Repercussion: The Clandestine Saga Book 3 (37 page)

Chapter Eleven

             
“I’m honestly not sure what’s going on,” Jamie admitted. Cadence and Aaron were sitting across from him at his desk in his own lab. “Everything looks fairly similar to the way it looked before. I pulled up your charts from your last physical, which was about a year ago, and there are some elevated levels of certain strands in your DNA that weren’t there before, but nothing that should result in what we saw in Billings.”

              Aaron looked disappointed. “So, nothing that points to inflated supernatural abilities?”

              “Not that I can tell,” Jamie replied, shaking his head. “I have a few more tests I want to run, but as of right now, it looks like we may not have any answers.”

              “Is everything else okay?” Cadence asked, a lull of concern in her voice, also evident by the grasp she had on Aaron’s hand.

“As far as I can see, there’s nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but everything we have believed to be the truth about the Ternion for thousands of years has just been turned upside down, so it’s not too surprising that this is an enigma as well.”

              “Well, all right then,” Aaron sighed. “Let me know if you figure anything else out.”

“I will,” the Healer assured them as Cadence and Aaron stood to exit. They thanked Jamie for his help and made their way down the hallway.

              “I guess it’s good news that there’s nothing to be worried about,” Cadence shrugged.

“Yeah,” Aaron agreed. “I just wish he had an answer. I’d like to know where all of this is coming from.”

              “We’ll figure it out,” she assured him, stopping and pulling her to him for a quick kiss.

As she did so, Christian’s office door flew open. “Hey, boss, Cadence, you got a minute?” the tech guy asked.

              “Sure,” Aaron replied, abruptly ending the kiss. “What’s up?”

              Christian ushered them into his lab. “I’ve been doing some experiments, too, like we talked about. And there’s something going on with the strand the Guardian DNA modifier generally bonds to. It isn’t attaching the same way. If you look under the microscope, you can see how it’s fusing with the original strand, rather than simply locking in like it always has in the past.”

              Aaron looked under the microscope but didn’t really have any idea what he was looking at. After a moment, he stepped aside so that Cadence could take a glimpse as well. “So what does that mean?”

              “I’m not sure,” Christian admitted. “But I’m going to fly the samples to Dr. Morrow’s lab and see if he has any ideas.”

              “Good idea,” Aaron replied. “When are you leaving?”

              “Soon as I can,” Christian assured him.

“Keep me updated,” Aaron nodded, not sure that this was anything to get excited about but willing to take a chance.

“I will,” Christian replied. “Oh, and I ran the phone numbers of the phones that we collected from Billings—the one that Travis used to call Flynn and the one that Flynn had in the cave—and neither of them match the number or the identifiers for the phone Sharon was using to make contact with the renegades.”

“So that means the phone is still out there,” Cadence concluded.

              “Yes, which means that Sam likely has it,” Christian responded.

              “If anyone has it,” Aaron reminded them. “There’s a possibility they destroyed it.”

“But maybe not. What’s your plan, Christian?” Cadence asked, one hand on her hip.

“I have a set up where if the phone is turned on, the second it makes contact with a cell tower, we’ll get information for where it pinged, and we’ll be able to trace it,” he explained.

              “So he doesn’t even have to use it? He just has to turn it on?” Cadence clarified.

              “Yes,” Christian replied. “And that will give us a very good indication as to where he might be—anywhere in the world.”

              “Awesome,” Cadence smiled. “Let’s just hope Cowboy Sam is stupid enough, or desperate enough, to use it.”

“Thanks for all of your hard work, Christian,” Aaron said, offering him his hand. “You’re a huge asset to our team.”

              Christian smiled smugly. “Thanks, boss,” he said. “Glad to be of help.”

              Once again, Cadence and Aaron turned to exit the building, making their way outside, on their way to Cadence’s apartment. “So, where are we going to live, anyway?” she asked, her fingers interlaced with his.

              “I don’t know,” he replied thoughtfully. “I was thinking maybe we could just put a door in-between our living rooms.”

              “You’re joking,” she said, laughing, sure that he was. “Although, that might make me easier to live with.”

              “What do you mean?” he asked, giving her a peculiar glance.

              “Well, I’m fairly tidy, but something tells me I’m going to drive you nuts with my almost human propensity to occasionally leave things out of their assigned space.”

“True,” he teased. “I guess the idea of sharing an office is out.”

              “Oh, no, I don’t think I can share an office with you,” she agreed.

              “We can always give it a try and see how it goes,” he replied. Returning to the original discussion, he pointed out, “Well, if we combine our apartments, it will give us a lot more space once we have kids.”

              Cadence froze in her tracks. “Say what?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Not immediately, I know. Don’t worry. I don’t mean… next week or anything. But eventually, you do want them, don’t you?”

Cadence slowly began walking again. “Sure,” she finally said. “Yes, I mean, I hadn’t even thought about it, you know? A few months ago, I was just thinking about finishing college and becoming a teacher. I had no boyfriend—no prospects. I didn’t think I’d be engaged, let alone a mother.”

“I don’t know about the no prospects part,” he replied pointedly, “but I understand all of that. It’s not something we need to talk about right now. I just hope that you do want to have kids someday because that is important to me.”

              “No, I know it is,” she replied. “And I do. Of course I do,” she said, shaking her head. Inside, she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it. She had never given much thought to it when she was dating Jack and all she’d had time to think about recently was her career and seeking vengeance.

              Before she could give it anymore thought, something odd caught her attention. “Aaron, whose car is that?” she asked.

              He had noticed it, too, and was about to ask the same question. There were only a few parking spots in front of the main building, where Aaron’s office was, and they were seldom occupied, but a 1960s model Ford pickup truck with fading green paint was parked in one of them now. “I have no idea. Let’s go find out,” he replied.

