Repercussion: The Clandestine Saga Book 3 (22 page)

              Eliza wasn't through. Before he was out of earshot, she yelled, "It's not my fault your jackass friend died--it's yours!"

              Aaron stopped for a moment, but didn't turn or otherwise acknowledge her remark before continuing on his way to Christian's room.

              Eliza let out a small laugh, hints of mania clearly coming through despite her tears. She turned and looked at Cadence who had taken another step closer, her fists balled. "God, you're snorting like a horse," she muttered.

              Cadence delivered a right hook that sent Eliza sprawling across the floor, blood shooting out of her eye as she screamed in pain. "I've wanted to do that for so long," she said, her teeth still clinched. She glanced at Cale, his eyes wide with shock, and walked past him headed the opposite direction from Aaron, shaking her aching hand. She was ready to get out of there and leave some of the chaos behind, at least for a few hours.

Chapter Seven

              The hotel room was nothing to write home about. Of all the rooms she'd stayed in these past six months, it might quite possibly be the smallest. Yet, it was clean and functional, and all she really needed was something resembling a bed. Not that she would be sleeping much anyway.

              She changed into a black camisole and boy shorts--absently thinking about how she had packed them just in case, fantasizing about what might happen if she had the chance to go out with Cale again while she was in town--and climbed in to bed, wondering how in the world she was going to ever fall asleep. She had sobbed all the way to the hotel--luckily Hannah had been driving--and was hopeful that most of her tears were gone at last. Hannah had offered to help take the sting off a bit, but Cadence had refused. She needed to grieve Elliott. He deserved that.

              She realized she had actually dozed off for a few minutes when she suddenly awoke. Glancing at the clock, she saw it had been about an hour. It was almost 3:30, and while she was positive she had not heard a knock, she knew he was there. Why he suddenly needed her permission to enter, she wasn't sure, but there was no question she was answering the door.

              Swinging the door open, she caught her breath. He was leaning against the door jam, wearing only thin black boxers, and even in the dim light she could see the outline of his perfectly chiseled chest. Without a word, he threw himself at her, catching her mouth with his, he lifted her off of the ground, and slammed her into the wall next to the door hard enough to shake a picture loose.

              She wrapped her legs around his waist, and moaned, feeling his hands on her bottom as he held her against the wall. He began to kiss her neck, and she placed her hands on his back, pushing him even further into her. She was pinned against the wall now, and he released her with his left hand, slowly trailing his fingers up her side beneath her shirt as he continued to kiss her. She sighed again when his hand found her breast, and she could feel him rubbing against her; she began to quiver in anticipation.

              Aaron pulled back from her kiss for just a second and caught her eyes. "Do you still love me?" he asked quietly.

Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to answer. Panting, she nodded and said, "Always." As his mouth came down to meet hers, she opened wide, letting him in, and he somehow managed to cross the distance to the bed with her in his arms in a split second.

              Cadence wanted him so badly, it was all she could do to let him undress her. Even though she'd been dreaming of this moment for months, those fantasies were nothing compared with this reality, and when he was finally inside of her, it was so much more than just a carnal act; she knew with certainty he truly loved her, and all of those months of anguish and confusion were over at last.

              Despite the overwhelming desire, he was gentle, exercising control so as not to hurt her while simultaneously keeping her at the peek of ecstasy. Eventually, his breathing quickened to keep pace with her own, and then he slid his hand behind her head and drew her lips to his, continuing to sweetly kiss her until the tide subsided. He carefully rolled off of her, pulled the blankets around them, and took her back into his arms.

              It took Cadence several moments to calm her racing heart. He was laying on his side, her head resting on his bicep, his other arm draped protectively across her. She glanced up at him, catching those piercing blue eyes but not shying away this time. She rolled onto her side and kissed him, running her thumb across his cheek. Then, she buried her head against his chest, feeling his hand softly rubbing her back.

              "Are you okay?" he whispered quietly into her ear.

