Wreckers: A Denver Boyd Novel by George Ellis (ebook reader ink .TXT) 📕

know, I know, it’s amazing,” I admitted. “I’m just saying, think how far we could go. We could soar beyond Jupiter in a couple hours if we wanted.”

Edgar had followed me into the engine room and was standing by the door. “Just one problem with that,” he noted.

Desmond.

We had used the warp drive to escape a dangerous situation. Even Desmond would understand that. We could just as easily find a new place to make the hand-off to the Golden Bear.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said. I looked around at the people in the room. “The way I see it, Silver Star definitely didn’t deserve the drive. Giving them this technology would’ve been like giving it to the devil himself.”

I suddenly remembered Slay’s last words to me about Largent. A bolt of anger shot through me, but I suppressed it for the moment.

“Desmond, on the other hand. Could be worse, right? I mean the guy may be in charge of the Tracers, but he’s polite. He even has good taste in beer. I value that. But to give him the ability to sneak up on any ship or station at will? He’s got megalomaniac written all over him.”

“What about the fact we had a deal with him?” Edgar asked.

“We did. True. But part of that deal was him destroying the Burnett before they destroyed us, and he technically failed there, since we had to save ourselves.”

“That’s thin,” Avery said, cracking a smile. “But technically true, as you say.”

I turned to Marcum. “Why did you create the drive?”

He looked at Romy and nodded. “It wasn’t just me. There was a team of us. Romy was part of it. To answer your question, we created the technology to explore the farthest reaches of space.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how Desmond would have used it,” I said. “But me? I’ve got nothing better to do. I’d love to get out of the verse for a while. What about you, Batista? Or would you rather run from the federation the rest of your life? Romy? There someplace you’d rather be?”

Romy shook her head, warming to the idea.

“Avery?”

He shrugged. “I always loved pushing the boundaries.”

I turned to Edgar. He sighed, not wanting to be put on a spot. A few weeks ago, his answer would have been simple: we take the drive back to Desmond and he gets his credits. But now?

“I’ve always wanted to see Saturn,” he said. “And I want a bigger monitor in my quarters. I really want to see Jurassic Park on the big screen.”

Chapter 25

Avery was relaxing in bed, Batista by his side, when I entered their quarters. He motioned to the empty space on the wall where the monitor used to be.

“Dude took the screen right out of here,” he said, half-complaining, half-amused.

“A deal’s a deal,” I said. “This was the biggest screen we had. I’ll get you guys a new one tomorrow from my room.”

Batista leaned over to kiss Avery. “It’s okay,” she said. “We have some catching up to do anyway.” She kissed him again and when it started to get awkward, I cleared my throat.

“I might need at least another day or two to rest,” he pleaded.

“We’ll see,” she replied. “I’ll let you two boys talk about your feelings.”

She rolled her eyes and exited the room. The door slid closed behind her.

“She doesn’t play,” I said.

Avery shook his head in agreement. I sat in the chair opposite the bed and tried to smile at my brother. It probably came out looking more like my lips were fighting each other.

“I guess you’re wondering why I let you think I was dead,” he said, getting to the heart of it.

“Something like that.”

“At the time, I wanted everyone I knew to think I was dead,” he explained. “I did things…things I’m not proud of, Denny. I’m not talking about stealing stuff or hurting people. I mean worse. I wanted to disappear. So when dad…was gone…I decided to be gone myself.”

“We’ve all done stuff.”

“Not like this, brother.”

“You didn’t disappear from Batista though, did you?”

He knew that was coming. He acknowledged it by lowering his eyes.

“I knew you’d be disappointed in me. I know you always joke about being the lowly wrecker, but you’ve got principles. You help people. Like, actually help them. I’m a taker, Denny. Always have been. I only got in touch with Batista after I learned about Griss’s plan to destroy Jasper. It was too much to stomach and I knew Batista would help no matter what I’d done.”

“Like being a scout on the Rox?”

“Like that, yes. I’ve killed people, Denny. Too many to count. Most of them had it coming, but some didn’t…”

I waited to see if he was done. He wiped his eyes and seemed to shrink into himself. I put a hand on his shoulder. It was a small gesture, but Avery brightened a bit at the touch.

“There’s something else,” I told him. “Before we made the jump to warp speed, Slay passed along a message from Largent. She said he wanted me to know – us to know – that it was him.”

I didn’t have to tell my brother what Slay had meant. Largent was admitting that he had been behind our father’s murder. Avery clenched his jaw, trying to control his rage. But it wasn’t just anger he was holding in, it was guilt.

“It’s my fault,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I was working for Silver Star at the time. That’s how he got to dad. I’ve been telling myself ever since it wasn’t me that caused it, but it was.”

The revelation hit me like a ton of bricks.

“How?”

“I didn’t know, Denny –”

“How?” I repeated. I was now squeezing his shoulder, hard. He looked at it. I released him, but kept my eyes locked on his.

“He wanted to buy out the old man, like always,” Avery explained. “Largent didn’t even need dad’s operation, but it was just another feather in his cap he needed to feel superior. Dad refused, as you can