Salvaged Destiny (23 page)

“I can’t be.”

“Why not? Because it’s hard and it hurts too much and you
can’t see how it will work out? Come on, that’s what makes it love. If you didn’t
love him, you wouldn’t be suffering now.” Dee Dee gave her a wise look as she
selected a samosa and then bit down. As she swallowed and grimaced, a large
bouquet of mixed flowers arrived at their table supported by a creaking
deliverybot.

“Del Browen?” it managed to grind out in a metallic voice
and Del held out her datpad for validation, glad for the interruption to the
dreadful direction the conversation had just taken.

The bot scanned her and shuddered, then set the bouquet on
the table and wheeled away, narrowly avoiding tables, chairs and people’s legs.
It must have an unrecalibrated scanner
, Del mused.

She turned her attention to the garish collection of blooms
in front of her. Dee Dee was clapping her hands and making excited noises.

“They’re from him, I know it! It’s so romantic! Oh Del, you’re
so lucky!”

Del frowned, somehow knowing Lazlo would not have sent her
such a thing. And why would he send her anything? They were distant
acquaintances now, nothing more. They were never going to see each other again.
She searched for the ecard and activated the chip to find something terribly
strange. Her mind almost couldn’t understand it, so she handed it over to Dee
Dee for confirmation.

As her sister read it, her expression morphed from excited
to confused to angry. “What in Nebula’s Balls is this?”

“It’s not from Lazlo, that’s for certain,” Del replied and
took a tiny sip of her whiskey. If she was going to start to think about it,
she’d drink too much.

“Avo Kirk sent you flowers to apologize for how he treated
you? The man assaulted you, was willing to be a party to your murder—”

“Attempted murder,” Del corrected her.

“MURDER. And he sent you flowers today?” Dee Dee scowled and
poked at the flowers as if they might contain a sharp object. “How did he even
do this? He’s locked up.”

“Must not be anymore.” Del was starting to feel nervous. If
Avo was out and able to send her something like these gaudy flowers, could it
be that the sheriff was free and plotting to track her down? Maybe the terrible
deputies who had assaulted her were on the loose too.

“I’m calling Arturo. This is frightening.” As Dee Dee
hurriedly contacted their advocate, Del looked at the flowers. She really
wanted to throw them away, but knew she needed them as evidence of what Avo had
done. She did push them to the farthest edge of their table and waited for Dee
Dee to end her call. At least her misery over Lazlo had been replaced by
growing fear over Avo and why he had contacted her.

Soon enough, Arturo Yee was striding into the Bunker, heading
directly for Dee Dee, who glowed at the sight of him. Knowing she should be
happy for her sister, Del tried to not feel jealous that Dee Dee had someone
she liked right next to her and anxious to help while Del was most definitely
alone, light-years away from what she wanted.

After murmuring a greeting to the fluttering Dee Dee, Arturo
turned his dark eyes to Del and started to ask questions. She answered as best
she could and he looked more and more unhappy. Arturo was a handsome man and
Del felt a twinge of guilt that her situation had altered his face into a
frown, although Advocate Yee’s frown was still very attractive.

“What should we do, Arturo?” Dee Dee asked.

“I’ll document this and call a contact at security to report
it. I checked on my way over here and Avo has been released pending trial. His
claim of economic necessity apparently worked.”

“What about Harata?” Del was much more frightened of the
sheriff. The menace in his eyes as he’d held the stunner on her made her cold
whenever she thought of it.

“No, he’s still in, but making a lot of effort to be
released as well. Since they haven’t scheduled the trial yet, he is claiming
undue delay. The deputies are all still incarcerated, but who knows how long
that will last.”

“But his advocates are causing the delay!” Dee Dee broke in,
her hands fluttering around Arturo’s arm but not settling in. Del admired her
restraint. If Lazlo had been sitting there she would have been holding on to
him tightly. Sitting in his lap, even. But he wasn’t and she was on her own. Well,
she had Dee Dee and Arturo Yee’s help. And she needed to stop thinking about
Lazlo.

