Free The Man Who Walked in Darkness (Miles Franco #2) (Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) by Chris Strange

Most of the group were middle-aged and sagging in all the wrong places, but two of them drew my eye. A tiny man in gold-rimmed spectacles peered at me with a look like a hawk. He brought a glass to his lips—water, plain—and then wiped the dampness from his pencil mustache with a napkin. I knew at once he was important. Regular guys like me can’t pull off facial hair like that.
    Next to him was an Asian woman, probably in her late twenties. She paid me no mind, but she had a smile for the mayor. Black hair ran in straight lines past her cream-colored face. She was no knockout like Vivian, but she had a kind of quiet, open beauty to her, like a wishing fountain in a park.
    I was instantly on guard.
    Mayor White forced me into a chair and slapped me on the back so hard one of the sandwiches nearly came back up. “I’m sure you all recognize this face, don’t you?” she asked the group. “He’s been on TV enough.”
    Eight sets of eyes looked at me, and seven looked away again. Spectacles had a hell of a stare on him for such a little guy.
    She turned to me. “Franco, let me introduce you.” She pointed at Spectacles. “Miles Franco, meet Jozef Kowalski.”
    “CEO of AISOR,” I said, offering my hand. Amazing what you could find on the Internet. Well, amazing what Tania could find. Kowalski peered at my hand for a moment like a biologist studying some new specimen out of Limbus, then he took it. It wasn’t so much a grip as a whispering touch. I could’ve wrapped my thumb and little finger all the way round his wrist and had room to spare.
    “Who’s this, Jozef? Got yourself a new woman?” Mayor White gestured to the dark-haired girl who finally seemed to have noticed me.
    Kowalski loudly didn’t smile. “This is Zhi Lu, one of my most promising chemical analysts. She’s with me in a purely professional capacity.”
    I didn’t doubt it. By the look of him he wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if he found himself alone with one. Hell, it’d been so long I was starting to forget, myself.
    “Miles Franco,” I said.
    She nodded. “I know.”
    The other people at the table went back to their own discussions, hushed now. A few sent looks in my direction, and a pair of them walked away to find better company. I tried to see if my glass of Coke had any conversation tips for a man half the city considered a mass murderer. It didn’t, but the mayor stepped in to rescue me instead.
    “Jozef’s been a huge help getting the city back on its feet,” she said. “This is what Bluegate needs. Business. Investors. Some inflow of capital to get the wheels turning again.”
    Kowalski waved the compliments away. “We saw an opportunity. We’re not a charity organization.”
    “Charity’s not what we need.” The mayor pointed her wine glass in my direction. “You’ve seen the effort AISOR’s put into rebuilding the infrastructure in central and the South Bay.”
    “Uh, not really. I’ve been in…” I glanced at Zhi Lu and changed what I was going to say. “…indisposed. Anyway,” I said, “I was wondering something. Call me an idiot, but what does AISOR do exactly?”
    “We’re involved in a number of industries, but our main focus here in Bluegate is the Tunneling sector.” His voice was pure corporate-speak, but it didn’t tell me much. “The world of Tunneling has changed, and there are all sorts of opportunities for a company like us.”
    I frowned. “You’re talking about Limbus? You’ve got a way to make money from that place?”
    He took a sip of his water and said nothing.
    “Well, watch yourself,” I said. “Those critters are nasty.” I still had scars on my arm where a spider-dog had sunk his teeth into me. I downed the rest of my Coke, grimacing as the bubbles stung my throat. I glanced at Zhi Lu and found her studying me, her head cocked slightly to the side. She was wearing a red satin dress that showed just a hint of cleavage. I turned my gaze back to Kowalski before she