Contractor (29 page)

cement pilings. Smaller vessels were thrown

aside like children’s toys.

Daniel tried to get up. His foot caught in

the wood. He hit the deck on his chest. He

scrambled on his hands and knees for inches

as his impending doom roared closer.

He pushed power into his hands and

legs together. It felt like scraping the bottom

of a barrel. His fingers and knees flickered

with an unsteady white light.

He jumped off the ground like a frog,

pushing with all four limbs together. He

blasted into the air as the boat ripped through

where he’d just been sitting.

Sea salt wind rushed through his hair as

he cleared the docks and flew over the

parking lot behind the marina. He waved his

arms in circles as he tried to keep himself

upright.

He charged his shoes with power and

landed on the asphalt, but he had so little left

he couldn’t take the whole blow. He rolled

hard, caught in the tin can of his armor, limbs

flapping and banging as he flipped and

skidded to a stop.

The boat impacted the edge of the

parking lot. The sheer momentum forced it

up. The breaking metal sounded like the cry

of a dying whale.

And then it crashed back down,

slamming into the asphalt. Chunks of

pavement smashed through the cars nearby.

A dozen car alarms went off at once.

The ship finally groaned to a halt.

Daniel stared at it, catching his breath. He

half expected it to get up and start again.

He checked himself over. A few

bruises, maybe. But he was alright. He was

lucky. That last landing could have broken

something.

He came to the realization that the man

he’d knocked out might not have lived. He

didn’t feel all that sorry. They were all

complicit in ruining lives to make a living.

Pete was proof of that. Just turned out that the

harbor got an extra corpse.

The faint wail of an emergency siren

grew in the distance. Daniel decided that

he’d had enough for one night. The rest had

given him his wind back. He powered up a

jump and beat a retreat onto the rooftops.

Chapter Six

Secrets

"And tonight’s top story continues to

unravel. Janet?"

The common room television cut to a

scene of the wrecked marina. Her blonde

hair flipped in the wind off the harbor as she

gestured at the wreckage of the boat, still

propped on the shoreline. "Thank you, Harry.

As you can see, cleanup of the accident is

still continuing. Unfortunately, they’ll have to

take it apart over the next few weeks; the hull

is too damaged for them to float it back in the

water. Police are now saying that the cocaine

recovered from the ship and from the

warehouse on the opposite shore are

approaching a wholesale value of over 3

million dollars."

Mark whistled from his seat on the

couch. "That’s a lot of blow."

"Man," Jack said. He leaned over the

cushions. "Look at the hole in that thing. It

must have hit the parking lot full speed."

"Yeah," Daniel said. "Must have."

The screen split in two, showing the

anchor in the newsroom on the left. "You say

3 million wholesale?"

"That’s correct, Harry. The cocaine

would have been cut before distribution to

buyers—the process by which drug dealers

put additives that look like white powder

into the cocaine. That’s things like baby

powder, corn starch, even packets of vitamin

C. That allows them to control the

concentration of the drug when it’s sold and

stretch their supply. The estimated street

value here would be anywhere from 15 to 20

million dollars."

Mark sighed. "What a waste."

"Yeah, because you snort cocaine on

weekends," Jack said.

"Hey man. You don’t know me."

"I know you’re a faggot," Jensen said.

"Gee, that one must have taken you

weeks. Are you always this clever?"

"Only on Tuesdays."

"No wonder Eleanor slapped you."

"Look, this is how I’ve got it figured,"

Jensen said. "It’s all about the stages of

love."

"Come again?"

"It’s like a romantic comedy," Jensen

said. "First comes the hate. And then, from

circumstances forcing us together, she’ll

come to see past the thin veneer of my rugged

arrogance and learn that I have a heart of

gold."

Mark folded his arms and nodded. "So

what you’re saying is, you’ll forcibly wave

your dick at her until she bends over."

Jensen waved him off. "Just wait and

see."

"You’re delusional," Jack said.

"Shh, Jack," Mark said. "Just let him

be."

"I stand by my assessment of your

faggotry," Jensen said.

"You’re going to get your ass beat by

her bodyguards."

"You two argue like a married couple,"

Daniel said.

"Correction," Jack said. "They argue

like a divorced couple."

"Who knows," Mark said. "Maybe

Jensen was gay in a past life."

"Maybe you suck cock."

"Is that what you tell all your butt

buddies?"

"Just you, Mark."

"I’m gonna go voice chat with my

brother," Daniel said. He looked at Jack.

"Let me know when they come out of the

closet."

Daniel went back to his room. In a few

moments, he had his laptop up and running. It

was a little early, but it was Saturday, so

Felix would be off from school.

He clicked the dial button on the

program and waited. A beeping ring droned

from his speakers a few times, and then

Felix’s face appeared on screen. "Hey

Danny!"

"Hey Felix." Daniel inspected his

brother for a Vorid. He was clean. "How are

things?"

"Pretty good. I got an A on my math test.

Thanks for helping last time."

"No problem. Let me know if you need

help again. Times tables are tough."

"Are your classes good?"

"Yep, no problems. I think first semester

will be a cakewalk."

"Hey, you made friends, right?" Felix

asked. "Are you friends with Jack now?"

"…yeah. I am."

"Don’t get too excited about it." Daniel

flinched. Jack was leaning over his shoulder.

"Where did you come from?" Daniel

asked.

"I was getting tired of the lovebirds,"

Jack said. "Hey, Felix. What’s up?"

"Hey Jack!"

"We’ve made a bunch of friends," Jack

said. "Things are going really good. You’ll

have to come up and hang out some time."

"No, you should come here!"

