Sentinel Lost (Mind Sweeper Series Book 5)

by AE Jones

  Misha stood and clapped his hands together. “Now that we’ve made up, can we decide which demon to interrogate first?”

  I studied the monitors for a moment. “I think Johnny does what he’s told to do. Not sure if he’ll be a font of information. Of the two, I think we’ll get more information out of Eli. What do you think, Jason?”

  “I think we split them up and interrogate Johnny first. Make Eli sweat a little bit.”

  “You’re devious,” I chuckled. “I like it.”

  Jason grinned. “Takes one to know one.”

  I grinned right back like an idiot. Things were going to be okay between Jason and me. I hadn’t screwed it up. “Then we go talk to the realm demon.”

  “The realm demon is a slippery bastard. I’m not sure how much we’re going to get out of him.”

  “Hopefully Eli will give us something we can dangle in front of him to persuade him to talk.” Plus, I wanted to find out why he and his brother had reacted to me the way they did at the warehouse.

  Twenty minutes later, I’d been proven right. Johnny knew almost nothing about the operation. He simply went where Eli told him to go and served as his guard. If he’d been smart, he would have listened and learned so he could use it himself in the future if he needed to. But Johnny wasn’t smart.

  Jason and Misha returned Johnny to his cell, and I went into the surveillance room where Griffin had stayed to observe. Griffin was just ending a call.

  “Problem?” I asked.

  “No. I was getting a status report from Tim.”

  “If you need to be somewhere…” And like that, the proverbial light bulb went on. “Today was your quarterly board meeting. I pulled you away from that? Crap, Griffin, I feel terrible about this.”

  “Tim handled it. It’s not an issue.”

  “Well, I’m still sorry I worried you.”

  He frowned. “You can’t stop me from worrying about the people I care for, Kyle. It’s not part of my DNA…or yours, for that matter.”

  I started at the vehemence of his tone, but quickly recovered. “I know.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, the storm had subsided. “I think I’ll leave you to your work now, if you’re okay.”

  I nodded. “Yes. You being here means a lot to me.” I reached for him, but before I could touch him, Boris bustled into the room.

  “Here you are!”

  Griffin said his goodbyes and left. Boris wrapped his big arm around my shoulder. “I didn’t get to tell you earlier, Kyle, how happy I am that you’re okay.”

  I grinned up at him. “Considering we didn’t like each other much when we first met, I’m happy that you’re happy.”

  He barked out a laugh. “I have something for you.”

  Boris opened his hand and let a silver chain dangle from his fingers. Attached to the bottom of the chain was the crystal Naya had given me. He gestured for me to turn, and he fastened it around my neck. I ran my fingers over the cool stone, and it quickly warmed to my touch.

  “Thanks.”

  He bowed in his over-the-top way. “We couldn’t have you carrying it around in your shoe all day. It would have gotten quite uncomfortable.”

  Misha poked his head into the room. “We have Eli in the interrogation room. Are you ready to ask some questions?”

  I tucked the necklace under my shirt. “Absolutely.”

  Eli was an actor for sure. His facial expression might have said “I could care less,” but the stiff set of his shoulders said otherwise. Plus, his normally slicked-back hair was sticking up at odd angles. He was in trouble with a capital “T,” and he knew it. And from the amount of perspiration gathering on his upper lip, his brain was doing mental gymnastics to figure out how to get out of this situation.

  I couldn’t blame Eli for his anxiety. I sure wouldn’t want to have to face the demon council. From what I gathered, demon trafficking was bad—as in breaking one of the top three commandments, bad. But I had no sympathy for him. He was greedy, and greed made even the smartest beings stupid.

  I sat across from him. Misha crossed his arms and stood to my right while Jason stood to the left. Both glared at Eli. It made an intimidating picture, but that was the point.

  Eli swallowed and tried not to look at the intimidation squad. Which meant he stared at me.

  I gave him my toothiest smile. “I’m baa-ack.”

