The US Customs and Boarder Control Office in Miami, Florida was just like any typical government office. A flag flew out front, assuring Hannah and Aurora that they had reached the appropriate building, and when they entered the agents were as unfriendly and uncooperative as one might expect from their governmental cousins in similar offices. Aurora approached the counter, badge in hand, with Hannah standing over her shoulder, concentrating on persuading the wiry, dark-haired agent to be cooperative.
It took him several minutes to notice the women at all, staring blankly at a computer screen instead. When he finally acknowledged them, it was only to point them to a clipboard next to the window with a log he dryly insisted they fill out.
"That won't be necessary," Aurora assured him, towering over him at six foot with four-inch heeled black boots adding to her height. "As you can see by my badge, I am with the FBI. And you have a package for me."
He snickered at first, taking a drink of his coffee, and Aurora desperately wished Elliott were with her. She knew he would be able to handle this moron in about five seconds flat. Nevertheless, she had faith in Hannah, and when the older strawberry blonde woman began to speak, the sinewy man began to listen.
"I'm Agent Hannah Roberts, and this is my associate, Aurora Bowling. We have explicit orders to retrieve a package from Sierra Leone, one that your office has detained. Here is the specific information regarding this package, and you will do whatever it takes to make sure we leave here with this package quickly and effortless, understand, Bill?"
Agent William Long glanced down at his own nametag, as if he wasn't sure she was addressing him, but when he glanced back up, his demeanor had changed. "Of course," he said, accepting the paperwork from Aurora. "I understand. Let me process the appropriate paperwork, and I will make sure the package gets to you both quickly and effortless."
"Perfect," Aurora smiled.
Less than an hour later, Aurora contacted Cadence and Aaron. "We've got the package, and we're on our way home," she smiled.
"Way to go!" Cadence congratulated her. "I knew you guys could do it!"
"It wasn't easy," Hannah admitted. "I didn't know if I could be that persuasive. But I learned from the master."
"Yes, you did," Aaron agreed. "Now get back here because we're going to need you in Billings."
It had only taken a few days for Morgan's team in Montana to confirm that the reports that Finn was in the area were true. After a lengthy discussion with Aaron and Cadence, they determined it was time for the Kansas City LIGHTS team to make the trip north. They handpicked the most appropriate Guardians and Hunters to take with them, and Jamie, Christian, Hannah, Meagan, and Aurora would be making the journey.
Morgan was a short brunette, full of spunk, and she managed her team in a no-nonsense sort of way. Aaron had worked with her several times in the past, most recently in December a few days before Jack Cook's memorial service. At that time, he had left Cadence in Elliott's care, and this was an eerie reminder of how things had changed.
"Welcome," Morgan said politely, throwing open the door to her office. Her team was assembled inside the dimly lit, rather large space, sitting around an over-sized conference table.
"Morgan, it's nice to see you," Aaron said, offering her his hand, which she took with a sly smile.
Her expression seemed peculiar to Cadence, who shot her a questioning glance before offering the shorter woman her hand. "Hi, I'm Cadence," she smiled.
Morgan smiled back. "Hi. It's so nice to meet you. I've heard a lot of great things about you. The way you got information out of Laura was epic."
Cadence blushed a bit, surprised at how quickly the news had spread. “Thanks,” she said quietly. Whatever that smile had meant, Cadence let it go, and Aaron introduced the rest of his team as Morgan ushered them inside, offering them seats at the table and beverages before introducing the key members of her own team to those who had not previously met them--which would include everyone except for Aaron and Jamie.
"This is our tech person, Hattie," she said indicating the muscular, dark-haired woman at the end of the table. Cadence noted she did not look like a Hattie, but continued to focus on the rest of the names. "Lucas is our go-to guy for terrain analysis, something very important out here." He was tall and thin with light hair, including a thin moustache. "Mark is our Healer, and Gretchen handles pretty much everything else." Mark was possibly the strangest looking Guardian Cadence had ever seen. He was older and rounder than most, with glasses and a pudgy nose. Sylvia was a tall, slender black woman with hair cropped to her scalp.
"You're all Guardians, correct?" Cadence asked, a bit confused.
"Yes," Morgan nodded. "I was asked not to assign any of my Hunters to this mission, as Aaron thought it wouldn't be necessary."
"Oh," Cadence said, looking at him questioningly.
"I have the best Hunters. I don't need any more," he replied through the IAC.
"A little heads up would've been nice, though," she responded.
"Sorry--not used to having to coordinate with anyone," he admitted, squeezing her hand under the table.
Morgan could clearly see that there was a private discussion going on, so she waited for a moment until she was certain she had their attention before continuing. She was still standing, walking around behind her team members' chairs as she gestured to a large screen behind her on the wall. A similar one hung across the room so that no one would have to turn around to see what she was discussing. "These are the Crazy Mountains," she explained, pulling up visuals to go along with her topic of discussion. "And this is Cave Lake. We know that there are a number of Vampires that make their home here. The majority of them are Compliants and they leave humans alone for the most part, so we don't bother them either. As some of you already know, from time to time we will have an incident where a Rogue will try hiding out either here or in any of our other various mountain ranges, and this often leads to quite the hunt." Once again, she shot a look at Aaron that seemed a bit too familiar to Cadence. She looked at him questioningly, but if he picked up on it, he didn't acknowledge it.
"About a week ago, we started getting reports from some of our informants in the field of some suspicious activity. At first, we thought perhaps we just had a long term camper, but once we were able to secure some visuals, we realized that this guy," she pulled up a very blurry picture of Finn kneeling down by the lake, "looked very similar to one of the renegade Hunters MIA since the Sierraville Incident."
Cadence shuddered. She had never heard it called that before--the Sierraville Incident. Again, Aaron's hand beneath the table reminded her that everything would be okay, and she returned her focus to Morgan's speech.
