Ellie nodded, partly to show she had received the information and partially as a place holder to give herself a moment to think. The Group didn’t have clearly defined roles but it was extremely unlikely that three of her people would become jumpy or paranoid at the same moment.

“Could it be law enforcement?” Ellie asked quietly. It wouldn’t be the first time the Feds or even people in the intelligence community had taken an interest in their movements. For a doctor, Ellie had seen more than her fair share of interrogation rooms and over sexed males trying to be intimidating and mysterious in equal measure. Morgan shrugged interestingly but her expression clearly conveyed her skepticism of the notion.

“Someone is watching us?” Madeline asked and immediately began to look around.

“Don’t..” Ellie and Morgan began in the same heartbeat but it was too late, the woman’s rubbernecking had been noticed. One of the TSA agents spoke quickly into a cell phone and turned to walk briskly away, another pulled a radio from his belt and began to speak into it in hushed tones. Madeline froze, clearly chagrined.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” the woman began but Ellie’s cold look shut her up.

“Be quiet and act naturally,” Ellie instructed as calmly as she could manage, though a hint of frustration crept into her voice. Tears filled Madeline’s eyes and the woman began to shake.

“Goddess curse you!” Ellie snapped pulled the woman close to her and kissed her full on the lips. Arcane power flooded her mind and her skin prickled as the spell she had woven coursed through her, tendrils of glowing gossamer flowing from her lips into the other womans body. Quiet. Calm. Obey. Madeline quieted as the subtle net of magic settled over her mind. When Ellie broke the kiss the other woman stood calmly, eyes unfocused and face vaguely euphoric. A shiver of pleasure ran through Ellie’s body and she fought to quash the sensation. Invading someone’s mind wasn’t something you wanted to get too fond of.

Kennedy looked surprised and Malone, more experienced, raised an eyebrow at the display. The Gods only knew what Morgan made of it. Ellie cleared her mind. Observe, analyze, act. Surveillance had been waiting for them when the arrived. That could mean official attention but both she and Morgan had checked out Madeline before agreeing to meet with her. The Group took cases that were likely to land them in trouble with officialdom only reluctantly. That meant that whoever this was was likely tied up with the murder somehow. If that were true, it more or less ruled out the lone murderer theory. Ellie didn’t see what they would have to gain by starting an altercation in such a public forum, although it was possible that just landing them all in hot water with the TSA would be sufficient. Either way, as Morgan had implied, it was better to get out of ground an enemy had selected.

“Abandon the luggage. We are leaving,” Ellie said casting an eye back over her shoulder at Manny and Leon. They turned and headed for the door, the others falling in as Ellie stepped through the door into the crisp autumn air. The usual selection of police cars and taxi’s were pulled up in the parking bays and a stream of traffic stopped to drop off passengers and pick up arrivals.

“This way,” Manny said, guesting not towards the rental car kiosk across the road but towards a surface level parking lot.

“Told you I had it covered,” Manny said with a cocksure grin as he gestured to a trio of SUV’s. The big man sauntered across to the first of the large vehicles and pulling open the door. He fished around inside for a moment and then pulled out three sets of keys.

“We should probably assume our hotel is compromised too,” Ellie said as she climbed into the back of one of the cars. Even as she did so a dark van pulled up across the pedestrian crossing and several large men climbed out and rushed towards the terminal. As they reached the doors the TSA agent Ellie had seen on the radio burst out and thrust a finger across the street towards the group by the SUV’s. Ellie’s stomach clenched. This was going from bad to worse and they weren’t yet out of the parking lot.