The Final Path: Sentinel Security, #5

By Jane Glatt

There's something very wrong about the guy Dani helped escape Yeddoun. His story just doesn't add up. And no wonder: turns out he's an actual Nazi lost during WW2.

Marie wants to send him back to Yeddoun but Dani finds out he's been doing terrible things for years. If they put him back, he'll continue doing terrible things. Then they realize he's done the most terrible thing of all.

With a global pandemic shutting everything down, including the PATH, the Norris sisters have a chance to get rid of Sentinels once and for all.

But they'll have to work with a Nazi to do it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jane Glatt
• Release date: Aug 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9780995806450

Book preview

1.  Dani: It’s been eighty years

Dani looked over Marie’s shoulder and met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

Their passenger—he said his name was Elias Brot and that he had been lost during what he called Hitler’s War—was in the back seat beside her. She was not about to let this weird stranger—who had stepped out of fucking Yeddoun—sit beside Marie while she drove, or sit alone in the back behind them both. Not without knowing a hell of a lot more about him.

Elias was not dressed for winter so after the initial shock of meeting him, they’d immediately led him to the car. His clothing did not look like it came from the 1940’s, or that he’d been wearing it for—she did some mental math—eighty years.

And there was something odd about his accent. He claimed to have been in the French resistance but his accent in English did not seem French to her. At least not Quebec French.

Where did you get your jeans? Dani asked, gesturing to his pants. They were fashionably ripped, not worn and the jacket looked quasi military but not World War 2 actual military.

Off of a poor soul who somehow ended up in there with me, Elias said. I often come across frozen people. Enough of them are lost with food that I have been able to stay alive. He shrugged. Although I have not been well fed for years.

Like a parasite, Dani thought although she knew he wouldn’t have had any other options.

Where exactly were you lost? Marie asked.

In France, Elias replied. I told you I was part of the resistance? We had captured a German supply convoy and then, suddenly I was in the dark place. My fellow resistance fighters all died and I assumed that it was a new weapon that had been used against us. The headlights worked for a few days and I found some flashlights, but soon it was just dark.

Complete dark? Dani asked. That sounds horrible.

Yes, Elisa agreed. After a day or so I realized that no one was coming for me. I was able to put all the supplies in one spot before the lights failed. I lived off those supplies for many years.

Food supplies? Dani asked.

Yes. Thousands of cans of meat and vegetables as well as large containers of water. He sighed. And some very good German beer.

You were the only one who survived?

The others all perished, Elias agreed. I assume they will be frozen solid for all eternity. I haven’t been back to the convoy since I ate the last of the food.

You can travel in Yeddoun? Marie asked.

I would see light in the distance and somehow I could just get to it, Elisa replied. Yeddoun? Is that the name of the dark place?

That’s what Sentinels call it, Danie said. Sentinels are the slow-moving human looking beings who turn into the scaly dimmers.

Ah. I call them fiendbild—fiends—since I did not know who they were or who sent them. The scaly ones I call ogres.

Fiends and ogres, Dani repeated. Good descriptions.

These Sentinels, they are Americans?

Dani laughed out loud. No, although many of them pretend they are. She pulled out her phone. Where exactly did you say you were lost? He still hadn’t said, which made her wonder if he’d done that on purpose.

I have one those, Elias said. He fumbled in a pocket and pulled out an old phone. Are they useful?

Fuck, don’t turn that on. Dani held her hand out. Unless you want someone snooping around asking why you have something that belongs to someone who disappeared years ago.

I don’t even know how to turn it on. Elias set the phone in her hand. Anyway, very little works in the dark place, in Yeddoun. Just the truck headlights I was lost with and flashlights. I was always happy to come across those.

Dani pocketed the ancient iPhone. They should try to find out who it belonged to. And make sure Elias’ story checked out. Where you were lost? she asked again.

Just outside Paris, Elias said.

