CHAPTER NINE

"Okay. Here we are: the police station."

They weren't exactly there just yet. Lizzie was standing next to Karr one street over from the station. The road they were on intersected with the busier road the police station was on, so that while the road they were on was empty enough for Lizzie to lead Karr alongside her, the road the station was on was too dangerous for them to cross together.

From where they were standing they could see the station, but most likely no one from the station could see them. Hopefully, anyway. They were within hearing distance though, so Lizzie knew they needed to be careful.

"Now," Lizzie said, "I need to go inside. Karr, stay out here and wait for me to get back, okay?"

No answer. The scanner just flashed as normal.

"Okay." Lizzie said, "Here we go then."

She took one step forward-and Karr moved forward to match her step.

"No no!" Lizzie said, stopping him with one hand on his hood and pushing him back, "Stay! Got that? Stay right there!"

She moved one more step forward...and so did Karr.

"Gah!" Lizzie threw up her arms. "This isn't going to work. What was I thinking?"

Karr didn't answer her. He just sat there patiently, his scanner calmly at work.

"Well, we're stuck, aren't we?" Lizzie said, leaning against Karr. "Someone is after you, whoever is after you called me, I can't get in touch with my family and I can't even go to the police station to prove my innocence about something that you did."

She looked at Karr again.

"Come on Karr," she pleaded, "Can you please stay out here and just wait for me for a few minutes?"

No answer. Lizzie took a tentative step forward, and was once more matched by the vehicle.

"Alright," she said, "I guess we could go back to Mrs. Mahogany's house, and think of something else-"

Suddenly Karr bolted. He backed up quickly away from Lizzie, drove backwards off the road and hid himself in between two nearby houses.

"Karr?" Lizzie asked, "What's wrong?"

Karr, shivering, flashed his favorite pattern at her with his headlights.

"Karr, come on, it's alright," Lizzie said, moving towards him, "I'm sorry if I scared you-"

There was a screech down the road. A small black car made an illegal turn to drive into the police station. And the car didn't enter by the driveway that served as the entrance either, but used the one that served as the exit.

"What the-?" Lizzie asked. Who would break the road laws to enter a police station? What kind of emergency on campus would call for that?

Someone jumped out of the driver's side of the car, and then someone else jumped out of the passenger's side. Both occupants left their doors open and apparently left the car running. They looked like they were in quite a hurry.

"I want a complete lockdown of the entire campus," the driver said, talking into a cell phone he was holding up to his ear, "That's right. I want him found. The girl too, we have intel that she might be searching for him. No, I just want her watched for now. That's right. I'm at the police station now..."

Whatever else he said was lost as he and his companion entered the station. But Lizzie slowly backed up towards the area where Karr was hidden.

That voice...that was the same voice that had called her the night before on her cell phone.


Michael Knight frantically knocked on the dorm room door. It opened only a few seconds later.

"Can I help you?" Asked the girl who opened it.

"I'm Michael Knight, I'm looking for my daughter. Is she here?"

"No she's not," said the girl, "I'm Brittany, her roommate."

"Do you know where I can find her?" He asked, "She's in trouble."

Brittany was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah, I know where you can find her," she said.

Michael sighed in relief. "Good. Where?"

"She told me she would be at the police station in...in about ten minutes," she said, looking at her watch, "I can give you directions there if you want."

"That would be great, thanks," Michael said.

"I'll let her explain what's going on," Brittany said, "But Mr. Knight, she's going there to clear things up. I'm sure this is all just a big misunderstanding-"

"Yeah, so do I," said Michael, "Listen, I'm sorry but I have to find her before something bad happens. Which way is the police station?"


Lizzie was pacing the floor of Mrs. Mahogany's garage. Karr was shivering, facing the closed garage door as if he was afraid it would soon be opened by those guys who were searching for them.

"This is bad," Lizzie said, "Just what are we going to do now? I'd try calling Kitt again, but that would mean that anyone could track me by my cellphone. And now everyone is searching for me-the school, the mysterious people who want to find you, the police; all that's left to complete the picture is for my dad and Kitt to come looking for me too."

She paced the garage again.

"Alright, think Lizzie," she told herself, "I need information. How can I get information? And without using any kind of internet?"

She paused for a moment.

"Radio," she said. Quickly, she ran out of the room and grabbed the clock radio by Mrs. Mahogany's guest bed in the guest bedroom. She raced back into the garage only to find that Karr had changed position in her quick absence-he was now facing the house door she had used, and he was flashing one of his headlight patterns.

"I'm back, sorry, needed to get something," Lizzie said, plugging the radio into an outlet, "Normally I'd ask to use your radio, but since you won't let me inside this'll work instead."

She fiddled with the radio until she found the local college station.

"I hope this works," she said, "This could be a dead end. I mean, they might not say anything about-"

"...don't be alarmed. Once again, we are looking for the car's registered owner, local student Elizabeth Knight. A search warrant has been issued for her arrest. Police are checking everywhere on and off campus, so if you get a knock on your door from the police, don't be alarmed."

