Volume I - Episode 116 Where: Kharkiv, Ukraine When: 1 month and 3 days after E-Day, 5:07 pm Rob and Cathy sat in their car on a deserted Ukrainian street, finishing their afternoon report to base. It had been nine days since they left Potsdam, Germany. Nine days since finding the corpse of Sarah Bachmeier in the burnt-out ruins of her safe house. "We located Bohdan at his house," Rob said into the microphone. "He needs a couple of days to get his stuff together, and then he'll move out on Saturday. He has a back injury, so he's not looking forward to driving all day, every day. He reckons it'll take him about a week to get to Paris." "Did you offer him assistance?" a French-accented voice said on the radio. "Yeah, we did. But he refused our help. Politely refused, I should say. He's a pretty independent guy." "Okay, thanks Rob," the voice said. "Now, before we go any further, we have an update on the situation in Cologne. We still haven't from Paul Barkley and Angela Marotte. Their last report was on Tuesday. We happened to have two operatives in the area, keeping an eye on the Hexenjägern, so I sent one of them to Paul and Angela's last known location yesterday. We haven't heard from him since. Against my better judgement, I sent the other operative this morning. Now he is missing, too." Rob and Cathy exchanged a worried glance. "Krystal," Cathy whispered. "At this point we have to assume some tragedy has befallen all of them. We suspect that the subject at this location - this Krystal Beaufort - is either in grave danger, or that she is a grave danger. Rob and Cathy, you knew this Krystal girl, didn't you?" "We met her," Rob answered. "But I wouldn't say we knew her. We were all on a tour of Gorod Drevnih back in July, and there was an accident. Krystal was hit by a car. Cathy and I took care of her until help arrived." "I see," said the voice. "Now, I'm in two minds about this. I've already lost four operatives, and I dread the thought of losing any more. But with the Hexenjägern becoming more active across Germany, we have to find out what's going on. How would you and Cathy feel about heading to Cologne to check things out? I know it's a long way..." Cathy took the microphone. "We'll do it, Commander. Rob's right, we don't know Krystal well, but we definitely know she's not a danger to anybody. If something has happened to the operatives, it's happened to her as well." "Very good," the Commander said. "How long will it take you to reach Cologne? Remember, you must avoid Berlin at this point. It is completely under Hexenjägern control." "If we drive day and night, we could be in Cologne in...a little over a day." "Understood. Now, Cathy and Rob, I want you both to listen to be very carefully. I can't emphasise this enough. Four good operatives have been lost in Cologne. We can only assume some harm has befallen them there. You must exercise great care." "Don't worry," Cathy said, gritting her teeth. She touched the wand at her side. Bright sparks danced across her fingertips. "Whoever it is that's done this...they've never met anyone like me before." Notes: Background photograph by Sergiij Iarovyi (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wyrm2611/3281769437/)