"There she is." Ramirez motioned with her coffee cup at the woman who'd just walked over from the old minivan in the parking lot. "In the blue shirt and jeans." She kept her voice low, just loud enough for Hiro to hear her over the murmur of conversations around them.

Hiro glanced over his shoulder and quickly back to his own cup. "The one heading for the counter?"

"Yep." Ramirez shifted her weight and grumbled. "About time, too." The plastic chairs outside this coffee stand had been comfortable enough for the first half hour or so, but after sitting here for nearly four times as long, her ass was practically turning into a chunk of wood.

"Yeah. I've had way too much coffee." He clamped the straw in his beak, finished his mocha, and sighed. "I don't think my bladder's ever been this full before. Granted, my entire lifespan so far has been less than a month, but still …"

Ramirez kept her eyes on their target and tried not to wince at Hiro's mention of his age. Given what had happened between them the night they'd met and her inability to stay away from him since then …

Keep your mind on the goddamn job. She finished her espresso and watched the woman pay for her coffee and turn to leave. Ramirez pushed her chair back, only then noticing that she and Hiro had been holding hands. She frowned. How long were … oh, hell, don't think about it. She pulled her hand away, reached into her denim jacket's inner pocket, and took out her badge.

"Keep an eye out for anyone following her. I'll try to make contact."

"Sure." Hiro turned to face the street, leaned back, and rested his hands on his lap.

Ramirez walked toward the woman, trying to look casual as she dropped her empty cup into the nearby trash can. "Are you Yolanda Hughes?"

The woman snapped her head around and locked a near-panicked stare onto Ramirez.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Ramirez held up her ID. "I'm Lola Ramirez. I work for the Justice Foundation."

"The what? Never heard of it." She quickened her pace.

"It's new nonprofit operation. Sort of a special investigations company. We mostly do freelance work, but we also handle police and government contracts here and there."

Hughes increased her speed even more, almost jogging toward her van.

"I'm not here to give you any trouble, Ms. Hughes. I was just hoping you could answer a few questions."

"About what?" Hughes paused with her hand on the van's door handle and gazed at Ramirez with narrowed eyes.

"Well, it might be kind of awkward to talk about. Could we discuss this in private?"

"No. Right here, right now -- in public."

"Okay." Ramirez sighed. "Four months ago, you reported having a weird blackout. Everything went all fuzzy and you couldn't control yourself. You picked up a guy -- a chimera -- seemingly at random, and you took him home and had sex with him. You couldn't stop it no matter how hard you tried. The police told you that they'd look into it, but they never did. The case was closed. And instead of pursuing the matter further, you've let it drop."

All the color drained from Hughes's face and her expression shifted immediately from suspicion to shock. Ramirez shook her head.

"Take it easy. The reason I'm investigating this is because …" She blushed and flicked a glance at Hiro. "Well, the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago."

A hint of suspicion returned to Hughes's face. Ramirez nodded toward Hiro. She didn't want to get into this out here, where she could be overheard by anyone nearby, but right now it looked like the quickest way to gain this woman's trust was to simply let it rip.

"See that dragon-lookin' kid over there? That's the one I … ended up in bed with."

Hiro waved at her, and she smiled and waved back.

"Uh-huh," Hughes muttered.

"The same thing was done to both of us. We were just going about our own business in separate parts of the city. Then someone slipped up behind me -- I know I saw him, but when he looked into my eyes, everything turned foggy. It was like my brain was wrapped in damp cotton. My body kept moving on its own while my mind watched, helpless, beating its fist against the unbreakable glass between it and my body."

Hughes continued staring at her, mouth and eyes opening wider as the seconds passed. Mixed in with the surprise was more than a hint of recognition.

"Rings a bell, doesn't it?"

Hughes nodded slowly. "My husband didn't believe me. Neither did anyone else. But my husband … that was the worst part. When he found out, he … he left." She looked away and pressed her lips together.

"I'm sorry." Ramirez sighed. "Whoever did this to us, however he did it … it didn't ruin any relationships for me, but it did cost me my job. I was an NCPD detective, but I got tossed when the higher-ups found out about me and Hiro. Naturally, Internal Affairs didn't believe me." She closed her mouth before she could go any farther. The fact that Hiro was underage could still cause all kinds of trouble for her. The last thing she needed was to make it even worse by bringing it up where any passerby could hear it.

Hughes's jaw dropped again. Ramirez shrugged and took a quick look around to see if anyone had stopped to listen in.

"It probably wasn't as bad for Hiro. He just got laid. But everything leading up to that -- being totally helpless and unable to control his own body, walking off somewhere and waiting for me to pick him up, having no idea where he was going or what was happening to him -- had to be terrifying." She looked back at Hiro and smiled again. It was almost a reflex. Which brought up another question. "Say … do you still feel an attachment to the guy you did it with?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, a residual effect of whatever mental manipulation was used on us. Do you still feel affection for the guy you got thrown together with?"

"No!" Hughes stared at her and shook her head. "Are you nuts?" She shuddered and rubbed her arms. "He was a lot bigger and stronger than I am. Being pinned under him, with those huge, sharp teeth in my face, while he ..." She shook herself again. "And this whole thing ruined my marriage."

"Oh. Sorry. I just thought it might've created a link or something. Thought it might explain why I'm so …" She cut herself off and shook her head. "Well, why did you drop it? Did someone try to intimidate you?"

Hughes shook her head quickly. "If someone can force you to do something you'd never do, then who knows what else they can do to you?"

"This bastard ruined your family. Help me put him away before he does it to someone else."

"I can't! I just want to move on." Hughes turned back to her van.

"Don't you want to bring this guy to justice?"

"Don't you get it? You know what this bastard can do. If I push this, he'll hurt my son or my parents or my friends -- maybe even kill them. It's not worth it." Hughes waved her off and got into her van. "Just leave it alone. Leave me alone."

Hughes started the engine and launched out of the parking lot. Ramirez stared at the van as it receded into the distance, shook her head, and trudged back to her table.

"You gonna be okay?" Hiro placed his hand over hers.

"I guess I should be used to striking out by now."

"Don't lose hope. We haven't spoken with all the victims yet. We could still get lucky."

"Maybe. It's just that this sonofabitch is out there somewhere, probably assaulting other people right now. And there's no way to know when he'll escalate to something even worse than standing there and jerking off while watching his victims screw."

Hiro nodded and gazed off in the direction Hughes's van had gone. "You know, she was right about one thing. Our perp could've done something far worse to us. We were actually kind of lucky."

"Can't argue with that." He could've made us rob a bank and give him all the money, or kill someone, or even commit suicide. Hell, if he wanted to, he could raise a whole army and use them to assassinate world leaders. Jesus fucking Christ. Ramirez shuddered. "But that's why he has to be stopped. Sooner or later, the twisted shit he's been doing won't be enough to get his rocks off."

"I'm not sure what else to do."

She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face. "Shit. Obsessing over it will just make things worse." She nodded over her shoulder at her car. "Come on, let's call it a day."