“Did you get everything switched back to our Earth in the Engine Room?” Agent Smith asked Dr. Bridges.
“I did. The place those poor people went...I didn’t get to look into that world much, but I believe the attacks on 9/11 were much worse in that reality, potentially involving the use of nuclear weapons.”
Smith hated to think about it. One of the reasons he worked as a federal agent was to prevent attacks like what happened on 9/11, and to have it even worse and the capital irradiated would be...unthinkable.
“Can we go home now?” Kira asked Penny. Penny crouched down in front of her young daughter and enveloped her in a massive hug. Sisco, never one to be left out, rushed over and joined in. Nik added his arms, and then cocked his head for Bridges to join in. The old scientist put his arms around them all, and stayed there for just a second, before releasing them.
“Yes. We’re heading home,” Penny said. She looked around. “Who’s going first?”
Street raised his hand, “I’ll go,” which meant that Kira and Sisco were going as well. After Street saved them in their grandfather’s apartment, they’d been stuck to Agent Street’s legs.
“I’ll follow them, and Jodi and Braden can come with me. You come when you’re ready,” Nik said to Penny. He knew she might want one last goodbye to her twin from this reality. Even if Penelope couldn’t hear it.
“Thanks,” Penny said. Dr. Bridges took her hand and they walked over towards Penelope’s body.
Street stepped up to the portal and strode through it, followed by the four kids and Nik. Marie and Hoppy were next in line, and Smith waited behind while Penny and Bridges peeled back the sheet over Penelope’s body.
Her wide eyes showed surprise in death, as if she never dreamed she would ever be killed by herself. For Penelope, immortality was still on the table until death came and snatched it away with a bullet that shredded many of her internal organs.
Penny knelt down and took Penelope’s hand.
“I don’t blame you for what you did. I can’t say I’m thrilled about it all, of course, but I can’t say what I would have done in the same circumstances. Shoot, you were me. You became Vice President of the United States, and I’m just a lawyer in Southern Indiana.
“But you know what? I love being a lawyer, but my job isn’t what defines me. My family defines me. My dad, my husband, my children. They have made me the woman I am today and nothing you said was every going to change that. I wish you knew that earlier in life—that your job is not who you are. You were looking for what completed you and he was following you all along the way.”
Penny bent over and closed Penelope’s eyelids, then paused. “What’s that beeping?”
Bridges and Smith stopped moving and just listened. Smith looked down and saw Penelope’s bag. He pushed the body aside and ripped the zipper open. A countdown clock was ticking, with just seconds to go.
“A dead man’s switch on the bomb! We’ve got to go!” Smith shouted, pulling Penny to her feet.
Bridges was on the other side of Penelope’s body. He had a little farther to go and older legs and joints to get him there.
“Dad!” Penny screamed. Smith held firmly to her arm. He knew he could save her. It was up to the old man to save himself. Nothing he could do.
“Go! In case I...I love you Penny, never forget that!”
Smith and Penny ran through the portal and plowed into the lockers a few feet away from the mirror on their side of the event horizon. They looked back, even as the others in the room seemingly all spoke up at once, but the blast shattered the mirror. For a brief moment, Penny could have sworn that the mirror’s edges were blasted away first and the rough outline of a man remained for an instant.
“Dr. Bridges?” Agent Street asked.
Smith could only shake his head. What had happened was a tragedy in the midst of joy. It was almost too much to take.
The last image of her father Penny would ever see was the shattered bits of a mirror. Nik didn’t ask questions, he simply walked over and embraced his wife, letting her sob into his chest.
Smith looked across the room. He’d missed out on getting Dr. Bridges back, but he had succeeded in bringing ten others back to their version of Earth. Distracted by Penny’s crying, Smith didn’t notice Marie burrow under his own arm. She pulled him in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Congratulations, Agent Smith. You got us back. Mission accomplished.”
Agent Smith looked down at the woman under his arm, staring up at him with bright sapphire gem-like eyes. He allowed himself a smile and pulled her close. “Thanks. You can call me Wayne.”
Three Weeks Later
It was a little strange, Agent Smith thought, being back in the Utility Company. When he emerged in the locker room along with nine other people out of the blue a few weeks earlier, it was tough getting used to. He’d been the mouse in Penelope’s game for such an intense period of time that after he was debriefed and cleared, Director Wall ordered him to stay away—to go on vacation—anything but work.
Smith had some relatives he could have visited in Vancouver, Washington and the climate was nice at this time of the year, but in the end, he ended up chartering a boat and spending most of those twenty-one days at sea. Far away from land, from any mirrors, from anyone at all. He didn’t even offer to take Marie along, which he regretted most of his time away. She was the glue that kept him together in that cave in Arizona, just as much as he was for her, and then he just up and abandoned her when she probably needed him the most. He promised himself that he would make it up to her if she would even listen to him.
After a few weeks away, his supplies began to dwindle and he knew he had to go back. He didn’t even have to worry about finding a ride to the office; as he pulled his boat into the slip, two black-suited agents met him. Agents Peters and Parker, they said their names were. Good ol’ Wall, still giving the new recruits great names. With the massive losses due to the Sedona tragedy, the Utility Company was reeling and in need of good agents. They were young, but from the way they comported themselves, Smith was already looking forward to working with the two down the line.
