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Sylvia was pressed for time, the team was jumping in twenty minutes, and she hoped that he wasn't too busy to answer his phone.  She dialed the number, reading it from her aged but still very serviceable Hello Kitty organizer.  Keeping numbers in her phone was a waste, as she destroyed them so regularly.  It only rang twice before he answered.

"McBride."  Dave had changed since high school, but he was still Dave.

"Dave, it's Sylvia."  It had been a few months and a few phones since they had last spoken.  She always felt a slight pang of guilt when she called him for anything other than to chat.  Which was too often.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I need a favor."  She says, standing to pace in her on base apartment, waiting for the ribbing and poking of fun.

"No problem.  Name it."  This answer set Sylvia on high alert.  Nothing is this easy with Dave.

"There is a girl here, part of the Alpha Squad program.  She's not going to make the cut.  They don't think she's tough enough.  This girl really wants to be a hero so bad it's gonna crush her.  Rumor has it that the Defenders might be looking for another body or two."  She crosses her fingers, something she had picked up from her teams brick.  She noticed it and undid the silly superstitious symbol from her fingers with a mild annoyance.

"We are.  I've got two leaving and we're hoping to replace them by the end of the year.  If she's there then she's already got a lot of training.  I'll send you a plane ticket for her.  Give it to her and my number, I'll handle the meetings and interview."

Sylvia breaths a sigh of relief.  "Thanks a lot Dave.  So, how is it managing a super hero team?  You digging it?"

"It's a lot of work, and I love every second of it."

"Great, well thanks again."

"Not so fast lady.  Time for you to do me a favor."  And this was it.  Sylvia had walked right into the trap.  They kept telling her in training to watch out for things that look too good to be true.

"No more time in the Hazard Simulator.  Last time your guys did eight million dollars in damage and it was broken for a week."

Dave laughs, "That was totally my fault.  I didn't warn them it was a training exercise.  No, this is easy.  I need you to go to a party.  Fund raiser for a community rebuilding project in Alameda.  Big super battle there, lots of damage.  It's in October, so you have a month or so to get ready."

"A PR thing?  You want me to do a PR appearance?  I'm just an Omega Squad kid.  I can ask someone from Eagle Force if you want?"  She felt she was trying to dodge a public appearance.  Was she?

"No.  I want you to go to a party.  And I want you to get Elrod Janush to come too."  Now Sylvia knew it was a trap.  She just wasn't sure what kind.  She hadn't spoken with Elrod at all since high school.  The last few years she had seen things about him and his career in the papers, but never actually talked to him.

"Elrod?  Isn't he your friend, can't you ask him?"

"He is, and I did.  He said he'd be glad to, if I could convince Sammy to come."

And the last piece of the puzzle falls into place.  Sammy dropped off the grid.  She had gone all Bohemian musician girl, living the life of the care free.  Sylvia was happy she had found her stride, and annoyed that it was something Sylvia had started to dream about from time to time.  "And you want me to track her down?"

"And then you'll have to convince her to come.  Good luck, I have a meeting at the mayor's office.  Great talking with you."  And the call was disconnected.  Sylvia found herself looking at her phone like it had somehow betrayed her.  But, she had her own mission to take care of, so the phone's disloyalty would have to wait.

***

"What do you mean you can't find her?"  Sylvia was shocked at how loud she got.  All the eyes in the Operations Center turned her way, and Miley Fitch cringed.  The petite girl was an NSA tracking specialist.  She was a geek, with geek glasses, geek hair, and geek sweatshirts.  If Colonel Juzskowski hadn't banned pajama pants in the Ops Center she'd be wearing those too.

"She's not on the grid.  She doesn't have a phone."

"She does!  I know she does.  She swore she'd never give that phone up."

"Yeah, but it's not on.  She doesn't use it.  The last time she did was to call a guy named Elrod Janush on his birthday.  So if she follows that pattern we can get a lock on her in about four months."

Sylvia toys with the idea of erasing Miley's love of Star Trek, making all the toys and uniforms in her room a sudden source of annoyance and disgust, but restrains herself.  "Credit cards, bank statements?"

