Tempest Sentinel: TDU Series, #8

By Jyn West

The number of paranormal entities in the world are increasing and intermarrying with humans. Those humans and their friends and families are now aware of them and word is spreading. Who will help with peacekeeping and law enforcement as knowledge of their existence spreads. Who will help train local law enforcement agencies how to deal with these groups, who have until now been self-policed. With the increased numbers and expansion beyond the voluntary group boundaries of the past, an integrated human and paranormal force will be needed for the future. The Tactical Development Unit (TDU) is that force.

Join us in Book 8 ~ Tempest Sentinel.  We continue to follow Sami and Kyle through college as they gain mastery of their skills. What new skills are in their future? Will cameo appearances from the CIA crew bring them under scrutiny of the TDU? Time will tell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jyn West
• Release date: Oct 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393447825

Book preview

Copyright Page

Copyright ©2019 Jyn West All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Author. You must not circulate the book in any format. Thank you for respecting the rights of the Author. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Dedication & Acknowledgements

Thank you to my family and friends who continue to encourage me and hold me accountable. For believing that I could do this and succeed. I could not have done it without you. Your patience and love carried me through the rough spots, and you rejoiced with me as hurdles were cleared. Thanks to Mom and Dad who were even willing to read outside their normal genre to support me, you are the best.

A special thanks to all my beta readers and their willingness to take me on as a new author and to share your views while the work was in progress. For helping me identify slang terms that not all regions would interpret the same. LOL Thanks for seeing it through. Georgianna Jonson and Dee B. you guys are the best interactive sounding boards ever. I am honored to have had you with me through the process. Justin, thanks so much for the books you were able to read for me before your move. Maureen and Gloria I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the series as much as you did the later books you read for me.

My family, friends and beta readers have heard this disclaimer many times but here it is for all you new readers too.

This series is a work of fiction. If details about locations are accurate, I may have passed through or I may have gotten lucky with my description. No need to correct perceived errors in the description, this is fiction. Some facts or observations are woven through the stories but for the majority of the series, this is fiction. *laugh* I hope you enjoy the books. I hope they do inspire you to explore places you have not been, but please don’t try to find places described except just for fun, because its fiction. May the wanderlust take you to places unknown by road or by reading. Encourage our youth to learn the joy and fun of reading, a vacation for our mind that can last minutes or hours as time allows. Thanks for checking us out. The TDU Series currently has 12 books with a 13th in progress and each will be released as it goes through final editing and touchups.

About: TDU - The Series

Tactical (strategic, planned, psychological, calculated, intentional)

Development (expansion, progress, advancement, training, education)

Unit (entity, division, group, company, organization)

The number of paranormal entities in the world are increasing and intermarrying with humans. Those humans and their friends and families are now aware of them and word is spreading. Who will help with peacekeeping and law enforcement as knowledge of their existence spreads. Who will help train local law enforcement agencies how to deal with these groups, who have until now been self-policed. With the increased numbers and expansion beyond the voluntary group boundaries of the past, an integrated human and paranormal force will be needed for the future. The Tactical Development Unit (TDU) is that force.

Join us in Book 8 ~ Tempest Sentinel.  We continue to follow Sami and Kyle through college as they gain mastery of their skills. What new skills are in their future? Will cameo appearances from the CIA crew bring them under scrutiny of the TDU? Time will tell.

Table of Contents

Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication & Acknowledgements

About: TDU - The Series

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Transitions

Chapter 2 – Friends & Families

Chapter 3 – Futures

Chapter 4 – Plans & A Princess

Chapter 5 – A Birthday

Chapter 6 – Holidays

Chapter 7 – New Years

Chapter 8 – Spring Preparations

Chapter 9 – TDU Internship

Chapter 10 – Summer Home

Chapter 11 – Ghosts

Chapter 12 – Graduation Day

About the Author

Chapter 1 – Transitions

Transitions and new beginnings, each with their own stressors, keep life interesting. My name is Charity Samir Dailey, my friends call me Sam or Sami. Summer has reached its end and my first regular semester (fall) of college begins today.

