Tyler’s mouth opened, then closed, and he stared at me a moment before trying again. “You want me to let you take a captive demon back into the world.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not, you’re out of your mind.”
“He’s my demon,” I countered.
“He’s not a stray puppy,” Tyler shot back. “You don’t own him. You don’t control him. He’s an eight-foot-tall killing machine who will likely lead you directly into a trap, and you want me to sign off on that like it’s any other job. No. Not in a million years.”
“Technically, I have as much authority in this unit as you do,” I reminded him.
“Provided you’re using your position in the office to help society. I have the ability to revoke all your privileges if I think you’re going to go off half-cocked and put people’s lives at risk. Taking a demon out for a joyride sounds pretty fucking risky to me.”
“Full-cocked risky,” Emilio said in agreement.
“It’s not fair when you two team up like this, you know.”
The sound of a voice clearing brought the three of us back to attention, reminding us we weren’t in our own private office but rather the lab, which was not our domain.
“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your little ménage spat or whatever this is, but I have a suggestion,” Lily said.
We waited for her to speak, but she left a nice, long, dramatic pause for effect before saying, “Bevin has developed something that would theoretically take the dampening effects of the holding cell out into the world.”
“How theoretical are we talking?” Tyler asked.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to field test it yet, for obvious reasons, but we’ve had positive results in the lab. I feel reasonably certain Secret wouldn’t be in any danger.”
“Secret is always in danger,” Tyler told her. “It’s the general public I’m worried about.”
“Your concern for my safety is touching.”
“My concern for everyone else’s safety because of you is way more of a realistic worry than anything actually happening to you.”
It was sort of a backhanded way of saying he knew I could take care of myself, so I was just going to accept the compliment and run with it.
“Explain this device,” Emilio prompted, reminding us once again that we were on Lily’s turf and she was trying to help us.
She offered a thin smile. “It’s an adjustable collar, one Secret would have a remote detonator for if she thought things were going to get out of control.”
“Detonator?” I didn’t like where this was going.
“Yes, it’s a collar bomb.” She waved to Bevin, who brought over the hefty-looking metal contraption. It was thick pewter and had markings on the inside that were similar to those all over the holding cell. Lily pointed to the markings. “These will keep his powers dampened while you’re in the field, so he can’t possess anyone or summon any other demons to him. This…” she tapped a trigger on the outside with a green LED light on it, “…this is the kill switch. The handler would be carrying a remote unit that would allow them to engage a contained bomb within the unit. No harm to anyone nearby, but it will blow shrapnel inwards, severing the head almost instantly.”
“Almost.”
Lily gave another nod, clearly not picking up on my discomfort. “Yes. It’s quite a clean sever. No collateral damage.”
I took the unit from her, surprised to find it much lighter in my hands than it appeared. “If he agrees to wear this, you guys will let me out in the field with him?”
Tyler looked as if he wanted to argue, but he needed to remember Harold had come to us willingly. Demon or not, I didn’t consider him to be a prisoner. Yes, he’d been hunting for a new body when I found him, and had I caught him in the act of possessing someone, we would have exorcised him and killed him. But for the time being he wasn’t the enemy and seemed genuinely interested in helping us out. I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Look at me, trusting demons. If I still had a therapist, I bet they’d be really proud of me.
“Yes, if he agrees to wear the collar, you can go out with him. With a team following you and with the explicit expectation that if anything goes wrong, you are triggering that bomb. Understood?” Tyler’s expression was dead serious, and for once I knew it would be a good idea not to test his patience.
“All right, we have a deal.”
Chapter Six