Learning the Hard Way 3 Read online

  “Why did he try?”

  “Because he thought Mike had betrayed him,” Keelan said, keeping his eyes on Mike. “But Hallett has to be out, if he could collect with the fucknut Misery knocked off the list of the living. That’s less than six months ago.”

  “Let’s do a search on him,” Mike said and drank from his glass.

  “Please continue, Misery,” Keelan said and dug into his food.

  “Okay. I bailed and met up with Tommy—the one I was running with the day you found me. I’m just scared they think he had something to do with it. If they catch him—”

  “You got more info on him than Tommy?” Keelan asked and found his pad from a thigh pocket to note the details.

  “He’s from Churchburrow. F... Flu... Fla... I don’t remember his last name.”

  “Tommy F,” Keelan mumbled. “Age?”

  “A bit older than me. A few years, I think. He’s really good at getting around security and stuff and transferring our digital loot, and he could even get them paid out. We actually lived pretty good after he got his hands on that computer. He always said the colors spoke to him.” She laughed. “Told him what to do.”

  “Liquid colors?” Mike asked, perking up a bit.

  “Yeah, he dreamed about them, too.”

  “Do you know what that means?” Keelan asked, surprised by Mike’s expression. And that he’d heard about it before. From Danny in Irgang.

  “I heard about them in regards to the Technoraiders,” Mike said.

  “Who are they?”

  “That’s classified, Misery, but they’re pirates. They’ve been in the Desolate System for some years, but lately, they’ve become such a huge headache that four Spec Edit ships were sent out to find them. You remember the price war on produce from the Frontiers? It’s a result of them. Pilar System borders the Desolate System, and the only other way to Verion Four is through the Balatana System, but their governor is a greedy bastard, so it cost a boat load in freight duties.”

  “Am I supposed to know any of this?” Keelan asked.

  “They started a negotiation. That was the one they talked about in the news last night. The little man with pig eyes is the governor of Balatana. An assface if ever I’ve seen one. He sent his own son to that horrible boarding school in the Svennika System.”

  “Ah.” Keelan had heard of that one, but he didn’t feel informed from the rest of it, so he turned his attention to Misery. “Anyway, this guy, Tommy. He’s the one you want us to look for?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “We got lost from the others several months ago. It was just me and Tommy, and now he’s alone.”

  “Go look, I’ll do the dishes,” Mike said.

  Misery sent him a radiant smile and followed Keelan into the cockpit.

  Keelan sat and found her profile. “I know you can’t believe everything that these profiles say. What is not true, and what don’t they know about you?”

  Misery looked at the screen. “Parents, we know that now.” She snickered, making Keelan smile. “And he’s not my first... murder.” She glanced at him, and Keelan glimpsed an insecurity she seemed to fight to hide.

  “You can tell me.”

  “Well, you see. There was this brute bastard, and I wasn’t that old and... well, I’m not a virgin.”

  The same bouldering anger as earlier boiled in the pit of Keelan, and he still tried to fight it, because if he lost control, he’d hunt that fucker down and kill him slowly. Not being able to, he ended up rocking back and forth, suppressing a growl and popping his neck joints.

  “Tommy kicked him off of me,” she said quietly. “And then I hit the brute... until he didn’t move. I couldn’t lift my arms for days after that. But we saw on a news feed that he’d been found dead.”

  Keelan studied her. She seemed to have shrunk and looking hard at her hands. Carefully, he reached out to put an arm around her shoulder. She flung her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. He held her, too, feeling an overwhelming urge to protect her rise and match the anger at what he hadn’t been able to protect her from.

  Mike showed up at the door and froze. He looked around and smiled awkwardly before retreating and leaving them to bond.

  “So, two murders and not just one,” Keelan said with as friendly a tone he could muster. Not really a problem. Holding her and keeping her safe shook the last of the anger, leaving him feeling... whole. “Any other victims?”

  “A guy will have a limp for a while.”

  “How?”

  “Kneecap. We stuck together, me and Tommy.”

