Summer's End, page 40
The judge nodded. “I’ll allow it.”
I sat up a little and watched it. I should have known things in prison would be recorded, but it hadn’t occurred to me. The scenes were mainly shots of us calling each other “bro” or “brother,” which was fairly common in the gangs. For some of us, it was the only family we had.
“Mr. Doyle,” the judge said, looking at me. “Why didn’t you mention your friend —‘Donde,’ I believe —by name during the interview?”
“You don’t have to answer that,” Craig told me.
“It’s okay,” I said and then turned to the judge. “Honestly? I never realized it,” I lied. “I was pretty shocked and upset with what had happened. I didn’t expect the marines to just kill him out of hand. I’d hoped he’d be passed out when they found him, and at the very least they’d try to talk him down first. Honestly, I had no idea that they’d kill him.”
I also didn’t mention how happy I was that they had, however.
“I did mention him by name in the second interview onboard the corvette that brought me here. Before they started asking me where my brother was.”
“I see. Do you know if that interview was taped?”
I shrugged. “It was on the bridge with the captain, so I’d guess so.”
The judge turned to the prosecutor. “Do you have a copy of that interview?”
“No, Your Honor, they told me that it was also inadvertently deleted.”
“In that case I have no other choice than to dismiss the charges against Mr. Doyle here involving the Exporting of Persons Against the Will of the State Act due to lack of evidence.”
“Thank you, Your Honor!” Craig said. “Now, about the rest of the charges?”
The judge opened his mouth to say something, but was rudely interrupted by Eileen’s husband, as he barged into the room.
“What is this I hear about you holding my stepson on these ridiculous charges?” he yelled, storming up to the judge.
“Who do you think you are, barging in here! Bailiffs!”
“I’m Senator Harold Jefferson! Earthgov Senator Jefferson! And I demand these charges against my stepson be dropped immediately! How dare anyone bring such scurrilous charges against a member of the Morgan household, as well as my beloved stepson!”
I watched, amazed, as everyone in the courtroom just froze. Even the judge was looking like he’d just been hit with a shock rod.
The judge turned to me and asked in a very soft voice, “Mr. Doyle, is this your stepfather?”
I struggled a little as I quickly stood up. “Yes, Your Honor, Senator Jefferson is my stepfather.” I smiled for the benefit of the onlookers and nodded to him. “Hi, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t call you, but I didn’t want to drag you into this.”
“Think nothing of it, David! If I’d known sooner, I would have come here immediately!”
I smiled again. I couldn’t believe this was the same man I’d seen my grandfather berate into submission last week. Now I could see why he was a senator —he sure could act and, out here in public, in front of everyone, he was fearless.
“You could have warned us, Mr. Doyle,” the Judge said.
“I tried to tell the public defender, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
“I see.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Jefferson demanded.
“Senator Jefferson, the more serious charge has already been dismissed due to lack of evidence. As for the other charges, I’m assessing a fine of ten thousand dollars to cover the equipment that the navy had destroyed, and all other fines or penalties are waived! Court’s adjourned!”
With that, he smacked the gavel on his desk and all but fled from the room.
The bailiff didn’t even get to tell everyone to stand. In fact, they fled almost as fast as the judge had, but by then I noticed the four bodyguards who had followed Jefferson into the courtroom. All of them were obviously professionals, and I suspect none of them had left their guns outside the courtroom.
“How are you doing, Dave?” Jefferson asked, coming over to me.
I smiled at him again, and this time it wasn’t just for show. “Better, a lot better. Thanks for doing this; it really means a lot to me.”
He looked surprised. “Honestly?”
I gave a small nod. “Yeah it does. Trust me, the next time I talk to Grandfather I’m going to make sure he knows it too. You didn’t have to do this, yet you did.”
“If I hadn’t,” he said in a voice so soft I almost couldn’t hear it, “he would have been very upset with me. He all but ordered me to do it.”
“That may be, but you really gave it your all and went over the top. I think the judge even shit himself!”
Jefferson smiled at that, so I stuck out my hand and he smiled even wider as he shook it.
“You know, I think I understand what that old bastard sees in you. You really were handling this, weren’t you?”
“Yes and no. It’s been hinted that the Clark and the McVay families were behind this and I don’t have the ability to deal with something like that. At least not on my own. Now that they know you and grandfather are involved, hopefully they’ll stay away.”
“While I hate to break up this family reunion,” Craig said. “I believe there are better places for us to talk?”
Jefferson nodded. “Yes, and I know of a good one. Oh, and Mister . . . ?”
“Kinyon, Craig Kinyon, I’m your son’s lawyer.”
“Ah yes. Please send his bill to me, and don’t be afraid to pad it, heavily. I’m sure you took a risk here today, and that deserves to be rewarded.”
“Why, thank you, I will,” Craig said with a smile, which made me wonder suddenly if he had been planning to charge me when this was all over. Then again, suits like the ones he wore don’t come cheap.
We followed Jefferson out of the courtroom; surprisingly, he had a transport. Most people on the Moon used mass transit. But then again, an Earthgov senator probably had more power than the old heads of state. They made the laws, they didn’t follow them.
