“Uh, Melbourne,” Cadence replied.
Cassidy settled back in her chair a bit. “Did you hear that, Jamie? Not Perth. She’s okay.”
There was a flicker of recognition in his expression, and Cassidy seemed satisfied that Jamie was no longer alarmed.
Still confused, Cadence asked, “Who’s okay?” As far as she knew, Jamie wasn’t dating anyone.
The sigh Cassidy expelled could only be produced by a teenage girl. “Margie, Cadence. He was worried about Margie.”
“Oh.” Cadence nodded, trying to remember who that was. She thought that might be the Area Guardian Leader for Perth, and from what Cassidy said to Jamie, that would make sense. But that still didn’t explain why Jamie would care. She hoped her expression didn’t betray her ignorance.
The sound of Elliott’s rich chuckle told her that she wasn’t fooling anyone. “Damn, Cadence. It’s like you’re the new kid.” He turned and looked at Dax. “If you don’t know everyone’s name yet, kid, don’t worry about it. Cadence still hasn’t got a clue who anyone is, and she’s the bosslady.”
“Hey, that’s not true,” Cadence argued, following Elliott as he headed for the exit. “I know who Margie is. She’s the Guardian Leader in Perth.”
Elliott turned to look at her. “And… Jamie cares about this because…?”
“Because… he’s a nice guy… and she’s… a person… that he knows.” She folded her arms across her chest and tried to sell it, but the result was Elliott laughing in her face.
“God, Cadence. Seriously?” Cassidy said, causing her big sister to turn around and look at her. “That’s really sad. I mean… I know you’re not good with names and stuff, but really?”
“Even I know who Margie is,” Brandon said. “And I don’t ever pay any attention to anything.”
Frustrated, Cadence said, “Good for you. Good for all of you.” She checked her IAC as she was talking and discovered that Margie’s last name was Joplin. Her mouth fell open. “Oh, my God,” she muttered. “I didn’t know Jamie… was married.”
The room erupted in laughter. Even Dax was laughing, though she assumed that was because everyone else was. He stopped when her eyes landed on him.
Elliott’s hand came down on her shoulder pulling her out the door. “Lord A’mighty, Cadence Josephine. You made a sleeping doctor laugh.”
A few more clicks on her IAC and she had the right connection. “Sister! I meant sister!” she shouted back over her shoulder from the hallway. Then, turning back to keep up with Elliott, she muttered, “Jamie has a sister.”
“You’re lucky you’re so fierce ‘cause you are not a people person,” Elliott replied, steering her toward the door.
“That’s not true,” Cadence argued as Christian stepped out of his office and fell in behind them. She imagined he was going to the same place. “I’m a people person. I like people. And people like me.”
“Okay. I guess you’re just not a details person then. I don’t know. I am definitely shocked you didn’t realize that Margie was Jamie’s sister, though. He has a picture of her in his living room.”
“You didn’t know that?” Christian asked, and Cadence turned to glare at him, shutting him up.
“You know the new kid’s name?” Elliott tested her.
“Dax, yeah, of course. I just asked him how he was doing and used it.”
“Just checking.” They stepped outside and Elliott let go of her. “What’s his last name?”
“I don’t know!” Cadence admitted. “How in the hell am I supposed to know that? He doesn’t even have an IAC yet.”
“So she can’t cheat,” Christian chimed in.
Turning around and walking backward, she said, “I am a visual learner. I need to see a name to remember it.” He shook his head slowly. “Do you know his last name?” Cadence asked, turning back to Elliott, betting he didn’t and this was all a bluff.
“Hell, yeah, I know it,” he replied. “You kidding me? A name like that? That’s pure gold to me. Especially when I found out he was a park ranger.”
Still not sure what he was talking about, Cadence debated about whether or not to tune him out or ask for clarification.
She didn’t have to do either when he said, “I asked Aaron if he explained that Vampire hunting is like a box of chocolates and Dax never knew what he was gonna get, and our bossman, who often hasn’t got a funny bone in his body, looked me right in the eye, and in his best Tom Hanks impersonation said, ‘Mama always said dying is a part of life.’ I laughed so hard, I thought I might piss my pants.”
“Why is that funny?” Christian asked as they reached the office building.
Elliott turned and looked at him. “Because I died. Recently. And now I’m alive. And also it’s a quote. From a movie. Called Forrest Gump. And Dax’s last name is…”
“Forest,” Cadence finished. “His last name is Forest.” Now that Elliott had given her three hundred clues, she remembered Jamie making a joke about it, too. She didn’t know whether to laugh at the idea of Aaron doing a Forrest Gump impersonation or cry because she was so pathetic at keeping people straight. She created two new files in her IAC and stored Jamie’s sister’s name and Dax’s last name there as they boarded the elevator, hoping she could somehow escape her routine of “stupid is as stupid does.”
* * *
Staring at thousands of Xs all morning had made Aaron’s eyes go crossed more than once, so he’d finally decided about an hour ago to put the maps away until Christian could figure out what was going on with the trackers. That was on the list of things to discuss with the team once things settled down enough that he could get them all together. He had planned on at least waiting for Jamie to wake up before meeting, but when he started to get desperate messages from Australia, he knew he could no longer wait. Becky had filled him in the best she could, and he told her to standby until he could meet with his own team and see what they could figure out.
With the maps cleared away, he’d taken to pacing, replaying video from the night before in his mind, trying to understand what had happened and how. Footage from the Guardians who’d been attacked showed that the uprising had started not with Bonnie but with Marcos, which was shocking. He’d never done anything remotely questionable before in all of the decades he’d worked here. His wife Lena was also as sweet as apple pie. Perhaps Bonnie had done something to convince Marcos to turn in the short amount of time the couple had her, though Lena had done nothing. One of the Guardians had accidentally shot her as she was attempting to call for help, not realizing she was still on their side. Aaron decided to keep that information to himself.