  “Was that a promise?”

  “Yes. But now he’s alone.” Such sadness in her voice, but Keelan still felt useful.

  “Shit,” he mumbled and let go of her with one arm to look for Tommy F.

  He found him quickly—intercepted and sent to Motáll’s local prison two days after they’d left with Norman Petterson and Misery safely onboard.

  “That isn’t a bad place. A year for hacking and placement in an institution until he turns twenty-one. His bounty was five hundred, so he won’t even get a tat for it. Since he’s under twenty-one, they’re gonna try to rehabilitate him by putting him through school.”

  “Wonder if your brother would agree that Motáll local prison isn’t a bad place.”

  Keelan noted the hint of animosity but let it pass. “Yes, because the stay at Verion Four’s local prison, however brief, was not bad.”

  “I have a hard time seeing why he’d talk to you about it, since you chose to become a badge-flasher. I mean, I don’t like you for that badge,” she said and pulled away a bit. But Keelan saw the humor behind the look she gave him.

  “Problems with authorities comes with our gene pool, trust me. My military records say I have a problem with authorities, too. The lieutenant commander looks disgruntled every time he hears my name.”

  Misery snickered. “Can I read his profile?”

  “Lewis’?”

  “Keelan’s!”

  “Oh, why?”

  “If I’d feel like making a family tree or whatever they’re called.”

  “The majority of the information isn’t true, anyway. Big profile, big booty, and lots of greedy bounty hunters who love to tell stories. And preferably the colorful kind. With long planet hops, that leaves plenty of time to add to it.”

  “Is that a no?”

  “Ask Mike, I think he has a copy.”

  Misery fell into a contemplative silence. “Tommy was piss scared of varanuides. Even the ones who brought us food. They asked us if we wanted to move in with them.”

  “On Motáll?”

  “Yeah. Just after we arrived.”

  “That would probably not have been a bad idea,” Keelan mused.

  “I had already promised Tommy we’d stick together, but he was too scared. He said they’d just turn us into slaves. What do you think?”

  “You were kids, right?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Then I don’t think they would.”

  Misery looked down, picking at a cuticle.

  “I gotta make a call. Try and ask Mike about Keelan’s profile. He might not share it with you, but don’t think anything of it. Yet.”

  “Okay.” She glanced at Tommy’s photo one last time before she left the cockpit and closed the door behind her.

  She keeps her promises. That’s good to hear. Keelan felt proud of her as he coded Alice’s call address.

  * * * *

  Having retreated to the kitchen, Mike contemplated what he’d just witnessed in the cockpit. It pleased him to see Keelan and Misery growing closer. Now he just hoped they could postpone the revealing of Keelan’s true identity without compromising the newly developing and still fragile trust. But as it grew, Mike’s fear of a negative reaction to whom her dad really was diminished, and he no longer feared that she’d expose them.

  Misery entered the kitchen and sat down opposite.

  “Did you fin
d your friend?”

  “Yeah, he’s in a prison on Motáll.”

  “Okay, then it’s not that bad.”

  “That’s what Dad said. He also said that Keelan had been in the local prison on Verion Four and that he’d agree.”

  “Okay.”

  “You have his profile, right?”

  Mike nodded.

  “Can I see it?” she pressed on.

  Mike shook his head.”

  “It’s my uncle!”

  Mike suppressed a sigh, knowing they’d have to go through it at some point. “Yes, but believe it or not, there’s actually a good reason for your uncle’s file to be closed.”

  “And that reason can’t be that I’m not allowed to know anything about my family.”

  “No, the reason’s a lot better than that.”

  “Let me hear it.”

  “No. It’s sealed to limited access only. We don’t have access to it, either.”

  “But you have it.”

  Mike rubbed his face callously. “We have a lot to talk about and figure out. Once that’s done, you can see it, but not before.”

  Misery sighed loudly and demonstratively, but not as convincingly as Mike would have expected.

