Repercussion: The Clandestine Saga Book 3

Chapter 6-1

Chapter 6

"Cadence, are you awake?"

Her eyes flickered open for a second, confusion setting in before she promptly shut them. The room was bright--which meant it was morning. Her head wasn't pounding; rather than feeling like she had been hit by a truck, she felt like she could pick one up and throw it.

But she was still confused. She buried her head beneath a pillow before asking, "Why are you utilizing the IAC when you're here?"

"Because I left about three hours ago," he replied slowly.

Cadence groaned, her hand shooting out to the empty space beside her. Of course he did. She glanced at the clock. She couldn't believe it was 10:30. She had actually slept for almost ten hours without waking up at all.

And she really had to pee.

As she climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom, she was absently grateful that IAC couldn't pick up on bodily functions. "I'm awake now," she finally replied.

"Good. I need you in my office in thirty minutes," he replied.

She groaned. Even with her super speed, that was rushing it on her morning routine. "Can you make it an hour?"

"No, Eliza made contact with Laura this morning, and she's going to dial back in at 11:30, so we need to talk as a group before then." She didn't respond at first so he dangled a carrot. "Starbucks hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin get you there?"

He knew her too well. "Venti?"

"Of course."

"All right. See you in a bit," she replied, flipping on the shower and setting about brushing her teeth.

She decided she needed to talk to Cale right away before he caught wind of what had transpired the night before. Even though he would never know what she was doing, she felt weird talking to him while she was in the shower, so she chose to wait until she was done with that and then see if she could get ahold of him. She was distinctly aware that Aaron had kissed her--and that she had kissed him back--but she was not unfamiliar enough with the Guardian Leader to think this changed anything between them. She was confident, however, that Cale would not mind the sleepover. She wasn't sure whether or not he could handle the rest--not yet anyway. Maybe she could tell him about that later, much later, like in forty or fifty years....

"You saving that spot for someone?" Elliott laughed, eyeing the Starbucks order sitting at the table in front of where Cadence had sat the day before.

"Had to do something to get her awake and over here," he replied, absently shuffling papers around on a side table nearby.

Elliott sat down in the chair he'd been sitting in as well, sipping a cup of coffee courtesy of the Keurig machine next to Mrs. Carminati's desk. "How'd it go last night?" he asked nonchalantly.

Aaron stopped and looked at his friend suspiciously. "Have you talked to her?" he asked.

Elliott mirrored his shifty expression. "No, why?"

Aaron eyed him cautiously for a moment to see if he was telling the truth before he replied. He decided he really hadn't spoken to her, so he answered, "It went fine. She slept," he shrugged, "I slept. There was a lot of sleeping. That's all."

Now Elliott really was suspicious. "And?" he asked.

"And... nothing," Aaron said dismissively.

"Bull...shit..." Elliott mocked him.

"Cadence," Aaron said nodding at the door.

"Huh?" Elliott asked, confused, as there was a knock on the office door. "Why does she knock?"

"She's polite?" Aaron hazardously guessed. "Come on in," he told her through the IAC so he wouldn't have to shout.

"Thanks," she said, as she swung the door shut behind her. She was shaking her head and looked very unhappy. She managed a small smile when she saw he had delivered on his breakfast promise, but then her face fell again. "Thanks," she repeated, gesturing at the Starbucks, as she pulled the chair out and sat down.

Aaron and Elliott looked at each other. "Everything okay, kid?" Elliott asked, a concerned expression on his face.

Cadence opened her mouth, as if she were going to answer, but then clamped it shut again, with a heavy sigh. She shook her head sharply and then said, "No, it's nothing. It's just...I don't want to talk about it."

"Cale?" Aaron asked, not wanting to pry but also highly interested in what Prince Charming thought about the sleeping arrangements.

"Yes!" Cadence answered dropping her head into her hands momentarily before pounding on the table in frustration.

"So, he didn't understand then?" Aaron continued to probe, taking his seat next to her at the end of the table.

She shook her head. "No, not even a little bit."

"What did you tell him?" Elliott asked.

Cadence looked at him in the same skeptical way Aaron had earlier. She glanced at Aaron, who shook his head a minuscule degree, indicating that he had said nothing. "I just told him that I was having trouble sleeping, that I knew I would be able to sleep if you were there," she gestured at Aaron, "and so we slept in the same bed. I told him it was no big deal, you know? But he seemed desperately hurt... and offended." She took a long swig of the hot chocolate, still shaking her head. "I don't know. I guess he has a right to be upset. I'd probably be upset if he was sleeping with some other girl, too."

"An ex, nonetheless," Elliott pointed out.

She glared at him. "Thank you, Dr. Sanderson. I'm aware. I just... didn't expect him to react that way. That's all."

"I'm sorry," Aaron said. He started to reach for her hand, but thought better of it, and nervously tapped the table instead. "You didn't tell him anything else?" he asked her privately. Cadence slowly shook her head no, subtly enough that Elliott did not see.

Elliott patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, too, kid. I know that's upsetting. But I'd be lying if I didn't say it makes me happy," he added to her alone.

She glared at him, saying nothing, before turning back to her breakfast, clearly annoyed at his glee.