"She has a bank account.  Every month five hundred dollars is transferred there from a record company in Michigan.  Apparently she did an album of children songs a couple years ago.  She never takes money out of it.  She's a ghost.  Is this lady an ultra-terrorist or something?"

Sylvia rolls her eyes.  "No, she's part Djinn, which means she's rapidly becoming a pain in my butt."

"Well, if I knew more about her, or knew her better I might be able to do a better search.  Problem is that her family data is on a Department of justice watch list.  Apparently her mom went into the witness protection program when she was a teen.  So if I crack that we'll have to get official clearance to do it, but you wanted this on the down low, right?"

"I'd forgotten about that."  Sylvia says.  "We were Sophmores when she found out.  Her mom saved one big surprise a year for high school.  the first one was that she had super powers, which Sammy inherited.  That was Freshman year."  Sylvia chuckles.  "So what you're telling me is that we need someone who knows her better, and could violate the law without having to answer to mama CJ or Sky?"

Miley nods.  "I just don't have enough threads to weave anything together here.  Sorry."

Sylvia puts a hand on Miley's shoulder, "It's okay.  I'll just have to find someone else.  Thanks for the help Miley."

***

"Logan Darklighter."  Sylvia told the receptionist for the third time.  "I'm a friend of his."

"But you don't have an appointment.  Mr. Darklighter is a busy man, you need an appointment."

Sylvia had a lot of ways she could go with this.  She took the one that gave her the least mental grief.  She took her badge out and showed it to the woman.  "Tell him that a Special Agent from the NSA is here to see him.  give him my name."

The receptionist looked at the ID, and then picked up the phone.  She dialed, and waited.  "Mr. Darklighter, there is an agent from the NSA here, she's very insistent, says she's a friend."  Even Sylvia heard the click of the phone being hung up.

Logan was standing in the reception are a couple of minutes later.  "Ms. Reese.  Did you check the list?"

"List?"  she says, then her eyes widen.  "Oh, no sir."  She scrambles to find the list, and then turns red.  "I'm so sorry Ms. Vaughn."

"Avery-Vaughn."  Logan corrects.

"Yes, Ms. Avery-Vaughn.  I'm so very sorry."

"I'm taking a lunch with Ms. Avery-Vaughn, I'll be back later."

"When?"  she inquires, steno pad in hand.

"Later.  You will find the definition in the dictionary somewhere between Incompetent and Unemployed."  With that he leads the way to the elevator.  "All I ask for is someone who can follow directions, and has a spine."  He says as they wait.

"You are a very demanding boss I'd imagine."  Sylvia says, ,amused at the uncertain confusion rolling off the receptionist.

Logan takes Sylvia across the open courtyard of the office building and out onto the street.  It's a short walk to a little cafe, with out door seating and a small menu.  "Everything here is good."  He says as he gets the chair for her.

"Do you like Texas?"  she asks, not sure what to say.  He was still one of the only people that did this to her.  She always felt like she had to act older.  More mature.  I'm a damn super hero for pity sake!

"Not going to matter in a month.  The company I work for is getting bought by it's primary competitor, and I will be out of a job.  So my liking Texas or not will not be part of the equation.  Florida will be my next stop.  Starting a little telecom company with a guy I went to school with."

Sylvia finds herself smiling.  "That sounds great.  Listen."  She halts.  Sylvia hesitates for a minute.  Logan is one of the smartest guys she knows.  She half expects to see his name come up as a villainous mastermind any day now.  She just hopes it never comes to a conflict that she has to be a part of.  "Dave is doing me a favor.  It's one of a long list, and he needs me to do him a favor in return.  See, there is this fund raiser in California, in October.  and he wants Elrod to come.  And Elrod will, if Sammy comes.  The trick is, no one can find Sammy."

Logan listens, he nods, "And you want me to find her?"

"Please?"

"If you go to the fund raiser with me.  As my date."