              The feel of his breath on her skin sent tingles through her body again. "Mmm hmmm," she replied, running her hand across his chest.

              He laughed quietly. "Are you sure?"

              "Hmm uhmm" she admitted.

He kissed the top of her head and slowly pushed her hair back over her shoulder. "Thank you," he said, sincerely, staring into her eyes.

"Thank you," she replied, returning his smile.

              His expression became more serious, and he rested his head back on the pillow, still absently smoothing her hair. "You believe me now when I say that I love you?"

              She nodded. "I believed you the first time," she admitted.

He seemed to consider her response. "Cadence, I know I confuse the hell out of you sometimes--most of the time--but I promise you, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I am the best man I can possibly be for you. I mean it."

              Her smile widened, yet an overwhelming sense of serenity and exhaustion began to blanket her. She was doing her best to listen to what he was trying to tell her, but she could no longer keep her eyes open. She leaned into his chest again, and he pulled her in closely.

"I know I don't deserve you," he whispered, "but once this is all over, I'll be able to give you my undivided attention. Then, we can be together with no distractions."

              She attempted to nod her understanding, but she wasn't sure if it was translating. Everything would be just fine... once this was over... once they caught the bad guys....

***

              Waking up after a tragedy was always very difficult for Cadence. That space between slumber and consciousness where one is just aware enough to know that something is wrong was the most unsettling sensation, and in the past, she had often avoided it by simply refusing to sleep under such circumstances. When she awoke, her emotions were juxtaposed between devastation and elation. She was immediately aware that Elliott was gone; however, the memories of the night she had spent with Aaron barred the grief just enough to let a light of hope and tranquility calm her spirit. They would find a way to move on from this together.

              Except, when she rolled over, she realized he wasn't there. She wasn't completely surprised. He had a habit of leaving her when she was asleep, since he didn't require such restoration himself. Still, she couldn't help but wonder where he was. Making her way to the shower, she attempted to contact him through the IAC. He had never turned his back on, and he wasn't responding to her requests.

As she went about her routine, she checked in with her other teammates. No one had heard from him, but there was no reason to be alarmed. They were confident he would show up sooner rather than later. Cadence planned to meet Christian and Hannah in Meaghan's room in a half an hour so they could decide what they needed to do next. It was 10:30. Surely, by 11:00, they would have some idea where their Leader was.

              When Cadence arrived at the hospital, the staff seemed much different than they had before. Everyone was polite, but no one went out of their way to make her feel welcome. She realized pretty quickly that word had traveled regarding the breaking of the good doctor's heart. It was upsetting; Cadence didn't like to disappoint people, but she did what she needed to do.

"At least Eliza got the reception area put back together,"
Cadence mentally noted as she walked by the scene of last night's tantrum.

Meaghan was still visibly upset, but physically, she looked like she was doing much better. Christian had his arm in a sling and said that it was healing as well. "All right, we need to figure out what we can get done today," Cadence said, sitting at the foot of Meaghan's bed, Christian and Hannah in nearby chairs.

              "Jamie will be here for at least a couple of more days," Hannah explained.

              "And Dr. Ryan said I'd need to stay another night as well," Meaghan stated, sadly.

              "It's kind of ironic that the guy who could heal you is the one who's out," Christian said, a poor attempt at humor.

              "I thought Cale was a Healer, too?" Cadence questioned, ignoring Christian's comment.

              "He is," Hannah confirmed, "but not nearly as powerful as Jamie. He's the reason these two are doing as well as they are. But he's no miracle worker."

Cadence nodded. "Okay, well, since we have no idea where Aaron is, I think we should probably stay put for now. I would love to get Laura moved back to headquarters, just in case she decides to try something stupid, but I'm not going to authorize..."

              As she was completing the sentence, Eliza pushed open the door, angrily. "What the hell is Aaron doing?" she asked, her blackened eye swollen almost completely shut. Other than that, she was dressed just as sharply as ever, with full makeup and heels.

              Cadence glanced at her teammates before answering. "That's a good question," she admitted. "We're not really sure where he's at right now."

