Summer's End, page 39
“What about the other charge?”
“I’m innocent, obviously. Now, can we go see the judge?”
“What’s the rush?”
“I want to get out of here and go home to my wife, that’s what.” I sighed. This wasn’t looking good. I’d been hoping that once they figured out who I was, I’d get some sort of priority and the old “elie treatment” that I’d used to. Either what he just told me was true or somebody wanted me kept here and was using their influence to do just that.
“It doesn’t say here that you’re married,” he said, glancing his tablet.
“Does it at least say that my name isn’t Walker anymore?”
“Umm, no. When did you change it?”
“Let’s just go and see the judge.”
* * *
He at least did what I asked him to, and sure enough the judge denied both his motion and bail. An hour later I was in a real jail. I’d never been to jail before, and while I’d heard stories, I still had no idea what to expect.
When they turned us out into the general population, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Yeah, there were more than a few bad characters watching as they sent us in, but I’d grown up around bad characters —hell, I’d been one myself! So they didn’t worry me, much. Also, several of the people in the group I was sent in with looked a lot easier to prey on than I was.
So I just separated myself from the crowd and left them to fend for themselves. I didn’t know if there were any gangs on the Moon, and I sure as hell didn’t know if there were any Howlers up here. I looked around and flashed the Howler gang sign at a couple of folks. There was safety in numbers, and having a friend or two here wouldn’t hurt.
The third guy I flashed flashed it back at me, so I went over to join him and the three he was hanging out with.
“Howlers?” he asked.
“Yeah, on Earth. Texas District.”
“Man, you are a long way. How’d you end up here?”
“Was working on a ship and one of my old crew from back home was pulling too much heat. Well, they found him onboard, smoked him, and now I’m being blamed for everything since the original sin.”
They all laughed at that, and we all shook hands and made introductions. His name was Ghost, because he liked ghost peppers; the others were Cam, Buc, and Vod. They were all locals, so thankfully none of them had ever heard of me, though I knew once they put the word out —and they would, of course —word would get back soon enough.
“How bad is it in here?”
“First time?” Ghost asked.
“Prison? Yeah. When I ran on the streets I was underage, so we only got stuck in juvie.”
“Well, we’re not the biggest group in here, but that’s not a problem. A few of the guards used to be bangers like the rest of us, so as long as we act nice and get along, they do us favors. Easy on them, easy on us.”
“What about the guys who aren’t bangers?”
He frowned. “Sometimes they’ll ask us to teach one of ’em a lesson. But mainly they pick on the new meat.” He motioned back toward the others I’d shown up with, and sure enough, they were “fitting in,” and for some of them that was already looking like it was going to be an unpleasant process.
It hit me then, I was in trouble. Serious trouble. I was in jail on two felony charges, both of which were trumped up beyond belief and apparently no one knew I was here. What made it even worse was unlike the previous times I’d been in trouble, now I had something to lose. I had a lot to lose! My wife, my job, the company I’d just started building, all of my plans, everything!
Sure, I was guilty of the smuggling charge, but they had no evidence of that, and until Ben showed up on Ceres, no one even knew where he was. Hopefully he wouldn’t be seen coming off the Iowa Hill, because if I was still in here, that would definitely be the final nail in my coffin.
Then, of course, there were the charges surrounding Donde’s death. Yeah, I was happy he was dead, and not just because of what he’d done to me. If they’d gotten him alive, he would have told them about Ben. Which would have put me in jail anyway, and possibly gotten the ship impounded and a few others thrown in here too!
If only that idiot hadn’t come looking for my help! If only.
I sighed and shook my head. If only, if only.
“Something wrong?”
“I need a lawyer, a good lawyer,” I told Ghost as all of the possible consequences started to sink in.
“Good lawyers ain’t cheap, bro.”
“I can afford it.”
“So why don’t you have one?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know anybody here. Hell, I don’t think anyone even knows I’m here. I asked my public defender to get me one, but somehow I don’t think he cares.”
“Yeah, they’re all like that. I can let the gang mouthpiece know you’re looking.”
I nodded. “Sure, why not.”
“So you’re on the ships now? How’d that happen?”
“Went to school to learn ship’s engineering. Took a while, but it was worth it,” I replied, welcoming the change in topic.
“What’s it like out there?”
“Different. Everywhere you go, the rules change. Still, it’s way better than Earth, because they don’t have any elies or doles. It’s just proles everywhere.”
“Think they’d take a guy like me?”
“If you got the skills someone needs, yeah. There’s always places that need people who know how to keep the faith and can be dangerous when the time comes. Why? Looking to leave?”
He nodded. “I’ve got six months left here. After that?” He shook his head. “I’m gettin’ too old for this. But it’s all I know.”
“Yeah, I hear you on that. Just don’t sign up as a worker on any of the company mines without checking them out first. Some of those places are worse than jail.”
