by Alton Reich
> Just then, a thought striked Vanessa.
> "He is 'one of us'! He's a FBI agent too!" Jordan and Zenya stared at her, > not knowing what she is saying, while she stepped on the accelerator and > sped to the hospital.
> "I'll explained later," she promised.
"I think you'd better explain now," Jordan said as Vanessa pulled on to the main road that led to the hospital.
"I talked to one of the men loading the cows into the truck. His cover alls said 'Green Pastures' on the back, but he didn't seem like the kind of person who spent a lot of time working with cows."
"What do you mean?" Zenya asked.
Vanessa shrugged, "His hands were smoothe. He had a good tan. I don't know, call it intuition, but he didn't seem like the kind of person who spends his life around cows."
"Even if he's not a professional cowboy, that still doesn't mean he's with the Bureau," Jordan pointed out.
"Yes, but he politely advised me to forget about the cows. He seemed genuinely concerned."
"I don't know," Zenya said, "I'd be more inclined to think he with the DOD. They seem to be involved in this. He may have just been extending a professional courtesy."
"As for 'Green Pastures'," Jordan added, "we'll have to see what we can find on that."
"What did you find in the school?" Vanessa asked.
"I'm not sure," Zenya asked opening the folder on her lap. She thumbed through the pages as she had in the school building, only this time a flash of yellow caught her eye. She flipped back a few pages to a yellow sticky note stuck to one of the sheets. "Take a look at this," she said to Jordan.
Jordan shifted in the front seat to be able to see the folder on Zenya's lap. The handwritten note said, "Several students seem to be progressing well. I have indicated them on the attached sheets. DB"
Jordan scanned the page it was attached to. It was a two page alphabetical listing of the students using RPG Universe. Some of the names had an 'X' marked next to them. Several stood out, including Jessie Colquitt, Chris Laughton, and Mike Pruitt.
"That's interesting. Who do you think DB is?" Jordan said.
"I don't know. One of the teachers, I'd guess," Zenya replied.
Vanessa pulled into the hospital parking lot and found a space.
Zenya handed the folder to Jordan, "I'd like to see how Leo is doing."
"I'd like to go back to the school and see if we can find out more. You can stay here if you'd like."
"That's not necessary," Zenya said quickly.
"Yes, it is."
Zenya regarded Jordan for a long moment before saying, "Thanks."
A short while later, Jordan was satisfied that both Agent Jones and Reed would survive. He left the hospital with Vanessa and Jim. They pulled into the school parking lot as the busses were leaving to take the students home.
They walked into the building and entered the office. Jordan noticed that the secretary who was in the office earlier had been replaced by another woman. Jordan walked over to her and said, "Good afternoon. We're looking for a member of the faculty who's initials are DB."
"I'm sorry," she replied, "We don't give out that kind of information."
"Got it," Jim called out from over near the bulletin board near the door, "Donald Borden in room 221."
"Thanks," Jordan said to the woman before turning and following Jim and Vanessa out the door.
They went down the corridor a short way and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs they looked around at room numbers. "This way," Vanessa said taking the lead.
Ahead of them a door opened and a man walked out into the hall. He saw them and began to run in the opposite direction.
Jordan called out, "Stop, we're from the FBI!"
In response, the man pulled a gun from under his jacket and fired in their general direction. They heard the bullet ricochet off one of the nearby lockers.
Jordan pulled out his SIG-Sauer P226, stopped in the corridor and fired. The man stumbled and rounded a corner ahead.
NRPG: Too much silence from me. The last couple of weeks has been very hectic. Things will be a little calmer for the near future, at least. The kids are out of school, and I don't expect any more business trips until August.
Anyway, the question now is what does this guy know, and will he talk?