Bandits (11 page)

Daniel had to double back at the mention of his father stea
l
ing an item he acquired from a snatch job. He wondered if his father was referring to the recent snatch job that he botched up. His father’s account of the incident was vague at best.
Hell, he was asking to get killed. That job was supposed to be a shared bounty! The EBRA and Vipen were supposed to split it down the middle. No wonder they came after him.

Faulk woke with a yawn and stretched. “Um, what’s up, cuz?” He turned, grabbed his shirt off the couch, and pulled it down over his head.

“We’re screwed,” Daniel said. He leaned forward to put an elbow on his knee and pulled the journal closer.

Faulk laughed and stood up. “I knew that the moment we ran from your house.”

“Well, I haven’t read far enough in the journal to know what it is my father snatched, but from what I’ve read so far, he went on a snatch job a few years ago and took something that wasn’t his - something he refused to give to the EBRA. I’d thought he was talking about the recent job he botched, but after reading on, I realized it was something else.”  Daniel wiped a hand down his face and let out a deep breath.

Sneaking threads of fear inched up his gut, because at that moment he knew his father had made a deadly mistake. “Initially, they didn’t know he was successful in his assignment, but som
e
thing gave him away. He started getting threats, though they weren’t direct threats. The threats came in veiled messages that held various traps. For instance, he mentioned that a small bomb was left in our house when we left for the last snatch job that he refused to pick up the load. Nickel was in the house alone, at least – until my father got there and sat the present that was left outside the door. He said there was a threat against Nickel and me a
t
tached to it. Luckily, he defused the bomb before it could go off.” 

Faulk scratched his head. “Wo-ow. Then maybe that was the reason he didn’t come finish the last snatch job? You think he suspected someone, maybe somebody in the EBRA?”  

“No. He wrote about the possibility of the King, but not a Zukar. EBRA don’t kill each other. We have our own way of keeping our laws, but we don’t kill our own,” Daniel replied with surety.

Faulk stepped over Nickel, picked up his bag, and ru
m
maged inside for clean clothes. “Humph. You hold on to that ‘loyalty between thieves’ crap if you want. I just don’t have a reason to trust them… and, from where I’m standing, you father didn’t either.”

“You don’t understand how deep the loyalty runs with the EBRA. We have to be that way in order to continue to thrive. That’s what makes us the most skilled and dangerous sect of the Zukar. There’s just too few of us. The power comes in our nu
m
bers and loyalties to one another. Something you, my runaway cousin, wouldn’t understand. Who’ve you ever been loyal to?”

Faulk turned to Daniel and frowned. “Family, you and my sisters, to name a few.”

Daniel stood up. “Family? Is that what Uncle Kiev did, stick by family? From what I was told, your father was a wi
t
ness in court
against
my dad. If my father hadn’t run off with Bry and Haden when he was thirteen, he would have spent five years in a juvie penal colony! You call that loyalty?”

Faulk pointed at Daniel, “Yeah, he would have spent it there with his so-called friends that got him in trouble in the first place! God! These guys - your so-called
brothers
are NOT your family, Daniel! You have a brother, a real brother lying right over there – one that would give his life for you! If they were trustwo
r
thy as you think, maybe your father would’ve trusted them, but instead he hid something he thought was
so damned
important from them.”

“Your father never cared about mine. The Zukar would never let one of their own go to jail, – much less turn him in!”

Faulk threw up his hands. “My father risked his life and ours to come to Merwin. Why? Because he’d set things up to give Uncle Rayne a second chance. He risked his career for this. Your father, on the other hand, turned his back on his parents and his family to follow his no good friends.”  Faulk shrugged.

“You don’t understand. They
saved
his life. My father had no choice!”

Faulk pointed at Daniel to drive his point home, anger clouding his eyes. “Do you mean the same friends who made him a hunted man and a criminal in the eyes of the entire galaxy?  My father fought every day to find your father and get him absolved from his crimes, so that he could come home and start a new life. I wonder if your father’s lousy friends – the ones who set him up in the first place
,
- would’ve offered him that!”   

Daniel stared back at Faulk unflinching. “Your father doesn’t understand what it means to be what we are. I bet he’s just like you, spending his life on the outer edge of the law in jud
g
ment of those that chose a different path, always thinking his way of life is the only way of life.”

“I think what my father offered your dad was a lot more than he deserved. My father almost got thrown in the prison colony himself, because he didn’t stop defending his brother in hopes that he would change. And what did he get for it? Your father spit in his face and turned his back on his own brother, who never did anything to hurt him.” Faulk’s usual jovial expression was long gone, and his eyes were slightly watered from the me
m
ory of his father’s grief.

Daniel reached out and touched his shoulder. “We’re not our fathers, Faulk. We haven’t made their mistakes.” He dropped his hand and turned around. “Hell, from this point on, it looks like we’re gonna have plenty of chances to make our own.”

“I’m sorry, man. Truth is, I wanted to convince Uncle Rayne to talk to my dad one last time. I’d hoped to convince him to come to my graduation. I already graduated, technically, and now, I can’t return home. I don’t want to be the one to tell my dad that Uncle Rayne got murdered in cold blood and we have an u
n
known killer tracking us,” Faulk said and swiped his hand down his face.

Crash!
Daniel turned to see Jade standing there with br
o
ken pieces of a glass around her, fighting against tears. Finally, she gave up as one tear, and then another flowed from her eyes. As she stood there shaking, an angry expression came upon her face. Her hand went to her dart belt, and Daniel grabbed Faulk as they ducked.

Jade’s dart flew out of her hand and hit the wall. “You liar! How could you?”  Jade yelled.