At the beginning of the summer I moved into my first apartment of my own. It is a small cute one bedroom apartment in Laramie Wyoming. My boyfriend, Kyle lives close by with his cousin Paul and we both attend UW’s Criminal Justice Program. I worked full time for the college library for most of the summer until one of our summer school professors recommended my boyfriend Kyle and me for a part time position with the Laramie Police Department.

We were hired to convert their cold case files to a digitized format that can be more easily accessed and cross referenced. Once we complete those, they want us to do the same for their closed case files. They are already handling their current case files in the new format.

This job is a win win for us and for the police department. For Kyle and me, it is real world experience in the criminal justice system that we are learning about in our college courses, and it gives us access to physical evidence for me to practice my psychometry on. For the police department, it is a win win because they have the two of us dedicated to the conversion project at a lower wage than officers would be and without taking needed officers off the beat. Plus, one of the detectives working the cold case files was helped by my special ability with psychometry over the summer. So he is open to receiving any tips I may get from handling the evidence items as we photograph them for the digital conversion process. Though they cannot use my ability in court, they can use it like an anonymous tip, following it to gather proof and solve cases.

We also learned over the summer that some of the males in Kyle’s family are destined to be sentinels (a guardian of sorts) for others with special abilities called sibyls. Kyle’s dad explained that the abilities I have make me a sibyl and he was told in a vision that his son Kyle is my sentinel. Tony also helped his son to realize what his own abilities are. Kyle is what is called a tempest, someone who can control wind and weather elements. In the last couple weeks of the two of us practicing our abilities together, we also learned that we have an ability to communicate telepathically with each other and with Tony. We discovered yesterday that Kyle can also read other people’s minds but not communicate with them telepathically unless they also have that ability. I on the other hand can apparently do both with other non-gifted people. Thankfully, we have to set out to use the ability. It doesn’t just drop information into our minds 24/7 as we encounter people. That would be horrifying, being bombarded every minute of every day. No thanks.

With the fairly new knowledge of our Sibyl/Sentinel connection, we also decided to work together on learning self-defense methods. We found out the hard way that we can be harmed in a dream walk. Kyle and I shared a dream walk on a beach with no sunblock and woke up the next day with a horrific sunburn. Though it resolved faster than a normal one, it was still painful and required standard treatment to resolve. Tony told us that we will be able to take non-mechanical weapons into dream walks with us for protection, so we are working now on learning how to use those items and are trying to figure out how exactly to take them with us.

Well, I woke up early for the first day of school but now I have used up all that extra time writing in my journal, so I better get a move on so that I am not late. *snicker* I am off to meet Kyle for breakfast before our first class. Ciao!

Wow, the UW cafeteria is busier this morning than it has been all summer. Kyle got here first and was able to find us a table. He called out telepathically as soon as he saw me, knowing it would be difficult for me to find him otherwise. I go through the line for my breakfast and join him at the table. I hand him the extra orange he asked me to grab for him. We reviewed our schedules for the day, verified we had all the materials we needed and finished our breakfast. If it is this bad at lunch, maybe we can start bringing our lunches instead.

We are excited to meet several of our professors today that we heard great things about during our summer classes. We have two full weeks with our new work schedule from 5pm to 10pm and then a three day weekend (Labor Day) to go home for a visit, catch up on homework or reading and determine what adjustments we need to make to keep our skill practices active. Kyle told his dad that we would be limited to visits on weekend trips if he has any for a while due to our work and school schedules. If we know far enough in advance, we can ask for time off at the PD for an evening visit now and then though.