  Eli’s eyes widened at my words. Both Jason and Misha would get the Poltergeist reference, but it wouldn’t hurt to throw Eli off a bit.

  “How?”

  “Your friend the realm demon helped my friends out. I think he’s trying to cut a deal. Make things better for himself with the demon council.”

  Eli’s wide eyes narrowed into slits. “I had nothing to do with sending you to the demon realm.”

  I tapped my fingers on the table. “No, but you brokered the deal, which makes you an accessory to attempted murder.”

  Eli jerked upright. “Attempted murder? What are you talking about?”

  “Sending humans to the demon realm is a death sentence.”

  “And the demon that did it got away! That’s his twin you’re holding in the other cell. Ask him where the bastard is who transported you. I’m not taking the rap for what he did.”

  “Even so, the demon council isn’t going to go easy on you. I know the saying is ‘Go Big or Go Home,’ but demon trafficking is a big no-no.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “The recent art museum break-in was done by a realm demon. We want to know who helped him.”

  Eli shook his head. “I don’t broker deals from the other side. I deal with earth demons who want to go to the realm.”

  I stared at him for a moment until his eyes darted away. “You might not broker the deals, but there have to be demons on this side that help the realm demons. When they come here for the first time, they can’t be left on their own. Hell, they wouldn’t have any idea what to do with our technology, how to drive a car, or how to buy food and clothes. Do they even know how to change into their human form when they first arrive? Who handles that for them?”

  “You should talk to Sylvia Reynolds. She runs a motel on the west side, helping the demons acclimate to earth. Takes them in and teaches them how to survive here.”

  “Like a demon halfway house?”

  “Pretty much, yeah. Are we done?”

  I stopped myself from huffing. “Far from. We want to understand how this process works. We want names and locations. Anything that can help stop the trafficking.”

  Eli scowled. “The circuit is too big. I only know how it works here in Cleveland.”

  I shrugged. “That at least is a start.” I stood and gestured to Misha. “Fill my friend in here with the rest of what you know.”

  Jason followed me out of the room. “You did a good job in there.”

  “He was ready to sing. I didn’t even have to push him hard. Was he telling the truth?”

  “Yeah. I’ll go and listen to the rest of his story to make sure he isn’t lying.”

  “I’m going to check on Dalton. We can question the realm demon once you guys finish with Eli.”

  I walked out of the detention building and across the lawn. The air was chilly, but at least it wasn’t damp, and I stared up at the dark sky for a moment. Lampposts illuminated the area, and I sucked in a lungful of air to help clear my groggy brain. The demon-dimension-jump business was finally getting to me. I needed a hot bath and a day’s sleep.

  Once inside the hospital building, I searched for Doc. I found her writing some notes on a computer tablet.

  “How’s Dalton doing?”

  “He’s bouncing back. Still weak, but getting snarky. He’s not happy I sedated him earlier. If he keeps it up, he might be a worse patient than Misha.”

  “Wow, that’s saying something. Is he up for visitors?”

  “Yeah. Just don’t blame me if he bites your head off.”

  I walked softly do
wn the hall and peeked into Dalton’s room to make sure he wasn’t sleeping. He was awake, and he scooted up farther in his bed when he caught sight of me and beckoned for me to come in.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine. Fill me in on what’s going on,” he demanded.

  Well, Sabrina hadn’t been exaggerating about Mr. Surly. But I wasn’t going to go down the el destructo path I always did with him. I would be the bigger person. “We interrogated the bouncer and Eli. Misha and Jason are finishing up with him now.”

  “Who’s Jason?”

  “He’s another member of our team. He’s very good at interrogations.”

  “You brought someone else in on the case without consulting me first?”

  “He was brought in while we were in the demon dimension. I only found out myself a little while ago.”

  “What have you learned?”

  “Eli gave us the name of someone who helps acclimate realm demons that come to earth. He’s also giving Misha information about how his part of the trafficking operation runs.”

