"I hope Paxton and Smith can handle watching Laney, too," Shane admitted. "But I have them on the IAC, and they did okay yesterday during the memorial. Surely they can keep an eye on her for a few minutes...."
"Hope so," Cadence mumbled.
"We have an election date," Hannah offered. "Not sure if you heard."
Cadence's eyebrows furrowed as Aaron nodded and said, "That was coming up on my list. When is it?"
"Sorry to get ahead of you," Hannah replied, to which he indicated it was no problem before she continued, "but it is set for the third week in September."
"Election?" Cadence asked, confused though she thought she might know what they were talking about.
"Yes," Hannah explained. "The Hunters have decided to formally put your candidacy to a vote, Ms. Findley," she smiled.
Everyone was smiling at her, and Cadence was having trouble believing her ears. "Really?" she asked, both proud and overwhelmed. She leaned back in her chair as Aaron squeezed her hand. "Wow. I'm not sure what to say to that." After a few moments of consideration, she said, "Wait--I don't have to campaign or anything do I?"
Hannah chuckled. "No, honey. The Hunters will vote that day. It's a pretty easy process. We just call roll through the IAC, and anyone who wants to vote can. They vote yea or nay and if you get at least two-thirds of the votes, you're the new Hunter Leader."
Cadence nodded her understanding, feeling butterflies in her stomach similar to the ones she felt when a Vampire was nearby.
"It's the first time we've made it to an actual election in over twenty years," Aaron explained to her, still holding her hand.
"Cool," Cadence replied, knowing the term didn't quite seem to fit the situation, but not knowing what else to say. "And what happened with Eliza's request for a vote of no confidence?"
Hannah sneered. "It was dead in the water before she even began," she replied.
Jamie spoke up then. "No one blames Aaron for what happened, but a lot of people still believe that Eliza had something to do with the ambush."
Cadence assumed that would be the response she would receive before she even asked the question, but she was relieved to hear that the Guardians were not considering ousting Aaron.
Clearly, Aaron was uncomfortable with the current topic, so he changed the subject. "Meagan?"
"Sir?" she replied, snapping to attention.
Aaron laughed, not intentionally trying to alarm her. Neither Aurora or Meagan were used to these types of meetings, but since they had done such amazing work with Cadence as independents, Aaron had decided to include them. "You were working on finding out more about our decoy?"
"Yes," she confirmed, exhaling deeply, as if she had been expecting him to say something negative. "I found out his name is Travis, and Sam had worked some sort of a deal with him. I’ve been hearing rumors that he’s traveling north through Cale's territory, so I'll be working with him to try to get a location."
"Sounds good. And did we ever get any more information about what Laura was doing in South Carolina?" he asked in general.
Jamie replied. "I haven't been able to get a word out of her--other than a few curse words--since we brought her back," he admitted.
Aaron looked disappointed. "I thought if she'd talk to anyone, it would be you."
Jamie nodded. He had, after all, saved her life at one point. "But we were able to obtain the footage from the airport, so we do know it was them. And we were able to track down some other surveillance video to put them in the general vicinity of a specific region of South Carolina. I'm going to contact some of our independents there, I just haven't gotten to it yet."
"That sounds like a good plan," Aaron nodded. "Where do you think they were?"
"Well," Jamie continued, "we know they flew into Columbia and headed south toward Lake Marion that's really all we..."
"Shit," Aaron interrupted. "I know where they went."
"How do you do that?" Cadence asked quietly, voicing what everyone else was thinking.
He looked at her, acknowledging the question, but didn't answer. "You need to contact Sharon O'Braonain."
"Who?" Jamie asked, puzzled.
"O'Braonain?" Cadence exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Is that the same..."
"Yes," Aaron confirmed.
"What's happening?" Aurora mumbled to Meagan out of the corner of her mouth.
"It's a long story," Aaron replied, running his hand through his hair as he often did when he was anxious or annoyed. "Just contact her, Jamie. Let her know what happened. She'll probably work with you. Just don't mention my name if you can keep from it. You can tell her you work with Cadence, though."
Cadence raised an eyebrow again, making a mental note to ask about that later. As Jamie agreed that he would follow directions, Cadence said, "But Laura's not getting off the hook, right?"
"No, of course not. Why?" Aaron asked, looking at her suspiciously.
"Good. I want to interrogate her. Today. If she has any idea where Sam or Finn might be, she's going to tell me," Cadence insisted.
"How exactly are you going to make that happen?" Jamie asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Christian, do you still have any of those titanium bullets you took from the renegade’s guns?" Cadence questioned.
Christian glanced at Aaron before looking at Cadence and offering a response. "A few," he admitted.
"Good. I want them. And, Jamie, you're coming with me," she said confidently. Aaron didn't offer any opposition, so she continued. "I can make her talk."
"Okay," Jamie said hesitantly, also looking at Aaron to see if there was any indication as to whether or not the brakes would be put on this idea. There was none so he said, "but I'm not exactly thrilled about the idea of healing her again."
"That's perfect," Cadence replied with a somewhat wicked expression on her face. "Because I’m not asking you to."