Daniel realized from the height of the dart, that she didn’t intend to hit him. She just wanted to throw something. If he was her intended target, he knew he would’ve been hit. Jade’s aim, nearly always proved true.

Daniel watched her hand to make sure it moved away from her dart belt. “Jade, look… I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you’d be upset and would fight harder to go with us. I was going to tell you, when the time was right.”

Jade narrowed her eyes and pointed at Daniel. “You! You don’t know how to be honest. I used to think I could trust you, that you were different, but you looked me in the eye and lied to me!  I hate you…hate you, Daniel! How could you not tell me?” She turned and stormed out of the room.

Daniel punched the chair next to him.

Faulk looked at him, confused, “You still haven’t told her?  Why were you keeping it from her?”

“I didn’t want her
to use it as blackmail
to go with us. She loved my father like he was her own. Our fathers are i
n
separable, and now, she won’t stay here. At this point, we have to take her.”  Daniel went to wake up Nickel.

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t take her anyway. It’s not safe to leave her here alone, and she might be able to help. She seems capable to me.”

“After reading what my father wrote, I know someone is a
f
ter us. It’s only a matter of time before we’re found. If the King’s men are pursuing us, we won’t be safe even with the Zukar, especially, since my father isn’t around. We gotta go now.”

Nickel woke up from all the commotion. He stretched b
e
fore rubbing his eyes and said, “I miss Dad. This sucks.” 

Daniel ruffled the top of Nickel’s spiky head. “I know, li
t
tle brother, but it’ll get easier. Go brush your teeth and get something to eat,” Daniel said.

Nickel got up and headed out of the room.

Faulk touched Daniel’s shoulder. “I hate to tell you, but I don’t think it’ll get easier. We just have to do our best to look out for him. I’m not my father, and I won’t give up on you that easy. If I have to live in your world instead of mine, I’ll be here for you and Nickel.” Faulk walked out of the room, leaving Daniel to think.

Daniel felt the sting of guilt, an emotion he regrettably was getting accustomed to lately. He pushed it down deep and fell back into the cushions. Picking his father’s journal up from the cushion, he finished reading.

Nickel is different, tough and young. I think the boy will accept his destiny well. Daniel always had to do things the hard way. The boy is too much like me, repeating my mistakes. I thought the best day of my life was when Bry, Haden, and me pulled off our first snatch. Too bad my dad found out and beat me within an inch of my life. Damn I hated my father at that m
o
ment. I was a man, I thought, and he had no right to correct me. Now I regret my hastiness. Haden impressed us. He was already an experienced snatcher and Zukar born. He’d even served time – earned his stripes, you know? We all hit it off and decided then to run. Hell, I’ve been on the run all my life. Never thought I had it in me to change. My boys though… hell they’re worth changing for…

Daniel threw the journal at the wall.
Why did you change? What the hell did you keep? Why?
All these questions plagued D
a
niel. There were far too many painful questions running around in his head, but he knew what he had to do. Time was running out, hell
- ran out
. They needed to get on the move, and it had to be now.

More unanswered questions ran through his head, and even though he knew he might find the answers in his father’s scribbles, he almost couldn’t bear to read the journal anymore. The more he read, the more he hated the fact that the old man wasn’t around for him to argue with. He took a deep breath and grud
g
ingly walked across the floor and picked up the journal again. Reading on, he hit jackpot. Right there, in his father’s own writing, was his father’s confession to stealing the coveted treasure
- a pakeet.
The item held a great power, a destructive power, and his father hid it. The journal didn’t seem to mention where it was hidden or exactly what the pakeet was capable of doing. It did implore Daniel to locate the map in the trove for answers
. What answers?  Why did you want to keep this Pakeet?

He heard laughter and looked up as Faulk, Nickel and a giggling Jade walked into the room. Faulk playfully pulled her ponytail, and Daniel got an instant sharp pain in his chest. He stood and walked over to them, putting the journal in his back pocket.

Daniel wrestled his temporary lapse of jealousy in check. “C’mon. Time’s up. My father’s journal says we have to go to my trove and get a map. It’ll take us to the treasure we can use to bargain for our lives,” Daniel said. He reached into Nickel’s hand and took one of his cookies.

“Hey! Get your own cookies.” Nickel snatched the cookie back from Daniel before Daniel had a chance to lift it up to his mouth.

Daniel shrugged and reached over to grab one of Jade’s.

“He’s got a point, cuz.” Faulk laughed and handed D
a
niel a cookie. “Here’s one of mine.”

Jade snatched her cookie out of his reach. “You’re not getting any of my cookies. Liars don’t deserve rewards,” Jade said. She put a hand on her hip and shoved the remnants of her cookie in her mouth.

Daniel stuffed the cookie Faulk gave him down. “Pack up everything we can carry. Jade, is there a shorter way out of here than the one we used to get in?” Daniel asked.

Jade lifted her last cookie to her mouth to take a bite. D
a
niel snatched it out of her hand and took a large chunk out of it, with a grin on his face he winked at her.

Jade glared at him and snatched it back. “Uh. Wait?  Did you say I was going with you?” She popped the remaining cookie in her mouth and wiped her hands on her pants.

“Yeah, I don’t have a choice. Can’t risk you being here alone, unprotected. From what I read, my father’s killers have been after him for a long time. His luck just ran out,” Daniel said and turned away from them to head over to his pack.

“Well, my father’s got some real nasty weapons in the safe in the cellar. Nickel, come help me get them,” Jade said and pi
v
oted to walk down the hallway.

Faulk followed her like some lovesick puppy. “I’ll help.”