Off the Beaten Path: Sentinel Security, #4

By Jane Glatt

Dani and Marie agree to help Ro recover trapped Sentinels but on their first attempt, something goes wrong and Ro contracts a dangerous and potentially deadly infection.

With Ro out of commission, it's up to the Norris sisters to figure out how to fix Ro and keep what has happened to her, and their role in it, a secret.

Hey discovers them, making him their most urgent threat until a fully recovered Ro convinces them that her second in command can be trusted.

Still unsure about Hey, Dani and her sister agree to another Sentinel rescue mission. This time they travel to Blue Mountain's caves, where there are reports of dozens of missing Sentinels.

They are followed by someone from Corporate and Ro is faced with the choice between continuing her mission to save dozens of Sentinels and sacrificing one, or giving up.

But Ro forgets that her choice will affect Dani and Marie. Will the sisters decide that Ro and Hey are too big a threat?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jane Glatt
• Release date: Aug 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9780995806443

Book preview

2  Ro: she was blissfully pain free

Ro grabbed what at first glance looked like a snake. Pain shot through her hand, so unexpected that she dropped it back onto the plastic tarp.

Kill it! Marie shouted.

It’s not alive, Ro said. She clutched her throbbing hand to her side and stared at what looked like some sort of limb.

The scales it was shedding looked like the one Dani had brought to her after Drums had died. Matter that the Corporate lab results had determined was from neither earth nor Sentenne. Matter that was from a creature of Yeddoun: a true dimmer.

As she watched, the limb crumbled, leaving a pile of dust and scales.

We need to wrap that crap up and send it back, Dani said.

Yes. Ro knelt down and grabbed the edge of the tarp with her good hand.

Open in a different spot, Dani called to her sister. We don’t want the rest of this in here with us.

We sure as shit don’t, Marie said. Now!

Ro felt a whoosh of cold air and Dani rose and shuffled over to the breach. One-handed, Ro rolled and bunched the plastic, encasing the scales and dust before pushing it along the floor to Dani.

Dani grabbed the bundle, shoved it through breach and then shouted at it to close. The silence was sudden and welcome.

Now that the crisis was over Ro dropped to the ground. She was tired and cold and her hand throbbed in pain.

What was that? Marie asked. Is everyone all right?

I’m fine, Dani said. It startled me. I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it back here.

Ro? She was aware that someone was standing over her but Ro wasn’t sure if it was Marie or Dani. And did it matter? Cold was seeping up her arm, the same cold she’d felt in Yeddoun.

Off, she mumbled. Get it off. She tried to hold out her infected hand. Somehow, she knew that if it wasn’t removed the cold would spread to her whole body.

It’s gone, Marie said from close by. Dani sent it back to Yeddoun.

No. That was Dani but she was sounding very far away. I think she means take her hand off. Look, her fingers look like ice. And oh man, her whole hand is ice now.

Off, Ro agreed. Hand. Off.

Shit, we need to find something to cut her hand off with, Dani said. Do you have a knife?

Are you kidding? Of course, I don’t have a knife. And if we cut her hand off, she’ll bleed to death.

She doesn’t have blood, Dani said. I’ll try this. Ro, if this hurts, I’m sorry.

Something smashed into her arm just below the elbow and she grunted in pain. Another blow and then finally, she was blissfully pain free.

She sighed and rolled onto her side. Thank you.

3  Dani: Should she be worried about catching some Yeddoun disease?

Look, it’s completely frozen, Marie said.

Dani tore her eyes off the empty uniform sleeve where Ro’s arm used to be and focused on the limb that now lay on the floor of the tunnel. She’d channeled her fear and had struck Ro right above the elbow and just like with Ulik, Ro’s lower arm and hand had separated and dropped off. She hoped she’d struck high enough above the ice that had been creeping up Ro’s arm.

She peered down at her boss. Ro? She didn’t seem quite conscious but it didn’t look like she was turning to ice, either.

Dani nudged the hand with her boot, kicking it away from Ro. Frozen solid, she said. I think the same thing would have happened to all of Ro. Just when she thought things couldn’t get weirder, something like this happened. At least she knew for certain that she could damage a Sentinel.

You’re right, Marie said, joining her over Ro’s prone form. She’s not bleeding. We need to get her out of here. And what do we do with that? Toss it back to Yeddoun?

I don’t think so, Dani replied. "As least not without talking to Ro. It may be frozen but it’s still her."

Yeah, I know. Her matter, Marie said. She pulled her scarf out of her coat pocket and handed it to Dani. I know I don’t want to touch that thing and I assume we can’t leave it here.

