been pretty useless on the two jobs we had already been on together, and yet he still called me up asking if I could join him on another case. I made a mistake and answered with the following:

"What's up Snickerdoodle?"

Shit. Recently I've been trying to think of nicknames to call him because it seems as if he enjoyed them. I've mentally made a list of names to use and rejected some which I would never call him (under punishment of dying from embarrassment). Due to my half-asleep state, I used a name from the wrong list. There was a long pause as I heard him whisper the word under his breath and heard the rustling of paper. Faintly I heard a notebook close and I knew he wrote down the nickname. I would never forgive myself for this. Putting aside that trauma, I listened to the reason why he had called so late.

"There is a bit of an emergency. Can you be ready within five minutes? Bring warm clothing and a weapon if you have one." Nick explained not sounding fazed by the greeting.

I was already out of bed trying to get dressed when he spoke. Whatever is going down must be a dig deal if he's rushing me out the door. I wondered how dangerous this job would be. He never told me to bring a weapon before. Normally I leaned on him to do all the heavy lifting. I wanted to change that though, so after the last case I went out and got a handgun. I also went to the range a few times to practice shooting, and made sure I gave the weapon all the respect it deserved. Honestly, it made me a little nervous just having it in the apartment. If I didn't live alone, I would have bought a gun safe for it.

"Yeah, I can be ready. Where should I meet you?" I asked.

"I'll come to your door but I need your permission to use it."

Now that was a strange thing to ask. I told him he could and he quickly got off the phone. The new case brought danger but I was thinking more about the payday it would bring. No matter how much I worked I didn't appear closer to my goals. However, my excitement faded when I placed my new handgun inside a side holster after checking the safety over ten times. I had wanted to be a cop but a private investigator was the best I could do. I was never aware of how nervous guns made me, until after I actually owned one. I told myself it was just first time jitters that I hoped would fade. Just as I was tossing on my jacket, a knock came from my front door.

When I opened it, a blast of cold air came through along with snow. It was still spring, but closer to summer. There shouldn't be any snow! Nick stood on the other side of the doorway, but the outside was not my apartment building hallway. I was looking off at a snow-covered mountainside landscape.

"What the hell...?" I said slowly, wondering if I was still dreaming.

"The Corporation is able to connect two doors together to make travel time faster." Nick explained as if this was a common thing.

I blinked a few times before stepping out into the ankle-deep snow. The wind nearly blew me off my feet and I quickly zipped up my jacket. When I closed the door behind us, it disappeared leaving behind three long branches. Two stuck in the ground and one on top making it look like a frame my apartment door fit inside of moments ago. Apparently the doorways that could connect two locations together didn't need to be a real door, they just needed to look like one.

"It's not a long walk. I'll explain the case when we get somewhere warm." Nick said and started to walk away.

I followed behind along a snow-buried road. I could only tell it was a road because of the pathway through the trees. Nick was only wearing his suit along with a pink scarf that was flowing in the wind. How he wasn't cold was beyond me. I shivered, tucking my hands into my coat pockets while wondering if it wasn't too late to turn back. Another burst of wind stung my face, making my eyes water.