"Well, Eliza will be here in a few minutes," Aaron mentioned, changing the subject. "So, now that we've had a chance to... sleep on it, what do you think about the mission?"

"Honestly, I think we should go for it," Elliott said, leaning back in his chair. "If we put those contingencies in place the way we had discussed, hell, why not? I think we can pull this off, just get it over with."

"Okay," Aaron nodded. "Cadence?"

She was mid-chew, so she took a moment to swallow. "I have my reservations," she admitted. "But, if everything goes as planned, I think we can at least get these four a*s hats out of the picture."

Aaron continued to nod, slowly and deliberately, as if he was actually making the decision to go through with the plan right then and there. After a moment, he said. "All right. Eliza's almost here. Let's let her direct this. That way, we'll make sure we don't add in any extra information."

"I want to be there when you tell her she's off the hunt," Elliott said, a grin on his face.

"I don't want to be there," Aaron admitted. "Why don't you do it?"

"Okay!" Elliott exclaimed, assuming he was kidding but still willing to take him up on it.

Eliza threw the door open and entered like it was her own office. She looked a bit disheveled, but as well dressed as she had the day before in another black designer suite and heels. "Sorry I'm late," she said pulling the chair out at the far end again. "It's been a crazy morning. Ugh, so many fires to put out in San Fran."

As she sat down, Cadence glanced at Aaron, who was shaking his head, indicating there weren't really any fires.

Eliza was not deterred. "Oh, wow, Cadence--Starbucks. If I'd known you were going to make a run, I would have put in an order."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Next time, let me know, so I can happily not bring you any," she replied smiling. Eliza gave her the evil eye, but Cadence was in no mood to bullshit. "But that's right. I didn't get this for myself. Your ex-boyfriend brought it for me," she said patting Aaron on the arm possessively.

Eliza's glare narrowed, but she said nothing.

"There's coffee in the lobby," Elliott pointed out to her.

"Oh, great. Two sugars, thanks," she said, smartly.

Elliott looked at his friends, eyebrows raised, not sure what to do. He had hated Eliza before Cadence even joined the team, but Aaron shrugged at him, and he decided to comply so as to keep the peace. Clearly, Cadence wasn't going to be doing anything to patch things over today.

As Elliott went to get Eliza's coffee, she continued with her verbal explosion of too much information. "Oh, last night was crazy. I was out way too late catching up with some old friends--and some new ones. Woke up next to the hottest guy this morning," she added, as Elliott re-entered.

"Oh, my God! Me, too!" Cadence exclaimed in her best valley girl impersonation. "But, mine brought me breakfast."

"Stop!" Aaron cautioned her, but she could tell he was fighting to hold back a smile.

"I'm sorry," Cadence said only to him, an apologetic expression on her face, as Elliott burst out laughing next to her.

"What about Cale?" Eliza asked snidely. She took a sip of her coffee and made a face, as if to say it was awful.

"What about him?" Cadence asked.

Eliza guffawed. "Well, I thought you were seeing him."

"Well, maybe the next time you two have a heart to heart you can mention it to him," she replied tartly.

"Maybe I will," Eliza shot back.

"As comical as this is," Elliott chimed in, "I think we should probably get some work done, so I can get the hell out of here and do something constructive, like watch videos on YouTube of cats falling down."

"Eliza, we're going to let you take the lead on this discussion. We've decided to go ahead and commit to the mission," Aaron explained.

"Perfect," Eliza said, smiling. "It's nice to hear that you are capable of committing to something," she added under her breath.

Shaking his head and biting his tongue, he continued. "Just let her know that we're on board and see when she's expecting us. That's really about all we need to do."

"Sounds good," Eliza agreed. "She's calling on the phone, not Skype though, correct?"

"Yes. Let's keep it short and simple, all right?" he requested.

Eliza nodded, and they waited for the phone to ring. However, once Laura was on the line, Eliza was anything but concise. She let the renegades know they were willing to work with them, and along with a myriad of other questions, asked Laura when she thought they should make their move. Laura's team was ready to go the next day, but LIGHTS decided they would need another full day to make sure they had all of their equipment in order. About thirty minutes after the call had begun, Eliza finally hung up, a satisfied grin on her face. "Well, that went really well, don't you think?" she beamed.

"Good work, Eliza," Aaron said patronizingly. "I guess that's all we needed. You can head back to Cali whenever you're ready."

"What?" she asked, her smile cracking a bit. "But, aren't you going to get the rest of the team together and strategize?"

"Sure," Aaron shrugged, "but you don't need to stick around and wait for that. We'll fill you in. I know you've got a ton of... fires still burning out there. I'll arrange for a car to pick you up to take you to the airport in about an hour."

"Fine," Eliza said, her smile completely gone now. She made her way out of the room without so much as a wave goodbye.

"Ding, dong the merry-oh," Elliott mumbled once she was gone. "When are we getting the band back together?" he asked in reference to the rest of the team that would be going with them.

"I think we should meet this afternoon, make sure everyone's clear, give them a chance to reflect and ask questions. We can head out tomorrow afternoon, let Laura know where we are, and go from there."