As Love created another diversion, the trio and two hounds slipped unnoticed to the exit and climbed the stairs to the roof and into the awaiting Sikorsky. They headed south over the Manhattan skyline toward Brooklyn, past the Williamsburg Bank tower. Atticus sliced open the envelope. "It's encrypted. Wait- let me translate it." He pulled a slim, hand-held device from his inside jacket pocket and scanned the message with the push of one button. "It says we're going to grab a data drive- in Brighton Beach?" Nasrin's eyes flashed and a smile played around her lips. Atticus glanced at up at her. "Ah- how's your Russian?" he joked. The copter flew due south and a tawny strip of beach came into view. "It says we're to head toward a place called Restaurant Tatianna" he added as they touched down.

Before the elevator doors were completely closed Courtney turned to the Tayanna and said, "Your xolos are tremendously adaptive, it seems. El Sombre seems to have healed from his wounds quickly. Using you as inspiration we have begun a training program using hunting and shepherd breeds as operatives and pairing them with agents. I would like you to consult on the program direction after you have finished your first semester. Atticus, as you know I spoke to Knight about this mission moving forward with more lateral depth. This depth is Tayanna and, as we are finding, the astute Nasrin. Atticus, use your experience to help your team. Nasrin you have propensity with all types of technical data, don't you? Utilize that whenever you can. Tay, your link with the xolos and your skills for reconnaissance you are the teams eyes and ears. Atticus, keep the team focused and moving. After the first leg of the mission you will be using your own where-with-all, you own creativity, your own methods, to complete the delivery of..." Courtney paused to open the penthouse door. Tayanna realized that in the few seconds they had been together Courtney had identified and recognized specific talents of each of the students then not only complimented their strengths but she also motivated students to use them. Courtney opened the door, reached inside and handed Atticus an envelope. "Back to the elevator" During their descent to the lobby Courtney explained that they would open envelope once back in the Sikorsky. The doors opened into the hotel lobby and the waiting paparazzi. Courtney leaned down and hugged El Sombre. She kissed the dog on the mouth, then stumbled out into the center of the flashing cameras. "That is one cool doggy, lady."

The helicopter made its way east to New York and flew over Manhattan’s Time Square heading towards the rooftops. They landed on the rooftop of the Gansevoort Hotel. Tayanna, the dogs, Nasrin, and Atticus all climbed out of the helicopter still a little discombobulated from the flight. They located the stairwell and climbed the stairs down to the first floor of the hotel. As they exited the staircase, people who were in the lobby became nervous and scared around the two giant dogs who were with the three young spies. However, there was another spectacle that diverted their attention. Courtney Love, president of MASK, was dressed in a slinky, red sequined dress that barely touched her mid-thigh. The spaghetti straps that seemed to hold the dress up were falling off of her bare shoulders as she was being dragged out of the lounge by two security guards who resembled linebackers from a pro football team. As they held her up, she drunkenly slurred, “Lemme go! Don’t you know who I am?” As the two guards dropped her off in the lobby, she called them a few choice expletives and tried to stand and straighten her ripped fishnets. She stopped to pose and give the paparazzi a sloppy grin. As she teetered on her six inch stilettos, she glimpsed the three novice spies. She signaled for them to follow her to the elevator. As the elevator doors closed Courtney’s demeanor immediately changed. She straightened up and said in a perfectly sober voice, “Playing the drunk is always fun especially when the paparazzi are there snapping photos. Any publicity is good publicity.” The three spies headed up to Courtney’s penthouse still in awe of the spectacle they had just witnessed.

The Chicago Loop high-rises sank over the horizon behind them. Tay knew they were flying east. As the helicopter roared low over Lake Michigan Atticus and Tay looked at each other growing unease. Nasrin sat quietly, studying the inside of cabin. She leaned forward, hands on the panel in front of the helicopter controls. "I hope you know what you are doing, Nasrin." Atticus warned. "This is the new Sikorsky X2, it is the fastest long-range helicopter in the world. I have studied the cockpit layout of other Sikorskys, they are not dissimilar. All I am doing is checking our course." Just then the monitor above the empty pilot's seat came to life. Knight's face appeared. "Students, please listen carefully. You are being entrusted with an important task for the President of MASK herself..."

The van screeched to a sudden halt. Rook jumped out of the passenger side and whipped the sliding side door open. A sleek copter, blade circling lazily against the cloudless blue sky awaited 15 feet away. "Climb in!" shouted Rook. The dogs showed no fear nor reluctance, following Tay and her classmates into the cockpit. To their surprise, Rook closed the door behind them then trotted back to the van, leaving the copter's pilot seat unoccupied. "What the...!" gasped Atticus, as the copter engines revved up and they lifted from the ground. The trio watched, amazed, as the controls responded automatically. They wove between the city's skyscrapers then suddenly found themselves over the vast blue-ness of the lake. Tay watched whitecaps whip up on the azure surface, as the wind buffeted their helicopter.

As the three novice spies sat down, the driver hit the gas and they charged out of the underground lair. The bus moved in and out of traffic at top speed, even though it looked as though the bus could barely crawl on its dilapidated wheels. As they headed south down State street towards 533 Polk, where the helipad was, Tay, Atticus and Nasrin got a better look at their driver. He had greasy uncut hair which gathered in clumps over his forehead and into his eyes. His black leather coat was cracked and worn and looked as if it had been dragged through mud and left to dry and cake into the creases of the arms. His faded black pants were threadbare and his combat boots were covered in a grime so thick, that it was no longer apparent what the original color of them were. The three sat silent as they hurdled down the street. Tay finally mustered up the courage to ask the bus driver his name. He replied with a grunt, “Obi Wan.” The xolos growled at the sound of his voice. “Who are you?” “A retired MASK spy.”

Rook led them through a maze of little used hallways in the bowels of the Monadnock. They passed the division between the older north end of the building to the newer south end. Tay knew this because she saw steel girders amid the century old brick as they climbed flight after flight of stairs. Rook stopped at a dead end by a small steel door and waited until Nasrin and Atticus climbed the last stair and mounted the cramped landing with Tayanna and her xolos. Rook held his index finger to his lips. He slid what looked like a credit card into a seam in the rusted, riveted steel door. It slid open soundlessly, revealing the gleaming steel tracks on which the door traveled. Tayanna saw another weathered steel surface painted with the logo of the CTA in green and gold immediately in front of them. She heard the busy sounds of the teeming, mid-day city, smelled diesel fumes, and saw that the steel surface was vibrating. Rook knocked on the CTA logo, watching paint clips fall to the asphalt beyond the gleaming track. As they waited at the door Tay saw the wall in front of them was curved slightly, bending away from them but not reaching the ground. She saw light reflecting off oily macadam at their feet. The steel wall opened in. In front of the quartet were two steps up into a dark room with seats facing to the right. Rook stepped in and said "C'mon!" Tay stepped up and noticed the xolos were not following. She turned and Rook had noticed too. "Get them up or we will leave you here." Tay whistled and the dogs paused, then gingerly stepped up. The diesel fumes were thick around them when Rook told the three students to sit down. Tay saw that they were on a city bus, but the windows were covered with sheet metal and grime. She looked to the driver's seat and there she saw the dirtiest man she had ever seen. "Where?" he croaked. The xolos growled.