Arturo shrugged, not impressed with the machinations of
legal proceedings. He took a few digimas of the bouquet and then took the ecard
with Del’s nodded agreement. He then tossed the flowers.

“Let’s get out of here, Del,” Dee Dee decided. “I’ll get a
box for the snacks and I’ll get you home.”

Arturo brightened at that news and offered to walk them
back. Del noticed Dee Dee was blushing and realized her sister wanted some time
with the advocate. Nodding agreement, Del made sure Arturo escorted her to her
own apartment first. Dee Dee stopped looking at Arturo long enough to question
her.

“Are you going to be all right tonight? I know you’re upset
about Lazlo and then this thing with the flowers on top of it. Do you want me
to stay over? Or you can come to my place.”

Her sister was sweet to ask, but interrupting Dee Dee’s interlude
with Arturo was the last thing Del wanted to do. Shaking her head and assuring
her that she was going to be all right, she shut the door on her sister, sure
Dee Dee was going to take the longest, slowest route to her own door. And the
way that Arturo Yee was looking at Dee Dee seemed to indicate he would not mind
the journey.

Locking the door and checking her windows, Del nervously
circled the room a few times, unwilling to sit and unable to relax. Where was
Avo Kirk now? Had he been watching? How had the deliverybot known where she was
if he hadn’t given it some direction? Of course, he knew she spent time at the
Bunker because he did too. Stars, she’d even shared a table with him about a
month before Lazlo had strode into her life like a hero out of an
entertainment.

She didn’t feel safe in her apartment—that was all. The
deputies had found her, assaulted her and her family right in her home. How was
she going to sleep here, knowing Avo Kirk was loose out there and Harata might
soon be joining him? This fear, coming on top of her battered emotions from
seeing and leaving Lazlo, nearly overwhelmed her. Del found a blanket and
wrapped it around herself as she took a seat at her window to keep watch on her
family’s property as the night loomed.

Lazlo was drifting in his elections law seminar. He’d already
read the material, because without Del’s presence all he had to do with his
spare time was to study. He missed her. He was missing her more as the hours
passed, not less.

Remembering how she’d held on to him at the departures gate,
her arms tightening with each call for boarding and kissing him as if she didn’t
want to move a millimeter, made Lazlo ache. Thinking about anything else they
had done during her twenty-three hours on Weave was impossible. He might as
well walk out of class and stroll along a park path for all of the focus he
would have.

Noticing all of his classmates gathering their things and
leaving the classroom was Lazlo’s first clue that the seminar was complete. He
slowly collected his jacket and materials and said goodbye to the instructors,
then headed to the commons, hoping some fresh air would clear his head.

Nodding greetings to a few classmates who said hello, Lazlo
wandered down a path to find an unoccupied bench and take a seat. The stony
mountains on the horizon made him think of Del. He opened his datpad and hoped she
might have sent him a message. It had been fourteen hours since she’d left,
which was just enough time for her to relay a ping through a data pod if she
responded to the one he’d already sent.

There were several messages waiting for him, two with Sayre
as the origin, but neither from Del. That was disappointing. One was a general
message to all of Sayre security personnel, of which he was still a part, but
he decided not to look at that right away. And one was from someone he didn’t
know—Arturo Yee. That name sounded familiar. Was he someone Del had mentioned?

Lazlo shifted to a more comfortable position on the bench
and opened the message.

To L. Casta

Lt. Casta, allow me an introduction. I am Arturo Yee, the
Browen family advocate. I know you were involved in the raid on the family
property and you will be interested to know that Avo Kirk has been released
from incarceration, as of 2347.12.897. At the time of this message, no other parties
under arrest for the crime have been released, nor do I expect them to be.

However, as disturbing as Citizen Kirk’s release is, he
has subsequently made contact with Citizen Del Browen. The means by which he
did so are also troubling. He sent her a bouquet of flowers and a note of
apology. I immediately documented this and informed security. I am aware you
have an acquaintance with Citizen Browen and felt you would appreciate being
appraised of this situation.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like
any more information, or would care for any updates. Rest assured that I will
monitor the situation.