The rest of our day just flies by. Meeting new teachers, classmates, reconnecting with kids we were previously in school with, going over half dozen curriculums and class rules and expectations was mentally draining. We both decided ahead of time to use silent pauses to practice mind reading on our instructors to see if it would help us keep up today. That worked well and was helpful, each time they paused to organize their thoughts we had a heads up and were ready for them. Nice. We agreed not to do it on test or quiz days though, that would be cheating. Lunch came and went leaving us determined to bring our lunch from now on and before we knew it we were on our way to my apartment to grab a bite to eat before work and to do what homework we could at the same time. We each had a scheduled research period in the library so that really helped where homework is concerned. I am glad we agreed to do that. With the hours we will be working it will be critical if we expect to get any sleep.

Officer Thomas greeted us at 5pm as he was just sitting down, having come in just before us. Detective Cole came in after we had a few minutes to get everything out and ready to begin. He wanted to update us on the permission he got from his boss to add evidence handling training to the duty officers and detectives in light of my skills, in case those skills are needed. He would make sure that anyone working the cold cases was instructed on the set up for the log book. He told us who was on duty if we needed an officer and then bid us goodnight. Thankfully tonight was a quiet night and we left right on time, signing out with Officer Thomas at 10pm on the nose.

The rest of the week went much the same, any items of interest that were not urgent were put in the log and Officer Thomas reviewed the log each night after we left and notified officers working those cases as needed. The next day at 5pm he clarified anything he was unsure of from the prior day. Officer Dale stopped in one evening as he returned from a call to see if we needed him for anything yet this week. I think he was a little disappointed that every week wasn’t going to be as dramatic as last week was. *smirk*

Finally, the weekend arrived. One full week of school with the new schedule completed. One more to go before a long weekend. Kyle and I go out on a late date after work Friday, we saw a movie called Seer Suckers about a fake Seer who gets people to pay heavy amounts of cash to hear their futures and how it affects those who do have the gift of being seers in a negative and even dangerous way. I don’t know who was more terrified by the end of the movie, me or Kyle. We both hoped we would never be targeted by people who had been scammed, trying to lump us into the same category as the fakes. We resolved to be even more cautious who we shared our abilities with. We also decided no more horror movies for a while. *wink*

We climbed into our own beds by 1am and were back up by 7am to meet Kyle’s dad Tony for breakfast on his way through town to Cheyenne. He has a two hour layover while some items being picked up are loaded on his truck. We grabbed a quick fast food breakfast and went to our practice field to work on the storm shield he is teaching Kyle to use to protect us from storms and other types of attacks. Kyle has used one when he was younger out of desperation to protect him and his cousin Paul but had no idea how he did it or how to control it. So this practice will teach him those aspects of the skill.

It was fun watching Kyle and Tony practicing. Kyle would surround himself with the shield and then Tony would throw rocks and pinecones at the shield. Kyle got nailed a couple times and we may have to buy stock in an adhesive bandage company, LOL. Then when Kyle was consistently holding the shield in place, Tony called me over and instructed him on how to manage the shield for the two of us together or even more people. This time he used only pinecones and also a storm he conjured to blow us around and drench us. I am so proud of Kyle. By the time we finished I was completely dry and relatively unharmed. *grin* Note to self; do not kiss Kyle inside the shield. He loses all concentration and we get nailed with whatever is coming at us. Tony is still laughing over that one. We got totally buried in leaves and looked like a haystack. Once we blew away all the leaves and sticks, we gave his dad a ride back to his rig and he left for Cheyenne to finish his run for the day.

We finished out our Saturday with some shopping and people watching and listening at the mall. Then I made supper at Kyle and Paul’s for the three of us plus a friend of Paul’s that was visiting. We watched a movie and played some video games until it was time for me to get home. Tomorrow we plan to do homework or reading together for classes and our self-defense workouts followed by some laps in the pool and yoga for stretching. I am thinking a barbeque sounds fun too and maybe some stargazing or dream walking on the moonlit beach. *wink*

Sunday morning dawned clear with only a light breeze, but the air was cool enough to warn of winter weather approaching. Time to put the warmer comforter on the bed and make sure the heater is ready for the season to come. When we go home next weekend we need to bring back our winter clothes for sure. Kyle texted that he and Paul are providing breakfast today to come over whenever I am up and ready. *laugh* As if I could sleep in after 10+ years of rising early on the farm to do chores. *snicker* Well, maybe someday I will be able to but not yet. I finish dressing and head to their house for breakfast.

