fob.
It was a fact of life that there were certain men no one messed with, not if you were in your right mind. Telos Khūnbish was one of those men; scary at some primordial, brainstem level.
He paused by his car and lifted a hand like he was blessing the damn thing against Parking Control. A bike messenger zipped past him. From where she stood in the lobby, traffic noise was a dull rumble. Telos headed across the plaza with its series of concrete risers and planters. On a nice day, support staff who made shit money and had to bring their lunch, could eat outside.
She adjusted her sunglasses. He reappeared from between two of the planter structures, heading for the glass lobby doors. His long black hair fell behind his shoulders, twisting slightly in the wind. His goatee, as usual, seemed to be barely getting started.
Lys knew him because she defended high stakes corporate cases involving computer hacking and Khūnbish was her Information Security expert. Though he’d never admitted anything under oath, he was what industry insiders called a gray-hat, that is, someone who navigated between the black-hats who stole corporate databases and credit card numbers and the white-hats who warned companies about their security vulnerabilities.
What mattered about Khūnbish today was that he looked more like a gang member than a tech geek, and oddly enough for a lawyer who billed out at five Jewel/Future Tense— Chapter 0
4
hundred dollars an hour, that was exactly what she needed. Someone scary.
Outside, he paused at a trash can, tossed something in, then kept walking. She pushed the lobby door open and headed onto the plaza. The blast of foggy air made her head pound. She smiled, but it felt fake.
His unbuttoned flannel shirt flapped in the breeze and showed off the physique under the close fitting T-shirt he wore underneath.. He didn’t fit with the suit and tie crowd, and the bandanna around his head didn’t do much to make him look like anything but trouble in a dark alley.
Fuck a suit and tie.
Lys walked outside and made sure she was blocking even though it made the pain worse. Khūnbish slowed when he saw her heading toward him. She reached him and stuck out her hand. “Mr. Khūnbish.” She gave him her best Litigation Lawyer smile. “Nice to see you.”
“Counselor.” He sounded a bit growly, as if he smoked cigars and drank whiskey every day for breakfast. His expression didn’t register any curiosity about the reason she’d met him out here. On a personal level, she knew he didn’t like her. Not many people did, but she was used to that. He looked Lys up and down, nothing sexual or insulting, and ended up at her face. The way his eyebrows drew together told her she looked worse than she thought. “Everything all right?”
“Of course.” Her voice was calm. Serene even. She was in control at all times.
Including now when she was about to derail her life, his life, and possibly her career.
He cocked his head and shoved his hands into his front pockets. Jesus, her head hurt.
He held her gaze longer than he should have. Her heart thumped because she knew he wasn’t going to play along with the I need your help bullshit she’d planned. Her stomach did a slow flip-flop because she’d stepped onto a tightrope here with Khūnbish, and there wasn’t any net. “Counselor,” he said in a low voice, “why are we Jewel/Future Tense— Chapter 0
5
standing out here in the cold?”
She waited for a group of people to pass them on their way to Front Street. On a purely selfish level, she’d been right to think of him. He was perfect. She needed someone mean and dangerous, and Khūnbish fit the bill. “I need a ride.”
His eyebrows quirked. “Where to?”
For half a second she considered walking back inside and to hell with everything. But she didn’t do that. Right now she didn’t like herself very much, but she gave him her address anyway.
“That’s Noe Valley.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you
It was a fact of life that there were certain men no one messed with, not if you were in your right mind. Telos Khūnbish was one of those men; scary at some primordial, brainstem level.
He paused by his car and lifted a hand like he was blessing the damn thing against Parking Control. A bike messenger zipped past him. From where she stood in the lobby, traffic noise was a dull rumble. Telos headed across the plaza with its series of concrete risers and planters. On a nice day, support staff who made shit money and had to bring their lunch, could eat outside.
She adjusted her sunglasses. He reappeared from between two of the planter structures, heading for the glass lobby doors. His long black hair fell behind his shoulders, twisting slightly in the wind. His goatee, as usual, seemed to be barely getting started.
Lys knew him because she defended high stakes corporate cases involving computer hacking and Khūnbish was her Information Security expert. Though he’d never admitted anything under oath, he was what industry insiders called a gray-hat, that is, someone who navigated between the black-hats who stole corporate databases and credit card numbers and the white-hats who warned companies about their security vulnerabilities.
What mattered about Khūnbish today was that he looked more like a gang member than a tech geek, and oddly enough for a lawyer who billed out at five Jewel/Future Tense— Chapter 0
4
hundred dollars an hour, that was exactly what she needed. Someone scary.
Outside, he paused at a trash can, tossed something in, then kept walking. She pushed the lobby door open and headed onto the plaza. The blast of foggy air made her head pound. She smiled, but it felt fake.
His unbuttoned flannel shirt flapped in the breeze and showed off the physique under the close fitting T-shirt he wore underneath.. He didn’t fit with the suit and tie crowd, and the bandanna around his head didn’t do much to make him look like anything but trouble in a dark alley.
Fuck a suit and tie.
Lys walked outside and made sure she was blocking even though it made the pain worse. Khūnbish slowed when he saw her heading toward him. She reached him and stuck out her hand. “Mr. Khūnbish.” She gave him her best Litigation Lawyer smile. “Nice to see you.”
“Counselor.” He sounded a bit growly, as if he smoked cigars and drank whiskey every day for breakfast. His expression didn’t register any curiosity about the reason she’d met him out here. On a personal level, she knew he didn’t like her. Not many people did, but she was used to that. He looked Lys up and down, nothing sexual or insulting, and ended up at her face. The way his eyebrows drew together told her she looked worse than she thought. “Everything all right?”
“Of course.” Her voice was calm. Serene even. She was in control at all times.
Including now when she was about to derail her life, his life, and possibly her career.
He cocked his head and shoved his hands into his front pockets. Jesus, her head hurt.
He held her gaze longer than he should have. Her heart thumped because she knew he wasn’t going to play along with the I need your help bullshit she’d planned. Her stomach did a slow flip-flop because she’d stepped onto a tightrope here with Khūnbish, and there wasn’t any net. “Counselor,” he said in a low voice, “why are we Jewel/Future Tense— Chapter 0
5
standing out here in the cold?”
She waited for a group of people to pass them on their way to Front Street. On a purely selfish level, she’d been right to think of him. He was perfect. She needed someone mean and dangerous, and Khūnbish fit the bill. “I need a ride.”
His eyebrows quirked. “Where to?”
For half a second she considered walking back inside and to hell with everything. But she didn’t do that. Right now she didn’t like herself very much, but she gave him her address anyway.
“That’s Noe Valley.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you
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