From Arturo Yee

Heat raced through Lazlo’s body as he absorbed what the
advocate had communicated to him. Stars, what was happening on Sayre? And why
hadn’t Del told him about this? Lazlo quickly checked his messages again—the
last message from Sayre was from Amrita. He quickly opened it and it was a
reminder to security staff that there was going to be a catered lunch in two
days in the break room. Nothing useful there.

Why hadn’t she sent him a message? It had to have been
frightening to realize the man who had assaulted her was free and that he
seemed to know where she was. Lazlo got up and headed for his study carrel to
compose a message to Arturo Yee and to decide what he could do to help Del from
a million light-years away. Despite the advocate’s avowed intention to manage
the situation, Lazlo needed a more well-armed approach.

He needed to think of someone he could trust to help her and
that person had to be someone Del would trust enough to accept the help
offered. Dee Dee. But how could he protect her? She would be out each day doing
pickups and deliveries and her apartment was completely porous—no security
system, no coded locks and her vid didn’t work after the raid. Somehow the
sheriff’s dampener had fried the chips. He should have replaced those before he
left. Balls, he should have installed some security measures before he left—that
was one of his areas of specialization.

Feeling incompetent and overwhelmed, Lazlo began to walk and
think.

* * * * *

To L. Casta

I’ve accomplished the enormous task of moving Del. She
yelled and threatened and tried to convince me she could just go hide in some
Outlands cave until after the trial, but I told her I needed her to work every
day or the children would starve, so she relented. Of course the children are
all working and earning their feed anyway, but she didn’t realize that until it
was too late.

She is in your apartment and cannot return to hers since
I had the cousins remove her new door and hide it under a broken lifter. She is
not happy. But she is safe. We’re all keeping an eye on her, which makes her
very angry.

Avo Kirk sent another message and a small box of
chocolates to her yesterday morning and she moved into your place last night.
Judge Titus signed the restraining order this morning and Arturo says that
should help. Arturo is going to include you on any information updates about
Avo Kirk. Thank you for offering your home. Del should message you with thanks
but she is angry and stubborn. Thank you.

From DeLoris Browen

Breathing a sigh of extreme relief, Lazlo relaxed a little
for the first time since he’d gotten the news about Avo Kirk. It seemed between
Arturo Yee and Dee Dee, Del was going to be somewhat safer. Thirteen days and
he would be back on Sayre. Major Sekar had requested him for security duty so
he wasn’t going to be posted to the general barracks on Weave, as he’d feared.

There had been talk that he might be banished from Sayre to
keep him out of the way until the trial, but his commander was bringing him
home as soon as the classes dismissed. Two of his instructors had agreed he
could take his initial examinations early, which would save him seven hours of
waiting before he could make the jump back. He already had passage booked and
was living out of his duffle until then.

The need to see Del burned uppermost in Lazlo’s mind, the
compulsion to make sure she was all right overriding his concerns about final
exams and scheduling new classes. She still hadn’t pinged him or sent him a vid
as he had requested in his last two pings to her. He knew she didn’t have the
marks to pay for one, so he’d sent her a prepay, but he had a feeling she was
going to regard it as charity and not use it out of pride.

But he was getting updates from his apartment security
system with every data pod. She was coming and going from his home with
regularity, the doors did not open for any deliveries or visitors whenever she
was there alone. He checked his datpad again and was delighted to see a vid for
him with the code of the one he’d forwarded to her. Del had finally sent him a
message.

But Dee Dee’s voice broke in before the image started. “Hello,
Lieutenant Casta. It’s me, Dee Dee. Del refuses to cooperate, just as she has
been uncooperative with everything for the last few days, so I’m going to vid
her for you. She has no choice since I’m her companion today. And there she is.”

Dee Dee must have activated the image because he saw Del in
the deck area of her family’s business, checking over a mismatched cart quickly
and looking irritated. But she was safe, which was all he cared about. Del
glanced over at her sister and scowled at her or the vid, probably both. Lazlo’s
heart shuddered in his chest as he watched her shift and move.