Fuck no, Dani said. Someone finding a human hand that turned out not to be human would not be good. She put her gloves on and leaned over the hand. And who knows how dangerous this could be to anyone who touched it? She laid the scarf out and rolled the hand into it, tied it tight and slung it over her shoulder.

Ro, she said. You need to get up. We have to get you out of here.

Ro moaned but she rolled over and opened her eyes.

Yes, thank you. She got to her knees and slowly stood up. I think I can walk on my own.

Good, Dani said. I’ll go ahead to the condo and find a safe place to store this and Marie will walk with you and make sure you’re all right. She met Marie’s eyes over Ro’s head and her sister nodded.

Call me if you need me, Dani said. She took off down the tunnel at a jog and she didn’t stop running until she was at the condo.

She knew exactly where to store the frozen hand.

She pulled the ice cube tray and some ice encrusted frozen dinners out of the freezer and dumped them in the sink. Then she found a plastic grocery bag, shoved the hand and scarf into it and put it into the empty freezer. Worried about any little bit of contamination, her gloves went in as well. Just to be safe, she got out the packing tape and taped the whole thing shut.

She put the kettle on for tea and sat down to wait for Marie and Ro to arrive.

Could whatever had happened to Ro be reversed? Would another Sentinel, like Hey, notice that she was missing some matter?

And what about the Dimensional Investigators? Would this trigger them? Had some Yeddoun DNA infected Ro’s arm? Some foreign matter that they would notice?

She shivered and stared at her hands. They didn’t look different and she didn’t feel different. Did that mean touching the dimmer had no effect on her? Should she be worried about catching some Yeddoun disease? Because it sure as hell seemed like Ro had.

4  Ro: I think I need to get out of here

Ro followed Marie through the doors to the condo and into the elevator. She felt ... off. It might be because she was missing some of her matter but she’d been separated from some of herself before and did not remember feeling like this. She quietly rearranged her matter so that she once again had two arms and hands.

It’s that easy? Marie asked, looking at Ro’s new hand.

Ro shrugged. Manipulating her matter was easy. Keeping it the same day after day, year after year was the more difficult task.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened and Marie got off. Ro stared out into the hallway. She knew she should follow Marie; she wanted to follow Marie, but her body—her matter—wasn’t responding the way it should. And then she felt it: her missing matter. It was close and its pull was so sudden and confusing that she didn’t move. The elevator doors started to close.

Ro! Marie stuck a hand in front of the door and reopened. Are you coming? She asked, peering in at her.

Ro made herself step slowly off the elevator. Of course, she said. Marie gave her a long look and Ro wondered why she hadn’t told the young human what had just happened to her.

Because she didn’t know what had happened. And she didn’t trust Marie. Not since she’d sent her to Yeddoun. She was under no illusions that Marie and Dani too, for that matter, would send her back there for all eternity if they thought she was a threat to them or their world.

She wasn’t back to normal, not even close, but she was able to follow Marie along the hall to Dani’s condo.

The pull from her matter grew stronger when she crossed the threshold. She lumbered down the hall to the kitchen in a fog. She thought she heard shouting but she wasn’t able to respond: her entire being was concentrated on what was in the fridge. No, not the fridge, the freezer on top.

Hands—her hands—clawed at the handle and then at the tape that was keeping her from her matter, from part of her.

Someone grabbed her arm and she shrugged them off, ignoring the stream of swearing from behind her. She had to be reunited with her matter, she had to. Her focus narrowed on that one thought, that one need. Hands were the wrong thing to use to rip the tape so she changed one into a knife. She was about to slice through the layers of packing tape when she felt a jolt.

The knife that was her appendage dropped to the floor and she looked up into Dani’s furious eyes.

Stop it! Dani yelled at Ro. Right now. Stop it.

Confused, Ro stepped away from the fridge. Her frozen matter still called to her but now she was in control of herself. She looked down at the other piece of her matter. She recognized it as part of her, but it didn’t call to her the way the frozen matter did.

Sorry, she said. I don’t know what came over me. I think I need to get out of here and away from that. She gestured to the freezer.

5  Dani: I have no idea what Ro would do if we lost some of her matter

Yes, Dani replied. With her foot she nudged the second piece of Ro she’d hacked off tonight. Is this dangerous too?

No, Ro said. That’s normal. She rolled her empty sleeve up, bent down and the knife on the floor merged with her arm. Ro straightened, rolled her sleeve back down and flexed her normal looking hand.

So, it’s just what’s in the freezer? Dani asked. When Ro didn’t answer she nudged her shoulder. Ro?

Yes, sorry, Ro said. Just what’s in the freezer. I need to leave.

Yes. Dani pulled Ro away from the freezer, back down the hall to the door. I’ll walk you out. She met Marie’s worried gaze. "I’ll