The first thing she did when she arrived in her apartment was contact her sister and let her know that Brandon would be picking her up Saturday instead of Cadence. While she was clearly put-out, she was also in the middle of algebra class and couldn’t argue and concentrate on instruction at the same time. Cadence assured her that she would fill her in on everything as soon as she could but that this mission was top secret, and Aaron didn’t even know about it. Cassidy’s profound response had been a resounding, “Whatev.”

Cadence spent the rest of the afternoon talking to various area leaders, helping them talk through their...