I see. To Dani it sounded both likely and hard to verify. It’s been eighty years: do you think you have any family left? Someone we can contact for you? We could check in with the French government. Ro might know a Sentinel who could ease Elias back into a life. It wouldn’t be the life he left, of course, but he’d probably prefer to go home to France. Ro would probably want to figure out what Elias could do and maybe hire him. She wasn’t sure she trusted him enough to work with him, but what other option did she have?

Eighty years? So long? Elias sighed. I was not married and had no siblings. After so many years I’m sure my parents are gone but I had a cousin. He’d be over one hundred now, if he’s still alive.

We might be able to find descendants of your cousin, Marie added. Not sure you would be able to tell them who you are but they might be like you.

Like me?

Someone who can live in Yeddoun, Marie replied.

There are others who can? Elias asked.

I don’t know about live, Dani said. But I can go in and out no problem. She wasn’t sure she wanted Elias to know everything she and her sister could do, but she had to tell him some things. Especially if they thought they might be able to find other humans with similar abilities.

How do you find places where you can go in an out?

One of my coworkers can see them, Dani lied. I can close them.

That’s what you were doing earlier. Elias nodded. Closing the places where people can go in and out.

Yes.

Marie took an exit and the car looped off the highway onto a street.

I hope you like chicken, Marie said. We’re having lunch at a Swiss Chalet.

Swiss Chalet, Elias repeated. Did Switzerland buy Canada? They always did have too much money.

No, it’s just the name of a chain of restaurants, Dani said. They serve rotisserie chicken with a special dipping sauce.

I’m not sure what a dipping sauce is, Elias said. But chicken would be welcome. It’s been a very long time since I had a hot meal.

A few minutes later Marie pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

Dani leaned over and sniffed Elias.

You don’t smell too bad, she said. Given my assumption that there are no showers in Yeddoun. But I recommend you wash your face and hands before we sit down.

They got out of the car and Elias followed Marie into the restaurant. When he paused, Dani pointed out the bathroom. I don’t think bathrooms have changed that much in the last eighty years.

I’ll let you know, Elias said and headed towards the men’s room.

I’ll wait here, Dani said to Marie. You get us a table.

You don’t trust him, Marie replied.

Not even a little. She pulled out the iPhone Elias had given her. "Think Fritz from Someone is Watching You could find a charger for this? And maybe find out who owned it without connecting it to any network?"

I’ll ask, Marie said. She took the phone and tucked it into her bag. Just then a hostess arrived. Marie sent her a look over her shoulder as she was led to a table.

2.  Ro: so many things to be angry about

Ro tapped her keyboard: she was trying to concentrate on getting through her in basket but her mind kept straying to what Dani and her sister were most likely doing.

She didn’t know for certain, of course and that was by design, but Dani had taken the day off. Had she and Marie gone back to the caves near Blue Mountain?

She spasmed as the death scream of the last poor soul echoed in her head. She sighed, hit send to email her last message and grabbed her headphones. Perhaps watching Netflix—with the volume turned up—would chase the memories away.

She skipped past her usual movie selection and settled on a reality tv show about a bunch of people stranded on a tropical island.

This was no vacation: instead teams were pitted against each other in confusing challenges.

She was only half-way through the first episode when she wondered why she’d spent so much time on movies when right here, run like a lab experiment, was a crash course in human interactions.

With money on the line, it seemed that there was no end to lying, cheating and stealing that humans were willing to do.

Her phone pinged: Hey was bringing coffee.

Ro was startled to see that she’d been watching the show for six hours. And not once had she even thought about Dani and Marie and lost Sentinels.

The monitors showed Hey outside the main office door and a few moments later he entered her office.

Two extra-large double doubles, he said as he set the tray of coffees down and sat down across from her.

Thanks. Ro leaned over and took the lid off a coffee.

You still feeling hot and cold?’ Hey asked.

Yeah. It’s mostly a pain in the ass but there are times when it’s a benefit.

Like when the coffee is still hot but cool enough to drink, Hey said. He took a big gulp of coffee and set it on the desk.

Yes, but it’s a fine line between perfect for drinking and either too hot or too cold, Ro said. She stared at her coffee willing it to cool down.

