Chapter 168
“They didn’t all escape,” Andrew interjected. I could tell by his tone he was tired of being blamed for all of this mess, even if he deserved it. “We did manage to get one of them, at least. I think we may have hit another, but of course we have no way of knowing if he survived.”
“Why is that?” That was Aurora. I wondered if everyone felt compelled to speak at least once during these meetings. I turned and looked at Brandon, and he glanced at me for a moment with a reassuring look as we turned back to Andrew.
“We took out one of them as they were entering a black Chevy Tahoe that pulled up to the back door. I watched him turn to ash. Another was hit in the leg, but his friends got him inside the SUV, and they pulled away. My bikes gave chase, but the SUV managed to lose them in the city traffic.”
“At one o’clock in the morning?” Morgan seemed very annoyed at Andrew in general. Her tone was borderline snide again.
“Yes. They didn’t want any humans to get hurt,” Andrew explained.
The next thing that came out of Aaron’s mouth confused the crap out of me. “Good question, Christian.” I turned and looked at Brandon, who only shrugged at me. I double-checked the table; Christian wasn’t here. He wasn’t on the screen either, and I realized he must be listening via the IAC. We would have no way of knowing what good question Christian had asked. “Thanks for your recap, Andrew,” Aaron said, nodding at the Philly Leader, who seemed relieved that he wouldn’t have to say anything else—at least for a while.
Aaron’s answer gave me some clues as to what Christian might’ve asked. “We know that one of them is Frank Howard, an ex-Black Ops. We are assuming that the others are ex-military as well based on their dress, their weaponry, and their tactics. We aren’t sure how many Vampires may be working with Giovani, but we can assume that he has the cooperation of any and every bloodsucker in the area since Giovani’s end goal is to take out Cadence and then all of us. So, let’s just go ahead and assume we are outnumbered.”
Morgan’s voice still sounded annoyed. “How do we know his objective is taking out Cadence?” She was pulling on her hair as she spoke, like she was thinking aloud.
Morgan seemed to respond to herself. “That seems sort of odd. Since when do Vampires leave notes letting us know their intention?”
I turned and looked at Brandon again. He was as bewildered as I was. I could only assume someone had answered her over the IAC. Before I could say anything—not that I would’ve—Meagan leaned over from Brandon’s other side and whispered, “Eliza told Morgan that Giovani left the note with the poem.” We both nodded, and she backtracked a little. “Christian had asked what we knew about the people Giovani was working with.” I was afraid to say thank you, so I only smiled at her and tuned back to the conversation to hear Morgan replying to Eliza.
“It just seems out of the ordinary to me.” Since she was talking to Eliza, I didn’t mind her snide attitude for once.
“It is,” Aaron agreed. “This whole situation is unlike anything we have encountered for a really long time, although it is not unprecedented. We had a similar situation in the 1880s in London, some of you will recall. So, in an effort to keep history from repeating itself, let’s try to stop Gibbon before we have another Ripper on our hands.” This was the second time he’d mentioned Jack the Ripper, and I really wanted to know that story, but obviously now was not the time to ask.
“So, what is our next move?” Jamie asked, looking at Aaron intently.
“We need to get to Philadelphia as quickly as we can, see if we can figure out where Giovani is hiding, and make a move on him before Gibbon has completely pledged his loyalty. If we can get between them, we may have a chance at spoiling Giovani’s plan,” Aaron replied, leaning back in his chair, his fists clenched. That sounded like a very good plan to me, and I remembered how long it had taken Jack to turn. Maybe we could get to Gibbon before he became a Vampire. Then I remembered there would be no we. I wasn’t going anywhere….
Cadence seemed to pick up where Aaron left off. “But finding him isn’t going to be easy, unless and until he wants to be found. Andrew, it seems like that back door, the one that Giovani entered the hospital through, was intentionally left unlocked. When you interviewed the patients and staff members last night, did it seem like any of them may have been Vampires?”
“Not that I could tell,” Andrew said, shaking his head.
“Wouldn’t you be able to figure that easily?” This time, Morgan actually rolled her eyes.
Andrew’s tone became a little defensive. I couldn’t blame him. This Morgan was a bit of a firecracker. “Well, we didn’t interview everyone. We just talked to a few of the patients and staff members. We mostly just tried to stay out of the police officers’ way.”
“Seriously?” Morgan asked.
My sister cut her off. “Andrew, I want you to get a list of everyone who was working last night. Make contact with any of the staff members who may have had access to that back door. If we can establish it was an inside job, that may give us a lead as to where Giovani is hiding.” I wondered if anyone was actually going to address Morgan’s tone but decided it wasn’t my business.
“We can do that,” Andrew nodded.
“We will be loading up to head that direction in just few minutes,” Aaron told him, “so once we get there, we’ll meet with your team and determine what our next step is.” That news made my stomach sink. Once again “we” did not include me. They were going on this great adventure, and I’d be spending the rest of the weekend in my sister’s apartment.
Cadence continued, “If you hear anything else, get any more leads, contact us immediately, all right, Andrew?”
“I definitely will,” he agreed. He looked relieved to not be in charge of this anymore, and I bet he was truly happy Aaron and Cadence were on their way to head it up.
“Morgan, Cale, get to Philly as soon as you can. Bring whichever team members you need and that you know you can completely trust. Cale, we’ll need your choppers as well,” Aaron instructed.
“They are fully armed and ready to go,” Cale assured him. “See you all shortly!”
“See you in a few hours!” Morgan said, waving as she and Cale disconnected their feeds. I was sort of sad to see Cale fade away but glad to see Morgan go. I felt like I could pull air fully into my lungs again, at least for a few moments, until I remembered I was uninvited.
