Free Summoner of Storms by Jordan L. Hawk Page B

“Destruction? You must be
joking.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Shit.” Caleb rested a hand lightly on John’s
shoulder. “I’m sorry—Tiffany told me before we came to get you, but
I forgot. There was so much else going on. But the demons...SPECTR
doesn’t kill them once they’re exorcised.”
    “It’s why Brimm left SPECTR,” Tiffany said.
“He learned what the Vigilant already knew. All those NHEs you’ve
yanked out over the years and stuffed in bottles for euthanasia?
They’re sitting on a shelf somewhere.”
    “What?” For a moment, John feared he’d have
to sit down. His head felt light, and he was glad there wasn’t
anything in his stomach. “All of them?”
    “Yep.”
    Goddess. He didn’t sign up with SPECTR after
getting out of school because he wanted to kill NHEs. It was just
an unfortunate side effect of the job, like destroying aggressive
bears could be a painful duty of wildlife officers. The NHEs just
acted according to their natures, but letting them go meant they’d
only do it to someone else again down the line.
    Bad enough to find out maybe it wasn’t really
their nature, just a distorted version of it created through
interactions with humans. But to think the one consolation he’d
had, that they’d been humanely euthanized, wasn’t even true...
    “They were trapped,” he said numbly. “In the
bottles. Still are. Year after year, hungry and afraid and...”
    “Hey.” Caleb’s hand tightened on his
shoulder. “Maybe it’s not as bad as you’re making it out. Gray got
staked or locked in coffins plenty of times. He waited it out until
the corpse fell apart, no problem. Sure a human would go crazy, but
these guys aren’t human.”
    “They aren’t Gray, either.” He wanted to
believe Caleb, but he couldn’t know one way or another.
    “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know.” Caleb
stepped in front of him and brushed a lock of hair back from John’s
face. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
    “I guess not.” But it felt as if he had. As
if he’d been complicit in torture.
    “The point is,” Tiffany said, “SPECTR has
warehoused NHEs for who knows how long. Years. Just storing them,
although I guess Forsyth probably grabbed a few for his experiments
at RD. And now he’s actually moving enough of them to qualify as
shipments?”
    Devon nodded. “According to what Renée said.
When you told her Forsyth was building an army...”
    “RD was a trial run. Phase One,” Caleb said.
He let go of John’s shoulder and folded his arms over his chest,
leather coat creaking. “Now we’re on to Phase Two?”
    Not good, especially when combined with the
kidnappings. “Shit.”
    “My sentiments exactly,” Tiffany said. “Where
did he send the bottled NHEs?”
    Devon shook his head. “Renée didn’t know. She
was trying to find out.”
    “Fuck.” Tiffany rubbed at her eyes. “We need
to find out, and fast. Whatever Forsyth is up to, we’ve got to put
the brakes on it somehow.”
    “And get back the people he’s kidnapped,”
John added. How did things go so wrong? SPECTR warehousing
dangerous NHEs? An assistant director building an army of the
possessed? Kidnapping children? “But how? I’m pretty sure they
revoked our access by now, and we can’t exactly stroll in and ask
to see the records.”
    There came a long moment of silence. Then
Caleb cleared his throat. “We know someone whose clearance isn’t
revoked. Someone who might know what Forsyth is up to, and
where.”
    “Who?”
    “Sean.”
     
    * * *
     
    John waited for Caleb to laugh and say he’d
meant it as a stupid joke. Just a way of breaking the tension.
Because he couldn’t possibly be serious.
    “Huh,” Tiffany said. “It’s an idea.”
    “The hell?” John’s voice stuck behind
something in his throat, something with razors, which cut through
memory down to bone. “You...I can’t believe you’d even suggest
it!”
    Caleb shifted uncomfortably.