And my grandfather had one completely in his pocket.
That was something to remember.
“So who was that guy who died onboard the ship?” Jefferson asked me after his men had told him that it was safe to talk.
“A convenient tool who got what was coming to him,” I said with a frown. “He really did threaten me, and I’d already made plans to fix his ass, but what those marines did made it so much better. I’m a bit annoyed at those navy officers, though, for not turning over that evidence.”
Jefferson lowered his voice again. “Your brother is okay, right? Or do you need me to help you with him?”
I blinked. That was probably the last thing I expected to hear.
“He’s fine. Or at least he should be. I guess my next step is to see if I can get a ride on the next cargo ship to Ceres.”
“I’m sure we can find you something better than a freighter. Is there anything else you need? I’ll stick around until tomorrow at the very least, to drive the point home to the local politicians and police that they’re to keep their hands off you.”
I smiled again, “Thanks, Jefferson. And actually, there is a little something you might be able to help me with.”
* * *
A week later, I was on a nice passenger ship that was also rather fast. It would get to Ceres in four days, which was pretty quick. I’d gotten my four friends from prison paroled as a thank-you for their help. I’d also gotten each of them into a tech school or college so they’d be able to get real jobs and get off the Moon, like Ghost wanted.
They were all getting a bit too old for gang life —Ghost was already eighteen, and if you didn’t want to move up into a real “organization,” well, there wasn’t much of a future beyond menial work.
I also had a fair bit of time to reflect on how I’d been living my life over the last few years. While it wasn’t as bad as my childhood years, I realized that I’d fallen back into those patterns more than was probably good for me. I’d rationalized it then as not having any choice. But now? Now I had a family, I had connections, and a business that was thriving.
I also had a grandfather who was rather hot for me to join the “family business,” and that didn’t just mean money —it meant responsibilities. I was sure there would be times ahead where I’d have to resort to crude methods and foul language; I had a bit of a reputation now, after all. But if I wanted to be taken seriously, I’d have to put that stuff behind me.
And I very much wanted to be taken seriously.
TWENTY-SIX
Ceres
We got to Ceres before the Iowa Hill made it into port, which showed up several days later than our original plan. I met them at the docks and was almost knocked off my feet by Kacey, who literally threw herself at me. Mom wasn’t much better, and thankfully Ben had figured out that being seen publicly coming off our ship probably wasn’t a good idea.
We all went back onboard then, so I could fill them in on everything that happened, well away from any prying eyes or ears.
The first thing I did was take care of business with Chris and Kacey.
“I’m a bit pissed that you didn’t tell me about that guy in the hold,” Chris said.
“He didn’t even tell me about it,” Kacey replied.
“He didn’t?”
“I only told Ben. I didn’t want to involve anyone else before I had to.”
“So why tell him?”
“Because he’s better at planning that I am?” I said with a shrug. “But he was going to see if he could make some sort of knockout gas from what we had onboard, so we could pacify Donde, and then toss his ass overboard.”
“You were going to kill him?”
“He kidnapped our sister and threatened to rape and murder her if I didn’t kill somebody for him. Hell yeah, I was going to kill him. I just can’t believe he was fool enough to show up,” I said, frowning.
“Well, at least you don’t ever have to go to Earth again,” Kacey said, patting my arm.
“Hell, I don’t think I want to get any closer to the sun than Mars,” I replied with a shake of my head. “On the other hand, both Marcus’s people and my grandfather did help, once they knew what was going on that is.”
I turned to Chris. “Thanks for sending them that recording.”
Chris chuckled. “I did it to let them know what happened. I didn’t think they’d believe anything I told them, so I just let them see it for themselves.”
“How did you get the ship going again? When I left, all the interlocks were broken.”
“Hank and Chaz strung a bunch of cables and chains and winched the doors shut. When we got to our rendezvous, Marcus’s people used the machine shop onboard the Astro Gerlitz to fabricate replacement parts, and helped fix everything. We do have six panels that now need to be repaired, however. Nik didn’t think it would be wise for him to fix them without you there to approve them, and I agreed.”
I nodded. “What’s in the hold now?”
“No gold, but a lot of high-value ores and rare earths,” Kacey told me.
“No gold?”
“Apparently they packed almost all of what they had left into the shipment we took to Earth to pay for that massive anti-ship missile system. Just about the entire shipment that we brought back, even those containers that hadn’t been done by dint of bribes and convincing a great many people to look the other way, were all for setting up the system.”
“You should have heard them, they cheered us when we docked with them,” Chris said, looking a little embarrassed. “I had no idea they were that desperate.”
“Well, after so many years of living in fear, I guess they figured that now that they had the money along with the ability to spend it, that they might as well do something about protecting themselves,” I told him. “Hank once told me that they used to be a fairly pacifistic group back on Venus before the purges started.”
“And now they’re anything but,” he said with a nod.
“Can you blame them?” Kacey asked.
“Not at all. Just kinda sucks that they had to learn the hard way. They really are nice people.”
“Well, not to change the subject, but how much of the cargo did your mother buy this time?” I asked Kacey.
