"You obviously know our schedules. Now what do you want?" I put the phone down and let him slide it across the table to himself.
"First, if we don’t check in with our sniper, he shoots Micah when he comes out from the meeting."
I nodded. "So I can’t shoot you here."
"No," he said.
I nodded, small little nods over and over. I wasn’t thinking very clearly, but I had enough sense to put my gun back in its holster. It went in smoothly from all that practice, even while the rest of me was frozen. I couldn’t think. It was like a great roaring silence in my head, but it wasn’t quiet. It was filled with a sound like wind, or storm.
"Good," Jacob said, "come with us, quietly, and no one has to get hurt."
"What do you want me to do?"
"We want you to raise the dead for us."
"You know you can just make an appointment for that."
"You’ve already turned the job down," he said.
That made me look at him. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."
"Come outside with us, let us pat you down for weapons, and we’ll take you to our employer. Then it will all be explained."
"I would do it before your Nimir-Raj comes out from his meetings," Nicky said. "You want us to call our friend the sniper before he comes outside again."
I stared at him, did the long blink as if I were having trouble focusing. I guess I was; I felt damn near light-headed. I never fainted, but part of my brain was thinking about it. Crap. I had to do better than this, had to be stronger than this.
I nodded again and got up, but I had to touch the table to steady myself.