A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1) (15 page)

She had to get home and get ready for work. Even though she’d broken her own
rule of never again dating someone she worked with, she wasn’t going to shout
about it. She might still be able to work with Jordan if this fell apart, but
if her team knew, she definitely wouldn’t be able to work with them.
 

She winced inwardly as Gin’s voice sounded in her head. “You’re so much
better off. Look what a pig he is.”

She would reply with as much aloofness as she could muster. “Oh, I know. I
mean, it’s not like he was the love of my life and broke my heart or anything…”

Her heart almost broke at just the thought.

Quietly, she slipped out from under Jordan’s arm, her expression softening
when she looked at him sleeping. She dressed and left the room just as quietly,
slipping out of the house like a thief.

When Liv decided to stop tossing and turning and finally get out of bed, the
first thing she did was call her sister Leslie. With the time change, it was
6:30 am there, and Les had toddlers to wake her up.

“Hello?” Leslie sounded wide awake.

“Hi Les.”

“Liv! What’s up?” Leslie could always tell when something was bothering her
baby sister.

“Oh boy.”

“Mmm, I like the sound of that.”

“No. It’s bad. So bad. I slept with Jordan.”

Leslie squealed at the other end of the line. “The hot amazing hottie
partner from work?”

“Yes, that would be him.”

More squeals. “I need details! Tell me everything.”

Liv recited a highly edited version of the story.

“What is wrong with you?” Leslie asked.

“What?”

“Why would you leave the bed of a gorgeous man who’s wanted you since you
met?”

“Because we can’t just waltz into work together! Why not just hang signs
around our necks? ‘Sleeping together. We’re sleeping together here.’” She shook
her head disgustedly.

“Oh, come on, Liv! And by the way, I can hear you shaking your head at me. But
who gives a shit? Why does it matter who knows?”

Liv sighed. “He doesn’t love me.”

“So?”

“So, I love him.”

A gasp from the other end of the line. “Olivia Jane! You kept that one
awfully close!”

“Yeah. Because something will happen. Something always does. You know what
happened with Nathan.”

“Hmm. I suspect you learned a little bit about decency and taste since that
bastard. He wasn’t worth the dirt that sticks to your shoes, Liv, and you know
it. The way you talk about Jordan, I know that isn’t the case with him.”

Liv sighed. “Maybe. It’s too late now, so I guess we’ll see.”

“Did you tell him you love him?”

“No, Leslie! Geez! What do you take me for? Besides, I only recently figured
it out myself.”

Leslie snorted. “You are so blind. Only you wouldn’t know you were in love
with a guy for a year. But if you didn’t say it, you can’t hold it against him
if he didn’t.”

“He didn’t say it because he doesn’t.” Liv sighed.

“Well, you’ve got time. If you can do whatever top-secret things you do out
in the middle of Nowhere, Nevada, then I’m sure you can get the guy to admit he
loves you. And then you won’t have to worry about your team knowing.”

Her stomach clenched. “What am I gonna do if they can tell? Oh my Lord, they’re
gonna be able to tell.”

She heard the South come into her voice, but she couldn’t help it. Talking
with Leslie, or anyone in her family, tended to draw out her accent, especially
if she was upset.

“Oh calm down. If they know, they know. It doesn’t make any difference. What
are you going to say to him?”

Her stomach clenched harder. “Oh, no, what am I going to say to him?”

Leslie laughed. “You’ll figure it out. If he knows you half as well as it
sounds like he does, he’ll understand.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Leslie laughed again. “Have fun at work today. Call me.”

“But Les—”

“Bye Liv! Be careful.”

“I was!”

“At work, you perv.”

“Oh.” Liv laughed. “Right, I will. Love you.”

“Love you too, baby sis.”

*
         
*
         
*

Liv typed up the Blue Beach fiasco Travel experiment data, which she’d put
on a back burner since she’d been trying to figure out how to mimic Elachai’s
power. She finally had a little spare time to finish the official report to
General Mace.

She was just writing up the final conclusion when Gin bounced into her
office. “General Mace wants us in the briefing room at 0800 hours.”

Liv’s stomach jumped, and she stomped on her instant surge of guilt. This
was not about sleeping with a coworker. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I think something must have happened.”

Liv saved her report and glanced at the clock: 07:45. “I guess we’d better
get over there now. Does everyone else know?”

