Technomancer (Unspeakable Things: Book One)

mountains.
    “Isn’t it a little creepy out here—at night, I mean?” Jenna asked me.
    I smiled, refilling her glass with fresh chardonnay. “The cultists don’t hold their little meetings here anymore,” I said.
    “But people have died here.”
    “A few,” I admitted. “But I haven’t seen their ghosts yet.”
    “Well, you know what I mean.”
    “Yeah, you’re wondering how I can sleep in a place that attracted the Gray Men more than most. They liked coming here. They did it multiple times.”
    Jenna and I were friends again. She’d taken the news of Robert’s death hard, despite the fact he’d run out on her. I’d learned their whirlwind romance had been a brief, intense thing. Just the sort of relationship that Las Vegas weddings were famous for consummating. But in some ways, I think the brevity of her love affair with Robert helped her get over him faster. She’d been with him a few months, married, and then had it officially annulled on the basis of his disappearance. It was nothing to be proud of, but they were scars that would heal in time.
    We sipped from our glasses and gazed down on the metropolis together. From this vantage point, I better understood why rich people liked to build houses on hillsides. It felt as if you owned the world.
    “Did Rostok buy the house for you?” she asked me.
    I shook my head. “No, I did that on my own.”
    “You could afford
this
?”
    “I had a bit of money, but not enough for this place. One thing that helped—it was a foreclosure and I got it at auction.”
    “What else helped?” she pressed.
    “Well, Rostok’s bank held the paper on the mortgage.”
    “
Rostok
sold the place to you?” she asked, laughing. “I get it. He wants you to stay here and play watchdog. In case they come back.”
    I grimaced slightly. I had come to a similar conclusion, but didn’t want to think about it in those terms. I preferred to call the house a trophy, a prize in return for a job well done—and also as payment for the house Robert had destroyed with his lava slugs. I shrugged, not wanting to dwell on my status with the Community and Rostok in particular. They saw me as both useful and annoying. An irritant that would be tolerated only as long as was necessary. I sensed they wouldn’t move against me for now, but I knew Meng still smoldered.
    A few other things lingered in my mind. I could not stop thinking about Holly and all the others who had suffered. The Community wanted to blame the Gray Men—but many of the recent deaths could not be attributed to them. Tony, for instance, had died with his innards full of sand. As far as I knew, a weapon that could perform such an odd trick wasn’t in the Gray Man arsenal.
    I didn’t know much about myself either. My prior life was still a hole in my mind, but I’d decided to forge new memories and get along with what I had. Something must have showed on my face, because Jenna stopped talking and eyed me curiously. I smiled and hoped she hadn’t just askedme anything important. She smiled back, and I knew I’d lucked out.
    There were still mysteries unsolved. I still had work to do, but I didn’t want to spoil this moment with Jenna. I turned the conversation to Jenna herself and her plans for the future.
    “Are you going home?” I asked her quietly. She’d come fully packed. Her rental car was bursting with suitcases. She’d been on many shopping sprees with the money she’d won from the casinos.
    “I have to leave soon. But I could be convinced to stay a few days longer.”
    I smiled slowly. I reached out and touched her elbow. She didn’t pull away, so I touched her shoulder lightly. She still hadn’t met my gaze, so I lifted her chin and kissed her.
    Soon, I was doing my best to convince her. I had fresh hopes for the rest of the evening.
    End of
Technomancer

Photograph © Alma Larson, 2011
    B. V. Larson is the bestselling author of over twenty novels, spanning genres from military science fiction to epic fantasy to paranormal romance. He lives with his wife and children in the western United States, where he also teaches college.