Laura wondered for the fifth time where the bus driver had dropped her. It had taken her a week to find the exact location of the Institute her mother had informed her about, and another full day to find the private shuttle that went out there. Judging by the picture of the Insitute she had, it was supposed to be in the hills somewhere, which meant she was most certainly in the wrong place.
A city where she wasn't the only person who didn't know their way around, yes. A city that looked like it was recovering from something catastrophic (she had advanced training in observation and deduction), yes. But still the wrong place.
If this had been a mission, she would have been in a lot of trouble. But that part of her life was over, even if she hadn't quite accepted it yet.
Laura looked up and down the street for someone to ask for help. Laura had never needed help locating her targets in the past, but she was hopelessly lost and starting to get desperate. She spotted a white van around a corner, and approached the man and woman conversing beside it. Hitching the strap of her duffel bag higher on her shoulder, Laura interrupted the pair without so much as a 'hello' or 'excuse me'.