Wolf Pack

Gathering Intel

Katie ended up jolting awake just before dawn. Unlike most people she didn't feel sore from sleeping in the seat of a car, but when she realized she drifted off in KITT's cabin she was totally mortified.

After apologizing profusely to KITT, she made him promise not to tell Michael about the night before. She was pretty sure Michael would tease her about it if he found out, and she really didn't need that right now. Last night she had honestly forgotten KITT was in the parking lot until she came outside. She was coming out to sit in the yellow Saturn next to him, actually, as she often did to calm herself before doing an actual check around the facility. KITT just made that a bit easier this time... Evidently to the point she let her nerves unwind a bit too far to end up completely crashing asleep in his passenger seat after a short time.

Even though KITT didn't see it the same way, Katie felt like she utterly embarrassed herself. So when she hurried back inside to get ready for the day she tried her absolute hardest to put the whole thing out of her mind.

Not that she wasn't grateful by any means. All things considered, that was one of the better nights of sleep that she had in a long time.

It was only a few more hours before Michael and Katie came out rare and ready to go. And much to Michael's surprise she had a wooden baseball bat with a leather strap at her side.

"Is that really necessary?" he asked asked as he walked to the driver's side. "If you're worried about getting attacked I will protect you."

Katie narrowed her eyes at him. "Listen, honey, I don't know if you think I'm some fragile little girl or what, but I don't need you to protect me. I can do that just fine on my own," she warned. "I may have asked for help on this matter with my brother, but all the same you have no idea how things work around here. This isn't California where everything's cut and dry. 'Wild west' doesn't even cover it. And Mama didn't raise no pansy bass."

She pulled the door open with no resistance from KITT, and the AI waited until the door was closed before speaking to Michael. "She told you," KITT said amused.

"KITT?"

"Yes, Michael?"

"Shut up."

With that he got in the car and they headed into town. Being the type of car he was, KITT certainly turned quite a few heads. He was already preparing for the very likely event that someone would attempt to steal him. If things were as Katie said it was likely going to happen more than once.

They ended up stopping at the only diner in town. If there was one place to find out anything it was there. People talked over food and the wait staff arguably knew more about what went on in this town than those who controlled it.

Almost immediately one of the waitresses came over. Her name tag read 'Jennifer.' "Hey, Katie," she greeted sweetly. "Who's your friend?"

"Michael Knight," he introduced with a charming smile and a polite handshake, making Jennifer blush.

"Hey, Jen. Michael is here to help with the break-in that happened at the sanctuary," Katie interjected before they happened to rabbit-trail too far. "Have you heard anything significant by any chance?"

Jennifer's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, hun, you need to be careful. Your brother was in here yesterday ranting and raving about a big lawman to those Gunnison boys and getting them all worked up."

Katie's eyes widened too, and then her shoulders sank in exasperation as she ran a hand over her face. "Of course he did," she sighed. Leave it to Dillon to make things difficult for everyone. She was hoping to avoid the Gunnisons given they literally worked for the freaking Cartel. Dillon occasionally worked with them directly too, so she had wondered if him trying to get his hands on the sanctuary had something to do with that as well.