“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 Finn and the one that Finn 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.