He walked through the bullpen in the office and saw a few familiar faces, but a smattering of empty desks greeted him as well. Thankfully, two faces in particular brightened when he came near.
“Smith!”
Agents Wesson and Barney seemed to shout in unison upon seeing Agent Smith for the first time since their incident in the air above Arizona. He smiled as they came near and both seemed a little unsure of themselves until Smith reached out his arms and brought them both in for an embrace.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to see you two again,” Smith said. “I’m glad you’re both okay.”
Wesson grimaced a little. “Yeah. Still have some physical therapy for my arm, but we both got lucky. Speaking of lucky, I read your after report.”
Smith himself had to grimace a little. “Tough sledding for a while, boys. Too many unknowns for my comfort. I’d love to talk more about it, but I think I need a little more time.”
He looked over the shoulders of the two other agents.
“What about…”
“Dr. Anna?” Agent Barney interjected.
“Yeah. How’s she doing?”
“Don’t know. We’ve only been here about three days and she’s been gone the entire time. Wall said not to worry about it—that she’d be back, but he never said when,” Agent Barney said.
As if Smith didn’t feel bad enough for what he’d done since they’d walked back through the portal—or run back in Smith’s case—and now he felt guilty for leaving Marie behind.
“Smith!” A voice boomed down the hall. Director Wall. “Come down to my office, when you can pull yourself away.”
Wesson clapped Smith on the shoulder. “Look, we’re both itching to get back to work, but we don’t want to go back in the field without you. So as boring as desk work might be, we’ll wa
it until you feel ready.”
Smith glanced at Barney, who gave an affirmative nod.
“Thanks guys. Feels great to have you at my back. Let me talk to the boss man and I’ll let you know.”
He continued down the hall, and found himself outside Wall’s office. The photograph of Agent Street that had hung on the wall for a decade and a half was gone. Removed. In its place an empty rectangular space unaffected by the elements drew Agent Smith’s attention. He found himself staring at the one-time memorial to a man who saved his life just weeks ago.
“Pretty wild, huh?” Director Wall spoke up from his office across the hall.
Smith didn’t turn around at first. “It was.”
“I never expected to see Agent Street again. Thanks for bringing him back.”
Smith turned then. “That’s the thing. He saved me. I slipped up. I would be dead or still over there if it wasn’t for him getting my back.”
Wall smiled. “That’s Street for you. I can’t tell you the number of times he saved my skin before you ever came on board here. He was...is a great guy. A great agent.”
Smith stayed in the hall for a few more minutes, looking at the other pictures on the wall—those other agents who came and went. About a half dozen pictures were new and added to the wall since he’d last visited Wall’s office. Pictures of friends. Colleagues. Those he failed to save.
“Come on in. Let’s talk,” Wall said.
Smith backed away from the pictures, almost as if he couldn’t bear to turn his back on his friends. He slid into the office, and shut the door.
“How are you doing, Agent Smith?”
Smith took a moment before answering. Part of him wanted to tell Wall he was through, but Smith knew his job wasn’t done yet. There were more people to help. Jobs he didn’t know about yet that demanded his skill and leadership. Part of Smith wasn’t sure how he even felt, but in the end, he did what was expected.
“I’m fine. The time on the boat was good. Helped me get myself together. I think I’ll be ready to go back to work as soon as you clear me,” Smith said, leaning back in his chair.
“You think so? That was quite a trip you went on. I read your report. Not quite as long as Street’s report, of course. Fifteen years of memories made for quite the late-night reading, but I’m more concerned about you. It isn’t every day that you see yourself die,” Wall pointed out.
“True, but Street had to actually kill himself,” Smith said.
“Yes. He did, but Street’s alternate betrayed all of you, and Street knew he was beyond redemption. Your twin gave his own life to preserve the mission. In a way, I’d like to put his picture up on that wall, but I thought it might be weird for you,” Wall said.
“Thank you, sir,” Smith said. He never really answered Wall’s question and wanted to avoid it if he could. He decided to switch topics. “What did we end up doing with the Davidsons—Nik, Penny and their kids?”
“The Davidsons wanted to get back to normal life. Unfortunately, you blew up their house, so they’re living in an apartment right now while the government pays to have it rebuilt. I did make an offer to Nik or Penny to go through agent training if they ever got tired of their lives, but they looked at each other and said they’d seen that life, and they knew what they were supposed to do.”
“And Jodi and Braden?”
“Back to Arizona. Told them their college would be paid for if they shut their mouths about what they saw over those couple of days.”
“Think that’ll work?”
“Maybe...but I also definitely insinuated that we’re the government with cameras everywhere so…”
“So you let their imaginations take them the rest of the way there. Good deal. Maybe I’ll reinforce the idea by checking on them every now and then as well. Good kids.”
