“If she was kidnapped, could it have been for money?” Kirsten asked.
“That’s one possibility. Benning didn’t say anything about being contacted for a ransom.”
Hours later, I was lost in the datanet when Kirsten touched me on the shoulder.
“It’s almost midnight, and you have to go to work in the morning.”
“Yeah. Thanks. My eyes are about to fall out anyway.” I turned off the computer and stood up, stretching and hearing my joints crack. “Did I tell you that I got a new partner?”
She chuckled. “No, you didn’t. Anyone interesting?”
“Mychal Novak of the Novaks. I haven’t figured out if he’s being punished, or I am. Or both.”
“Hmmm. I’ve seen his picture in the society pages.” She licked her lips. “Bring him around sometime.”
I chuckled. Not all predators were monsters from beyond the Rift.
Chapter 5
Sometimes when I slept, I had dreams of a different world. The world of the demons. In those dreams, my father had survived but crossed the Rift. The dreams weren’t unexpected. I knew they would come but not when. I had never told anyone about them, not even Kirsten or my grandmother.
Possibly the dream was triggered by the news of new demon incursions in China. Rift crossings had been fairly quiet in the past couple of years, and a few hundred hungry demons suddenly appearing caught everyone’s attention.
In the dream, I could see my father in the distance, standing in a hellish landscape that I had come to think of as the land of the demons. He told me that he had figured out a way to come back to Earth. His instructions were in images, not in words, and he told me I had to cross over and combine my power with his.
Dreams are weird, and I never knew if what I saw and experienced in such dreams was real or a product of my subconscious—a little girl’s hopes and imagination. While I wanted to help him, I was suspicious. Suppose the demons were manipulating him to get hold of me as well?
So, I figured out a way to go over while being able to find my way back. First, I tied a length of parachute cord around my waist and had Kirsten hold a large spool, doling out the line. Second, I took a loaf of bread and dropped a piece every five steps as I approached the Rift. A part of my mind wanted to laugh, but in the dream it made sense.
Stepping into the Rift was like entering a river of sparkling colors. It was cold but not wet, and it swirled around me up to my waist. I could walk, even though my feet never touched anything. I waded across, dropping my bread crumbs as I went.
Eventually, I reached the other shore—the land of the demons. Red sand, heat, and yellow tree-like growths. I turned and looked back. My breadcrumbs formed a line on the surface of the flowing colors that were the Rift. The parachute cord stretched tautly and disappeared into the colored mist.
As I watched, a ripple formed in the Rift, gradually becoming larger and starting to swirl. It soon became a small whirlpool that grew bigger and bigger, pulling all the bread down into its vortex.
In the sky above me, a large flying creature appeared. It looked a bit like a pterodactyl with fringed wings and tail. Swooping down, it grabbed the parachute cord in its talons and rose up into the air. I was jerked off my feet and carried aloft.
My father’s voice said matter-of-factly, “Back to the drawing board.”
I woke up, terrified and feeling detached from reality. My skin was icy cold, and I felt like I was floating. I sat there and shook for about fifteen minutes, then dragged myself into the shower. Even though I set the water to scalding, it seemed to take forever for me to warm up.
The first thing I did when I got to the office was save Novak from the coffee he was trying to buy from the vending machine.
“Don’t drink that stuff unless you’re trying for a disability pension,” I said, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket. A wool-silk blend. Very nice and very pricey. “Come with me.”
I dragged him down to the quartermaster’s office.
“Del, this man needs some better equipment. Mychal, show him that piece of crap you’re trying to scare demons with.”
Novak opened his mouth to protest, but the look I gave him shut him up. He pulled out his pistol and laid it on the counter. Del picked it up and scrutinized it.
“Nice piece.” He looked over the top of his glasses at me. “You shouldn’t be so judgmental.” He held up his hand to still my protest. “Yes, I agree, it’s entirely unsuitable for following you around, but it is a fine pistol.” He stuck his hand out in Mychal’s direction. “Give me your holster and ammo.”
After collecting all of Novak’s department-issued weaponry, Del disappeared into the back of his domain. When he returned ten minutes later, he had his arms full.
“You’re going to take him out to the range and make sure he knows how to use this, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t want him blowing my head off.”
Del nodded his satisfaction and began handing Novak his new gear. “This is a Raider 50. The ammunition is magikally enhanced explosive-incendiaries with a twenty percent silver content.” Del gave him the pistol in its holster, along with four boxes of cartridges. “Next, this is a knife. You do know what a knife is, right? And you were shown at the academy how to use one, correct?”
Novak stared at the knife Del held out. The haft had a brass knuckle grip, and the heavy Bowie-type blade was a foot long.
“Is that
