Warehouse 13
The Warning
By A. Rhea King

Chapter 1

Dim, old light bulbs lit the utility tunnels. The city above echoed faintly through the various vents and pipes to the surface. It kept from the world above from hearing or seeing one man chasing another man. The one in front occasionally turned to fire a gun. The one behind him dodged and ducked, but never lifted the crossbow he was carrying. The pursuit led to a closed door. The man in front struggled with the door. Just as he opened it an arrow pierced through the base of his neck, jutting out his throat. With a gurgle he fell into the doorway. The second man ran up to him, panting – something the first man never did. The first tried to lift his gun to aim but was dead before that happened.

His pursuer pulled a cellphone from his pocket, checked for signal, and dialed.

"It's done." He leaned back against a wall. "Yeah. I'm tired. This is the fourth one today and I am getting tired of having to cover them up." The man closed his eyes and then looked down at the deceased. He shook his head as his teeth ground. "I'm sure throwing some more idle threats and letters at the situation will make him stop – in the meantime, I'm cleaning up the mess." He hung up with a sneer at the phone. Then he heaved a tired sigh and then slung the crossbow over his back. He connected a strap to hold it there. He grabbed the man's arms and started dragging him into the next tunnel. A trail of black liquid followed the body.

As they passed under a light, he glanced down. The man's face was pale and showed black veins. His eyes were completely black and still gleamed. Whatever was in him, wasn't dead yet.

#

There were stacks of letters on the stairs. There were stacks of letters on every table in the sitting room. There were stacks of letters on the fireplace mantle and stacks dangerously close to the fireplace. USPS buckets of letters sat behind the couch. Letter stacks were tucked into every nook and cranny leading out to the atrium. They surrounded the table, were tucked under plants and piled on side tables.

"This one…" Pete said from behind a tall stack of letters. "Boise. Colorado? There's no Boise, Colorado, is there?"

"I don't know," Myka answered from somewhere on the other side of stack.

"Is there a Bennet, Colorado?"

"I don't know, Pete."

"You grew up in Colorado and you don't know if there's a Bennet, Colorado?"

"You grew up in Ohio and you didn't know there was a Zanesfield, Ohio."

"Tu'she. Tu'she…" Pete trailed off, staring at the postmark. He began wondering about the person who sent this. The letter was a threat – they all were – but who would take the time to send a letter?

He looked down when Claudia sat a cup of coffee at his elbow. "You okay?" she asked him.

He smiled up at her. "Great. I enjoy getting death threats on a daily basis."

She smiled sympathetically and rubbed his shoulder a couple times. "They are just being airheads. You shouldn't have let that stop you from working with the genies. I'm sure the word got around and now you have some really depressed ones waiting for you in the Warehouse."

"We're going with there's a genie community in the Warehouse who meet and discuss what happens in the Warehouse?" Pete shot back.

"Ooo. You are just full of sarcastic zeal today!"

"Maybe she's right," Myka commented from behind her stack of letters, "because somehow these people know exactly which genies Pete and I have released."

Claudia walked around the table and sat a cup of tea next to Myka.

"Thank you," Myka told her, but didn't look away from the letter she was reading. "And these are getting more and more personal. Like this one—"

Claudia shook her head when Myka looked up.

Myka mouthed 'What?'

Claudia mouthed back, 'Pete's already upset.'

Myka sat the letter down and picked up the mug of tea. She nodded, glancing at Claudia.

Artie walked into the atrium. "Claudia, what are you doing here?"

"I had to come back for a shower and change of clothes, and something to eat. I'm heading back to the Warehouse now."

"Do you have any leads on how they know what genies were released yet?" Pete asked her.

"No. All are different handwriting or off different printers, and they aren't using the same paper or envelopes. Steve hasn't found any fingerprints or picked up any DNA from them. This…" Claudia picked up a letter from Myka's pile, staring at the signature. "Whoever this 'Circle' is, he, she, they, are being crafty! But when we find them, they're going to wish we hadn't been!"

"I have assignments," Artie told them.

"We have an assignment," Pete told him.

"These can wait. I need you four to go find artifacts. These can't wait any longer."

"Any longer?" Myka asked.

Artie nodded. "I've been putting off sending you four out for as long as I could, but these have become critical." He handed Myka a folder and Claudia a folder. He told Claudia, "Steve's coming back to get a shower and change, then you two will be off Faiyum, Egypt. Something there is animating mummies. Myka and Pete—"

"Animating mummies? We're going to be hunting mobile mummies? Like zombies or actual walking mummies?" Claudia asked.

"Animated, not walking. Myka and Pete, you're working with the Vatican to recover this artifact – we believe it belongs to the church so you'll be leaving it with them when it's recovered."

"We can leave right now," Pete said, standing. He tossed the envelope he'd been holding on the pile. Practically under his breath he added, "Because these are just pissing me off."

The three stared at him. He smiled at them.

"Let's go artifact hunting, Mykes!" Pete walked out of the room.

Myka looked up at Artie. "Are you sure—"

"You must go. Please, Myka, go."

"His mind won't be in this, Artie."

"Then get it in this. You have to find out what's killing these people." Artie tapped the folder. "Now go."

#

Steve held the door open as Claudia got out, wrestling her bag out with her. She dug into a front pocket and pulled out bills. He almost laughed when she tried to communicate with the cab driver about how much they owed him. Steve grabbed two bills, handed it to him, and then pulled her away.

"He was trying to get you to give him more."

"You understand him?"

"No, but my gut did. He was lying to you."

"Guess your lie detector works on any language."

"Guess so."

The two walked into a building, finding themselves surrounded by archaeological pieces and mummies.

"These ones aren't moving," Claudia commented.

The two looked up when a man hurried out of the back toward them.

"Hi," Claudia said.

He stopped, looking at each of them. "Hello. Who are you?"

"We were sent to take a look at the mummies that came back to life," Steve told him.

He measured both of them with his eyes, then motioned them to follow. The three went through the back door. The next room had several people cleaning historical artifacts and the tension in the room was thick. The people tried not to make it obvious they were watching Claudia and Steve. The two came out in another room and froze. In five sarcophagi mummies writhed, moaned. Their arms weakly reached toward the three, some exposing leather skin and bone.

"This is really creepy," Claudia whispered.

"Uh-huh…" Steve quietly agreed.