"Great." Lizzie said, sighing into her hands, "Just great."

"Listeners, we've just received a call from a local listener who claims she saw the car in question at the police station."

Lizzie perked her head up. What?

"That's right, folks. I'm sure we'll hear soon whether or not the girl has turned herself in. In other campus news, the results in the vote for the newest debate club president are still being heavily debated-"

Lizzie turned off the radio.

"Someone spotted us by the police station," she said, turning to Karr, "This isn't good. We have to do something."

She bit her lip, thinking hard.

"Alright," she said, "The way I see it, we have two choices: stay here, or leave campus. Now with all those people looking for us, we'd need to leave fast, which means that I'd have to be in the driver's seat."

She slowly walked over to Karr.

"Karr," she asked, "Would you please let me in?"

She reached for the door, grabbed the handle, gently pulled-but nothing happened.

"Right," Lizzie said, disappointed, "So that means that we're going to have to sit tight here."

She leaned against him and slowly let herself drift to the ground.

"So," she thought out loud, "We're going to have to hope that Brittany doesn't tell the police where we are either."

Oh man. Brittany was going to meet her at the police station, wasn't she? Her roommate was going to be upset that she didn't show up. And she just might tell the police all about how she met her, Lizzie the great Campus Destroyer, at Mrs. Mahogany's house...

She needed to clear her mind. She was getting all anxious, when she needed to think. On the other hand, Karr didn't seem to be so scared anymore; he was in recharge already.

Lizzie reached over without leaving Karr's side and turned the radio back on again. She was going to listen to some nice music, she was going to calm down and then she was going to come up with a good plan to get Karr to safety.

"...issue an apology. It appears that the vehicle spotted at the police station does not belong to the missing student but to her father, who drives an almost identical car. No word yet on whether he knows the location of his missing daughter."

"Oh good, they didn't spot us after all," Lizzie sighed in relief as she turned off the radio. "Wait a minute," she said, suddenly realizing what the radio announcer had said, "Dad and Kitt are here?"

She got up off the floor, and Karr gave a slightly warbled honk to show his displeasure.

"Oh hush. Go back to recharge," Lizzie said, and Karr's scanner went dark again.

"So Dad's at the police station," she said, "Or at least he was not too long ago. So if he's on campus, how can I get a message to him and Kitt that I'm in trouble, and that I'm with Karr?"


"Alright Kitt," Michael said, exiting the police station, "Here's what we've got. But it isn't pretty."

"Try me." Kitt said.

"The police have an arrest warrant out for Liz for destruction of property. They think she's the one who drove through that building we passed. She missed all her classes yesterday and today, and she's on the road to being expelled from school."

"We already know all that, Michael."

"Yeah, but here's the thing," Michael said, getting into the car, "I talked to her roommate earlier today. The police just finished talking with her now. Apparently, the roommate convinced Lizzie this morning to come down to the station to patch things up, but as we both know Lizzie never showed."

"So, you think the roommate might know where she is?"

"Oh, I know she knows where Lizzie was this morning," Michael said, "Lizzie's phone was off, remember? She had to have met up with her in person."

"Then why didn't she tell you or the police?"

"I'm not sure. That's one thing I intend to find out. But Kitt, I think something scared her off."

"What kind of thing?"

"I'm not sure. But when I spoke to her just now, it was different than when I spoke to her at the dorm room. Something feels off about this whole thing."

Michael adjusted his seat, a small sign that he was ready to get going again.

"So," he asked, "Are you ready to go find Liz?"

"Are you kidding? When I could just stay here and keep on getting accused of being Karr, which obviously means that I must be prodded and poked and investigated because people think I'm the car of the missing girl?"

"Hey, you know they mean well." Michael said.

"The college has issued an apology for that mistake, by the way," Kitt stated, "It was on the radio."

"Well, keep on monitoring that radio buddy," Michael said, starting the car, "We need to keep our ears open for any sign of her. If They find her before we do, she could be in serious trouble. Speaking of which, how far away are They?"

"I'm not sure, Michael. And I'm not sure I want to know."

"Yeah well, I can understand that. How are they doing back home?"

"Not well. Michael, we have to hurry."

"If Karr had just sent you the information instead of-" but Michael never finished that sentence. All of a sudden Kitt swerved, turning down the nearest street.

"Kitt! Talk to me, buddy!" Michael shouted.

"It's Them, Michael," Kitt said, "It's Them, and they're right behind us!"

"How close?"

"Michael, they're right behind us."

Michael turned to look. A small black car was bearing down on them.

"Alright, alright think," he said, turning back to face the wheel, "How did they find us?"

"The radio, Michael. They must have been listening..."

"Kitt, calm down buddy! We need to act rationally here."

"Rationally? Michael, look who's talking!"

"Kitt!"

"Alright. Calculating options...I'm going to try to shake them off. Ready for a jaunt in the woods, Michael?"

"Kitt, tell me you're joking. You can't fit through those trees-"

"Watch me," Kitt said, and his tires fairly jumped off the road as he found a pathway through the woods by the road.