Technomancer (Unspeakable Things: Book One)

her. But Old Red died in the fighting. He was hit by one of those big projection guns of theirs.”
    “It’s a failure, then,” said the rifleman named Souza. “We’ve alerted them. We have to abort the mission.”
    Everyone started talking at once. Everyone except for Gilling and me. Instead, Gilling eyed me curiously. Maybe he didn’t believe my story. I barely cared. While they argued about what to do next, I reloaded my .32 auto.
    I let them talk for a minute or so, shouting that our cover was blown, that this was supposed to be a quiet mission, not a pitched battle. The consensus was that we couldn’t face their organized army on their own ground.
    I listened, but not too closely. My mind was made up. I was going to press ahead.
    Gilling raised his bejeweled fingers and the group quieted. “Let’s hear what our scout suggests.”
    “I want to open a new rip to the east, much closer to the cubes. Who’s coming with me?”
    People shuffled their feet. A siren rose and fell in the distance. They looked this way and that, studying the streets that wound down the hillside. I knew they were getting nervous. Without Abigail to cover them, someone might have called the cops and sent them up here by now.
    “If nothing else, we must retrieve the body of Old Red,” Gilling said. “Show us where he is.”
    I stepped through and a dozen people followed me, most of them reluctantly. I was relieved to find Abigail and Fiona as I had left them. The only change was the rising of a second small moon on the horizon. It was yellow and sickly looking in comparison to our own luna. The surrounding desert was dark and quiet. But maybe the trucks were out there, full of angry Gray Men with their deadly weapons. Maybe they’d grown smarter and this time kept their lights off to surprise us. Thoughts like these caused the skin on the back of my neck to crawl.
    They hauled Old Red’s remains home and experimented with the beam rifles the Gray Men had dropped. No one could figure out how to make them operate, however. Perhaps they were linked somehow to their users.
    “Are you going to go out into the desert with me and open a new rip?” I asked Gilling.
    He shook his head slowly. He didn’t bother looking at me. He was too busy staring out into the darkness. I could tell he was wondering what was stalking us out there. I followed his gaze and wondered the same thing.
    “Lost your nerve already?” I asked.
    “It wasn’t supposed to go like this. We signed on for a quiet raid. We can’t fight an army.”
    “I don’t care,” I told him. “I’ll take that alien truck to the cubes alone if I have to.”
    Gilling stared at me as if I were crazy. “They know we are here now.”
    “Maybe. But they don’t know what we’re planning. They don’t know who we are. I doubt they will suspect a serious raid. I want to hit them now, while we still have a shred of surprise left.”
    Gilling shook his head. “We aren’t an army. Not even the scouting mission went right. More are sure to die—maybe all of us. I can’t order them to do this.”
    “All right,” I said, turning away from him and facing the ragtag crowd.
    They were wandering around in the sand, looking like house cats who’d slipped out the front door for the first time. I didn’t think any of them had ever left their home existence before.
    “I’m taking that truck and using it to sneak into the Gray Men’s cube base. With luck, they’ll think we’re their kind. Who’s coming with me?”
    Any idea of combat squads and support squads had been cast aside. Now it was down to who had the guts to keep going when death was a clear possibility. Most of them wouldn’t even meet my eyes. A few looked positively terrified.
    Fiona volunteered immediately. “I’m in,” she said.
    I was surprised when Rheinman stepped forward next. “Just don’t get in my way again,” he said. He held his hammer in his hand with tight knuckles.
    I nodded, letting his bad attitude go without comment. “Who else?” I asked.
    In the end, most of them abandoned us. I had high hopes for Abigail, but she refused with a shake of her head. Among the riflemen, only Souza stepped forward.
    “Can I have Old Red’s stuff?” Souza asked Gilling.
    Gilling nodded once. The man pulled on the red cap and grabbed up the heat-blasting rag doll with a tight smile. So that was how you moved up in this outfit, I thought to myself.
    “What about you, Gilling?” I asked.
    Gilling put up