Repercussion: The Clandestine Saga Book 3 (33 page)

"You first," Cadence replied, aiming the gun at Laura's head and cocking it.

              Laura turned back to look at her. "You're not going to shoot me in the head," she said, as calmly as she could.

              "Maybe not," Cadence repeated. "But I will shoot you in the foot." Without blinking, she shot Laura in the right heel.

The small blonde woman screamed in agony as blood splattered against the wall, the crimson liquid quickly spreading across the sheets as she groped for the wound, trying to contain the bleeding with her thin blanket. "What the hell?" she screamed. "Oh, my God! Why the hell did you do that?"

              "Tell me the truth, Laura," Cadence said calmly.

              "I have been telling you the truth!" she grimaced.

              "Well, you've got another foot," Cadence sighed, taking aim again.

              "NO!" Laura implored. "Fine--my uncle made the bullets for me. But only because he thought they would be stronger weapons against Vampires."

              Cadence wasn’t sure she believed all of that, but she had part of the information she needed. She continued to probe."And?"

              "And what? Please, God, don't shoot me again. I need a doctor..."

              "Luckily for you, there's a Healer right outside of that door. Of course, I'm not sure he's gonna want to help you, what with you arranging for his demise and all, but if you wanna keep talking, maybe I'll let the good doctor in," Cadence said calmly.

              Laura was crying, the pain so severe she could hardly stand it. "I don't know anything else. I'm telling you, this was Sam's idea."

"Titanium hurts worse than a regular bullet, or so I hear. What do you think, shall we see if twice the amount of titanium is twice as painful?"

              "JAMIE!" Laura screamed. "Please help me!"

"I'm so sorry, but Jamie's not going to come through that door until I ask him to," Cadence explained calmly.

"Aaron! Please don't let your psycho girlfriend shoot me again!" Laura begged, realizing that Cadence's IAC had to be on.

              "Uhm, that's fiancée," Cadence reminded her, taking a step forward and pointing the Glock directly at her left leg. "Gotta be careful not to hit the shackle," she clarified.

              "Please, no, please," Laura begged.

              Cadence pulled the trigger, and there was another shriek of horrific pain as blood covered the wall again. This time, the bullet ripped through her lower calf, and shredded muscle hung off of the shattered bone. "Laura, shoot straight with me here. I've only got three more titanium bullets left. That's all I brought with me. Come on now, where's Sam?"

              "I'm going to pass out," Laura whispered, gasping for air.

"Okay, better talk fast then." Cadence readied another bullet. "Are you left handed or right handed?"

"Please--no more. Please, let Jamie come in," she pleaded.

"You know, you're tougher to crack than I thought you'd be."

"You're insane--you fucking bitch!"

"Possibly. Losing your best friend can do that to you," Cadence replied. "His pleas fell on deaf ears, too."

"Fine--fine, I'll tell you. Okay," Laura gasped. "It was my idea. Sam agreed with it, though. He did most of the footwork. I just worked on manipulating Eliza, which was easy. I honestly don't know where Sam went. We decided not to tell each other, just in case. I think he probably went to Mexico, but I don't know. His family is in Texas. Flynn said he wanted to go to California, but he thought it would be too risky since that’s where he’s from. So I think he probably went to Montana, to the mountains. He said he knew the area around Billings or some place. That's all I know. Please! Just help me, Cadence. Please!"

              Cadence decided that enough was enough. She put the safety back on and shoved the Glock back into her waistband. "Jamie," she said quietly. In a second, he was through the door, surgical bag in hand. However, Cadence couldn't help but notice he had on thick gloves. Laura would get a doctor, but she wouldn't get a Healer.

              Once she was out in the hallway, Cadence steadied herself against the wall, fighting the bile that was rising in the back of her throat. As much as she hated Laura, that was the most difficult thing she had ever done in her life, and she wasn't sure she would ever be able to forgive herself. Now she understood why Aaron hadn't let her shoot Camilla.

              He was waiting for her at the top of the stairs when she finally made it that far, sitting on the top step. She couldn't tell by his expression if he was angry, disappointed, or just sad. She dropped down next to him, waiting patiently for any sort of acknowledgement.

It took a few minutes before he finally asked, "How are you?"

              "I think I'm going to vomit," she admitted.

"Good," he nodded. "If that didn't make you sick, I'd be worried about you."

              She looked at him nervously. "And since it did?"

              "I'd be worried to be on the other side of an interrogation table from you," he replied. "But as difficult as that was, you got what we needed."

              "Through torture," she mumbled.

              "We're not the UN," he reminded her.

              "I know," she acknowledged. "But, maybe I shouldn't have..."

"Don't start questioning yourself, Cadence," he said, putting his arm around her. "You did what you needed to do. She deserved it. I'm just sorry you had to go through that."

              She put her head on his shoulder as the tears started rolling down her face. "I wish it hadn't have been necessary," she replied.

              "I know," he agreed, smoothing her hair. "I know."

He held her a few moments as she struggled to pull herself back together. Once she had regained her composure he said, "Listen, you own that when you walk out of here, okay? Our IACs are off--no one knows you were crying just now except me. Don't let them see you hesitate on this one, okay?" She nodded and absently swiped at her nose with the back of her hand. "One thing is for sure, everyone who just witnessed that will never question your balls, sweetheart."

              She couldn't help but laugh, and he kissed her before pulling her to her feet. "Come on, I think you have blood on your clothes. And we've got a lot of work to do."

