Chapter 5: Discovery

"That's it, I was right! It is rutile!" Christian exclaimed, paper in hand, bursting into Aaron’s office. Elliott glanced over his shoulder, a puzzled expression on his face as he paused midsentence to see what their lead tech person was so excited about.

Aaron looked a little less confused but still needed some clarification. "Christian, come on in," he said sarcastically. "I take it you got your report back from Dr. Patrick then?" He sat behind his imposing oak desk, peering at his teammate with an intense blue stare.

"Yes! It only took four months for the renowned scientist to squeeze it in, but nevertheless, here it is! The bullet was an amalgamate of titanium extracted from rutile." Dr. Ernest Patrick was a Guardian who had been an extremely successful chemist before his Transformation. Often, if one was particularly good in one area before they Transformed, those skills would be amplified once the change process was complete. That was the case with Dr. Patrick, who happened to work out of Edinburgh. "Dr. Patrick was able to trace these specific deposits back to a mine in Sierra Leone. So, if we can pinpoint who would have had access to that mine, then we'll know who made the bullet. And if we can figure out who made the bullet, then maybe we can determine how they knew titanium could allow a Hunter to take out another Hunter and why they would want to create such a weapon."

"Oh, that sounds simple enough," Elliott replied, rolling his eyes. "Since there's no reason to suspect that it was a Hunter or a Guardian who formulated the magic bullet, we'll just interview all of the people in Sierra Leone. That can't be more than, what, a couple million people..."

"Actually, the population of Sierra Leone is roughly six million people," Christian interjected.

"Oh well, then..."

"I know who it is..."

"That should be no problem at all. Just six million people give or take..."

"I said, I know who it is!" Aaron repeated.

It registered the second time. "Of course, you do," Elliott said, shaking his head in disbelief. Aaron always seemed to know everything. He wasn't quite sure how his best friend was always five steps ahead of everyone else.

"What? You do?" Christian asked, clearly more shocked then Elliott.

Aaron was temporarily distracted as he pulled up information on the IAC which he promptly shared with the two team members that were present. "Yes," he finally replied. "I should have known from the beginning. Laura's uncle, Kenny Comer. He works for the Titanium Resource Group. He's one of their leading scientists. He must have been working on this for her for years."

"But why?" Elliott interjected, pulling his hefty body up in the chair. "How could Laura of known years ago that she might need to take out another Hunter?"

"I don't think that's what she meant to do," Aaron admitted. For months, he had wondered if Laura was actually trying to kill Cadence when she had shot her in a failed attempt to destroy Giovani. The Vampire had been using Cadence as a shield. Laura had taken it upon herself to attempt to shoot Giovani despite the barrier, and the wound had almost killed Cadence, something that should have been impossible. Anytime a Hunter shot another Hunter the bullet should bounce clean. This time, the bullet lodged in Cadence's shoulder, and it had taken emergency surgery and the expert skills of the team's Healer, Jaime, to save her life.

"What do you mean that's not what she meant to do?" Elliott asked, the skepticism clear in his voice. "I watched it happen, Aaron. She meant to shoot Cadence."

"No, that's not what I meant," the Leader attempted to explain. "Maybe she really didn't think that the bullet would affect Cadence."

"Then why would she need a special bullet?" Christian asked, still standing though there was an empty chair in front of him.

"I'm not sure," Aaron replied shaking his head. "Maybe she thought the bullet would affect Giovani differently. Maybe she just wanted a stronger bullet. I don't know." He paused to think. "You said it was an amalgamate. It still had some silver in it, then?"

"Yes," Christian confirmed, glancing down at the paper.

"Maybe she just thought the titanium would make it stronger for some reason. It still doesn't explain how it could allow a Hunter to kill another Hunter," he reminded them.

"True," Christian agreed. "But titanium is an element. So, it's possible it has different effects than other elements, such as silver."

"Which means we could potentially be looking at any number of elements reacting differently when fired out of a weapon. Awesome! Hope no one decides to lace a bullet with lithium. We'll all end up strung out..."

"All right, Elliott," Aaron said dismissively. "I doubt we have any other elemental weapons to worry about right now. But at least we finally know the source of the bullet. We need to contact Mr. Comer and see what else we can find out. Can you take care of that, Christian? He may be willing to help us if you let him know the result of his little experiment."

"Sure thing," Christian agreed. He had always been willing to help out however possible, but his eagerness when it came to following orders was increased by his recent involvement in Aaron's break up with Cadence. A bit of indiscretion on Christian's part had led to the leak of a video he should have never made, one of him and Cadence making out.

"Great, thank you!" Aaron said in a tone that effectively said, "Now get the hell out of my office," and Christian headed toward the door. Just as he reached the doorknob, Aaron sent him a private message on the IAC. "How's that other project coming?" he asked.

"Getting there," Christian replied, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Good. Let me know when you get it figured out." There was no reason to let Elliott know about the other task he had assigned Christian. He would just ask too many questions for which Aaron had no answers.