              "No, of course you're not, since he has the transponder and his IAC turned off. He didn't bother to file a flight plan. That jackass thinks he can just take my equipment and do whatever the hell he wants to. I'm so sick of his shit..."

              "Did you say transponder?" Cadence asked, an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness growing in her stomach. "What do you mean?"

"The jerk stole my airplane!" Eliza shrieked, as if were common knowledge.

              "What? No, that's not possible. Aaron doesn't know how to fly a plane," Christian corrected her, shaking his head.

              "I guess he does," Eliza insisted. "Or else he's crashed my airplane. All I know is that he showed up in the hanger where I left it last night and took it--told my pilot to get lost."

"He does know how to fly," Hannah corrected, peering at Christian who looked shocked.

"When?" Cadence asked, jumping down from the bed where she'd been sitting next to Meaghan.

              "Hell if I know," Eliza admitted. "I just had a message from my pilot on my phone this morning that they weren't going to be able to depart at our scheduled time because the Mooney was appropriated for other business. This is bullshit!"

              "We need to find out where he was going and when he left. There's got to be some way to track that plane," Hannah said in as calm a voice as she could muster. They were all very certain now that something wasn't right. Otherwise, he wouldn't just ditch them with no explanation.

              "No, we don't. We need to find out why he would fly back to headquarters this morning, visit your lab, Christian, and take off in the Citation," Cadence replied, looking at Christian expectantly.

              His eyes grew wide. "How do you know all of that?"
              "I've got friends in the right places. Was there anything you were working on that would cause him to leave in such a rush, so secretively?"

              Before Christian could answer, Eliza said, "So my plane is in Kansas City?"

              Cadence shot her a look that warned her to shut up before she took out her other eye, and continued to stare at Christian. After a long pause, he said, "Uhm, I have no idea."

Cadence continued to look at him skeptically. "Are you sure? Nothing important?"

              "No," Christian shook his head. "Not really. I mean, I was working on replicating the titanium bullets, but he knew I wasn't close on that yet."

              Sighing, Cadence turned to Hannah. "All right, Hannah, we're going to take the G5 back to headquarters. Christian's going to check his lab and see if anything is missing. Can you arrange for the plane to leave as soon as we get to the airport?"

Hannah nodded, and Meaghan asked, "What about us?"

              "I'll send the plane back just as soon as we can," Cadence assured her. "Hannah will stay here with you and Jamie. Eliza, catch an airliner."

"Since when are you in charge?" Eliza asked, her hands on her hips.

              "Don't make me take out your other eye," Cadence warned her. "Come on Christian, let's go. And while we are on our way, be thinking about what he may have needed from your lab."

              The three-hour flight back to Kansas City was excruciating. Cadence was in constant contact with Mrs. Carminati as she worked to figure out where Aaron might be going. She explained that he had come in early, at around 8:00, went into his office for just a second, thanked her for all of her hard work, and then left. She thought he was acting a little strangely, so she went into his office where she could see the security cameras, something she never did before--she assured Cadence--and saw him enter Christian's lab a few minutes later. There were no cameras in there and she wasn't sure what he had with him when he left, but he seemed to have something in his hand. She said he had arranged for the plane to be ready himself, but didn't file a flight plan and the transponder had been turned off.

              Cadence asked her to make contact with air traffic control and see if she could determine where he might be headed. In the meantime, Cadence periodically checked in with Christian to see if his memory had been jogged at all. The beads of sweat on his forehead, despite the air conditioned cabin, made her think there was more to this story that he wasn't telling her.

              The trip from the airport to headquarters was both dangerous and quick. Cadence was driving Aaron's preferred Aventador, and she covered the distance so rapidly, Christian, a seasoned veteran, was actually holding on for dear life. She screeched to a halt outside of Aaron's office building. Christian's lab was next door. "Okay, go check your lab. I'm going to go check his office for anything Mrs. Carminati might have overlooked, and I'll meet you back here," she directed.