by Jamie Davis
“Uh, I’ll leave that one where it is, Brynne,” Dean said.
“It is unusual for you to call and come by on such short notice, Dean,” James said. “Is there something you needed? Have you gotten any more word on Ashley’s whereabouts? You know if there is anything I can do to help you, you just have to ask. It concerns me that an Eldara Sister has gone missing from my domain.”
“I thank you for that, James,” Dean replied, “and there is something I need advice about.” Dean proceeded to tell them all about his encounter with Ingrid two nights before. He tried to include every detail of the conversation he’d had with the Valkyrie, every item of information he had gleaned from her. If there was something important he was missing, James, with his millennia of experience, or even Brynne or Celeste, might have some inkling of what he was supposed to do next. He talked about his research and all the dead ends he had reached. When he was done dumping everything he knew, he stopped and looked at them each in turn.
James pursed his lips and thought for a moment. Dean heard Celeste utter a quiet “Oh, my,” from where she sat next to him. Brynne was the one who broke the silence.
“Dean, just to be clear, she said you need both a magical being and an ‘anti-magical’ being?” Brynne asked. Dean nodded and she continued. “I agree with Ingrid that you are the mundane in the equation. She sure has you tagged correctly. What do you think, James?”
“I agree with you and Ingrid about Dean, but I’m not sure I can offer much to help you with the other two parts of the team you must assemble to find Ashley. A magical being could be any number of Unusuals or magical humans from a Djinn, like our friend Kristof Algar, to that crazy half leprechaun who owns The Irish Shop downtown. It’s the anti-magical part that is interesting. Usually that is reserved for those opposed to us, the humans who would have us gone from their communities.”
“What about one of the Hunter Clans?” Celeste offered. They all looked at the red-headed vampire. “I mean they are human, right? But, they are diametrically opposed to the use of magic to influence and lord power over their fellow humans.”
“The problem is that they are unpredictable,” James said. “A few of them have some sense of honor and can be dealt with on a limited basis. Others are little better than terrorists like The Cause group we just defeated here in Elk City.”
“Hunter Clans?” Dean asked. He had never heard of them and wondered why. Brynne had been very thorough in educating him when she was his supervisor and mentor at Station U.
James sighed and answered. “It dates back to the very beginning of human-kind’s dealings with the Unusuals in the world. There were some who took it upon themselves to protect their communities from the more predatory of us. In the beginning they just served as defenders of human-kind, but eventually most of them turned into clans of human predators against any Unusuals. Modern society and social norms have mellowed some of those predatory practices, at least here in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.”
“So they don’t hunt you all anymore?”
“Not unless they perceive someone as acting outside of the law and can’t get our leadership to act first. Now they mostly focus on the beings of the netherworld who break out into this world,” James clarified. “Don’t misunderstand me. Even the best of them would just as soon stake me, Brynne, and Celeste as talk to us. They see us as preying on humans, even if we do it in a consensual way.”
“How do they feel about the Eldara?” Dean was concerned about the reaction to Ashley if he took one of these hunters on a quest to find her.
“It varies from clan to clan, Dean,” Celeste said. “Some see themselves as squarely on the side of good and tolerate the Eldara as connections to the Gods. Others seek to rid humanity of Unusual influence of any kind.”
“It’s a long shot, though,” Brynne said. “My understanding was always that the Hunters avoided places like Elk City, where the two communities, human and Unusual, were more integrated and tolerant.”
“That is true, my dear,” James said, smiling at Brynne. “But there are Hunters around from time to time including one family that is based here. They travel a lot but I try to keep tabs on them when one of the clansmen comes to my city. There are a few in town right now, but they appear to be just passing through on business. Most of the clans have set up broad networks of business fronts to support their efforts over the years. They are involved with almost everything in some way, from banking, to import/export businesses.”
“So, maybe one of these hunters or maybe not one of them. Which is it?” Dean said, shaking his head. “I’m no closer to finding Ashley than I was two days ago.”
Brynne laughed aloud and Dean looked up at her, feeling hurt by her callous outburst. She held up a hand as she got control over herself.
“Dean, you always go down the path of feeling defeated before you’ve even gotten started,” his former partner said. “You said you did your research. You’ve received word from on high, as it were, that you are to go on this quest. If that is the case, then the members of the quest will assemble around you. You may have already met or encountered one or both of the other two you are to join up with. Trust yourself and your instincts. They will carry you through this mystery and help you find Ashley.”
James laughed then, too. “She’s right, you know, Dean. It is something right out of a storybook. You’re the hero, and just like Robin the Hood stumbled on his greatest companion, Little John, in a seemingly random encounter, you are going to stumble upon your sidekicks in this endeavor. Just keep your eyes open, and be ready to ask for help when you think you need it. The right people will come along to help you soon enough, probably when you least expect it.”
“I wish I had your confidence, James,” Dean said.
“How’s the new probie working out for you?” Brynne asked. “Is he driving you nuts?”
