Between Heaven and Hell 1 by Dante King

Author:Dante King [King, Dante]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Jasmine stiffened in the chair beside me as our handler arrived at our room.

Something on the machines beeped to my right, and the hazy focus I’d maintained over the last few days vanished as abruptly as it had arrived.

I moved my arm forward, expected a blaze of pain from broken ribs, and let out a sigh of relief. It didn’t take much energy to straighten up in bed.

The pain was gone. My ribs were as good as new.

“Take it slow,” Jasmine said.

“I’m fine,” I said slowly.

I rotated my arm in its socket. It moved as smoothly as it always had.

Bull paused at the door and held up a finger. He spoke into the phone at his ear, his tone clipped and his language demonic. The phone went back into his pocket a moment later.

“Trouble in paradise?” I asked.

“Order in hell. It’s pretty much the same thing.” My old mentor looked me over with an approving nod. “Good to see that you’re reacting well to Skylight procedures. Some people have a bad reaction to it.”

“I should’ve been out for weeks.”

“Well, you’re not. Consider it part of your payment package.”

Bull eyed Jasmine. “Do you mind if I come in?” he asked.

“That will depend on what you want,” Jasmine replied.

“How’s payment in full sound?”

My girlfriend gave him a wary nod. Bull sauntered into the room as if he owned it. He spun around a chair beside the door and parked it directly at the foot of my bed. Bull didn’t look any different from the last time I’d seen him in the briefing room upstairs.

“I’m guessing that I’m back at the HQ,” I said.

“The Ward Wing,” Bull said. “Somewhere to patch up our lucky quarterbacks.”

I thought back over the operation we’d conducted in New Zealand. My memory of the way out was foggy, but everything else was still fresh in my mind. The DIA’s warning about good paperwork sent a chill up my spine.

“The demons want paperwork,” I said.

“It’s already been taken care of,” Bull said. “Breeze and Jasmine here gave a full account of the events, sans a couple of details here and there that the DIA don’t need to know about.”

“Aren’t they your allies?”

“It’s better to think of us more as frenemies. We tolerate them, and they get their Contracts. Everyone’s happy, but they’re fucking sticklers for good reporting.” Bull shook his head. “Bastards want every paperclip accounted for, I swear. Anyway, you survived. Congratulations are in order.”

He drew the small metal plate out of his breast pocket and tossed it to Jasmine.

She snatched it easily out of the air and set it down on the table beside her without looking at it. Her eyes stayed on Bull, and our handler grinned back at her.

“See, doll? I don’t bite.”

“How does it work?” Jasmine asked.

“Talk to Breezy about that. She’s pretty desperate to see the two of you, but I didn’t want to interrupt Jasmine’s little vigil or getting my star player back on his feet.”

“Jasmine’s records,” I began.

“Nuked into oblivion.

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