  Keelan joined them in the kitchen a few minutes later, and Misery scooted in to make room for him on the wall bench.

  “I’ll just search on Cecil Hallett. See what that’s all about.” Mike left the kitchen. He plopped down on the seat in the cockpit and began a search. He didn’t like what he found—that after only a short time on Mother Earth and a few conversations with the Tribunal, Cecil had been sent out into the worlds again.

  Mike broadened his search to include Pierre, Karlson, and Selina. He even found the collector Misery had killed, and as feared, he’d flown with Cecil Hallett.

  The VID chimed, and Mike absentmindedly answered the call. It was Dave Ratkins.

  “Well, hello.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I just heard some strange things and was contacted by someone with strange questions about you and the inmate Keelan.”

  “Oh, like what?” Mike asked and sat forward—a clammy sensation spreading in his body.

  “Like how you got away from the hospital. Whether I know anything about your relationship to Keelan and your new partner Kaleb. How you ended up as partners, or if coincidences of that caliber really do exist.”

  “Do you know who’s asking?”

  “Yes, Andy Thomson’s team. I’ve looked at it a bit closer, and Mathers isn’t covered as well as you’d think. Especially not since he should have been killed under the capture of Keelan, who conveniently enough died with Mathers in an explosion. Consider yourself warned and keep your senses about you. I’ll call you if I find out more, and you’d be kind to keep me updated, too.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Mike said. The screen turned off as the call disconnected, and Mike stayed in his seat, staring blankly at it as he ran the details of the cover through his head. He finally got up to find Keelan, who was sitting in the common room playing tasarik with Misery.

  “We have a problem. Andy Thompson’s team isn’t as stupid as we’d hoped.”

  The VID chimed again, and Mike looked into the cockpit before sending Keelan an alarmed glance. They both entered the cockpit and closed the door behind them. Keelan hid outside the VID’s cam, and Mike answered it.

  It was Ratkins again.

  “I just found another piece of information when looking through what they’ve found. Keelan’s retinas were scanned around the hospital he got you from... and I thought you said this meathead wasn’t stupid.” With those words, Ratkins ended the call.

  Mike turned the seat to face at Keelan. “To let your retinas get scanned was not something I ever thought possible—especially since I have so many nice and unused profiles stashed away,” Mike growled.

  “You might remember I had to change form to get in, and I didn’t have two sets. I couldn’t wear them when playing fucking Andy!”

  Mike sighed and nodded before he rubbed his face in frustration. “We need to get that study plan drawn up. She has so much to learn, since it looks like both you and I will be on the run again soon. I have to call Lewis. He’s gonna get mad. No, he’s gonna explode or self-destruct from anger!”

  “I can hide in another shape, but we don’t know if Misery can, and you’re definitely fucked.”

  Mike snapped his head up in shock.

  “But you have my word we’re not leaving you. We’re together in this, right?” Keelan said determinedly, giving Mike peace of mind.

  “Together,” Mike said and shook his hand.

  * * * *

  Keelan and Mike left the cockpit and stood in front of Misery who had once again found her comfy corner of the couch, tucked her legs up, and buried her nose in a book.

  “As I said, there’s a lot you need to learn before you can see Keelan’s profile, but—” Mike began.

  Misery looked up, all interest in the book lost.

  “That’s been changed,” Keelan finished and sat. Mike continued down the hall toward his room. He returned a minute later and put a memory-pad in front of her. Misery looked from one to the other before snatching up the pad.

  While she read, Keelan tried to line up the explanation in his head and stick the details in a useful order. It did not go as well as he’d hoped.

  “How much of this is true and how much is lies?” she finally asked, looking up.

  “The rap only counts verified murders,” Keelan said. “There are more who can’t be verified.”

  “Delta?” Mike asked.

  “Yeah, the first in the arena in the fight for freedom, the brute at the auction, the three Blood Brothers, a currier and his cellmate, Black-eyed Burton, and the guy who lost his head in the shower room. There’s a few I didn’t have anything to do with. I didn’t kill Sal,” Keelan listed. Mike slapped Keelan’s shoulder hard. “What?”