“Yeah, Connor ran into Jordan and Ben already this morning. He’s hunting
Trent down right now.”

Liv’s heart gave a jump at Jordan’s name, but she managed a passable grin.
“Very mysterious.”

Gin laughed. “I know. I love this job.”

They headed out of the office together and walked to the briefing room.

Liv tried to slow to match Gin’s pace, which, with her six-inch taller frame
and much longer stride, was almost unbearably difficult. She realized she was
in a hurry to see Jordan again. Excited and nervous butterflies warred in her
stomach.

What would she say?

She tried to have a normal conversation with Gin, but she couldn’t remember
anything they’d said since they’d been in her office.

Her inattention was interrupted when Jordan walked out of a connecting
hallway and almost ran into them.

He gave Liv a look that both cut her to the bone and warmed her to her toes.
It seemed to last forever, but Gin didn’t act like she noticed anything out of
the ordinary.

Liv was afraid Jordan would question her, but he only said, “Oh, sorry guys,
I wasn’t paying attention. What’s the briefing about?”

“Don’t know,” Gin said.

Liv had to clear her throat before she could speak. “Gin thinks something’s
happened.”

“I guess we’ll find out. After you.” He gave Liv another barbed look as she
and Gin walked past before following them to the briefing room.

This is already terrible,
she
thought as she followed Gin into the briefing room.
Just think how bad it will be if he breaks your heart.

Connor sketched them a jaunty wave from his chair, and Trent, sitting to his
right, nodded hello. Liv sat, and Jordan sat next to her, but turned away and
started talking with Trent.

She shoved all her feelings down into a box in her mind, but it was much
harder than usual.

Ben walked in. “I just made a quick stop at the cafeteria,” he said with a
wave of the half-donut he held.

“What a surprise,” Liv growled. She deserved a donut with all this turmoil
in her head.

General Mace arrived and sat in his usual chair. “Good morning, everyone. As
you know, demons have been attacking Trench World—X-1763Z—for some
time now. T55 informed me yesterday that Trench World’s king has decided that
it would be in the best interest of his people to meet with the demon leaders. He
wants to try to resolve their disputes and stop the raids.”

“WHAT?” Jordan roared over the general clamor from the others.

General Mace gave Jordan a surprised look. “Dr. Jameson, I thought that with
your peace-loving belief in negotiation you’d be all for this idea.”

“But this isn’t some territorial dispute. Sir, these are
demons
. You can’t negotiate with them.
Their only directive in the whole world is to rape and steal and cheat their
way through the multiverse.”

Without thinking, Liv laid a calming hand on Jordan’s arm, but instantly
jerked it back as if from a hot stove. She tried to cover the moment by asking,
“Sir, how can we stop this?”

“We can’t.”

Trent frowned. “But sir, we can’t let the demons get a foothold in an allied
world. We may be compromised as well.”

“Trench World is already compromised, and the king doesn’t possess Home
World intelligence that the demons could use to harm us.”

Jordan protested, “Sir, we should be fighting the demons and freeing Trench
World, not helping them surrender.”

“We have no authority in other worlds, as you well know, Dr. Jameson,”
General Mace said. “They’ve asked for our help. Our only options are to give
it, or not.”

“Even if they wanted to fight, they don’t stand a chance, Jordan,” Connor
said, resigned. “Trench World doesn’t have advanced defensive technology. Or
offensive technology. Even if we could kill demons, we’d still need more
weaponry than we could ever carry through just to try. We’d need a constant
military presence to enforce our will, and we’d almost certainly bring the
demons down on our own heads.”

Jordan nodded reluctantly.

“The king has decided this is the best thing for his people. Therefore,
we’ll use the situation to our advantage.” General Mace looked at each of them
in turn. When he was met with silence instead of dissent, he continued, “Dr.
Greenwood, you and Dr. Jameson will be planted as advisors to the king. You’ll
have to stay outside of the meeting chamber due to the king’s no-female rule.
The lower demon aides will also be outside, because of space restriction if for
no other reason. Find out as much as you can about their plans.”

Liv dared a quick glance at Jordan and found him staring at her, one side of
his mouth quirked.

“Commander Bryant, you and Petty Officer Nagano will be assigned as body
guards to the king. You will be in a position to hear the whole negotiation.
You’re there simply to listen. Keep the negotiation peaceful if necessary,
protect the king if you’re forced to. Don’t let the demons know you don’t
belong there if you can at all avoid it. As you know, there are no ballistic
weapons in Trench World.”