"Hey, hey, ask before you invite people

over." On screen, James popped into the

living room from the kitchen. "Hey, guys."

"Hi Mr. Fitzgerald."

"Hey dad."

Jack left Daniel’s shoulder and sat on

his side of the room. James took up the

laptop from Felix. "…so…classes good?"

James asked.

"Yeah," Daniel said.

"Any tests?"

"Pre-calc. I got a 105."

"Oh, good." James scratched his temple.

"That’s great."

"Yep."

"Well, keep studying hard."

"I will."

"Think you’ll be back soon?"

Daniel shrugged. "Next weekend,

probably. I’ll take a bus."

"Right. Good."

"…how’s work?"

"Oh…" James waved vaguely. "…about

the same. You know. Good."

"Yeah."

"Hey, gimme the camera back!" Felix

said. The laptop shook, and Felix took center

stage again.

James leaned forward slightly. "Well,

I’ve got to make sure dinner doesn’t burn,

so…"

"Talk to you in a bit," Daniel said.

"Yeah. Ok."

James retreated into the kitchen. Daniel

sighed. Felix picked up right where he’d left

off, energetic and animated. After a few

more minutes, they decided to call it quits.

Daniel clicked the red button and ended the

call. He sat there for a moment, watching his

desktop.

"…your dad is kinda awkward," Jack

said.

"He doesn’t know what to say to me."

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"…I told you about how my mom died."

"Yeah."

"My dad…he became really depressed.

He left me and Felix to get along by

ourselves. I had to raise my brother for two

years without any help. I had to explain to

him why our mother wasn’t coming back."

Daniel looked out the window. Their tiny

glass hole-in-the-wall offered a sliver of a

view into the grassy square outside the dorm.

"He can’t really make up for that."

Jack nodded. "No. He really can’t. So

you don’t want to forgive him?"

"No. I don’t."

Jack nodded. "…gotcha."

Daniel looked at him. There was a

reason he didn’t tell people his life story.

He’d been expecting the usual bullshit. Don’t

hold a grudge. Learn to forgive. He’s only

beyond redemption if you believe he is. "…

what," Daniel said, "no lecture?"

Jack shrugged. "Not from me. I know

what it’s like to have a shitty parent. We

don’t need them. Took me a while to realize

that. I put my mom out of my life before I

came here." He smiled. "You don’t like your dad? Fine. Forget him."

"…is your mom divorced, too?" Daniel

asked.

"No," Jack said, "she never married.

She got knocked up when she was just getting

started in her career. The only thing she told

me about him was that he was a mistake. But

snooped into it a few times. She doesn’t

really know anything either. It was a one-

night stand."

"Yeah."

"So, there you go," Jack said. "Screw

them. They aren’t who you are. They can’t

limit who you’ll become."

Daniel was surprised—the Jack he

knew wasn’t this forward. Or maybe he

really was getting more confident. Hell, at

this rate, he’d outpace Daniel.

Outpace him. It was like they were in a

race for something. Identity? Purpose? Who

knew.

But his advice didn’t quite sit right.

Daniel wasn’t sure if he could bring himself

to cut James off. Cutting off his dad would be

like cutting off part of his half-brother.

"Yeah," Daniel said eventually. "Maybe you’re right."

Jack nodded, satisfied, and turned to his

own computer. "By the way, Jensen and

Mark said they’d be doing some Wing Blade

Commander pre-gaming tomorrow before

that frat party. The new one just came out.

You coming?"

"Sorry," Daniel said, "but I’ve got a

date."

Jack swiveled in his chair. "What?

Really? With who?"

"Rachel Ashworth."

"Oh yeah, Eleanor’s pet friend."

"She’s not Eleanor’s pet."

Jack looked at him.

"They’re just really close."

"Uh-huh." Jack turned back. "Just…you

know. Play defensive."

"…maybe I will."

****

Daniel was waiting at the entrance to the

theater when Rachel arrived. The sight of her

scurrying down the crosswalk made him

grin. A poofy little hat was set on her head.

The sharp blue looked nice on her hair.

"Sorry I’m late!" She stopped in front of

him, slightly red from her speedwalking.

"Did I make you wait long?"

Daniel had been waiting for 15 minutes.

He shook his head. "Not at all, Miss

Ashworth." He took her hand and walked her

inside. "Already got tickets, though."

"Oh," she said. "You didn’t have to pay for mine."

"That’s alright. You can pay for ice

cream after."

Rachel gave him a sly look. "You’re

assuming there’ll be an after, Mr.

Fitzgerald."

"Yep."

"I guess we’ll see."

Like a lot of things in Boston, the theater

was small. The city was old, and the

cramped buildings tended to lean in on each

other. In contrast to the aging front, the inside

was all clean red carpets and black leather

seats.

They peered around for a place to sit.

"This might sound weird," Daniel said, "but I like the third row back from the front. Or is

that too close?"

"My god," Rachel said, "someone who

understands me!"

"I know. Larger than life, right?"

"Yeah, but third back you can still see

the whole screen."

"Exactly." They walked into the third

row and sat in the middle. "Those plebeians

in the back don’t know what they’re

missing."

"I almost feel bad for them."

"Almost."

Daniel sipped a bit from his soda, then

settled himself back into his seat and draped

an arm around Rachel. She snuggled into the

crook of his shoulder. He threw a self-

congratulatory party inside his head.

The movie came on. It was a generic

action flick, which let them watch it without

paying much attention. Daniel kept himself

conservative, occasionally rubbing her

shoulder or exchanging a glance with her

when the plot took a swerve. He earned a

few smiles for the trouble.