* * *
Two days later, I found myself unexpectedly being dragged off to court. Not long after that I was sitting in a conference room with a lawyer I’d never met before and two other people who, again, I had no idea who the hell they were.
“Dave, I’m your court appointed attorney, Jill Small. These two gentlemen represent the government. They’d like to make a deal.”
“Why haven’t I been allowed to retain my own lawyer?” I asked her, ignoring the other two for a moment.
“Because you’re indigent with no funds, of course.”
“Indigent? I own a fucking shipping company on Ceres!” I said, giving her a look. “Hell, I’m related to the Morgans of Earth and they’ve got more money than the government!”
I turned and looked at the two guys sitting on the other side of the table. “As for you two, you can both just fuck right off. I haven’t broken any laws, so I’m not making any deals.”
“They’re here about your brother,” Jill said in what I guess was a “soothing” voice. “If you tell them where he is, they’re willing to make a deal.”
“Dave, just tell us what we want to know, and all of this will go away,” one of them said.
“The only thing that’s going away is you two,” I said, looking at them. Then I turned back to Jill. “If you truly represent me, we should be having this discussion, in private. Not with other people in the room.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that, Mr. Walker,” she replied.
I leaned over suddenly and put my lips by her ear, moving my hands up to block the view of any cameras that might be in the room.
“If you possess an ounce of self-preservation, you’ll get me a real lawyer before my family finds out what’s going on.”
I sat back up then as the doors to the room opened and several guards swarmed in. Jill looked white as a sheet.
“Are you okay, ma’am?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“What did he say to you?”
“He . . . he propositioned me!” she said, and turned and glared at me. “I can’t represent this man. Get yourselves another lawyer!” And with that she grabbed her stuff and left the room.
“Well, we tried the nice way. Why don’t you guys see if you can soften him up for us?” said the guy who had spoken before.
Thankfully, these guys were amateurs and I passed out early on in the “softening” process.
* * *
I woke up as they dragged me back into the prison and literally tossed me into the main room as I passed out again. When I woke up the next time, I was on my cot, and Buc was keeping an eye on me.
“Damn, Goose, what happened?”
“I wouldn’t give them what they wanted.”
“Yeah, I can see that. What do they want?”
“Something that I don’t have, obviously.” I sighed and tried not to move. They may not have been pros, but it still hurt like hell. “Care to help me up? I think I need to use the bathroom.”
Come the next morning, I got dragged out again, and this time they didn’t even ask about Ben. They just went right to the beating.
After that one, I woke up in a hospital with my arm in a cast and a couple of IVs stuck in the other one. From the colors of the bruises on my body, I’d been here at least a day, maybe two.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
I looked up. There was a man in a suit there. A very expensive suit.
“And you are?” I whispered.
“Your lawyer.”
“Sure you are.”
“Marcus sent me.”
“About time,” I said, and passed out again.
* * *
The next time I woke up, I felt a lot better. The nurse came in, gave me a quick checkup, raised the head of the bed a bit, and brought me something to eat.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Doyle?”
“Finally! Somebody got my name right. I’m feeling okay, I guess.”
“The man who was here before, your lawyer, he asked me to call him when you were ready to see him?”
“That would be nice,” I said with a smile. “How long have I been here?”
“Three days. The internal bleeding was pretty bad. That must have been a really bad accident you were in.”
“Accident?”
“Yes, the two government agents who brought you in said you fell down a shaft when an elevator door opened too early and you stepped in without looking.”
“Why didn’t they just say I got hit by a reckless driver?”
“We don’t have cars here,” she said with a wink.
I just sighed and lay back in the bed. She came back with something for me to drink and the man in the suit returned sometime after that.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
“Well, the judge released you to this hospital, seeing as you weren’t able to go anywhere. But once you’re released, you’ll have to go back to prison.”
“Ah, I see. So back to the beatings, I presume?”
“No, there won’t be any more beatings. Several of those officers have suffered unfortunate incidents and will be recovering for a few days.”
“How sad. Is it safe to talk here?”
“Not really.”
“You know that they didn’t find my stepbrother onboard, right?”
“Yes. And apparently the government knows that as well. It’s getting them to admit it. They claim that because you believed he was onboard, that gives them the power to charge you.”
“But I didn’t.”
“Yes, but the navy is claiming you did.”
I sighed. “Let me guess, they ‘lost’ the recordings of my interview?”
“Bingo.”
“Why do they keep calling me by my old name? Doesn’t anyone update their files here?”
“Every time your file updates, someone deletes the updates. For the most part, you don’t really exist here.”
“What? How can that be done?”
“The Clark and the McVay families consider MIT to be their personal domains. They’re rather pissed that some pissant black sheep from the Morgan family managed to do an end run around them and smuggle out their prize possession. They had plans for your brother, it seems.”
“So they’re behind this?”