  “And what about the realm demon?”

  “We’re interrogating him next.”

  Dalton threw the covers off and moved to the edge of the bed.

  I rushed over and held my hands up like a traffic cop. “Whoa. You’re not ready to get out of bed yet.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You were passed out earlier and breathing through an oxygen mask. You’re not fine.”

  “You’re not a doctor.”

  “No. I’m the one who took care of your weak ass in the in-between. Now stay on that bed, or I swear I’ll handcuff you to it.”

  He opened his mouth, but his retort was drowned out by an alarm bell. I ran to the door and looked cautiously up and down the hall. Was it the fire alarm?

  Doc came racing into the room.

  “Sabrina, what’s going on?”

  “Something’s happening at the detention center. They’re locking down the hospital as a precaution.”

  Shit! I ran down the hall, ignoring Dalton’s shouts, and slammed out of the side door before the locks clicked. I kicked off the canvas shoes I was wearing and bolted for the center, the wet, cold grass freezing my feet. But the cold didn’t stop there. It shot up my spine. What the hell was going on, and were Misha and Jason okay?

  I careened around the edge of the building and skidded to a stop in the grass when I saw Jason standing out front, guarding the door.

  “What’s going on?” I yelled over the alarm.

  “A portal opened in the realm demon’s cell, and he got away,” he hollered back.

  “Shit, his brother must have tracked him here. Why are the alarms still on?”

  “Misha’s sensors are detecting energy spikes.”

  The air between us wobbled like gelatin, and my stomach bottomed out. Not again. Jason pulled his gun and fired at the demon twins as they emerged from the portal, hitting one in the arm. The demon screamed and scurried backward. The other demon reached for me, but invisible hands grabbed me first and carried me on a wave of speed, away from the portal and across the grass. Jason fired two more shots as the portal closed around the last demon.

  My stomach lurched as we came to a halt. “I could kiss you, Jea…” Except I didn’t finish my sentence because Jean Luc ran past me with Misha following close behind.

  A feminine chuckle sounded behind me. “You might not want to kiss me, Kyle, it would overly excite the menfolk.”

  “Talia?” I squeaked. “Oh, jeeezzz. I thought—”

  “Not surprising. Jean Luc does have a tendency to save the day a lot.”

  “Thank you.”

  She set me down, and while we walked back over to the building, the alarms finally stopped.

  Jean Luc took a step toward us, his pupils flickering red. “Are you both okay?”

  Talia rested her hand on his arm. “We’re fine.”

  “How did the other twin find his brother?” I asked. “Some freakish demon twin connection?”

  Misha scowled. “That would take a lot of power. The better question is why would they risk appearing again after they’d already escaped?”

  “Because they tried to grab Kyle,” Jason said.

  All four of them stared at me for a moment, while I tried not to squirm. “What?”

  “Do you have any idea why they were after you?” Jean Luc asked.

  “No. But when Dalton and I were in the demon realm, one of the twins tried to grab me there, too.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything about this earlier?” Misha asked.

  “For two reasons. One, I didn’t want Griffin to freak out. And two, I didn’t know if they were grabbing me because they wanted to use my power, or if they could maybe sense something else in me.”

  Talia’s eyes widened. “The Key.”

  “Right. How do we know what the realm demons might sense that we can’t? Since I was relating the story to a room full of people, some of whom don’t know about the Key, I didn’t think it was wise to mention it then.”

  Misha nodded. “Jason, Jean Luc, and I will check the perimeter as soon as Doc gets here. I called her a few minutes ago.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “She’s coming over to check on one of the clan guards who was banged up a bit when the demons escaped.

  “She’s locked in,” I argued.

  “Once the alarms stopped, the buildings came off lockdown,” Misha explained.

  I smacked my thigh with my palm. “Damn. I should have stayed and questioned him earlier.”