Sylvia is sure her eyes have gotten as large as saucers.  In high school her then boyfriend Donnie had always given her the impression that he thought Logan was chasing after her romantically.  It was a Hello Kitty Diary fantasy, but those got replaced with notes on suspicious persons at school, and her case notes.  Long in her past, now suddenly in her face and bigger than life.  Stay cool.  You have faced down blaster toting Viper agents.  This is cake.  "S-cough-sure."  Damn.  She clears her throat.  "Sure.  That sounds like it would be fun."  she says, In a hair raising panty bunching stomach knotting kind of way.

"Great."  he says.  If he thought anything of her squeaky initial reply he was kind enough not to let it show on his face.  "Let's eat, shall we."

***

The bar was hopping, and the woman on stage with the house band was belting out country favorites as happy couples danced.  She was certainly in her element, singing.  She had walked in one night and asked if she could sing for room and board.  The owner had her try out, and the next night she was working three sets a night for fifty bucks a night, a room over the bar and three meals a day.  It was bar food, but it was good bar food.  And she was blissfully happy.  She was a stunning beauty, with a mane of hair and tall.  She stood out, but had a way about her that made people comfortable and happy.  Like a magic charm, which in a way was exactly what she was.

She finished her last set to a thunderous applause and went to sit down at the bar near the end.  The owner gave her a beer, and a towel.  She wiped the sweat from her brow, and when she could see again he was standing there.  They had never been friends in high school really, but he had helped her out a few times.  "Logan Darklighter.  I did not expect to find you in a country bar in Louisiana in September.  Elrod sent you?"

He shakes his head and gestures towards the bar stool next to her, "May I sit?  you are part of a giant conspiracy.  A conspiracy I have willingly manufactured and become a part of."

"Please, I love a good story."

Logan sits down and orders a beer.  "You look very happy.  I really enjoyed the set."

"You don't strike me as a country fan."

"Even music I don't know is a joy to hear when it's done well."

"Consider me buttered up.  Now tell me about this conspiracy."  she says, taking a sip of her beer.

"Dave, you remember Dave McBride right?"  When she nods he continues, "He wants Elrod to go to a fund raiser, with the hopes it will encourage people to write bigger checks.  Ever since Elrod bought that NFL team and pledged to donate all the profits to needy Chicago families, people in his circle dig deeper if he goes to one of these events."  Sammy smiles.  She had suggested the idea as a joke when one of his rivals bought a team.  The fact that he did it tickled her, like so many other things about Elrod.  "So, Elrod agreed, on the condition you'd go.  Since he doesn't want you to think he's crowding you he didn't want to hire an army of private eyes to find you."

"So he asked you?"

"Oh no, it gets better.  Sylvia asks Dave for favors from time to time.  Some habits are hard to break I guess.  Anyway, he finally called in a marker, and that was to find you and convince you to go to this fund raiser."

"I have the NSA trying to find me?"  Sammy giggles, "Oh that's too funny."

"Exactly.  Well, you have effectively become the ghost of a nineteenth century saloon girl and dropped off the grid.  So, Slyvia came to me.  I agreed to try and find you and convince you to come to the fund raiser if she would agree to come as my date."

Sammy follows the little foot prints of the conspiracy around, which lead to a little bar in Louisiana.  "So, I'm really doing you a favor.  If I go to this thing?"

"Exactly.  I would be in your debt.  I have to say though, Elrod has started playing Blues guitar in his house at night.  I think maybe he misses you just a little."

That news knocks some of the fun out of Sammy's mood.  "Blues guitar?  Really?  You're not just saying that to make me feel guilty, are you?"

"Making something like that up would not help my case if I were to need your help in a conspiracy of this nature again."

"Wait.  You said Elrod agreed to go if I went?"

"Yes."  Logan says, taking a sip of his beer.  "I suggested he say that to Dave, on the basis that Dave wouldn't be able to find you.  And he would enlist Sylvia, who would in turn enlist me and I could ask her."

Sammy laughs, Knocking on his skull like it were a door, "Hey genius, I think she'd have agreed to go if you just asked."

"True.  But I also wanted you to go with Elrod, and didn't want him to feel he owed me anything.  you know how he is about debts, even ones that aren't really debts."

Sammy nods, ,then sips her beer.  "So, how did you find me?"

Logan sips his beer.  "Compared to the rest of it, that was easy."