Inferna Nuntius

Chapter 25

25

Cassidy couldn’t have heard her phone ringing over the music blaring in her ears if she had wanted to. Hell, she couldn’t even hear her feet pounding away on the treadmill for how loud her music was. The deep base pumped steadily in her ears, drowning out everything and everyone around her. By this point in her run everything on her body hurt-her legs, her back, her feet. She hadn’t been running in almost four days and the inactivity was quickly catching up to her. It was late enough in the day that she had been the sole occupant of the small gym and for the majority of her run she had been able to run as fast as she had wanted to, full out, clocking a smooth six minute mile. That had quickly ended when an elderly man entered the gym, positioning himself directly beside her on the only other treadmill, effectively killing the remainder of her workout. She silently pondered if she could run around the base early in the morning but thought better of it when she realized that the cadets would be doing their runs at about 5am, right when she would have wanted to go.

Shaking her head in defeat, Cassidy slid the arm band that held her phone off and removed her phone, only noticing that she had a miss call when she removed her ear buds. The 703 area code she knew was northern Virginia, but the number didn’t ring a bell. Shrugging, she placed the phone on the treadmill and slowed her pace, content with the ten miles she had accomplished. Tomorrow I’ll do twelve, she told herself. Just as she was about to hop off the treadmill and head to her room, her phone rang. It was the 703 number again. Hesitantly, she removed her ear buds again and answered the call.

“This is Danmark.” She said quietly, noticing that the man beside her was not wearing any headphones or ear buds.

“Ms. Danmark, this is Commander Yarbrough with the Virginia Consult.” Her heart dropped in her chest and she was sure her eyes were bulging out of their sockets by now. There was no reason for the Virginia Consult to have her number, let alone be calling her. “I’m calling because I have someone here that you may be looking for.”

“And who would that be?”

“A Mr. Hughes.” Cassidy almost snorted at the name. She was not looking for Hughes, never had been. But apparently Yarbrough thought differently. “You may want to come by and pick him up from holding. If you don’t mind.”

Cassidy had the feeling that even if she were to ask questions, Yarbrough was not going to be the one giving her answers. “Tell me where he is and I’ll be right there.”

The Virginia Consult, surprisingly enough, was only about forty-five minutes away from the base, nestled into a busy street, flanked by a small production theater and a dry cleaner that looked to have had much better days. This Consult was nothing like the one in New York that dominated the entire city block and then some. Parking the Suburban by the front doors, Cassidy exited the vehicle and headed to the doors, surprised to see them almost completely unguarded.

“I’m here to see Commander Yarbrough.” She told the middle aged man that sat at the solitary desk just inside the doors. The man gave her the once over and nodded, picking up the phone that lay to his right. After a short call the man waved his badge in front of a reader and motioned for her to walk through the metal detectors.