“Yes, though it’s only a matter of time until your presence here is discovered. Hence the beatings. They’re getting desperate.”
“Well, I have no idea where he is. And I obviously never said he was onboard or even claimed the dead guy was him.”
“Yes, I know, and I can prove it too.”
“You can?”
“The captain of the Iowa Hill saved the cockpit recorder after you were escorted off the ship. So I have a copy of your interview with that navy lieutenant. I submitted it to the judge yesterday with a motion to dismiss the charges against you.”
“Will he?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On just how much outrage your grandfather can summon up when Mr. Smith informs him of just what happened to his favorite grandson.” He smiled then. “I’m sure it will be epic.”
“One can only hope. Oh, and you are?”
“Craig Kinyon.”
“How’d you find me, by the way?”
“Once we learned you’d been arrested, we just found out where the navy ship you’d been on had put in. Then a few discreet enquiries and we discovered who your last public defender was.”
“And here I’d been hoping she’d found you somehow.”
“No, she’s on an extended leave of absence. Apparently something you said to her caused her to decide to change the focus of her legal career.”
“Ah.”
“Did you really proposition her?”
I laughed at that. “I told her she needed to find me a real lawyer or when my family found out, it wouldn’t go well.”
He nodded. “Yes, I suppose things won’t be going well for a number of people after this. I’ve given your judge clear legal grounds for dismissal of all counts without looking like he’s being forced.”
“Like that matters,” I grumbled.
“To his ego it does,” Craig said with a smile. “Now, get some rest, they’ll be moving you back to the prison in a few hours.”
“Shouldn’t I be going to a prison hospital?”
Craig shook his head. “Trust me, the gen-pop is a lot safer for you right now, especially as I hear you have friends there?”
I nodded and gave a weak smile. “Say what you will about us gang-bangers, but when push comes to shove, we stick together.”
* * *
Going back to prison wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Ghost and the others helped me out, and I made sure to get all of their real names. I was going to pay them back, especially when I heard that when I’d been dumped unconscious on the floor they’d had to administer a few beatings to people who’d tried to mess with me while I was out.
The next morning, I was hauled off to court, and when I got there, Craig had someone give me a wheelchair, which I gratefully collapsed into. I still hurt everywhere and could barely stand.
They shepherded us into a waiting room, and shortly after that we got called into the courtroom.
“That was fast,” I remarked.
“The people on the Moon might like to think that they’re beyond the games played down on Earth, but the truth is, elie money has just as much power up here as it does down there,” Craig said as his assistant wheeled me into the courtroom.
“All rise!”
We stood up and the judge same in, then we all sat down again.
I didn’t pay much attention to the different introductions, though it was nice to hear that they got my name right. I did listen, however, as the prosecutor read the list of charges along with all of the associated issues and other crimes that I had supposedly committed.
Craig immediately moved for a dismissal as soon at the prosecutor had finished.
“On what grounds?” the judge asked.
“On the grounds that the defendant, my client, has no knowledge of Benjamin Strossner’s whereabouts, either on that day or even now, eight days later. That the navy captain’s testimony, as well as that of the navy lieutenant’s, as to what my client, Mr. Doyle, said was misleading.”
“Objection!” the prosecutor called out.
“Your Honor, at this time, I would like to submit item one of my intended filing against the government, Doyle versus the State, into evidence. It has significant bearing on the case currently before you.”
“Which evidence is this?” the prosecutor demanded.
“The recording of Mr. Doyle’s interview with Lieutenant Stewart.”
“The navy said that that recording was inadvertently destroyed!”
“Yes, well, the ship’s cockpit recorder also recorded the interview, and I’ve submitted one of the copies.”
I saw the prosecutor wince.
“Doyle versus the State, item one is admitted. I assume that monitor over there is so we may view it?” the judge asked.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Craig’s assistant then loaded the recording into the monitor and ran it.
It was interesting to watch myself talking to the lieutenant. I could see that Chris was noticeably upset by some of my admissions, but then paled when I mentioned the bomb and my fear of letting Donde onboard with it. Though at that time I never once mentioned anyone by name.
“Your Honor! The defendant clearly referred to the deceased as his brother!” the prosecutor said.
“True, he did. What is your response to that, Mr. Craig?”
“Your Honor, while growing up, my client had ties to one of the street gangs that is also present here on the Moon. He grew up with the deceased and apparently they were quite close. I’ve also been led to believe that ‘Donde,’ as Mr. Severson was known, was dating my client’s sister, something which her father did not approve of. He became frantic when he heard she was leaving, hence the confrontation.”
“That still doesn’t explain his calling him his brother.”
“Your Honor, I would like to introduce Doyle versus the State, item number two, into evidence.”
“What’s that?”
“Recordings from the prison general area. It turns out that there are several members of my client’s former gang there, and he immediately joined with them in search of protection.”
