The way that Cassidy had described Melbourne, Cadence expected to be walking through something like the Sahara with a few smatterings of buildings here and there. That’s not at all what she saw through the SUV window as they made their way to their accommodations. In fact, very little of it looked deserty at all, though her understanding was that the sand was not far away.
The hotel wasn’t the nicest they’d ever stayed in, but it would do. Her mom, Liz, who was taking over for her grandmother as Aaron’s personal secretary, and now Cadence’s as well, had made the reservations, and while she wasn’t perfect at it yet, this wasn’t a bad first try. Since only Cassidy and Cadence would require any sleep, they’d only booked two rooms, despite Liz’s argument that this wouldn’t work. Cadence assured her that Cassidy would be her roommate, and all the men would share the other room, though something told her that would probably not be the case since Brandon hadn’t so much as let go of Cassidy’s hand for most of the entire flight as far as Cadence could tell. Cadence didn’t think they’d be spending much time there anyway, and after they dropped off their bags, they headed over to meet Becky and her team.
Melbourne’s headquarters building looked a little bit like a well-guarded dentist’s office to Cadence. It was only one building and only one-story tall, made of red brick. There was a hefty fence around it, though, and it was guarded. They had to show ID to get in, despite the fact that the Guardians on duty both recognized Aaron and Jamie having met them previously.
The apartments were in the back half of the building with the offices up front. The building itself was set back from the fence and road a little way, but Cadence could easily see how Holland could launch a successful attack here. Unlike the main LIGHTS headquarters in Kansas City, there weren’t acres to cover or hundreds of people to take out. From what she could tell, the entire staff, including a few humans who did menial tasks like push papers and mops, appeared to be less than three dozen people.
As soon as they entered the room, Cadence could tell Becky was worried. She chewed on her thumb and swiveled in her chair as the KC team approached a massive metal conference table and only managed a small smile in greeting. The newly appointed leader had all of her primaries present, and none of them looked remotely at ease either. Cadence couldn’t blame them. It had to be unsettling to think that your Leader could be kidnapped from right underneath your nose, not to mention there was a good chance Holland and Carter were probably hanging out somewhere in this Area. It could be they had arranged Paul’s capture in order to throw the enemy off of their tracks while they were really continents away, but Cadence didn’t think Carter would operate that way. It made much more sense that he would steal someone from his own back yard. He never seemed to give LIGHTS enough credit and seemed to think himself invincible despite their history.
The only person who looked remotely happy was the spunky woman with the peacock blue hair at the end of the table. Cadence recognized her face from photographs, but she’d never seen her in person and didn’t remember her hair being that color. But it sort of suited the rebellious air she held about her as she stood and greeted them.
“Cadence, this is my sister, Margie,” Jamie said, giving her a quick hug and releasing her, like he knew she didn’t really want to touch him.
“Pleased to meet you.” Margie’s grip was like a vice, and Cadence tried not to wince as she nearly crushed her fingers.
“You as well,” she managed to eke out. As Margie turned to greet Aaron and Elliott, whom she’d met before, Jamie introduced Cadence to the Hunter who had come with his sister, a tall man with a thick beard named Grant who had introspective violet eyes and was likely much older and wiser than Cadence could’ve cared to guess. His handshake was much less lethal than the Guardian’s. “Glad to have you with us.” Cadence meant it. Having another Hunter with the type of experience she knew Grant possessed would be beyond helpful.
Jamie introduced Cassidy and Brandon, and Cadence saw her sister’s eyes enlarge as Margie attempted to sever her shaking hand as well. Even Brandon flinched, and then they all took seats, waiting for Becky to begin.
She didn’t seem to know where to start. After a few stammers, she settled with, “The movie theater is here,” and pointed it out on a map projected behind her. “This is where all of us were when Paul disappeared.”
“And where was Paul?” Aaron asked, a simple question, that hopefully, would give her enough direction to keep going.
“On top of this building.” Becky gestured at the roof of an old department store. “We spent hours walking through the neighborhoods, expanding our search out five miles in total in every direction. All of the empty buildings were cleared, and none of the residents seemed suspicious at all.”
“We even pulled footage from surveillance systems to make sure. There was nothing to be found.” The Hunter that spoke looked exhausted, and Cadence wondered if he had slept at all since the initial hunt. From her IAC, she learned that this was Jeb.
“So… I don’t know how we can extract him when we don’t know where he is.” Tears sprang to Becky’s eyes as she spoke, and Cadence couldn’t help but feel sorry for the entire team.
“Well, we hope that Cassidy will be able to get a better location on him, now that she’s in the vicinity,” Aaron explained.
Becky’s eyes flickered to the younger girl’s face, and Cassidy gave her a meek smile. “Is that something you can do?” The question sounded slightly skeptical, and Cadence hoped Cassidy took into consideration how much stress Becky was under before she said anything sarcastic back.
“I can.” That was all Cassidy said, and it was polite, Cadence grinned at her and turned back to face Becky who slowly nodded her head.
“I think it would be best if we get a location first and then determine exactly what personnel we use in what capacity.” Cadence fought the temptation to look at Aaron to confirm that what she said was correct when she knew doing so would make her authority seem slightly less than his, especially since they’d already talked about their plan of action.
“What do you need in order to find him?” Becky asked Cassidy.
“Mostly quiet,” Cassidy replied. “It would help if I could go up on the rooftop.”
The building was only one story tall, so Cadence was puzzled. “This rooftop?”
“No, the one he disappeared from.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Cadence said, now looking at Aaron to back her up. He was sitting nearly on the other end of the table from her, and she had to look over several heads to catch his eyes.
“If we all go with her, and it’s just for a few minutes, it should be okay.” She could see in his eyes that he didn’t know for sure if that was the right decision, and it made Cadence uneasy.
“What if Carter shows up while we’re there?” Cadence asked. Aaron had filled Becky and the rest of her team in on who they were dealing with before they even left KC, so the question should make sense to everyone. They hadn’t mentioned the portal, though, and remarkably, there hadn’t been a lot of questions as to how it was possible the pair could be back from hell.
“I’ll be fine, Cadence,” Cassidy insisted. “I’m a Hunter, remember?”
“You haven’t even finished your training.” Elliott had stolen the words right out of her mouth.
Cassidy turned to look at him. “Close enough. Come on. Every minute we sit here talking about it is more time for Paul to have to suffer.”
Becky winced at the mention of the pain he was in, something they hadn’t shared. She knew her sister was right. Carter and Holland might be a thousand times deadlier than the creatures they’d encountered at the RV park, but eventually Cadence would have to trust her sister to be a Hunter, and that meant encountering danger.
“Can you give us directions, Becky?” Cadence asked.
“Oh, I’m coming with you,” the Hunter replied, already out of her seat.
The rest of the Melbourne team members who had joined them, the other five who had been on the initial hunt, all agreed, and neither Cadence or Aaron could argue with that. Looking Becky in the eye, Cadence replied, “Then, let’s load up.”