Dani not in today?

She took the day off, Ro replied. She figured the coffee had cooled enough to she took a tentative sip. Nope: still too hot. I think she went back to Blue Mountain.

Any time you want me to supervise them let me know.

Thanks, but you don’t know what you’re asking. If Hey kept insisting she’d eventually have Dani take him, but she really didn’t want him to go through what she’d gone through.

Although if he hated it enough to ask to be reassigned that would solve one problem.

The second Sentinel has been reanimated, Hey said. Same as the first: they can feel hot and cold.

Any new theories being speculated?

Lots, Hey replied, grinning. But nothing that’s even close to the truth. Dimensional Investigation has assigned all of their most senior agents to these cases.

All of the ones that are left, Ro said and even she was surprised at the anger in her voice. She also felt guilty about Zorian’s demise. She hadn’t meant to push the Seeker into Yeddoun but that’s what she’d done. Although based on what she’d discovered it was probably just a matter of time before Zorian was lost there.

So many disappearances that Corporate didn’t worry about. Would they care if they knew the absolute horror the lost Sentinels went through? The icy cold pain and anguish of forever trying to reach the light and never being able to move fast enough?

She doubted it. Not with Sentinels like Barton in positions of authority.

You’re angry again, Hey said and she looked up to find him watching her.

"Still, Ro snapped. I am furious that Corporate doesn’t care how many of us are lost. Or what happens to the ones who are."

At least some can be recovered, Hey said. That will help us all.

I guess. She sipped her coffee. It was almost too cold so she drank it down in one gulp. The second one—because she’d left the lid on—was the perfect temperature and she took a drink and sighed.

I’ll let you know if I hear anything more about the regenerated Sentinels, Hey said, rising.

Thanks.

She was frowning at her coffee when she heard the door to the PATH close. She needed to get control over these human emotions. But with so many things to be angry about, was it even possible?

3.  Dani: So much for getting him started quickly

I haven’t been able to find anything on Elias, Dani said. Elias was in the bathroom taking a shower or bath or maybe both. He’d been there for over an hour but she wouldn’t blame him if he used all the hot water for the entire building.

Fritz will take a look at the phone, Marie said. She’d just finished putting Elias’ clothes in the dryer. I’ll drop it off before my shift. She pulled out her own phone and looked at it. Which I need to leave for right now. I really wish you’d call Ro and let her deal with him. I don’t like the idea of either if us being alone with Elias.

Same, Dani said. She did not like the idea of Elias staying with them but it was late and she didn’t feel comfortable handing Elias off until she knew more about him.

Their meal at Swiss Chalet had been ... disturbing. Apparently, a lot was the same as the last time Elias was in a restaurant but the things that were not were jarring. Like the way he’d treated their waitress. Guy has probably been horny for eighty years but that didn’t mean he could touch a woman’s ass whenever he wanted, for Christ’s sake.

It had taken a lot of apologizing and a very big tip to stop the restaurant from calling the cops. Which would have been a disaster. She and Marie could not be found with an unidentifiable man. She’d warned him that if he stepped out of line again, they’d drop him in some small town and leave him to figure things out on his own.

Not that she thought Elias understood what he’d done wrong even after it had been explained to him multiple times. God damned misogynist.

She did not trust him and the lack of information about him on the internet was not helping.

I’m off then, Marie said. She grabbed a coat from the hall closet and left.

Dani stared out the window. It was early March and the days were finally getting longer, which meant any snow would melt quickly.

That was one reason why she and Marie had wanted to close all the breaches and rifts in Blue Mountain. Snowshoeing season was almost over and once the trails were walkable, the caves would be open. And crowded.

She heard the bathroom door open.

Are my clothes ready? Elias asked.

I’ll check, Dani said. Thankfully his clothes were dry. She’d already noticed that they were in pretty good condition—not much dirt in Yeddoun—and included underwear, thank God.

She left the still-warm clothes in front of the closed bathroom door and knocked, before going back to the living room.

A few minutes later Elias joined her, his blond hair still