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Jon clearly heard as he commented over his shoulder, “Donovan said something similar to me. But remember, too, there’s good men like you three here to combat that evil.”

Well, now, that was a lovely way to look at it. He was right, Donovan and Lachlan both were the type to protect, to defeat that sort of evil. I certainly tried, but I viewed myself more as a problem solver. That said, “I could make the same argument of you.”

Donovan snorted, chuckling. “He’s got you there, Jon. You’ve put away how many bad guys?”

“Granted, I’ve lost count.” Jon shrugged, but he shot me a pleased look through the rearview mirror.

Perhaps that was why I felt such a kinship with these two. We had the same outlook on the world, had the same drive, to try to make the world a safer and better place. Tired as I was, I couldn’t stop either, not until I’d put as much to rights as possible.

We arrived at the house and I wearily pulled myself out of the Humvee. Lachlan grabbed my normal work case, though I wasn’t even sure if I’d need it. Depended on if my theory was right.

I heard Lachlan ask Donovan behind me, “If he can’t find a portal to trace, what’s Plan B?”

“Probably Sho. With Powell and Smith’s phones now in Sho’s hands, he might be able to go through their GPS history and narrow down possible locations.”

Smart. Also a relief we had a backup. I wasn’t law enforcement or thought along those lines, so it was news to me they could do that. Tech wizards for the win.

The house smelt even more vile than before, and I didn’t think I was mis-remembering how bad the smell was, more like in this summer heat, it was getting worse.

We had masks on this time as we went down. Borrowman paused at the base of the basement stairs, half-turning. “Seiji, when can we move that poor corpse out? I know you said it wasn’t safe for us to retrieve it.”

“Still not safe. It won’t be until I remove the power bank.”

“Well, fuck. That’s going to take you days.”

“It will, sorry, there’s not anything I can do about it. I can’t even get that close with protections in place. You’d be dead before you could do more than lay a hand on the guy.”

He groaned, upset but resigned to reality.

I walked past him, to the power bank, and paused on the threshold of what I deemed a safe distance. I’d prefer the state line, but needs must.

I watched the energy flow like it was a light show. The ebbs and currents of light, all different colors and opacity, flowed around the power bank. A truly hideous look, too, nausea inducing. I couldn’t believe Powell watched this thing build and thought yeah, it’s coming along nicely because any energy user should have watched it and gotten alarmed. This did not look right no matter what angle you peered at it.

I studied the small, coin sized portals carefully. Most were still pouring blood into the basin—truly obscene, I hated it—but if there was a portal connected to a second powerbank, it wouldn’t be pouring anything in, but instead sucking things out. Not that one, not that one, didn’t look like anything on that side. I shuffled a little to the right for a different angle.

Immediately felt hands land on my shoulders, pulling me a few inches back. I knew without asking that I’d gotten too close for Lachlan’s comfort and he was gently, silently, reeling me back in. His care and protection warmed me, as it always did. I put a hand over one of his, a silent thank you and acknowledgement.

“AH!” I realized with a snap, that portal’s energy flowing upwards in a steady flow. “There you are, you bastard. Borrowman, looks like we’re in luck, I can absolutely trace it.”

Borrowman blew out a relieved breath. “Alright, what do we need?”

“Get an ambulance and the tech guys ready to roll,” Lachlan suggested. “He won’t be able to rattle off an address, it’s literally him tracing the energy.”

“I’ll make some calls then.” Borrowman turned and hustled for the door.

I’d make those call outside the house too, if I were him. Sadly, I didn’t have the option of retreat. My nose begged for it, but we were stuck here a while longer.

Maybe I should invest in scented nose plugs…

Shaking the thought off, I knelt next to my work case, and carefully pulled out my compass. It wasn’t round, like most modern compasses, but square in shape. It was divided into four triangles with an X forming from each corner, a circle in the center, and careful engraved writing on the sides acting as instructions of how to operate. Mine had a tear-dropped metal piece with a very long nose that spun and pointed where I needed to go. It was older than dirt; even my master wasn’t sure where his grandmaster had gotten it from, but the compass was incredibly reliable and arguably one of my best tools.

I drew the barest hint of energy from the reversed portal, which felt a lot like picking up dog shit with your bare hand for the record, I had a grimace on my face doing it, but I used just enough to calibrate the compass, then murmured in Japanese, “Trace and lock.”

It snapped to the left, almost vibrating a little as it pointed in the direction we needed to go.

Lachlan passed my suitcase off to Donovan, herding people ahead. “Go, go, he’s got it locked in.”

Everyone was happy to escape the basement, me especially. After touching the power like that, I wanted a hot shower with salts and sage to clear my own energy out enough to be able to sleep tonight. Ugh, I truly hated this case. Ripping Powell’s ability away from him seemed punishment enough for making me deal with this shit. I still wanted to bash the man’s head in, mind, but at least I’d been able to shut him down permanently. I’d take that win.