Technomancer (Unspeakable Things: Book One)

are in my domain.”
    I stood up, setting my glass on the coffee table. It gleamed a soft, eldritch blue, lit by some source of light thatwasn’t immediately obvious to the eye. I calmly walked to the door.
    “I’m sorry if I disappointed you, but I really must be going now.”
    I felt something then, as my back was turned to him. A gush of force. It was an odd sensation, but one that I was familiar with. The wall in front of me shook, as if someone had thrown an invisible couch at it. Perhaps that was exactly what had happened. The force didn’t hit me, however. I was immune.
    “Some kind of shield, is that it?” Rostok fumed behind me. “I can’t be stopped so easily. I have a dozen objects in my vault, Draith. You can’t insult me like this—”
    “Rostok,” I said, turning around with my pistol in my hand. It was at my side, aimed down at the carpet. But it was there, and my finger was on the trigger. “Let’s not have any unpleasantness. Please accept my apologies, but I don’t trust you. Don’t forget, you just sent Robert Townsend to the desert to meddle in my affairs, and he killed a man named Souza, one of my friends.”
    “Friends? Are you talking about those crazy cultist rogues? Is that what this is about? You might as well call things crawling under rocks in the desert your friends, Draith. They have many similar qualities.”
    I slipped on my shades and forced the office door open. It had been locked, of course. I gave it an extra hard twist so the tumblers would never go back together properly. They would have to replace the entire mechanism.
    “We’ll meet again,” I said, intending to step out of his office.
    Rostok didn’t shout, nor did he send any of his minions after me. Instead, he spoke calmly.
    “All right, Draith,” Rostok said behind me in the gloom. “I respect a man who can turn his back on me and live. What do you want to come work for me?”
    “To work for the entire Community, you mean?” I asked. I glanced back, but I could no longer see him. I wondered what he must look like with the lights on.
    “If you want it that way. But you’ll take your missions from me.”
    I turned toward him. Standing in the office doorway, I was silhouetted by the relative glare coming in from the lobby area.
    “I want peace between the rogues and the Community. Stop kicking us around. And I want war between the Community and the Gray Men.”
    “Is that all?” Rostok asked incredulously.
    “Well, that might be overstating it. What I want is to strike the Gray Men and take out the machine that allows them to come to our version of this universe. I want your help and your blessing to perform this mission. That’s my price.”
    Rostok questioned me about the Gray Men and I explained what I’d seen and where I’d been. It was his turn to get valuable information from me. I only held back the nature of the objects I had and what they could do. Those were secrets I’d decided to keep.
    Rostok thought it over when I’d finished laying out my case. “What you are proposing is indeed a declaration of war.”
    “Let the blame ride on the rogues, then.”
    “Pretend I’m not involved, eh? The Gray Men, as you call them, are not fools, Draith. They have been probing for some time now, attempting to estimate our strength and determine how we operate. I suspect they don’t have objectsand don’t understand them. They proceed with caution, but if we hit them, they might move against us more directly.”
    I knew that by “move against us” he meant “move against the Community,” which was still the only group he cared about. I decided not to argue further about his abusive treatment of rogues such as myself. I’d given up on arguing for the greater good. I needed him to see a benefit for himself in my actions to gain his cooperation.
    “Or,” I said, “they might grow bolder as each day passes and we don’t respond to their attacks. We should stop thinking as disconnected individuals. We should include Earth’s governments as well.”
    Rostok gave a rumbling laugh at that. “Who do you think makes up much of our Community? We do have government people, plus billionaires and the like. At any rate, I accept your proposal. In return for your service, I will allow this mission to proceed and I will send aid. But don’t push me like this again.”
    I nodded, suddenly regretting I had broken his lock. We were allies now—I hoped. I decided it was best to exit before the