Morning came much too early for Sandra.
The sun in her eyes woke her up first. She just closed her eyes and put a
pillow between the window and her face, and that solved that problem.
However, not even a pillow could muffle the sounds coming from the sink and
mirror in the ajoining room as her roommates made ready for the day.
"Sandra, you can be good and wake up now," she heard Kate call. Sandra just
moaned and put another pillow over her head; but common sense prevailed and
she got up, although quite reluctantly.
"Geez, but you look awful," Kate teased as she brushed her hair.
"Yeah, I'll bet I could have said the same for you earlier," Sandra muttered
back grumpily.
Kate just smiled, however. "I did; however, you can't prove that. Neither
can Eithne there."
Eithne just grunted goodnaturedly as she finished with her mascara. Sandra
smiled slightly and grabbed her brush, running it through her hair. It
snagged on a not, drawing a rare expletive from her lips. "My," Kate
noticed, raising an eyebrow, "you don't seem all too chipper this morning."
"Try staying up for 36 hours, then having about six hours of sleep, and see
how chipper *you* are," Sandra replied, and grumbled as the two around her
giggled. Forgoing her hair for the moment, Sandra went over to get dressed.
She opened her suitcase and pulled out some clothes, laying them out on the
bed. She grabbed an armful of folded clothes into her arms and headed for
the drawers. "Hey! You guys couldn't even save me a little room here?!"
"Well, you should have gotten up earlier," Kate replied playfully, but went
over and pulled out one of the drawers. "Here, use this one. I can put this
stuff on the counter up here."
"Thanks," Sandra replied, dumping her stuff into the drawer. She'd deal with
it later; now she had to get ready. Glancing at her watch, she saw it read
8:12. "Shoot! Kate, don't we have that appointment with the teacher today at
nine?"
"Yeah, we do. Better hurry."
Sandra didn't need to have to be told twice; she raced around, taking a
shower in record time, then getting dressed. So what if the shirt was
somewhat wrinkled; she had a jacket to put over it. She forwent makeup
today; not like she wore much anyway though. Her hair was rolled into a
twist and pinned up by the time Kate and Eithne were getting their shoes on.
"Boy, that was quick," Eithne pointed out.
"Yeah, hopefully I won't come apart sometime today," Sandra answered dryly,
drawing a smile from the two. Slipping on her loafers, she followed the two
out of the room and down to the waiting team.
The others arrived at almost the same time. They sat down in a booth, the
same one they'd sat in the previous night. Considering her exhaustive state
yesterday, Sandra was surprised she could remember where they'd sat.
"Okay," Sari started, "does anyone have anything planned fo---" *Hmeeep*
*hmeeep*
Sari pulled her cellular phone out of her pocket and pulled up the antenna.
"Agent Kelly."
Sari listened for a moment, a variety of emotions running across her face,
then "Just a moment, sir...." She handed the phone to Eithne. "He wants to
talk to you."
Eithne took the phone carefully as if it were a breakable object. 'Who is
it?' she mouthed.
"Damien," Sari answered softly. Eithne nodded and put the phone up to her
mouth. "...Sir?" She listened for a moment, a confused expression on her
face. "Um.. No sir, but may I ask why?"
She listened for some time more, glancing at Sari at times; then concluded
the call and gave the phone back to Sari. "Well," she said shakily, "it
seems I'm your new leader."
"What?" a chorus of voices answered back. "What happened?"
"He wouldn't tell me. Classified, he said." She looked to Sari for support.
Sari just shrugged. To Sandra, she seemed a little pale. "He said it was a
glitch, a mess up in the paperwork. But it's true; I'm off the case."
More complaining came, but only half heartedly; they all knew there was
nothing to be done. They spent their time eating, talking little and mostly
about the case.
Sometime later, Sandra glanced at her watch. "Crap! Kate, we gotta go; it's
almost nine!"
Kate's eyes popped open, then they both scooted out of the booth. Eithne and
Flint stood up obligingly for them to get out, then sat back down. "Hope to
meet up with you sometime in the future, Sari," Sandra told her former team
leader, smiling sadly. Kate said something to the same effect, then the two
of them bid adeu to their group and headed out. Kate had the keys to the
Taurus, so she drove to the University. It was a relatively short drive;
they pulled up to the building housing the professor with a couple minutes
to spare. Getting out, they entered the building and headed to the
professor's lecture hall.
As they got closer, they could hear the lecture already going on.
"....practicality of the different religions in America. This land was
originally meant for the freedom from opression, for those of different
religions to be able to coexist together; yet that has become convoluted in
the recent times. With the seperation of church and state, our government
has taken the first step to limiting that freedom. No more are Christians
able to pray in their classes; no longer are those of certain religions
allowed to wear certain ceremonial ornamentation. No longer can those who
practice such religions as voodoo or satanism practice freely and without
prejudice...."
Sandra and Kate entered the lecture hall as the last sentence was being
stated. Trying not to be an obstruction to the lecture, they each looked for
a seat to sit in. The class was packed, however; there were no open seats,
so they opted for just standing against the wall. Beside them were a few
other students, those who obviously couldn't find a seat themselves. Sandra
glanced at her watch; 9:07. "I thought you said we had an appointment for
nine," she whispered to Kate.
Kate grinned slightly. "I was kind of insistant on my desire for an
audience. I hadn't planned on him being in a class."
Sandra glanced at Kate; somehow, she couldn't see this woman being
insistant. Then again, she'd only known Kate for about a day....
The professor wrapped up the lecture, and retreated to his desk as the large
class stood up and began exitting. Sandra and Kate stayed to the sides as
the throng of students exitted, then headed down to the floor.
"Professor," Kate called, and as the man turned she showed him her badge.
"Agent Kate Calloway, and this is Agent Sandra McCormick. FBI."
Sandra flipped out her badge obligingly, letting him glance at it before
putting it away. "I believe we had an appointment with you," Kate prompted.
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