“All of it.”
“What?” I said looking at her in shock. “All of it?”
“I gave her another discount. Not as much as last time, but they’ve been using the last batch to corner the market to help cover the funding for a major expansion. If we sold this ourselves, we might soften the prices. So it was in their best interest to buy it all up. Especially when I promised them it would be five months before making another dump like this one.”
“Oh? So what happens the next time we run out to trade with our friends?”
“I already lined up a buyer on one of Neptune’s moons,” she said with a sweet smile. “As well as one with Mars. We’ll be doing a triangle route on the next few trips.”
I shook my head and laughed. “We’re really going to be in the money here, aren’t we?”
She nodded. “They pushed so much gold through on that last trip that we really made a killing off the percentage I negotiated. I almost feel guilty!” she said with a giggle.
“But not guilty enough to give any of it back, I’m sure.”
“Nope. But, if this keeps up, in a couple of years we might want to start looking at some of the older ships like this one, that have timed out on their fission reactors, and see about putting in rebuilt fusion reactors.”
“I guess that’s one of those things we’re going to have to talk with our investors about. We’ve got a couple of weeks before we have to leave to meet the Astro Gerlitz for another cargo. I guess we’ll give everyone leave after we move the ship for unloading. I can grab Chris or Paul to come with me and move it back to the public docks once they’ve finished. Yuri and Kei can stay onboard during the unloading and make sure nobody goes anywhere they’re not supposed to.
“Chris, tell Nik not to shut the engines down. After I finish talking with Kace here, I’ll do an inspection to make sure there aren’t any problems. Then we can move the ship over to Ceres Habitats’ private docks.”
“Sure, what about leave?”
“Anyone we don’t need for the move can go. Except for Ben, we’ll smuggle him off after the move.”
“On it!” he said and left the room.
“What about your family?” Kacey asked.
“Huh?”
“We need to find your parents a place to live with Dianne. Then we need to get our own office going now that we have someone to mind it. Any idea what Ben is going to do?”
“He’s thinking about working at the local university, but I’m sure he’ll get so many offers he’ll be able to take his pick.”
“Maybe we should hire him,” Kacey said, looking thoughtful.
“If Ben is going to pursue his theory on FTL drive, it’s going to cost more than just the price of a spaceship or two, Kace, and then there’s always the chance he might be wrong and there’s never any payback.”
“You talked to him about it?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I did. He said it would be a year before he was ready to start. He had a lot of stuff he wanted to finally put down on paper and then go over and double check before he even considered making an attempt at it.” I paused a moment. “There’s something else I wanted to discuss.”
“What?” she asked, eyes narrowing.
“I’m starting to wonder now if the whole reason my grandfather wanted to talk went beyond just burying the hatchet, as they like to say. I’m starting to wonder if he knew I was going to smuggle Ben off the planet. I mean, why else offer me access to the entire Morgan empire?”
“And what triggered this?”
I pulled out my tablet and queued up my email, opening up the one that I’d gotten a few days ago while I was waiting for Kacey and the Iowa Hill to arrive.
“‘David,’” I read. “‘I want to congratulate you on your little escapade leaving Earth. I must say that using the cover of Mr. Smith’s shipment was really brilliant. The amount of pressure brought to bear on that Earth Guard ship’s commander was truly a sight to behold, and as you no doubt had planned. While I do apologize for what you had to go through after your arrest, I must also applaud your brilliance in setting up the diversion in the cargo bay.
“‘Clearly you had contingencies in place for whatever happened during the trip.’”
I looked up at her a moment. “Here’s the good part.”
Continuing on I read, “‘In regard to my proposal back at the estate, I’m starting to see the wisdom of your response. I’d like to propose a partnership, with three equal splits: myself, you, and your brother. Anyone I show the prospectus to, should we need help or extra funding, will see your heritage and immediately assume that I have things well under control, and that the Morgans are the ones actually managing this effort, and will therefore rest easy and not seek to interfere.
“‘You and I know the truth, however. All I ask is that you don’t make that truth obvious to the public or the other families.’”
I looked up again and couldn’t recall ever seeing her eyes quite that wide before.
“He knew.”
I nodded. “I think so. Or at the very least, suspected. He probably sees all of this as a plan hatched by my brother and me to get him away from Earth so we can develop his FTL drive and keep the profits.”
Kacey nodded slowly. “It makes a certain amount of sense, especially with how much risk you’ve taken, and how ruthlessly you appear to have pursued every opportunity that came your way. You already told me just how impressed he was by your making Marcus and his people your friends and gaining their absolute trust. And then on top of all that, you turn down joining a family that’s worth probably a trillion dollars, and then . . . this?” Kacey laughed. “Oh, he wants in so bad I can taste it from here.”
“So you think we should do it?”
“Yes, I think we should do it. And not just because of the money. If Ben’s idea works out, think of just how many people are going to want to get their hands on it. On him. But if the Morgans already control it . . . ” She gave me a wicked smile. “They’ll know we can defend it. Plus Earthgov won’t panic, because they have ties to the Morgan family that they’ll be looking to exploit in their favor!