              They took the elevator up to the top floor where Aaron’s office was, assuming that would be the most likely location to find the driver. As they stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway that looked into the outer office, Cadence froze. Though it was a little difficult to see through the slightly frosted glass office door, she would recognize that hair, that silhouette anywhere. “Oh, my God!” she said quietly, looking at Aaron, whose eyes were just as big as hers.

It was all she could do to keep from flinging herself through the door. He pulled her back. “Calm down, Cadence. We don’t want to scare him,” Aaron said quietly.

              She nodded and took a deep breath before opening the door. Mrs. Carminati was sitting behind her desk, her mouth open, ready to introduce the visitor, but Cadence didn’t give her a chance. “Hi,” she said doing her best to contain her enthusiasm.

              The young man in the chair looked up at her with familiar dark eyes, his curly brown hair askew. He was tall and lanky, but other than that, he was the spitting image of someone very familiar. He hesitated before responding, looking precariously at the outstretched hand of the chipper brunette. “Uh, hi,” he finally said, slowly shaking her hand. “I’m sorry to, uh, barge in on you, but I was hoping someone here might be able to help me.”

Cadence didn’t let go of his hand until Aaron nudged her. “Oh, right. I’m sorry. I’m Cadence Findley. This is Aaron McReynolds. This is his office, not mine. Well, it might be mine, too, in a few weeks, but we’re not sure…”

              “Cadence,” Aaron steadied her.

              “Right! Sorry. And you are?”

              He still looked alarmed, but he managed to say, “My name is Brandon Keen. I was hoping you might be able to give me some information about my dad.”

              Cadence was no longer able to speak, her suspicions confirmed. She closed her eyes tightly, squeezing back the tears, and let her much calmer, debonair fiancé take over. “It’s nice to meet you, Brandon,” Aaron was saying. “Why don’t you step into my—our—office, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.”

Cadence opened her eyes as Aaron was pulling her into the office, indicating that Brandon should take a seat across from his desk. For some reason, Aaron took the seat next to Brandon, leaving her to sit behind his desk, which also made her smile. As she sat down in his plush leather chair, he winked at her, and she suddenly felt like the luckiest girl alive. “What can we do for you, Brandon?” she asked, a sincere smile on her face.

              He was still obviously very nervous, but he also seemed determined. “Well, I’m not exactly sure where to start,” he admitted. “A few days ago, my mom asked me to help her with her computer. She was having some trouble getting a program to close. So, I took a look at it, no big deal. And while I was working on it, I stumbled upon this email. I didn’t mean to read it, but it caught my attention. It was from this guy named Elliott, and the first thing it said was something about how he knew he hadn’t seen her since 1997, but that he had been thinking of her.” He paused to run a hand through his curly hair. “Now, I’m no genius, but I can do math. I was born in 1998, and my mom always said my dad was dead. But when I saw this email, I had to ask her about it. She admitted that she had lied to me for all of those years, that my dad was actually alive, and that he had worked here—until recently. She said he died a few weeks ago. I just… I wanted to come and see if that was true, and see if anyone here could tell me about my dad. I know this place is under tight security, and I didn’t think I’d even be able to get in, but as soon as I gave my name to the guard, he let me in and told me to come to this building, to ask for you,” he said, indicating Aaron, “and so I thought maybe I was on to something. I don’t know. I guess, do you know this guy? This Elliott Sanderson guy?”

              “Yes, we knew Elliott,” Aaron replied his voice as calm as ever. “And your mom was being honest when she said he passed away a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, wow,” Brandon said, sighing and leaning back further in his chair.

              “I’m so sorry,” Cadence offered. “It must be very difficult to realize you’ve finally found your dad just to hear that he’s no longer with us.”

“Yeah, it sucks,” Brandon admitted, staring at the floor.

“We can tell you all about your dad, though,” Aaron explained. “He was my best friend for over forty years. And he was like a brother to Cadence.”

Brandon looked up, meeting Cadence’s eyes, before looking at Aaron. “Forty years?” he repeated, clearly thinking about the math again. He pushed that question aside and asked, “What happened to him?”

              Aaron sighed. “How old are you then, Brandon? Seventeen?”

              “Yes, sir,” he replied.

Aaron looked at Cadence who nodded in agreement before he continued. “Your father had a pretty unique occupation. In fact, it is both so rare and secretive, you’re probably not going to believe me when I tell you what he did for a living.”

Brandon’s eyes widened. “Try me,” he suggested.

“Your father helped protect Vampire Hunters,” Aaron replied.

“Say what?” Brandon asked, chuckling. “Did you say Vampire Hunters?”

“Yes,” Cadence assured him. “I’m a Vampire Hunter.”

              “Okay…” Brandon said slowly. “Clearly, I have stumbled upon a home for the mentally deranged,” he added, beginning to pull himself out of the chair.

Cadence gestured for him to sit back down. “Brandon, just wait. We can prove it to you. I know, I was a skeptic, too, when I first heard about all of this. But the thing is, you can be a Guardian, too, and protect Vampire Hunters from Vampires, if you choose to.”

              “I can?” he asked, the cynicism evident in his voice. “Alrighty then,” he muttered. “Well, I don’t want to keep y’all from your afternoon meds…”

“Look,” Cadence said, utilizing the wristband she wore to pull up video of Elliott in combat. She chose to use the footage from her own IAC taken in Indiana, rather than the Sierraville Incident. “That’s your dad, right there. See?” she asked, using a laser tool to point at the projection.

“How are you projecting that onto nothing?” Brandon asked, apparently missing the point.