Tracking Travis ended up being less difficult than they would have imagined. It turned out he was a straightforward sort of a Vampire. He basically seemed to stick to Highway 89 as he approached the Crazies and there were plenty of accounts of seeing a suspicious character, as well as the body of one elderly drifter that never made the evening news.
Aaron was content to let Cadence make the calls, under his careful observation, and once she verified Travis was holed up for the day in a shed behind an old abandoned home near the foothills of the Crazies, she decided to coordinate the hunt for that evening. It seemed fairly certain that Travis would attempt to close the few miles to Finn’s location as soon as he had the cover of darkness to facilitate the easy movement.
Cale was more than willing to lend his choppers again. This time, however, he insisted on being at the location. He showed up at Morgan’s office late the evening of the scheduled hunt, dressed completely in black, with a new shorter haircut, and a very sexy five o’clock shadow. Aurora’s utterance of, “Holy hell,” was echoed in the minds of every woman present, including Cadence, who quickly pushed the thought aside. There was no room for distraction of any kind.
“Thanks for coming,” she said, stepping forward and shaking his hand. He was alone, none of his team making the journey with him, save the two helicopter pilots who were at the airport awaiting his command.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Cale replied, acknowledging the other team members in the room, including Aaron, who, if he was intimidated at all didn’t show it.
“You know Morgan?” Cadence asked as the petite brunette stepped forward.
“Yes, of course. It’s nice to see you again,” he smiled, taking the hand she offered.
“Likewise,” she replied, and Cadence couldn’t help but notice she flashed that same flirty smile at him, the one she’d been directing at Aaron since their arrival.
“If you have your IAC on so that your pilots can see, we can go ahead and go over our plan for this evening,” Cadence explained, ushering him to a nearby chair.
Once they were all seated around the table, she asked Lucas to pull up the maps they had prepared and began to go over the plan. As far as they could tell, Finn was still hiding near the same position as he had initially been spotted at a few days ago. They had an idea of the route Travis would likely take, based on available trails. They discussed staging areas for all members of the team, including who would be in charge of cutting off the two major exit points, and Cadence’s plan for using the helicopters to track the two villains. Lucas pointed out several potential terrain problems to Cale, who made sure his pilots were aware and comfortable with the obstacles.
“Does anyone have any questions?” Cadence asked, once she was done presenting her plan.
“My understanding is that all of our weapons will contain titanium bullets and that we are shooting to kill, is that correct?” Cale clarified.
“Affirmative,” Cadence replied. “If either of them attempts to surrender, I leave it up to the individual teammate to decide whether he or she is willing to accept the capitulation. But if we happen to overlook a white flag, you won’t hear a word of disagreement from me.”
“I agree. No one is going to question taking either one of these guys out,”
Aaron confirmed.
Cale nodded. “That’s understandable,” he agreed.
“Any other questions?” Cadence asked.
“What precautions are we taking in case he also has titanium bullets?” Morgan asked.
“Excellent question,” Cadence replied. “In our former encounter with Finn, most of our Guardians had bulletproof jackets on—except for Jamie,” she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. He shrugged but didn’t offer an explanation to the group. “He’ll be wearing one tonight. All of us will. Nevertheless, it didn’t make too big of a difference last time. Meagan was still wounded pretty badly, and we know that a headshot will take anyone out. So, be careful, shoot to kill, and watch your back. We’re going to have to make sure we cover each other. We always do a great job of that, and there’s no question a lack of communication had nothing to do with what happened last time, but let’s make sure we are continuing to coordinate, especially since we have members from three different teams here.”
“Well, I for one am looking forward to seeing this bastard get justice,” Christian exclaimed.
“I have no doubt you won’t hesitate to take the shot,” Cadence agreed. After all, it had been Finn who had shot Christian at Sierraville. “All right, if we have no more questions, we’ll be loading up in about an hour so make sure you have your equipment ready, and if you need any supplies, see Aurora for titanium bullets and Gretchen for anything else.”
As the team members filtered out the door, Cadence turned to Jamie and quietly said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to call you out like that.”
“It’s fine,” he shrugged. “I just… I never thought they would target me, you know? I thought, even if we were in danger, Laura would never let them shoot me. I had just saved her life.”
“I understand,” Cadence replied, putting her hand gently on his arm. “That’s the kind of assholes we are dealing with, though. What you and I would consider unthinkable, they will do without blinking.”
“Well, I will definitely be wearing a vest tonight,” he assured her.
“Good, because if I get shot, you better be there to save me,” she smiled. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before pushing her chair back and crossing the office to where Aaron and Cale were conferring with Morgan.
“Everything okay?” Aaron asked as she approached.
“Sure,” she replied. “I just felt bad for calling him out.”
“Part of the job,” he reminded her.
“I know. But he’s yours.”
“Doesn’t matter. We are interchangeable.”
She nodded in agreement, though she wasn’t sure that made the discussion any easier. “You two clear on everything?” she asked, turning her attention to Cale and Morgan.
“I think so,” Morgan replied. “I’m excited to work with you. I’ve heard how amazing you are on the hunt, but now I get to see it for myself.”
“Just don’t get in her way,” Cale advised. “She won’t hesitate to push you out of the way and leave you in her dust.” He was laughing, but Cadence wasn’t sure it was really meant as a joke.
“Oh, yeah?” Morgan inquired. “Well, in that case, I’ll just stay back and let you do your thing.”
“It’ll be fine,” Cadence assured her. “I will be the only Hunter in pursuit when we move in, so I’m sure amongst the three of you, you’ll keep me safe. I’m more worried about what Laura said about there being more titanium bullets on the ground that we don’t know about.”
“I can’t imagine that Finn has any,” Aaron assured her, “but we’ll have to react as if he does.”
“I agree,” Cale chimed in. “We’ll keep Jamie in reserve, fully protected. That way, if anyone gets hit, we can move him in. And, if need be, I may know a thing or two about sewing people up myself.”
“But not yourself—so be careful,” Cadence cautioned, pointing at him sternly to make sure he understood she was serious. “I can’t take losing anyone else.”
They all nodded and made their way out of the office, on their way to double-check their own weapons and rendezvous with the rest of their hunting party.