  Jean Luc pinned me with his stare. “Which means you would have been in the room when they escaped the first time. No one would have been there to stop them from taking you. My heart is old, ma petite, and you have been testing it quite frequently lately.”

  I chuckled. “Your heart could stop beating, and you would still be here to grouse at me.”

  “And you are lucky for it.”

  “I’m not sure we would have gotten much from the realm demon anyway,” Jason added. “Especially since he was biding his time until his brother could find him.”

  “What else did you get from Eli?” I asked.

  Misha answered. “Some names of minor players and the process he follows to set up most of the portal jumps. That should help the demon council shut down the trafficking here in Cleveland, at least.”

  “When do we go talk to Sylvia Reynolds?”

  Jean Luc frowned. “I think we should regroup as a team tomorrow and plan our next steps. We do not need to charge over there tonight.”

  I sighed. “There will be no charging from me. I’m more than done today.”

  I jumped slightly when I noticed Doc next to me with her medical bag in hand. She was one stealthy demon.

  “I’m glad to hear it, Kyle. I was going to suggest you call it a night but was afraid you would fight me on it.”

  “Dalton’s not with you?”

  “He tried to come, but he almost took a header when he stood up. I ordered some food for him and promised someone would be over to report in ASAP.” She grinned at me. “He was especially irritated when you took off.”

  Pissed was more like it. “You guys can fill in Mon Capitan. I don’t think I should try to deal with him right now. I’m going home.”

  “What if the demons come after you again?” Jean Luc asked.

  I shook my head. “I should be safe for now, Jean Luc. They don’t know where I live, and Jason winged the one. They’ll need to lie low for a while.”

  He opened his mouth to protest, but I held up my hand. “Please don’t. I can’t live like I did last summer, afraid of my own shadow. I’m taking Stanley with me and calling it a night.”

  Chapter 26

  I dragged myself up the stairs to my apartment, fumbling with my keys. Bath, ice cream, bed. Bath, ice cream, bed. My mantra for the evening—well, technically the middle of the night. But my bed was calling ever so loudly, which made me rethink things. I could eat
my ice cream while I was in my bath. That would shorten the timeframe between wakey-time and REM.

  Two steps into my apartment and a voice called through my door.

  “Knock, knock.”

  My plan had just been blown to hell.

  I laid my forehead against the doorjamb. “What do you want?”

  “Aren’t you going to open the door and see who it is?”

  “I know it’s you, Marie. I recognize your voice, and everyone else actually knocks.”

  A disgusted huff sounded. “I can’t knock, Kyle. I’m a ghost, remember?”

  “I remember. You’re the one who keeps hanging around on earth. Isn’t there some resort cloud you could be chilling out on instead?”

  Marie floated through the door and brushed my shoulder, sending cold shivers along my skin. She turned, placed her hands on her hips and glared at me. “Where have you been? I couldn’t sense you earlier.”

  “Dalton and I were in the demon realm.”

  Marie gaped. “What? Where’s Joe now?”

  “Your grandson is fine. Got a little sick in the realm, but he’s bouncing back. Doc is watching over him.”

  “How in the world did you let yourself get sucked into a demon realm?”

  “The case we’re working involves demons traveling from the realm illegally. We set up a sting, and it went south.”

  “South is Miami Beach, Kyle. You ended up in a demon realm.”

  “We’re getting closer to figuring out what’s going on. Once we do, Dalton will return to Chicago.”

  “Is that what you want?” Marie asked.

  The words stuck in my throat like a piece of hard candy, choking me. “I want him to be happy, and from the way he’s been acting, he’s not happy.”

  She frowned at me. “Maybe he’s not happy because he’s away from you.”

  “Don’t, Marie. We’re not doing this again. He doesn’t remember me. He doesn’t like me, and I can’t risk that he might remember his torture. He barely made it through the last time. I’m sorry, but you have to leave now. I have to get some sleep.”

  “Kyle—”

  “Later, okay?” I must have had a pathetic look on my face, because she faded away, leaving behind the smell of roses.