[MD2, 3:00PM, in the car]

<>

>[Hermes.]

>"Kate here. I talked to Janet's mother. She's on
>the move. I'm going to follow her. How're you
>doing there?"

>[I think I might have something. Go ahead and I'll
>catch up with you.]

>Carol pulled her car out of the driveway and turned
>it in the direction of the rental car. Kate ducked
>down until she passed, then turned the car to follow.

<>

Kate followed the old Chevy for several minutes on a round-about tour of Virginville. It was rather pointless to attempt to be stealthy in following her, since it was a small town and the streets were anything but busy, but nonetheless and despite the apparent attempt to lose the tail, Carol Drazinski finally pointed her car in the direction of Karellon University and drove directly there from the opposite end of town.

Kate puzzled over this behavior, finally coming up with three possible explanations. Mrs. Drazinski was either dumber than she looked, was wasting time by driving around, or she wanted to be followed for some reason. Kate was hoping for the last of those explanations.

Carol didn't turn into the main entrance of the university as Kate had expected. Instead, she drove another couple of blocks and turned into a park that bordered the campus. She drove through the park to a very secluded area and parked there. Kate mumbled a curse under her breath. There was no way she could follow into that particular parking area without being seen since the Drazinski car was the only one parked there. If Carol was meeting someone, the presence of another car would almost certainly scare them off.

Kate drove around until she found a spot where she could observe Carol without being seen and parked nearby. Leaving the car in favor of the cover of some large bushes, she double checked her gun and made sure that her cell phone was set to vibrate rather than ring. Mrs. Drazinski had gotten out of her car and was sitting on a bench with her back to the area where Kate was, so she took the opportunity to move closer, hoping to get into range to hear what was being said when whoever she was meeting showed up.

Finally settling into a position some twenty yards from the bench, she waited. And waited. Checking her watch, she found that a full ten minutes had passed before someone finally showed up. It was a man, that much she could tell, but he was wearing an unseasonably heavy coat, hat and dark glasses, making it impossible to distinguish his identity, though a few possibilities crossed Kate's mind. They spoke in hushed tones, only an occasional word drifting to Kate's location, and certainly not enough to decipher the conversation.

A rustling in the bushes behind her caught Kate's attention, and almost by reflex, she found her gun in her hand, trained on the location of the sound. A hand reached through the thick foliage and pushed it back, while Kate began to exert slight pressure on the trigger.

"Hold your fire, it's just me," a voice said, followed by Damian's face peering through the leaves.

"That's a real good way to get yourself shot," Kate warned and reholstered her weapon.

Sharlyn appeared behind Damian. "We trailed Burrell here," she said. "He met a woman."

Kate nodded. "Carol Drazinski, the mother of one of the missing girls." That brought a frown from both the agents. "Interesting, isn't it," Kate observed.


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