A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

evidence suggests it did. So they screwed up
the DNA target?”
    Jordan’s mouth
twisted. “I’m only guessing they had a DNA target in the first place. I need a
day or two to finish translating.”
    General Mace
nodded, giving his permission.
    “What DNA could
we possibly share with demons?” Trent asked.
    Even though Liv
wasn’t sure they existed, she didn’t like the thought that humans shared
anything at all with demons. From the uneasy glances that went around the room,
neither did her teammates.
    Connor
continued the debrief, telling of his and Liv’s trip to the waterfront.
    Liv took over,
describing what she could remember, and Connor helped fill in the holes.
    General Mace
asked Connor, “Why didn’t you apprehend this man?”
    Connor shook
his head. “He was too far away. When I moved in, I saw him for less than a
second before he Traveled.”
    “What I’m really
interested in, sir,” Liv said, “is finding out how he did what he did to me. Some
kind of device? Chemical? There were no abnormalities on either PET or CT scan,
so if it was something physical, the effect had dissipated by the time we got
back. I’ll know more when the lab results are in.”
    “Do you have
any theories?”
    “I’d prefer to
wait until I see the lab work. I should have results in another hour.” She
gritted her teeth. “If only my new PET scanner had come in! It might have been
fast enough to catch an abnormality.”
    Ben grinned.
“Hey, at least you’ll be able to figure it out next time.”
    General Mace,
familiar with Ben’s flippant attitude about almost everything, simply sighed. “Hopefully
there won’t be a next time. Anyone have anything to add?”
    “What about the
demons?” Trent asked.
    “You don’t
really think they exist?” Ben asked. “They’re a story teenage Travelers use to
terrify newbies.”
    Trent glowered.
“They exist.”
    Liv threw him a
puzzled glance. “You have evidence?”
    Trent gave her
a glare and said sullenly, “No.”
    What was wrong
with him? Trent was so equable it was often difficult to tell what he thought
about anything. He’d certainly never acted like this.
    “All right,”
General Mace said. “You’ll go back Monday to look for the lab. Try to find
proof of demons or this toxin.”
    “What about my
experiment, sir?” Liv tried to sound inquiring rather than dismayed. She wanted
to learn how their brains functioned in Travel, but now that Elachai was out
there pushing people’s brains into what should be physiologic impossibilities,
it was more important than ever to get that data.
    “Assuming
you’re cleared by Medical, and assuming your equipment arrives, you can conduct
the experiment as scheduled, before you leave.”
    “Thank you,
sir.”
    “Anything
else?”
    He received a
chorus of “No,” and “No, sir.”
    “Dismissed.
Have a good weekend.”
    General Mace
rose and strode out the door. Liv rose as well and followed her team to the
elevator.
    Ben flashed her
a grin as he caught up to her at the elevator. “I’m going up.”
    “What?” But she
thought she knew what he meant. Their offices were all on lower floors, but the
cafeteria was on level two.
    “Just going to
grab a bite while there’s time,” he said, confirming her suspicion.
    “But you’re
done for the day,” Liv protested as he stepped into the elevator.
    “Yeah, but I
heard there’s Bavarian cream donuts. Paperwork always goes better with Bavarian
cream donuts. Know what would make you feel better?”
    “Not a Bavarian
cream donut.” Normally, Ben’s taunt would have worked. She loved Bavarian cream
as much as he did, but she couldn’t eat a donut without running for two hours
to burn off the calories. Now, her stomach curled up like a hedgehog at the
thought of eating. “I need to go get my results.”
    “You know where
I’ll be when they come in.”
    And that was as
close as Ben would come to saying that he wanted to know the results and would
sit there