Most nights, Cadence either dreamt that Jack was chasing her or had no dreams at all. This night, however, she dreamt that she was with Elliott. They were at a basketball game, and though she had very little interest in the sport, she recognized Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on the court. He was sitting next to her, clapping and cheering, and soon she found herself cheering right along with him. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him so happy. Every time the Lakers scored, he jumped out of his seat, applauding and whooping along with the other Los Angeles fans.
Eventually, she leaned over, and shouting over the crowd into his ear, she asked, “Why do you like the Lakers?”
He turned to face her and said, “I’ve always believed in Magic.”
Cadence woke up to the sound of her alarm, not even realizing she had one set, and fumbling for her phone, finally managed to turn it off. It was past nine, which meant she’d slept for over twelve hours, even if she didn’t count the time she’d spent checking in last night. Despite getting so much sleep, she still felt like a train had hit her.
It wasn’t until she was in the shower that the strange dream returned to her. She distinctly remembered hearing her father and Elliott discussing Bird and Johnson on at least one occasion, but she couldn’t remember who Elliott had been cheering for. By the time she was drying off, she determined that her subconscious mind was telling her she needed to go through with her plan, that Elliott wanted her to. After all, he had written the note. Regardless of what Aaron thought might happen, she needed to push those concerns aside and journey on.
The humans who worked with them did not have IACs; one had to actually use the telephone to contact them, so as soon as she was dressed, she placed a phone call to Juan Diego, asking him to get her bike ready and specifying one very important task he needed to complete.
She would have to pack light, but she was used to that. Having traveled across most of the country and some of Canada on her bike with Aurora and Meagan for almost half a year, they learned how to be selective in what they packed. She messaged Christian to make sure that she wouldn’t need to pack anything for Elliott—and to make sure Aaron was still in Connecticut—and then tossed her toiletries into a little bag, grabbed her clothes, some cash she had on hand, her Glock, ammo, ID, and her phone, before taking one last look around the apartment on her way to the door.
The urn.
Though her hands were growing a bit full at this point, she managed to grab that, too, and made her way to the elevator.
Praying that no one got on the elevator with her and asked questions, she made her way to Christian’s apartment unhindered. It took her a moment to remember what he had changed the code to, but she got it on the first try to made her way back to the safe.
Relieved to have her hands free again, she dropped everything on the floor and pulled the closet door open. She typed in the code and waited for the safe to beep. Swinging the door open, she was relieved to see the backpack was inside. Elliott was still there, safely taped into his new container.
She temporarily removed him from the backpack, putting him in the smaller compartment alone, and then put her clothes and toiletries into the bigger one. She was wearing her gun, but she had extra ammo that wouldn’t fit in her holster, so she put that in the backpack. Her badge was in her jacket pocket along with a few driver’s licenses in case she needed to temporarily be someone else.
Once she was sure she had everything she needed, she turned her phone completely off and put it in the safe, along with the urn. Then she locked them both inside.
By the time she got downstairs, Juan Diego had her bike all ready to go, pulled up in front of the building.
“Buenos dias, Senorita Cadence,” he smiled as she came out.
“Hola,” she said, returning the smile.
“I have your bike for you.”
“Yes, I see. Gracias. And were you able to remove the GPS tracker?”
“Oh, yes,” Juan Diego confirmed. “It is in my pocket now, and I will make sure it goes out on the next vehicle that leaves. Just like you said.”
“You’re a good man, Juan Diego,” Cadence said, patting him on the shoulder.
He beamed. “You be careful, Senorita Cadence.”
“I will,” she assured him. “Gracias.”
Juan Diego waved and went on about his way as Cadence threw her leg over her bike and settled into the seat. Reaching for her helmet, she realized Jamie was walking over from his office, so she waited.
“Leaving then?” he asked once he’d reached her.
“Yep,” she nodded, her helmet in her hand.
“Be careful.”
“I will be. Take care of things around here?”
“Sure. What could possibly go wrong?” he laughed.
“Hey, Jame, do you happen to know who Elliott’s favorite basketball team was?” she asked.
His forehead puckered for a second, as if he wasn’t sure what she’d asked. “Uh, yeah. The Lakers. Why?”
“That’s what I thought. Favorite player?”
“Johnson,” it came out more of a question than an answer.
“Magic?”
“Is there another Johnson?”
Cadence laughed. “Well, I’m not a basketball fan, but I’m guessing there has to be another Johnson.”
“Not when it comes to basketball,” he assured her.
“Perfect,” she said pulling her helmet on.
“Do you know what you’re going to do then?” he asked as she hooked the strap.
“I do now.”
The ride was fairly smooth sailing. Basically, all she needed to do was follow Interstate 80. As long as Christian kept her informed of Aaron’s location, there was no reason to try to hide by using back roads. She certainly wasn’t in any hurry, but she also had no reason to take the scenic route.
