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

worrying over his Bavarian cream donut until she reported to him. He
stepped into the elevator and was gone.
    “I’ll be in my
office,” Jordan said from her side.
    “I’ve got some
reports to catch up on,” Gin said from behind her.
    “Trent and I
will be in the gym,” Connor said, as he raised his eyebrow at Trent.
    Trent nodded.
    Liv was ashamed
to feel tears welling up. Her whole team was going to wait around to make sure
she was okay. “Thanks y’all.”
    Liv hurriedly
swallowed the lump in her throat as the elevator doors opened again and they
all stepped inside. “Connor, did you notice anything weird about Elachai before
he vanished?”
    Connor ran a
hand through his close-cropped hair. “You mean other than the fact that his
hair looked like my sixteen-year-old niece’s?”
    “Yeah. Other
than that.”
    “Nope.” His
eyes searched hers for a moment. “Why?”
    “I just
wondered if you could see what he was doing to me.”
    Liv felt Jordan
tense beside her.
    “If he was
doing something when I ran in, it was from a distance of at least twenty feet.
I heard most of your conversation, and I doubt he ever moved closer.”
    Jordan relaxed.
    Liv abandoned
all pretense. “But there was no chanting, or hand motion, or device, flashing
lights, anything?”
    Connor’s eyes
warmed and a hint of a smile played on his lips. “What do you think he did?
Witchcraft? Voodoo?”
    Liv glared. “He
took a chunk of my life right out of my head. That’s not okay with me. I just
want to know how so I might find a way to reverse it.”
    Connor held up
his hands in an I’m innocent gesture.
“Sorry. I know it sucks Liv, but there was nothing. He was just standing there
talking to you. And then— poof .”
    She nodded.
She’d figure it out. Somehow.
    *           *           *
    Liv knocked on
General Mace’s door.
    “Enter.”
    “Sir. I just
got my results back.”
    “And?”
    “As far as I
can tell, Elachai briefly affected my brain chemistry. Several
neurotransmitters were abnormal, along with a couple of enzymes, but I’ve already
been retested. Those results are now normal. Everything else was negative.”
    “So how did he
affect you?”
    She sighed. “That’s
my question. All I can tell you is what he didn’t do. He didn’t come close
enough to touch me, he didn’t use any sort of detectable chemical, he didn’t
appear to have a device according to Connor. The only thing I can think of is
that he used some sort of hyper-amped, super-fast hypnosis. I just don’t know
how, because Connor didn’t hear anything unusual, and all my brain scans were
normal. Without knowing which part of my brain was affected, the other
information is useless.”
    General Mace
nodded. A casual observer might think he wasn’t interested, but Liv knew he was
a very bright man. He actually encouraged thinking among his men, and did quite
a bit of it himself. Which was one of the reasons he worked so well with the
mix of military and civilian scientific personnel at the DEPOT, and helped them
carry out their standing orders to discover and apply new scientific
discoveries, including technology, weapons, and medicine.
    “Thank you, Dr.
Greenwood. I’ve spoken with Medical, and you are cleared for active duty. Try
to relax at least once this weekend. That’s an order.”
    Liv smiled. “Yes
sir. Good night.”
    “Good night.”
    Liv headed back
down to her office on twenty-seven. When she walked in, it wasn’t empty.
    Her team sat on
her desk, lounged on tables, or leaned against the wall.
    “Well?” Jordan
asked when she stopped short.
    She ran through
it again for them.
    Ben threw an
arm around her. “At least you’re clear.”
    “Sure.”
    “You’ll figure
it out, Liv.”
    Jordan’s solid
faith in her ability calmed her as nothing else had. She smiled. “Okay.”
    “Let’s get out
of here.” Connor clapped his hands and motioned them out the door. “You too,
Liv,” he said when she