Chapter 129

The choppers from the Australian army were huge, plenty big enough to carry the whole team to California with everyone comfortably tucked into a seat, as opposed to the flight they’d taken from Russia to the United States where they’d had to sit in the hull on the floor.
Looking out the window at the midwestern landscape morphing into the mountains could’ve been serene if Cadon didn’t have so many other things to think about. The flight wouldn’t be nearly as long as the last one they’d taken. It did give Cadon enough time to think about life in general. He would’ve almost rather had someone chatting in his ear the entire time than have to be alone with his own thoughts.
He missed his parents. It wasn’t difficult for him to admit that, but he tried not to focus on it. He’d gotten used to the hole in his life that had been left when his mom disappeared. Watching his dad die at the hand of the same monster that had stolen his mom and hidden her away was almost too much to take. If he stopped and thought about it for too long, he’d break down, and he couldn’t afford to let his emotions cloud his judgment, not when he was fulfilling a mission. His dad had told him to take over the team while his sister was gone, after all.
While his sister was gone. When Jo got back, would she resume control of LIGHTS? It seemed like that’s what his dad had wanted. Why he thought Jo was better suited toward leading the team, he didn’t quite understand. She had done a good job in Russia, but hopefully, he’d be able to prove himself on this mission, and then, maybe they’d figure out a way to lead together.
But then, if Jo’s mission was successful, neither one of them would be leading anymore--their mom would be.
Cadon couldn’t let himself think about that. The idea that his mother might be back soon, that he would be able to see her, touch her, hug her, tell her how much he loved her and had missed her…. Imagining that was a great way to lose himself in a dream world that would probably never come into existence.
“Are you all right, Cadon?” Jamie asked him using the IAC. “You look a little… troubled.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Cadon replied. Having IACs that worked again was so beneficial. In Russia, they’d been able to use them, but it had been fuzzy and difficult to hear what people were saying. Now, everything was coming through crystal clear, which should help with their precision when they got to Alcatraz.
Looking at the Healer’s face, Cadon got the impression that he hadn’t fooled Jamie one bit. “Okay,” he said. “But I wouldn’t blame you if you were a little troubled--at the very least. You’re leading your first mission, and it’s an important one.”
“Well, yeah, I guess I am a little bit worried about that, but I think we’re in good shape. We should have plenty of weapons and the manpower to force our way in and get our people out.”
“I hope so,” Jamie said. “We have a lot of friends in there.”
“Where’s Hannah?” Cadon asked. “I thought she was in The Capitol with you.”
Jamie looked down at the floor and then lifted his eyes. Even though he wasn’t speaking with his mouth, it was pretty clear that he was having trouble forming the words, even in his mind. “I honestly don’t know,” he said. “She was there one day and gone the next. I asked the guards what had happened to her, and they basically told me to go to hell.”
Cadon stared at him for a long moment. “Do you think that we could reach her via the IAC?”
“No,” Jamie said, shaking his head. “I’ve tried.”
Cadon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Do you think she’s… dead?”
“I sure hope not. I can’t imagine that Crimson would kill someone who had such a unique talent as Hannah.”
As much as Cadon hated President Crimson, he had to admit the man was no fool. If he thought there was any way that he could use Hannah’s ability to influence people’s emotions for his gain, he wouldn’t kill her. Was it possible she was moved to another secret location to work on some project for the Vampires? That would make more sense. Unless he thought that Hannah was using her powers against him. Then, he might’ve found it easier to get rid of the Guardian altogether.
Hannah had been second in command of the Guardians for a really long time, since before Cadon was born. When his dad took a leave of absence for a few years when the twins were born, Hannah had had the opportunity to take over, but she hadn’t wanted to. Neither had Jamie. Why Elliott didn’t take over, Cadon wasn’t sure, but ultimately the job had gone to Margie, Jamie’s sister who was now the area leader for Australia. With Aaron dead and Hannah gone, Jamie was the highest-ranking Guardian. Technically, he should be the Guardian Leader. He wasn’t acting like he’d assumed that position, though. For now, perhaps he was just content to let Cadon take the lead, unless, of course, he seemed like he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. After all, Jamie had a good hundred and sixty years of wisdom from life on Cadon.
Elliott was sitting in the row in front of him. He turned around and stuck his big head in Cadon’s face. Shouting above the whir of the engine, he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to land in San Fran and talk this over again?”
Why he wasn’t using the IAC like everyone else, Cadon couldn’t guess. Normally, the team would travel to the location, stop and discuss their plan, and then attack. But Cadon had decided against that. He was afraid the Vampire guards at Alcatraz would get wind of them coming and be able to put up more of a defense. Surely, they had radar that could detect the incoming helicopters.
Shaking his head, Cadon responded using the computer in his eye so that he didn’t have to shout. “No, I don’t want to chance it. We all know what we’re doing.”
Elliott arched a bushy eyebrow at him, shrugged, and turned around. His mouth was moving as he shifted, but Cadon didn’t know what he’d said. Probably something along the lines of a sarcastic, “You’re the boss,” or “We’re all going to die.”
But then, dying was the one thing Elliott didn’t have to worry about, thanks to the Blue Moon Portal.
Now, Cadon was having second thoughts about what they should do. Turning to Jamie, he asked, “Do you think he’s right?” using the IAC.
The Healer shrugged. “I don’t think it’s going to make too big of a difference. We should be able to communicate with Aurora and some of the others once we get closer. Hell, we probably could now, but there’s no reason to tip them off too quickly. We’ll be fine.”
Cadon nodded and took a deep breath, hoping Jamie was right. Elliott had a lot of experience and was pretty reliable when it came to this sort of stuff, but Jamie was calmer and less prone to overreacting.
At least, that’s what he told himself as they neared California.
Cadon’s staring out the window continued for about another hour as he mentally went over everything he’d ever done wrong in his entire life and tried to determine whether or not that would have any bearing on this mission going wrong before the helicopter pilot began to speak in his ear. “Cadon, we’re flying over San Francisco right now. We’ll be in Alcatraz in about ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” Cadon repeated. He’d hoped he’d have more time than that. “All right.” He took a deep breath and let everyone else know they’d be at their destination momentarily. A few of the other LIGHTS team members also seemed surprised, but Cadon told them it wasn’t something he had control over, and they’d make it work.
“We’re letting the boat captain we’ve commissioned know that we’ll be landing soon,” the pilot continued. Margie had handled all of that, getting a boat and making sure it could be there, to take everyone off of the island. His understanding was that she’d found an independent Guardian to do it, someone local to California who was willing to chip in. Communication with him was going through Margie’s team on the ground, though, so it was one less thing Cadon had to worry about.
That is, unless it went wrong. Then it would be his headache to sort out. He thanked the pilot for letting him know and then began to check his weapons, like everyone else.
They had a team that would unload the larger weapons from the helicopters as the first wave attacked the facility. This had all been settled before they even left headquarters. That way, the helicopters could leave, and they’d have everything they needed, should this end up being a more difficult battle than they had planned for.
Heather was with them, sitting a few rows behind Cadon, and she would be there to help throw any shields they needed. Jamie, Cale, and Martin could help with the healing if anyone got hurt. Cadon just hoped these bloodsuckers didn’t have any tricks up their sleeves like the ones in that cave with the scandium bullets.
All of the Guardians that would be attacking the prison were wearing Emma’s scandium suits. Cadon had made sure there were enough to go around before they took off. He didn’t have any reason to think that these Vampires had access to the scandium bullets since they were produced in Russia, but he couldn’t rule it out, so they were prepared.
As prepared as possible, anyway.