by Dale Mayer
“Because he didn’t succeed, and he really had no choice himself.”
“But he did in the beginning,” Levi argued, his jaw stiff with anger.
“Did he?” She waited. She didn’t know Levi as much as she’d like to, but she knew him better than he thought. He was a good man. With a good heart. A ruthless businessman, but not at the expense of the people. He’d help Tommy if he could. If he saw a reason to.
“Oh no.” He started to shake his head. “No. We’re not saving the world.”
“I didn’t ask you to save the world. Just one small part of it.” She widened her gaze at him. “We couldn’t save those on the fringe.”
He closed his eyes and groaned. “Really? You’re going to do this.”
She smiled. Milo laughed then said, “She has a point.”
Levi shook his head. “No. No, she doesn’t.”
“He’s good,” Milo said quietly. “We could use him.”
“Is he?” Dani asked, her hopeful gaze on Milo’s features. He nodded. She switched her attention to Tommy. He was slumped with apparent disinterest, like he’d never known there to be anything but a bad outcome in his life.
“It doesn’t matter how good he is, he can’t be trusted.” Levi’s hard voice brooked no argument.
But Dani had to admit to feeling perverse. “How do you know that? I imagine loyalty and trustworthiness are two main requirements of Tommy’s life up to now.” She looked over at the very confused man staring at her like she’d lost her marbles. “Or am I wrong?”
“No,” he said in a rush, “You’re not. They mean everything. Or I’d be dead by now.”
She nodded. “See?”
“No,” Levi said in exasperation. “I don’t see.” He threw up his hands. “He’s a criminal. I can’t change his history. The law wants him. The law is going to get him.”
“I actually did my time. It’s my brother who’s…was…wanted by the law. Only the Council said I hadn’t done all my time. Only I did. But because they said I hadn’t…”
“Juvie?” Milo asked. He was busy clicking away on his damn computer. Dani didn’t know if he was helping the situation or playing games, but she wanted someone to do something.
“Milo?”
“Yeah,” he answered, distracted.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking at his record.”
Tommy started. “You aren’t supposed to be able to see that.”
Milo snorted. “I’ll look at whatever the hell I want to.”
Tommy stared from one person to the other. When it was Dani’s turn, she gave him a bright smile.
“Milo?” Levi waited for a response from his brother.
“Says he did his time. Was released 4 years ago. Model prisoner. Time off for good behavior.”
“And they said that was revoked because I moved back in with my brother, who was a known criminal.”
“That’s not fair,” Dani cried out. “You paid your debt to society. And he was family.”
Tommy shrugged. “They said it wasn’t enough. It’s not like I can argue. They have all the power.”
“Too much power, apparently.” Dani twisted slightly to face Milo and Levi. “Can you help him?”
Milo grinned. “I don’t think Levi wants to. Tommy here was all set to screw with us. You in particular.”
“Only because I had to.” But he stared at Dani in fascination. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“Not going to either.” Milo almost danced in place with his secret.
But that was one secret that could never be shared.
*
Levi studied the awkward young man in front of him. He wanted to slug him and hug him. For all that he’d tried to do. Levi couldn’t help compare Milo to Tommy. If Milo and he hadn’t had the benefit of their extended family, where would they have ended up?
Likely the same damn place as Tommy. Considering Milo’s seriously scary computer skills, they could be running the underworld by now. That brought a tiny smile to his face.
But that didn’t change the fact that Tommy was dangerous. And alone in the world. “Tommy, how old are you?”
The younger man’s eyes narrowed. “Twenty two – why?”
Of course he was the same age as Milo and his older brother would likely have been the same age as Levi. With Paul dead, Tommy was completely alone. But that didn’t make him someone worth rehabilitating. His brother had been a hard case. Several steps down the crime path than Tommy. Was it too late for him to be saved?
Dani shifted patiently at his side, and he realized he really wasn’t going to have much choice.
“He’d have to give over all the information he knows, sign a contract as to what he would honor, and should he break that contract…” Levi deliberately added an edge to his voice.
Tommy’s eyes lit up. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about here as an end result, but I’m sure looking for a way not to go back to jail or to have to face the bosses.”
“And just who are the bosses?”
He swallowed. Looked from one to the other. “Paul dealt with him. Them.”
“But you know who the bosses are, right?”
“They are all on the Council. But one is handling this issue. He’s the one we dealt with.”
“Who? And is he the one who killed Lina?”
He winced. “We think so. But I don’t know who he is. Besides, he commands many contractors. We were supposed to snatch Dani here, but when we couldn’t, Lina was blamed. Then they put the pressure on her partner.”
“John. Who came here to grab Dani himself after you failed?”
“Yeah, the bosses want her bad.”
“Alive?”
Tommy nodded his head vigorously. “They need to know who escaped with her.”
“Right. And would torture the information out of her if necessary.” Shit.
