“I’m confused.” It was Hannah this time. “Were they fleeing in a helicopter or on foot?”
“Both,” Andrew clarified, “though we didn’t know for sure at the time. I thought it was unusual that a helicopter would be taking off during an emergency situation like that, one where the police were on their way. So, I assumed Giovani had something to do with that. And Aaron told us there were four men trying to make an exit down the back stairwell.”
“So, Giovani has a helicopter?” Cale asked in his sexy British accent.
“Yes,” Andrew nodded, “I believe so.”
“He does,” Aaron confirmed.
“Brilliant,” Cale mumbled. “I guess we may need my birds as well then?”
“I think that would be a wonderful idea,” Aaron assured him, not bothering to mention that Cale’s helicopters were his main reasoning for even inviting him in the first place.
“Was Giovani in the helicopter?” Shane asked. He was taking notes and was tapping his pen on the table, a noise that was quickly getting on Cadence’s nerves.
“I’m not sure,” Andrew admitted.
“He had to have been,” Cadence chimed in. “We know he was in the hospital because we saw him on the footage entering and exiting Gibbon’s room, but he wasn’t with the four that escaped out the back.”
“They didn’t all escape,” Andrew interjected. “We did manage to get one of them, at least. I think we may have hit another, but of course we have no way of knowing if he survived.”
“Why is that?” Aurora asked, tossing her long red hair over her shoulder.
“We took out one of them as they were entering a black Chevy Tahoe that pulled up to the back door. I watched him turn to ash. Another was hit in the leg, but his friends got him inside the SUV, and they pulled away. My bikes gave chase, but the SUV managed to lose them in the city traffic.”
“At one o’clock in the morning?” Morgan asked, clearly annoyed at the way Andrew’s team mishandled the job.
“Yes. They didn’t want any humans to get hurt,” Andrew explained.
“Any idea who any of these other people are?” Christian asked over the IAC.
“Good question, Christian” Aaron replied. “Thanks for your recap, Andrew,” he said nodding at the Philly Leader, who seemed relieved that he wouldn’t have to say anything else—at least for a while.
“We know that one of them is Frank Howard, an ex-Black Op. We are assuming that the others are ex-military as well based on their dress, their weaponry, and their tactics. We aren’t sure how many Vampires may be working with Giovani, but we can assume that he has the cooperation of any and every bloodsucker in the area since Giovani’s end goal is to take out Cadence and then all of us. So, let’s just go ahead and assume we are outnumbered.”
“How do we know his objective is taking out Cadence?” Morgan asked, absently pulling on a strand of her long, dark hair.
“The note,” Eliza explained. “My team found a note in his lair in the Czech Republic, and it said he was coming for her.”
“That seems sort of odd,” Morgan replied. “Since when do Vampires leave notes letting us know their intention?”
“Since they are trying to drag us into a fight on their terms,” Eliza shot back.
Cassidy and Brandon were looking at each other with confused expressions on their faces. They couldn’t hear the part of the conversation that was happening over the IAC. Meagan, who was sitting next to Brandon, quietly leaned over and began to fill them in on what they were missing as Morgan replied to Eliza, “It just seems out of the ordinary to me.”
“It is,” Aaron agreed. “This whole situation is unlike anything we have encountered for a really long time, although it is not unprecedented. We had a similar situation in the 1880s in London, some of you will recall. So, in an effort to keep history from repeating itself, let’s try to stop Gibbon before we have another Ripper on our hands.”
“So, what is our next move?” Jamie asked, looking at Aaron intently.
“We need to get to Philadelphia as quickly as we can, see if we can figure out where Giovani is hiding, and make a move on him before Gibbon has completely pledged his loyalty. If we can get between them, we may have a chance at spoiling Giovani’s plan,” Aaron replied, leaning back in his chair, his fists clenched.
“But finding him isn’t going to be easy,” Cadence continued. “Unless and until he wants to be found. Andrew, it seems like that back door, the one that Giovani entered the hospital through, was intentionally left unlocked. When you interviewed the patients and staff members last night, did it seem like any of them may have been Vampires?”
“Not that I could tell,” Andrew shrugged.
“Wouldn’t you be able to figure that easily?” Morgan asked, rolling her eyes.
“Well,” Andrew began, “we didn’t interview everyone. We just talked to a few of the patients and staff members. We mostly just tried to stay out of the police officers’ way.”
“Seriously?” Morgan asked.