Dean was relieved for the moment with the change in subject matter. “Barry is a pretty good paramedic. He had a lot of experience before he came to Station U, so his learning curve is not as steep as mine was, fresh out of the academy. Plus he already had a lot of the lore and legends under his belt from his penchant for reading fantasy and sci-fi novels. Chief Ari says that they are going to focus on getting more experienced team members like him to fill vacancies in the future. He thinks they will adapt better once they are screened for their open-mindedness.”
The discussion changed to talks about the Unusual community and their use of the medical resources from the Station U paramedics and the ECMC emergency department. Dean listened and participated a little, but his heart was not in it. He was still thinking about Ashley as he did almost all the time. He wondered who had her, how she was being treated and whether she would survive the captivity. He knew she could not be killed in the human sense. Eldara were eternals. Their corporeal form on earth could be destroyed for a time, but there was very little out there that could destroy the core of her being. All that would happen to the Eldara if they killed her human form was that she would return to her higher plane for a time while her corporeal form regenerated. Dean didn’t want that to happen to Ashley. The process could take up to a hundred years. He couldn’t wait one hundred years for her to come back to earth. He would be long gone by the time she returned.
Dean checked his watch. It was time to head over to headquarters and go to this defensive scene awareness class. He told Brynne he would come back and see her again soon, and said goodbye to James and Celeste. The assistant walked him back to the elevators.
“Dean, if you do seek out one of the Hunter Clans for your team, be careful,” Celeste said. “They have their own agenda, and they are indoctrinated from birth to follow their leadership’s orders. If you, or anyone else you care about gets in the way of what they think is their duty, they will not hesitate to sacrifice you to achieve their goals.”
Dean nodded and told her that he would be careful as the doors to the elevator closed in front of him. He would be careful bu
t only as far as he had to be in order to rescue Ashley. That was all that mattered to him. All that mattered in the world.
6
Dean parked his truck in the municipal parking garage next to the headquarters complex and headed into the training academy building. He nodded to a few of the other paramedics from the C-shift crews around the city as he entered the designated training classroom. There was some idle chatter around him regarding what this particular class would be about. There was a tap on his shoulder and he looked behind him to see Ray Burkhardt from station 7 across town.
“Hey Dean,” Ray said. “Have you heard anything more about this Jaswinder guy? He’s supposed to be some big security expert and bodyguard to the stars. I heard Errington Security is made up of former Special Forces and other military types who served overseas, but I couldn’t find anything about this particular person on their website. I wonder if it’s he’s related to the Errington that owns the business?
“I don’t know anything about them other than what was on the flyer attached to the email I got,” Dean replied. “Still, if he has some Special Forces training, it might be an interesting class to take. Not the usual boring same-old, same-old medical topics again and again. Am I right?”
“You got that right.” Ray said. “Hey, have you heard from your old partner Brynne? I heard she took a sudden leave of absence. You guys at Station U have some serious turnover, don’t you? I suppose it’s because it’s so boring out there in the sticks.”
“I hear from her from time to time. She’s alright,” Dean responded. “And, yeah, it’s nothing like you’d expect a paramedic assignment to be, believe me.”
Ray snorted a chuckle and started to respond when a clear soprano voice caused them both to turn their attention to the front of the classroom. A woman in her early to mid-twenties stood at the front of the room with two very large men, one white and one black. She was dressed the same as the two men - all in black, from black cargo pants with baggy pockets and a black belt, to a black t-shirt with some sort of family crest on the left breast pocket. She was also wearing a black baseball cap bearing an embroidered “E,” and her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail through the hole in the back of the cap. Her piercing blue eyes took in the assembled paramedic crews with a glance as she greeted the assembled students.
“Hello,” she began. “I’m Jaswinder Errington, Vice President of Personal Protection at Errington Security, Limited. My companions and I were asked by your Chief to come here and relate to you some concepts and techniques in personal safety and awareness. In the class today, we will.…”
She trailed off as the door opened and Dean’s new probationary partner Barry walked into the room. He had a cup of coffee and a big grin on his face.
“I didn’t miss too much, I hope?” he asked.
“You’re late, sir,” Jaswinder said. “Do you arrive late for all your important meetings, or just your patients and others you intend to show disrespect to?”
“I was just running late today, that’s all,” Barry replied, some confusion showing on his face. “The line at the Starbucks was pretty long and I got tied up.” He raised his cup of coffee to show verification.
“My colleagues and I were asked here to teach you all as a favor to your Chief, an old family friend, sir,” she said. “Who should I tell him thought coffee was more important than what we intend to learn here?”
Barry looked around the room for some support and Dean took pity on him. “That’s my probie, Ma’am. If anyone is going to humiliate him, it will be me. I’ll take care of his tardiness issue.”
The woman spun around and fixed Dean with a glare. Apparently she didn’t like to be interrupted. He also got the impression that she enjoyed busting balls in her everyday work.
“And you are?”
“I’m paramedic Dean Flynn, Ma’am,” he replied. “That’s my probationary paramedic and I’ll be the one that handles him and any discipline that needs to be handed out. It’s my responsibility.”
