International Affairs

Tracking Lessons

Chapter 7: Tracking Lessons

“We’ll start at the mall,” Katelyn announced as they got off the shuttle bus.

It was a sunny Saturday morning and the girls went off campus again.

“You really think they’ll still be there?” Sammy asked.

“They’re not in school,” Jane reminded her. “They don’t really have anything to do. The Plaza is our best guess.”

“You got the tracker?” Katelyn asked.

Jane nodded. The tracker was a tiny little bug that clung onto clothes or hard surfaces. It sent off a signal to a handheld device which showed where the person was. Jane got a jarful of trackers for her birthday. Such a typical spy gift…

“But really Katelyn?” Jane asked. “You wore a cross necklace?”

“We go to St. Mary’s,” Katelyn said, fingering her necklace. “I need to look the part. Derek definitely doesn’t believe us.”

“Where’d you even get that?” Sammy asked.

“A girl a few rooms down,” Katelyn replied. “I helped her with the math homework.”

“Wow,” Sammy said. “Maybe we should have showed up in the uniform then…”

“If you like knee length skirts…” Katelyn retorted.

“So what do you want to do?” Jane asked, refocusing them.

“We can shop,” Sammy suggested. “There’s a huge sale in this boutique I really like.”

“Sure,” the girls agreed.

Katelyn aimlessly flipped through the rack of clothes but she was looking out the large glass wall at the shoppers.

“We should split up,” Sammy finally decided after checking out. “We can cover more ground that way.”

“How will we communicate?” Jane asked.

Katelyn thought about it. “If any of us runs into them, just bug them there. We’ll meet up at the food court in three hours.”

“Perfect,” Sammy said. “I’ll do some shopping along the way too.”

“I want to get some new earrings,” Jane added.

Katelyn nodded and they split up. She didn’t have that much money or interest in buying new clothes. She could use a new skirt though.

She pulled out a short black skirt from the rack and held it up to herself in the mirror. It was nice and on sale. Maybe she will buy something after all.

Behind her, in the mirror, Katelyn immediately noticed the 6’2” guy approaching her and whirled around.

“Look who it is,” Derek said, walking over with a grin on his face. He didn’t even bother to be discrete as he looked her over head to toe. “Isn’t that a little too short for a Catholic school?” he asked, teasingly.

Katelyn hung the skirt back on the rack. “We have weekends,” she responded.

“You seem to like the mall,”

“So do you,” Katelyn said, crossing her arms.

“Where are your friends?” Derek asked.

“They went somewhere else to shop,” Katelyn replied, slowly, making sure not to give anything away.

“You need someone to carry your bags?”

“No,” Katelyn said, flatly. “I’m not buying anything anyways.”