But before she could continue, Cadence interrupted. “Andrew, I want you to get a list of everyone who was working last night. Make contact with any of the staff members who may have had access to that back door. If we can establish it was an inside job, that may give us a lead as to where Giovani is hiding.”
“We can do that,” Andrew nodded.
“We will be loading up to head that direction in just few minutes,” Aaron told him, “so once we get there, we’ll meet with your team and determine what our next step is.”
Again, Andrew nodded. Cadence added, “If you hear anything else, get any more leads, contact us immediately, all right, Andrew?”
“I definitely will,” he agreed.
“Morgan, Cale, get to Philly as soon as you can. Bring whichever team members you need and that you know you can completely trust. Cale, we’ll need your choppers as well,” Aaron instructed.
“They are fully armed and ready to go,” Cale assured him. “See you all shortly!”
“See you in a few hours!” Morgan said, waving as she and Cale disconnected their feed.
“Andrew, I know this has been stressful, but we appreciate your efforts,” Aaron assured the other Guardian.
“I really appreciate that,” Andrew nodded. “We’ll do everything we can to support you while you’re here.”
“We know you will.”
Andrew disconnected the call as well, and Stormy and Eliza also left the conversation, leaving only members of the Kansas City team to discuss what would happen next.
“Well, they sure did botch that whole thing from start to finish,” Aurora chimed in.
“It didn’t go well,” Aaron agreed, “but, in fairness, they really weren’t prepared for something like this. And I have to take responsibility for that.”
“Well, that’s very noble of you,” Jamie said quietly. “So…shall we load up?”
“I think so,” Aaron said, “unless any of you have questions.”
The team members looked around at each other for a moment before they began to shake their heads. No one had any questions—not now anyway.
“Very well then,” Aaron sighed. “It’s 8:32. The plane is ready to go, so let’s plan on departing at 9:00. Does that give everyone enough time?”
“You got it, boss,” Shane said, being the first to stand and push in his chair, clearly excited to be making the trip. Following his lead, the rest of the team stood, said goodbye to Cassidy and Brandon, leaving only Aaron, Cadence, and Jamie behind with the two teens.
“You still feeling okay, Brandon?” Jamie asked.
“I feel like a million bucks,” Brandon assured him.
“Good. I won’t be here to check in on you, so I want to make sure you’re all set before I go. If you do need something, though, just come up here and let Mrs. Carminati know, and she can find someone who can help you,” the doctor explained.
“Sounds like a plan,” Brandon nodded.
Cadence looked at her sister, who had her arms crossed and her bottom lip sticking out. “Cass, don’t even bother to ask, please.”
“Okay,” she replied, quietly.
“Brandon, would you mind driving Cassidy back to Shenandoah? You can take the Enclave.”
“No, I don’t mind at all,” Brandon replied, clearly a bit surprised that she asked.
“I have to go home?” Cassidy asked, her eyes wide.
“Well, you can’t really stay here until I get back,” Cadence explained. “I have no idea when that will be.”
Cassidy huffed, and it was obvious tears were forming in her eyes, but all she said was a quiet, “Fine.”
“Just be careful,” Cadence warned. “There are plenty of Hunters and Guardians in Shenandoah to keep you safe, but who knows what might happen to you if you stop along the way.”
“Brandon can take care of me. He’s a Guardian now, you know?” Cassidy reminded her.
“I know,” Cadence agreed. “But he hasn’t been trained. So just be precautious, all right? Both of you are very important to me, so be careful, and don’t do anything risky.”
“I’ll have them bring the Enclave around and leave it in front of your building, Brandon,” Aaron said as he stacked up the papers and put them into a file folder.
“Thanks,” Brandon replied.
“All right. We’ll go straight from here to the airport, so you guys are okay to head back to the apartments for a while? You don’t have to leave right now, if you don’t want to, but make sure you’re back here before dark, Brandon, and try to go the speed limit, which will be hard. You’ll want to go a lot faster,” Cadence explained as she stood to go out the door.
“Yes, ma’am,” Brandon agreed. Standing, he gave her a hug, and said, “I’ll keep her safe.”
“I know you will. I trust you,” Cadence nodded.
Cassidy stood and turned to face her sister. “Be careful,” she said. “I’ll see you soon.”
“You be careful, too,” Cadence said, looking pointedly into her eyes. She wrapped her arms around her sister and hugged her tightly. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Cassidy assured her, squeezing her back. “Nothing remotely exciting ever happens to me.”