Chapter 15
Dani made coffee. Tommy was hardly a visitor, but the males were sitting at the table discussing what was to be done and would likely appreciate it. And she was quickly becoming addicted to the stuff herself. Tommy was dishing dirt on everyone he knew in an effort to show his good intentions to clear himself. She felt sorry for him. He’d had it rough, he’d done the best he could, but now he was at a crossroads.
What he did from here on out would be dangerous and would change the course of his life. With his permission, Milo had run every kind of scan he could while everyone had watched. And he’d fixed some kind of emotion detector on the poor guy. Dani felt horrible about that one. The last thing she would want was to have her emotions scanned or detected.
That Levi had never mentioned such a thing to her hopefully meant that he trusted her at least that much.
“What’s the matter?” Levi spoke quietly behind her. “Do all the tests we’re putting him through bother you?”
“Yes,” she said with feeling. “Especially the emotion one.”
“We have to make sure he’s telling the truth. Our lives depend on it.”
She nodded. “I understand. I hope you guys never feel you need to do that to me though.”
He laughed and tugged her back against him. “Never. You’re honest all the way through.” His chest rumbled behind her head. “Besides, that’s one of the tests Milo already checked you on before.”
She stilled. “Really? How could he know?”
“We have much more sophisticated ways to detect stuff like that now,” he said easily. “Honesty is big for Milo. And being in business, for me, it’s even bigger.”
“Me, too,” she said with feeling. “Particularly after your blackguard ancestor.”
He dropped a kiss on her head.
“What’s to do be done with him?” she asked.
“I can’t say for sure. Depends on whether we can catch the Council with what they are doing and stop them, or if we have to go on the run.”
She tilted up her head. “Really? The latter sounds horrible.”
“Doesn’t Milo have that information?”
“Milo grabbed everything he could off Johan’s system, but that doesn’t mean he’d recognize the information when he sees it. I’d expect Johan to have it secured and barely identifiable. The material is too dangerous.”
That made sense. “So is Tommy going to help Milo look for it?”
“Something like that. We know the material is encrypted. And breaking that encryption is likely to be the toughest part. Apparently Tommy’s skills have to do with code breaking. That’s how he’s been good with breaking into houses. He manages to bypass security codes easily.”
She smiled. “Sounds like Milo has found a kindred spirit.”
Levi dropped a kiss on her head. “The biggest issue is do we trust him.”
“No. Don’t do that at this point, but he’s got a lot of reasons to expose the Council himself.”
“And that’s partly why we’re running the tests.”
“If he holds up his end of this, and we do expose the Council – what about Tommy then?”
Levi shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe if we get a new Council they will give him a medal. They’d certainly look at his criminal past with a more judicial eye than the current one. He’s being blackmailed into following their illegal orders now.”
“Hopefully he’ll come out fine.”
“Chances are good.” Levi looked over at Milo and Tommy, their heads together as they looked at the huge holographic monitor. He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped.
She nudged him. “What?”
He smiled down at her. “I’m not making any promises, but if he’s any good, we could probably use him in the company. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer type of thing.”
“So find the information. Blast it out to the world so everyone knows what they did. Make sure it can never be buried as yet another bureaucratic secret. And we need to tell someone about the Council’s involvement in Lina and Paul’s murder, but who?”
“I’m debating talking to Stephen.”
“Your friend on the Council?” At his nod, she coughed lightly and said, “How can you know for sure that he’s not a part of this?”
Levi’s face scrunched. “I can’t. That’s why I’m still thinking about it. I don’t want him to be involved, but who knows if everyone is or if it’s only the four top-tier members.”
Tommy twisted around to look at them. “I wouldn’t trust anyone on the Council. They’re all privy to what goes on there.”
“But Stephen is new. He hasn’t even gotten full status there yet.”
“He’s too close to the top to be trusted. His meteoric climb within the Council makes me suspicious.”
“You think he’s been handpicked to climb that hierarchy because of his involvement?”
Milo piped up. “Everyone in the Council will be involved. There’s no way not to be.”
“Except they need a fall guy. What better way than to blame the new guy?”
“Or what better way for the new guy to cement his position than to arrange for the deaths of those interfering with the Council’s plans?” Dani asked.
“There is that.” Levi glared down at the huge computer. “How can we find out who is involved and who is not?”
*
Levi hoped Stephen wasn’t involved. This was too important a mistake to make. He walked closer to Milo. “Any progress?”
“A little. I think we found the files, but he’s layered it with different encryption techniques. We’re still working our way in.”
“Okay, I’m going to make some phone calls.” Levi headed toward the kitchen. “See if there’s anything I can find out on Stephen’s history.”
“You’re probably better off checking the government files and scanning them to see if they’ve been doctored.”
Tommy stared up at Levi. “You guys can do that?”
“Sure. We’re just not supposed to.”