“Flynn, huh?” she said, fishing in one of her large cargo pockets and pulling out a small tablet computer. She tapped it and scrolled through something there, then looked back up at him. “You and your partner are at the City’s U Station?”
Dean nodded in response.
“I would think that the two of you would be much more attuned to what we are trying to teach you here. Attacks and violence against EMTs and paramedics is on the rise, and if I understand my briefing for this class, your station has seen more than your share of these types of negative events. Is that true?”
Dean felt uncomfortable as all the eyes in the room focused on him. This woman, who didn’t look old enough to have the experience necessary to teach a class like this in the first place, was a very unpleasant person. He didn’t want to end up on her bad side, but it appeared it was too late for that. He didn’t know how to get out from under her stare or answer her in a way that would get her off his back, so he lashed out.
“I don’t think you, a bodyguard to pampered rock stars, would know much about what I, or my partner, do on the streets,” he said. Dean regretted the outburst as soon as he said it, but he was tired, emotionally drained, and distracted with worry about Ashley. He didn’t have time for some girl to tell him what he needed to know to survive on the streets.
“I see,” was all she said in response. She turned her attention to Barry again. “Take a seat. It’s time we got started with a little introduction on the work my team and I do.” She gestured to one of her assistants and he walked over to dim the lights. The other one lowered the large projector screen on the main wall of the classroom. She picked up a remote and keyed on the projector. As it warmed up, Dean looked at the image on the screen. It was Jaswinder, standing next to a Humvee in what looked like a village in the Middle East. She was dressed in desert camo, had a black and white checkered scarf around her neck, and sported a military assault rifle. There was a pistol strapped on one hip and a knife on the other. She also had what looked like a sword hilt, of all things, jutting up over one shoulder. It looked like her two classroom companions were in the photo with her, dressed and armed in a similar fashion, minus the sword.
“My team and I just got back from guarding a team of journalists traveling behind the lines in Syria. We filmed civilians who’d been bombed by one side or another in that civil war, watched as emergency crews responded through the carnage and destruction, and fended off three separate attempts to kidnap or kill our clients.” Jaswinder paused and looked around the darkened room at her assembled students. “I have been trained as a combat and tactical responder, and unfortunately, have had to use those skills in the field on more than one occasion. The point I make is, we were chosen for this assignment in particular because it was thought our experiences gave us some understanding of what you all have faced here in the civilian emergency medical services sector. I know it’s not the same as everything you’ve all seen, but I believe it gives me the right to be able to share my experiences with you about situational awareness, and to help you be prepared to defend yourselves if you get in a tough spot on the streets.” She fixed Dean with a blue-eyed stare. “It also gives me the right to command a certain amount of respect.”
Dean felt very petty all of the sudden. He had let his temper get the better of him, and instead of showing some respect for an invited guest speaker at the academy. He knew it was not his best moment.
“Mr. Flynn,” Jaswinder said. “Will my qualifications, and the qualifications of my team be suitable to continue teaching this class?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Dean said.
“Excellent,” she said. “Then in that case, let us all move forward. We have a lot to cover in the …” she glanced at her watch, “… two and a half hours remaining, so let’s get to it.” She clicked to the next slide and proceeded on with her lecture. She covered surveys on violence on healthcare professionals, EMS, and fire professionals, talked about specific cases and situations from the n
ews, and then broke the class up into three groups to discuss and talk about individual’s own experiences.
After a brief break, they proceeded to talk about scene safety and situational awareness. She spent a good amount of time on this topic, urging them to not operate as if they had blinders on that kept them from noticing what was going on around them. The final hour of class was spent on specific personal self-defense techniques, including how to use their gear - like their medication or trauma bags, or even their heart monitors to fend off an attacker and keep them at bay. She wrapped up the morning by handing out business cards with her contact information and a request to please send her any information or ideas that she could use to improve the class.
By the time Jaswinder and her team were finished, Dean was feeling like a complete idiot for his outburst at the beginning of the training session. He lingered after class as the room emptied out and waited until the Errington team had packed up their computer and other gear. She looked over at him standing by the door and motioned for her team to carry the stuff from the room, then came over to him.
“Did you have something you wanted to say, Mr. Flynn?” she asked as she walked over to him.
Dean felt his insides squirm, but he clamped down on his discomfort and nodded. “Ms. Errington, I would like to say that I made some hasty conclusions and voiced them aloud at the beginning of this class. I was wrong and should have kept my mouth shut. Your class was both relevant and informative, and I think we all learned a lot.” He ended with smile and extended his hand. “I hope that you will accept my apology.”
“I appreciate that, Mr. Flynn,” she said taking his hand. She did not return his smile. The two of them walked out into the hallway and back towards the academy’s large entry hall. Grim-faced, she said, “I meant what I said in class. You and your partners at Station U would be the ones who I would expect to want this class the most. Your, shall we say, unique patients, require you to be prepared for extra dangers and risks all the time.”