Connor nodded.

“Ms. Karelli, you and Lieutenant Farthing will be posted on the nearby
rooftops as sharpshooters with a clear sightline into the meeting chamber. You
are to shoot only in dire necessity.

“I don’t need to remind any of you that information may be the only way for
us to avoid Trench World’s fate. The demons already have too much knowledge of
that world. We have to find a way to protect this one.”

“It’s that decuple-damned Woolfe!” Liv burst out. “How does he know so much?
His demons attack at will and our allies pay the price.”

“So do your job,” General Mace said. “Infiltrate the demon contingent.”

Ben held up his hands in a timeout signal. “I’m sorry—awesome rant,
Liv—but ‘decuple?’ Am I the only one who doesn’t know what that even
means?”

Liv stared, nonplussed. She looked around the table as everyone shook their
heads.

Jordan sighed. “It’s from Latin. It means ten times.” He smiled at Liv. “It
was a good curse.”

Liv sat back, Jordan’s quiet understanding and support steadying her. And
confusing her. It was harder to believe things would go wrong when she sat next
to him feeling understood and loved, but just look at Nathan. Just because she
felt
understood and loved did not mean
she was.

Gin sat forward. “Sir, if we could just go after Woolfe…”

General Mace answered, “Out of the question, Ms. Karelli. We’ve been through
this before. The Joint Chiefs will not authorize it. I know you’d rather act
than sit by and do nothing, but this time I agree with them. I won’t send my
people on a suicide mission to Hell.

“Don’t do anything to compromise yourselves. Any of you. Your safety is more
important than any piece of information, or the lives of our allies. You are
forbidden to Travel to Hell. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes,” and “Yes, sir,” echoed through the room.

“We’ll brief at 0730 tomorrow, then you’ll go directly to Trench World.
Dismissed.”

They rose to leave, and milled out the door.

Connor said to Trent, “We’d better get started setting up some tactical
plans.”

“Count me in,” Gin said.

Jordan kept walking down the hallway. “I have some research to get done. See
you guys at lunch, okay?”

Liv said, “I’ve got work too. Later.”

Liv was grateful to escape to her office, but she’d barely buried herself in
algorithmic analysis of brainwave patterns when she was interrupted by a knock
at her door. She lifted her head to see Jordan standing there.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

He stepped into her office and closed the door. “So?”

“So?”

“Why did you leave last night?”

She frowned. “I needed to get ready for work. I couldn’t wear the same
clothes I had on yesterday, especially if I followed you in.”

“What you mean is, you didn’t want anyone to know what happened between us.”

She squirmed in her chair. “Well, yeah.”

He clenched his teeth so that a muscle bulged in his cheek. “I see. So how
long do we keep us a secret? Or is there an us?”

“I don’t know, Jordan. Is there?”

He looked at the ceiling as if praying for patience before turning his eyes
on her. “Yes, Liv. I thought so.”

“Well then, good. But don’t go shouting about it to anyone.”

“What, you’re ashamed of me?”

Liv shook her head, bewildered. “N—what? No! Why would you think
that?”

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe because you’re too ashamed to tell any of our
friends we’re dating.”

“Well, we’re not exactly dating, are we? We slept together. Once! That’s not
a relationship, Jordan, and I, for one, wouldn’t tell anyone if we were in a
relationship until I knew it wouldn’t suddenly end.”

“End? Look, Liv, I know I haven’t taken you out, and we didn’t do the whole
dancing and dinner and movies thing first, but we’ve been together for a year
as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t see you asking me out to dinner when you
threw yourself at me last night!”

“Threw myself at you? You’re the one who came and started making out with me
while I was working in my office!”

“And how do you know that my next step wasn’t going to be to ask you to
dinner?
You’re
the one who came and
started having sex with me while I was relaxing in the comfort of my own home!”

She couldn’t help it. She laughed, her anger blown out like a candle. “Were
you going to ask me to dinner?”

Jordan smiled. “Guess you’ll never know. Want to have dinner with me?”

She laughed again. “Maybe. I have a lot of work to catch up on since someone
interrupted me last night.”

“How about lunch then?”

She eyed him, looking for a trap. “Okay.”

“Let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Now. It’s lunchtime.”