The Gift of Loot Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Shaking Down The National Guard

Read chapter 18 of The Gift of Loot by Jack_Golightly on NovelPedia.

Thomas stared at the label in complete disbelief. $500,000 was the starting price, and that was before people even began bidding. It was unfair, he needed it... And he could imagine that a lot of other people did too. Ridiculously, his eyes started stinging, and he quickly backed away before he could make an absolute fool of himself. Once free of the crowd surrounding the shroud, he forced himself to take a breath. Breathe, he told himself. This is a setback, not a death sentence. After all, that shroud had to come from somewhere. If he could figure out which dungeon had dropped it and which monster, Thomas could re-dive the dungeon over and over again. It had to be local, right? How was he going to find that information? No idea. But the fact that the item had dropped meant that it was possible. Just... difficult. Derek would have to learn to get along without a hand for a little bit. Not forever. Just until Thomas could figure this out. Feeling marginally better, he found Zach looking over different items. "Anything interesting?" he asked, keeping his voice casual. "Yeah, a cloak made from real flames," Zach said. "It doesn't actually do anything except look cool, but I'm tempted. What about you?" "Found what I'm looking for, but the price is... way out of reach." Zach glanced at him and then frowned at what he saw in Thomas's face. "That sucks, man." "Yeah." Then something— it wasn't quite his Forewarning skill, but something — made him look to the side. Two National Guardsmen were making their way through the crowd. He hadn't seen any sign of their presence at the auction so far, but now two of them in uniform were making a beeline straight toward him and Zach. "We've got company," he said quietly. Zach glanced sideways and understood. "Yep." The National Guardsmen stopped a few feet away. They had the air of professionals, and the older one nodded. "Mr. Coldstrike? We were hoping to have a word." And while Thomas's mind was busy flailing at oh my God, they knew his name, because he hadn't given any official his name at this auction, and yet they had it, the guardsman's gaze shifted toward Zach. "You as well, Mr.—" "Zach works," Zach said quickly. "Of course." The National Guardsman didn't miss a beat. "I'm Sergeant Martinez, and this is Sergeant Applebaum. We've been asked to make contact with qualified level two individuals regarding a time-sensitive opportunity." "Opportunity?" Zach repeated. "How do you know we're qualified?" Thomas asked. Martinez answered Thomas first. "You reached level two within the first fourteen days of the official System announcement. That makes you qualified." He looked hard at Thomas. "Understand that this opportunity comes with significant compensation." Something in Thomas immediately pinged. Maybe it had to do with his Gift. "How significant?" "That would be part of the conversation." Wow. This guy was almost as good at stonewalling as Zach had been with the dude-bros. Zach, however, went for the throat. "So, which dungeon's giving your people trouble?" Thomas gave him a confused look, but after a moment, realized it made sense. After all, since they weren't currently being arrested there wasn't much else this could be about. Martinez's expression didn't change. "We'd prefer to discuss specifics in a quieter setting." Oh, hell no. Thomas was not going to get moved to some isolated location without witnesses to have a chat with the National Guard when they already knew too much about him. "I'd prefer to discuss them here," Thomas said with false pleasantry. There was a moment when the two National Guardsmen looked at each other and exchanged a professional nod. It seemed they were far enough away from the general crowd. Finally, Martinez looked back at them. "There's a level one dungeon in the region that has proven... resistant to clearance. Given the timeline, we need people with level two capability." "A level one that needs level twos?" Zach said. "That's not an opportunity,