Over breakfast we were all discussing the coming spring semester, this may seem odd to most since the fall semester has barely begun but the elective classes fill so quickly that we are encouraged to think ahead and get on the requisite waiting lists for the electives we desire most. With the physical and mental training Kyle and I are going through, and how it exhausts us, we decide we need to be in better physical shape than we currently are. So we decided to increase our fitness focused coursework accordingly. By the time we finish breakfast and clean up from it we have determined the classes we need to put our names on the waiting lists for. We end up with an early morning course that focuses on building endurance through track and field activities and a late afternoon class focused on building strength and flexibility using weight training and martial arts.

We also found a community center class on the history and use of weapons. It covers a multitude of weapon types and has mini training sessions on each. It runs in four week blocks on Saturday mornings followed by two weeks off and then repeating. You can pick up the course at any of the four week sessions and continue until you have covered each different session. They do not have to start with a specific session. Each is complete in and of itself. The next one begins the week after Labor Day weekend, so we are off and running almost immediately. These next few years are going to be cram packed with activity and very little down time.

~ Eight Months Later ~

I can’t believe we are nearing the end of our first year of college. A year ago this week I was celebrating my 18th birthday and preparing for high school graduation. If we thought fall semester was busy, spring semester was totally insane. We carried a full class load including two very physical courses plus working 20 hours a week, evenings, at the police department and cramming our special abilities practice in every other free moment we had. We have a two week break coming up between end of year and summer sessions. We plan to spend a week of it at home with our families and a week on a camping trip in the Grand Tetons, just the two of us.

I only had four visions in the last 8 months that we needed to address by warning people of something that was about to happen or by notifying authorities to something that was currently happening. In addition to that Kyle and I found about a dozen important tips to pass on to the detectives at the PD on the cold cases and we were asked to check out an object for detectives on two active current cases for possible tips. We have a small group of detectives and officers at the PD who know about the psychometry and are willing to avail themselves of that knowledge. They don’t abuse it, obviously, they only approached me twice when they had hit a wall so to speak.

Our telepathic communication with each other is so automatic now we find ourselves forgetting to speak out loud when we are around others. *snicker* We have been working on the mind reading and that is coming slower, control wise. Kyle’s wind control has improved dramatically, and when no one is around to see it, he has used it to keep us dry and warm outside this winter. Definitely a great perk.

We both have our steel swords now and are gaining mastery of those and the daggers and throwing stars. We are able to take all of those into dream walks with us now and use them within the dream walk. We have not had to use them defensively, thankfully, but we have used them to spar in the dream walk just to gain the experience doing so. We have both adjusted to sleeping with some of the smaller things strapped to us and grabbing the larger items at bedside when we feel a dream walk pulling us in. It is a very small window of time to reach for and succeed in pulling an item with us. I still have not been able to master the feat of pulling Kyle in on demand, that worries me, but Tony keeps reminding me to be patient because the full scope of the abilities are not done until age 25. He has been a great encouragement to both of us and has had a number of great training ideas for us.

I better close out my journal writing for now. It’s Friday evening and we took the day off from work at the PD. Kyle is picking me up in a few minutes to go out for my birthday supper. We celebrated with family last weekend at home, so my actual birthday is just for the two of us. He is going to spend the night in case any new abilities are added, and because we sleep better together. I admit I am a bit nervous about the possibility of adding a new ability, but happy Kyle will be with me. I won’t be alone if something does happen.

Kyle