Stranger

Sitting behind her desk in the office she shared with Aaron, Cadence had been discussing some of the new weapons her dad was working on with her husband when she’d gotten a strange call from one of the Guardians at the front gate, the barrier visitors came to on the rare occasion they had any. An older “gentleman” was asking to see her--alone, without Aaron. He claimed to be a Hunter, but he didn’t have any identification, no IAC, and he wanted to talk to Cadence by herself, saying he had valuable information about, “her enemy.”

Aaron hadn’t wanted to let her speak with him, even though he admitted he had no idea who it might be, but Cadence postponed her appointment with Cassidy to go downstairs and meet the man. He was sitting on a bench near the chapel, the one where they’d had Elliott’s funeral. Dressed similarly to the way Cowboy Sam had been the first time Cadence had met him, in dusty brown pants, a faded denim shir