  “You? You didn’t kill?” Misery asked, gaping.

  “Oh yeah,” Keelan said and sighed, relieved the secret was finally out—a relief he had trouble hiding.

  Mike scowled at him.

  “What?” Keelan shrugged. “Lewis is gonna self-destruct anyway.”

  “And Kaleb is?” Misery asked.

  “Never existed, only digitally, which is why we called him a glitch in the system,” Keelan said.

  “And how much of this is true?” Misery continued, motioning for the memory-pad. Keelan reached for the pad and looked through it.

  “Who the hell verified the guy in the alley?”

  “Ratkins,” Mike said.

  “Oh, yeah. Let’s see... rape—false, that’s when you were made. There’s a few missing here, but the escape is true. This guy died because he beat the shit out of me. That’s when Dorsey caught me. And a couple of guards aren’t here. Didn’t end this bounty hunter. And the nine in Delta aren’t all here. Not even Burton. Wonder what would make the guards keep that secret?” Keelan looked at Mike, who just shrugged. “Guard on prison transporter is good. Two on Motáll are not mine. The two on the freighter on Verion Four are mine. So’s the guy in the alley. And three are missing. Walter, Andy, and Tom.” Keelan glanced at Misery, who stared at him with a plethora of emotions crossing her expression.

  “So you’re my dad but... Keelan?”

  “Yeah, I just tried to play law abiding citizen in the hopes they’d stop hauling my butt back to jail all the time.”

  “So you lied?” she asked, and Keelan slapped Mike hard on the shoulder.

  Mike flinched and rubbed the spot. “Sometimes ignorance is the best way to protect people. I insisted on it because we’re trying to protect you.”

  Misery turned her hurtful gaze from Keelan to glare angrily at Mike. “Here I’ve been worried sick about the fact that I had more in common with my uncle and thought I had absolutely nothing in common with my dad,” she shouted. “Do you know how that feels when topped
by the news that your entire fucking life is one big lie?”

  “I’m sorry,” Mike said, but he didn’t look sincere.

  “How many times have you pretended to be someone else to survive on the streets?” Keelan asked, adding some calmness to his voice.

  “Often... always,” she said.

  “Same here.”

  “But I never lied to Tommy!”

  “No, but you’d known him all your life. My biggest fear has been that you’d trust Keelan less because of the rap sheet. I’ve killed twenty-one people, but I didn’t know you or your past. I didn’t know how you’d feel about that.”

  “Do you care when you kill?” she asked.

  Keelan blinked. “Yeah, I care! But like you, I was taught very early on that becoming a murderer isn’t something you chose—it just happens if you survive the streets, and then... you kinda get used to it.” Keelan pulled a face, hoping she never would.

  “I didn’t understand that until I met Keelan and heard about his life,” Mike said. “I’m one of those people who can’t even fathom what you’ve been through. I’m beginning to, which is the reason I got Keelan out of Irgang. And Keelan is officially dead, so you two have to keep up with the name Kaleb when it’s the mercenary and your dad we’re talking about. It’s bad enough you’re identical,” Mike said.

  “Seems a bit... messy,” Misery commented.

  “Very. We made this identity for Keelan after he saved my life at a hospital. But the others caught up with our ruse, so now all three of us might be on the run.”

  “Great,” she muttered, but it didn’t sound like she’d really grasped the severity of the situation.

  “Misery, let me put this into a better perspective for you because there is a helluva difference between a three K bounty,” Mike pointed to Misery, “and a one hundred thousand credit bounty.” Mike pointed to Keelan before pointing to himself. “And especially on the general lawmen’s tolerance for those who double deal. I impersonated a bounty hunter in order to get into Irgang and get your dad out. We’re talking a maximum-security prison which no one in history has ever escaped from. If anyone can prove it, we won’t just be hunted by the few who chase the big booties—we’re gonna be hunted by every lawman on every planet in every system.”