Instead of calling a few people he knew, Levi walked up to the computer on the kitchen counter. Everything looked normal in the building, and Johan’s apartment was once again empty and dark. He might need to make a trip up there.
He bored into the government database and did a quick sweep of Stephen’s files. He scanned the information. Everything confirmed what he already knew about Stephen. It wasn’t surprising. He’d gone to business school with Stephen, and even then, he’d been full of political idealism. Levi had been the opposite. He’d been full of commercialism and was all about protecting Milo and his inventions.
It was all just as he thought, but this was just surface stuff. Dani would expect him to do more. Damn it, he wanted to prove that Stephan was okay. Beyond any doubt. So he kept digging, using Stephen’s middle name and last name. Nothing unusual in any direction. No leads and no flags, which was to be expected. He’d be covering his tracks professionally if he was involved in anything wrong. There’d been a few political rallies he’d been active in as a young man, nothing to raise eyebrows over, just enough to make him ‘normal’…and that’s what bothered Levi. On second glance, his buddy looked a little too normal.
Scowling, he went deeper.
And suddenly things got interesting.
Dani walked over and handed him a cup of coffee. He’d forgotten she’d even made it. He smiled his thanks.
“Did you find anything?” she asked.
“Maybe.” Levi rubbed his eyes. “Signs that he might have had his fingers in a few gambling pots I hadn’t known about.”
“Bad pots?” she asked. “Or just a little recreational gambling?”
“A lot of money lost.” He kept reading the information on the screen. “A hell of a lot of money lost.”
“Maybe he had to replace it? And the Council offered him a way to do that?”
“Or they used his gambling debts against him?”
Chapter 16
“To make him go along with their plans? That could be possible.” Dani didn’t know the man, but it would be nice to think that not everyone here was an asshole.
The HoloKomp beeped. Levi walked over to stand in the weird circle on the floor. Dani watched from a safe distance as Stephen’s face came through the wall. From the corner of her eye, she caught Tommy’s shrinking motion. Interesting. She flipped back to Levi, who seemed to be carrying on an animated conversation in silence. He must have muted the audio.
She turned around with raised eyebrows. Milo said, “Stephen has the conversation on double security levels.”
“So it’s serious.” She sat down beside them. She leaned toward Milo and whispered, “Can you lip read?” He grinned and held up a finger to his lips then tapped his ear. She realized that he was listening in on the conversation anyway.
Smart boy.
Standing, she walked to the table where she’d placed Charmin. He’d long since disappeared, but she was hoping he was close by. He wasn’t. She went to the pod room, but there was no sign of him. Remembering the beautiful fire, she headed toward Levi’s bedroom. Her bedroom now, she supposed, only it didn’t quite feel like it yet.
“Charmin, you in here?”
“Over here.”
She turned to find him balancing on his back legs on the back of a chair, studying the wall computer. She understood today was all about the technical age, but there was literally a built-in computer in each room. She’d never seen what this one could do, but since it was in Levi’s bedroom, she doubted it did less than any other one. In fact, as Charmin spiked out a long claw and touched another part of the screen, she realized this one was similar to the one in the kitchen counter. Maybe they were all the same a
nd she only saw parts of them.
She asked Charmin about that.
“Yes, they are actually all part of the same computer. You can pull out a section to look at via holograph at any place. They all have the same capabilities.”
“And what are you doing?” She tried to see for herself, intrigued by the different windows he had open.
He said, “I’m looking for a list of those killed in the genocide.”
“Why?”
“Because maybe it will give us some idea of who is behind this.”
“You think someone did this to their own people?” She shuddered. “That’s a terrible thought.”
“And yet your species seem to delight in finding ways to hurt each other even more.”
“I was hoping that the future would be more developed,” she muttered.
“It is, but people appear to be more stupid.”
She had to admit from what she’d seen so far, Charmin wasn’t far from wrong.
A long list appeared on the screen. “Any names we recognize?
“Not yet.”
The list scrolled on endlessly. She hated to think of so many people killed over being different. It was nothing new, but seeing the names of all those people brought tears to her eyes.
Suddenly Charmin reached out and snagged the screen.
It stopped, and one name enlarged supersize.
Stephen Cavendish.
*
Levi had just closed the HoloKomp when Dani dashed around the corner of the kitchen. “Levi, come into the bedroom, please.”
He raised an eyebrow, shrugged at Milo and Tommy, and followed her. Once inside, she closed the door so he could see the computer better. And what Charmin had highlighted.
He swore under his breath. “It has to be a different Stephen.”
“Does it?”
“It says he’s deceased.”
“How hard is that to fake?” Dani asked.
“To fake a death? Hard, but not impossible. Taking over someone’s life – that’s much easier to do.”
“And the only reason to do that is to hide who he really is.” Dani studied his face. “You’re thinking he might have had something to do with the genocide and is now hiding?”