Read Technomancer (Unspeakable Things: Book One) for Free Online

realized she had a point. “You promise?”
    “I said so.”
    I nodded and turned back to the round, flat door of the safe in the floor. We were both down on our knees. I had no idea what the combination was. None at all. I gave the dial an experimental spin and tugged at the handle. Then I spun it in the opposite direction and tried the handle again. It didn’t even click or rattle. It was like tugging on a lamppost. The handle didn’t even move fractionally. Nothing.
    “What the hell are you doing?” Holly hissed.
    “If this works, I want it to be a clear test. I don’t want to be telling myself afterward that it opened only because the combination had already been dialed and all I had to do was twist the handle.”
    Holly made a sound of exasperation.
    I took a deep breath and put on the sunglasses. I didn’t
feel
any different with them on. But the room did look darker, just as it should have. I reached down and tugged the handle.
    I hadn’t really expected that it would open right away. I had expected that I would have to give the dial a spin or two first. Maybe the dial would click itself into precisely the right spot when I spun it at random. But that wasn’t how it happened. It was easier than that. The handle twisted and I heard a clinking sound.
    “I think it’s open,” I whispered.
    “No shit,” Holly said. “Lift the door up, man.”
    “What if there’s something bad in there?”
    She looked at me as if I was crazy. “Like what?”
    “I don’t know.” I felt a chill. A creepy feeling, as if I had just invoked an unknown power. I didn’t like the sensation. It was exciting, but also frightening.
    Sighing loudly, Holly placed her hands over mine and tried to force my hand to lift the door open. I resisted, and the door stayed closed. She wasn’t very strong. She made a sound of vexation and sat back on her haunches.
    “What’s wrong now?” she asked.
    “I wasn’t ready yet.”
    She crossed her arms, waiting. After another few seconds, I faced my demons and yanked the door open.
    Holly whooped. She shoved her hand deeply into the safe and pulled out three wads of money. They were thick packets of twenties, hundreds of them in each wad, folded over once and wrapped neatly with thick blue rubber bands.
    I reached out and took one of the wads from her. She frowned, but then shrugged. I hefted the wad in my palm. Three thousand, I figured. Maybe four.
    “For expenses, Tony,” I said aloud to no one. “We’ll call this full payment for investigating your death.”
    “I’ll call it severance pay,” Holly added. She reached back into the safe with a grin on her face. I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
    She gave an irritated squeak and slapped my hand away. I looked into the safe. There was more money in there. A lot of it. I slammed the safe closed and spun the dial.
    “What the hell?” Holly exclaimed. She stood up and grabbed at my sleeve. “Are you crazy, Draith?”
    “It’s not ours. Not all of it.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “There are other girls who need to get paid. Maybe Tony had heirs too.”
    Holly shook her head. “I never figured you for a do-gooder.”
    “I didn’t figure you for a thief either,” I lied.
    She slapped at me, but I caught her wrist. I stood up, still holding her wrist so she couldn’t slap me again.
    “Two wads of cash are all you’re getting. I’m sure that is more than you were owed.”
    Holly seemed to get hold of herself then. She heaved a sigh. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I just got a little carried away.”
    “Sure. I understand.”
    She shoved the cash into her purse and headed out. I followed. She pushed open the back door a fraction, then paused to look back at me.
    “What are you going to do now?” she asked.
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll find a hotel. I need some sleep.”
    She nodded. “Yeah, I can see that. You could use some fresh clothes too. Say, you want to come to my place? I’ll let you get