"How long are we gonna have to follow her, anyway?" Jack grumbled as he strode along the sidewalk, weaving his way through the other pedestrians.

"Until she loses us or Machiko tells us to stop, I guess." Taura shrugged. "She said Shadow is really good at slipping away from pursuers, even in broad daylight, so as far as training and evaluation assignments go, this one isn't bad. It's better than being shot at."

"Eh, fair enough." Jack zoomed in a bit more, keeping his cybernetic eyes locked onto the young draconid a block ahead of him and Taura. He wondered how someone with obsidian skin, glowing cyan eyes, wings and a tail could lose them in an area that was populated mostly by humans. She wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

But then, neither was Taura. Some people didn't appear to notice her, but the ones who bothered to glance at her either gasped or did a double-take when they realized that a seven-foot-tall minotaur was within arm's reach. Shadow was the size of an average human, didn't have huge muscles like Corona and Taura, and had her wings folded around her shoulders to keep them out of the way. Maybe she just seemed less threatening to the people around her.

Just then, Corona's voice came through their earpieces. "Well, if we can stay on her tail when she's that good at getting away, we should be able to follow anyone."

"I guess that'll look good on our resume," Jack muttered. "Assuming we can ever get out of this high-risk 'community service' sentence and get our lives back."

"Look on the bright side," Corona said with a chuckle. "Whatever we learn on this job, we'll be able to use when we get back to our old freelance gig."

"And this beats prison," Taura added. "As we keep reminding you, Jack."

"Yeah. Sorry. I guess it's in my nature to bitch about things."

"That's okay, Jack." Corona giggled. "It's part of your charm, actually."

"Well, I'm glad I can keep you entertained. But we've been at this for three hours. I'm getting tired."

"Well, you're only human." Corona giggled.

"Ha-ha." He glanced up and caught a glimpse of Corona gliding high overhead. He returned his attention to Shadow before she could slip away.

A half-second later, Shadow made an abrupt right turn and disappeared down an alley.

"Ah, hell." Jack groaned and jogged toward the alley.

Taura outran him, stopped at the end of the alley and peeked around the corner. She frowned and glanced at Jack.

"She's gone!"

Jack walked around the corner and found an empty alley. "How the hell did …?"

Taura glanced up, nudged Jack's shoulder and pointed toward the top of the building on the right. Jack craned his neck and saw a pair of black, digitigrade feet and a tail disappear over the edge of the roof.

"Damn it!" He spoke into his comlink. "Corrie, she climbed the wall. She's already on the roof."