Wall nodded. “They sure were. Those kids, that family...they were all in a tough situation and you got them out. Wesson and Barney hurt, Agent Black back in Indiana, and Agent Tinker alerting us to what was happening—you showed a lot of guts taking on the mission by yourself. But it was stupid, too. How many agents do I have under me, and yet you’re the only one who heads to an alternate dimension to save the world?”
“In my defense, I brought another one back with me,” Smith said sheepishly. Wall didn’t budge, and Smith continued. “Look, I knew Dr. Anna was a top notch analyst I could rely on and she proved herself over and over on this mission. I did get lucky to find Hoppy, Dr. Bridges and Agent Street along the way, but I never felt in over my head. I felt it was in the best interest of the world if you knew about what was happening straight from Agent Tinker.”
Wall hesitated. “And you were right, again. Thanks to Tinker’s tip, we were able to root out most, if not all, of Penelope’s advance agents. Ultimately, we may never know if we got them all, but we got all of the replacements for Agent Jones’ team from Sedona—the ones left over from his assault on the cave in the alternate reality, at least.”
“Good to hear,” Smith paused. “Director Wall, I know I was reckless at times in this mission, but ultimately I did what I felt was best. I…”
Wall put a hand up.
“Smith, you’re my top guy. I know this wasn’t the easiest mission. But you came back and you saved more lives than anyone had a right to expect. I’ll clear you to return, if you feel up to it. But I have a feeling your time on the boat wasn’t everything you need to do before you get back to work,” Wall said.
“Sir, I’m not sure…”
Wall slid over a piece of paper with an address. “Here. Go. Come back in a week and let me know if you’re ready to go then. You did great work, but you aren’t just an Agent of The Utility Company. You’re a man...a human being. Take your time. This job will still be here.”
Smith didn’t look at the piece of paper until he had walked out of the office. Ten minutes later he found himself parked in front of a modest house. He knew where he was, even if he’d never been here before.
He stepped out of the car, and for a second, he blinked, the harsh sunlight straining his eyes. He slowly walked to the front door, unsure of the reception he would get.
Before he could even knock, the door opened.
Dr. Anna—Marie—stood behind the threshold, her eyes full and expectant.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” Smith began.
“That won’t be necessary,” Marie said.
Smith’s mouth drew into a thin grimace. “Well, then allow me to apologize…”
“That will also not be necessary,” Marie said.
Agent Smith—Wayne in front of Marie—was confused. “Well, then what is necessary?”
“This,” she said, then stepped beyond the frame of the door, and pulled him towards her, pressing her lips against his in a move that told him his three weeks at sea were badly misspent. He allowed himself to be pulled into the house.
“Are you sure this is necessary?”
She locked eyes with him for a moment, and that moment told him everything.
“Absolutely.”
A Note from the Author
In January of 2015 my brother Will Swardstrom announced on Facebook that his forehead was dry and he put lotion on it. It was mildly amusing for him to announce such a mundane thing on Facebook and he received some likes and snarky responses to his post. The next day, his forehead was still dry, and the following day, his reflection blinked while he stared at it. Thus began ten months of writing and a couple more months of finer details. Here we are now at the end of December and nearly a year has passed from that first post.
A couple of weeks into Will’s endeavor to write a story via Facebook posts, I saw the line “you can call me Agent Smith.” Something about that line stayed with me. I started to wonder about Agent Smith. What agency did he come from? What exactly was he investigating? How did he come to find Will? After wrestling with these thoughts for a while, a treatment of them began to form in my mind an
d the Utility Company was born.
I wrote up enough for a couple of Will’s episodes and sent it over to him asking what he thought. The rest… history. He gave me the space and ability to come on as co-pilot and this thing took off. Up to that point, I had written a couple of short stories, but had not taken writing very seriously. Pretty soon, Will and I realized we had a product that we both enjoyed very much and it has led to other opportunities for me. I have now been published in the Cyborg Chronicles, a Future Chronicles anthology, and have written a short story for the Drifting Isle and we recently collaborated on another short story with the further adventures of Agent Smith on Christmas Eve.
We are hopeful to continue the adventures of Agent Smith and the Utility Company in the future and I hope to continue writing as well. As a music teacher, husband and father writing is something that I only do when I have some extra time but I have enjoyed it very much recently, finding the rush of crafting to be unlike any other sensation I know.
I want to thank Will for being so generous with his intellectual property. The collaborative effort we had together has been special to me and I value it greatly. Love ya brother.
You can visit my Amazon author page at http://smarturl.it/pkswardstrom.
- Paul K. Swardstrom
_____
When I tell people I write books with my brother, I get a couple different responses. Mainly “How do you do that?” which refers to the logistics or perhaps the politics and interpersonal relationships involved in the process. As for the first, none of this would be possible without two technological wonders -- Facebook Messenger and Google Docs. Seeing as we live over 2,000 miles apart, the mere idea of writing anything together would have been impossible before just a few years ago.
As for the brotherly aspect, I’ve heard from some people: “I would NEVER be able to write a book with my brother!” For Paul and I we are lucky that we are both similarly laid back and humble in our writing. We both understood life doesn’t always stop when we want and a rallying cry for this process was “whenever you get to it.”
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