"Can I turn my IAC back on to see how she's doing?" she asked as she followed him down the hallway toward the exit.

              "Nope," he replied. "You don't care."

She nodded, holding tightly to his hand. "Okay. Can you turn your IAC on to see how she's doing?"

              "Jamie took the gloves off," Aaron replied, spinning to look at her.

Cadence was both relieved and a bit disappointed to hear that. It meant that Laura would get the benefit of a Healer after all. "Well, I guess that's part of his Hippocratic Oath, or something," she justified.

As he turned to continue down the hallway, he muttered, "Yep. And I guess your balls are bigger than his."

"Well, I could have told you that...." she teased.”Seriously, though, it takes some pretty big
cojones
to fix someone who tried to have you killed even after you already saved their life."

"I agree," Aaron replied, pushing the exit door open. "And that's why I'm glad he's on our side."

              In the apartment where Laney was being held, Shane and Meaghan were not only providing assurance that she didn't attempt to escape and free her sister, they were also present as she watched the interrogation of her sister, Laura, the result of which was more than a few tears being shed by the younger of the two.

              When Cadence entered the room, followed closely by Aaron, it was evident that Laney had been crying. She began to formulate an apology, but then remembered what Aaron had said and hardened her expression instead. This was no time to show weakness. She hadn't seen Laney since arriving back at headquarters the day before so she began with a simple greeting to see where the other Hunter's allegiance lie. "Laney, how are you holding up?" Cadence asked, peering at her from the entryway.

              Laney sat on a fading leather sofa. The apartment was much smaller than Cadence's. It was in the building where those who were coming only to Transform and train would stay before they went back out into the world in a few months. Therefore, it was more like a studio apartment, and Cadence stopped short of entering the living room space, lingering behind the counter in the tiny kitchen near the door instead, Aaron beside her, with Meaghan and Shane sitting next to Laney across the enclosed area on the couch. It took Laney a moment to answer. Finally, she wiped away a tear and said, "I'm not going to lie. That was brutal."

              Cadence pressed her lips together tightly and chose her words carefully. "It had to be done," she insisted.

              "I guess so," Laney shrugged, whipping her long blond hair behind her shoulder. She had the remains of a tattered tissue in her hand and she dabbed at her eyes one more time. "It's just so hard to believe she would do something like this. I mean, I've seen the footage. I get it... I just.... She's my sister, you know?" Cadence and the rest of the team listened sympathetically without interrupting. "We traveled across the country--the world--for over a decade looking for Giovani. And while I knew there were times she was beginning to lose it, I just never thought...."

              "None of us did," Aaron assured her.

Laney looked at him for a moment, as if she was examining his expression in order to tell whether or not he had any inkling of the disappointment she felt in her sister. Of course he did. He had cared deeply for her at one time. Eventually, she said, "What will happen to her now?"

              Aaron looked at Cadence in deferment. After all, if she was elected as Hunter Leader soon, and it appeared that she would be, she would be in charge of disciplining Hunters when they got out of line. "Well," Cadence said, leaning on the counter with her elbows, "I know this is an unprecedented case. I mean, when Skelton shot my grandfather, he disappeared, and no one ever heard from him again." She glanced at Aaron to make sure that her story was accurate and his nod confirmed this. "I honestly feel like we should elect a tribunal, have her go before them, and let them decide her fate."

              "But there are really only two possible outcomes, right?" Laney asked, leaning forward a little bit. "I mean, they can either decide to put her to death or lock her up for the rest of her life--which could be a hundred years."

"Yes." Cadence's reply was short and matter-of-fact. It had a jarring effect on the other woman, who clearly was still having trouble accepting any of this.

              "I think she would rather be dead than locked up for all of those years," Laney thought aloud, looking down at the ground.

              "Then I hope they decide to toss her in prison and throw away the key," Cadence said coldly. "Whatever happens to her, Laney, she chose her own path. She had every opportunity to do the right thing--twice--and she chose not to. "

              Laney clearly considered her words. A long pause was followed by a change in subject. "What about my uncle. He didn't really admit to any of those things, right? He's not here?"

"No," Cadence assured her. "He's still feigning innocence."

              "We do need to do something about that, though," Aaron reminded her.

              Cadence agreed. "I think we need to shut down the whole operation. We're capable of that, aren't we?"

"The entire titanium mining business?" Shane clarified, a look of bewilderment on his face.

              "Yes," Cadence confirmed. "Temporarily. At that location. At least until we can gather enough evidence to take him into custody as well."

"We don't even have to take him" Aaron reminded her. "He's a human. We can let the government take care of that."

              "Even better," Cadence stated. "Do we have a team in Sierra Leone?"

              "We do," he confirmed, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter, "but it's not much. We'll have to call in some reinforcements. We can get it done."

              "Perfect," Cadence nodded. "Anyone who knows these bullets even exist needs to be under constant surveillance or confined."

"Would you trust me to do it?" Laney asked, her elbows resting on her knees.

              Cadence and Aaron both looked at each other, surprised, before returning their attention to her. "What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

              "Look, my family started this whole mess. Surely, you know you can trust me. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to help. It's just... hard to see my sister in pain, that's all. But this I can help with. Let me pull a team together and go down there, shut them down, direct the authorities to take my uncle into custody, and we'll go from there."

              Once again, Cadence and Aaron exchanged glances before Cadence replied, "Okay. Sure. I'm willing to give you a chance to prove your loyalty."

              "Great--you won't regret it," Laney assured her.