The image blanked and he waited a beat. It returned to a
close-up of Del driving the cart, her profile rigorously aimed to watch where
she was driving and not to look at the vid or him. But she was safe. Stone
walls flashed past in the background as she drove and Dee Dee spoke.

“Del, are you going to say anything to Lazlo?” Del blinked
and swallowed, then braked the vehicle to a quick halt, which threw the vid
into dizzy interference. Dee Dee righted things to show Del wrestling with blue
containers at the back door of a restaurant, looking mightily agitated, then
she was back in the driver’s seat and still not looking over. “Del, stop being
mean and say thank you.”

Del glanced over at her sister and hissed at her, “Dee Dee,
turn that off. I told you I’m not doing this with you.”

“Then do it by yourself later,” Dee Dee countered. “I
will
check with Lieutenant Casta and make sure you sent him something. And if you
didn’t I’m going to make you filter all of the hydraulics we just piped in from
the
Sunsprite
. About a metric ton of smelly, slimy, stuff that stains
your skin blue for weeks. Think about it.”

The vid cut off and Lazlo waited, wondering if Del would
relent and talk to him. He also realized he never wanted to cross Dee Dee
Browen—the pretty girl was diabolical. The screen was black long enough that he
almost shut it off, disappointed that she wasn’t going to appear. With a flash,
it brightened to life. He saw his apartment, or at least a corner of the sofa,
some of the wall and a section of terrace windows with what appeared to be
morning light creeping in. There was a faded quilt on the sofa he thought he
recognized from Del’s apartment and then there was Del, looking sad and
reluctant. She blinked a few times, took a deep breath and started to speak.

“Lazlo. Hello. I’m sorry that I haven’t thanked you or
pinged. All this hullabaloo with Avo Kirk has me rattled and being forced to
move in here and then you…I’m just…I’m just upset all of the time. Angry, Dee
Dee would say, which is true, but I’m also so sad.” Del sniffed and her eyes
began to water.

Lazlo felt a pang that she was alone and suffering. “Thank
you for the use of your home. It’s safer here. I’m finally starting to get some
sleep. Before I was waking up all the time to check the locks, or I couldn’t
even get to sleep. But it’s better here. Thank you.”

She looked at him with watery gray eyes and Lazlo almost
reached for her. “I know we agreed we aren’t, that we aren’t…’’ She paused and
looked up, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. “Thank you for everything,
Lazlo. You have no idea how much I…” Del shook her head and bit her lip. “Whenever
you need to lease your apartment, I’ll be ready to leave. I’ll pack up your
things and forward them to wherever you need them. It’s the least I can do for
you.” She looked at him one moment more with her mournful gaze. The screen
blacked off, permanently this time.

Lazlo sat back, shaken. Seeing her had been equally
reassuring and painful. He’d been thinking about her living in his home ever
since he’d read she had moved in. He’d enjoyed the thought that she was sleeping
in his bed, using the mismatched plates in his kitchen, seeing his digimas and
watching whatever subscribed entertainment happened to arrive on his display
from that day’s data drop. It made it easier for him to feel closer to her and
he needed that feeling even more with the threat of Avo Kirk roaming loose.

But now he yearned to be there with her, to share meals and
discuss their days. Despite seeing proof of her safety, Lazlo felt worse than
he had before, as if his whole chest had been hit with a hundred stunner bolts
at once.

* * * * *

“So, brother, happy to see us?” Mart strode into the
dormitory lobby as if he were ready to entertain a crowd of revelers on board
the
Regenta
. He was wearing an elegantly cut suit that gleamed with
expensive material and glittering accessories. Lazlo felt drab in comparison since
he was wearing recycled jump pants and an old thermal shirt he’d been issued
three years prior for arctic training exercises.

Mart’s wife, Fallon, trailed behind as she encouraged her
daughter to follow along as she carried the baby. Both of his nieces were
adorable and Lazlo again felt a pang that he was missing so much of their
childhoods. But he’d chosen Civil Service over joining the family business and
that was one of the sacrifices.

Lazlo was grateful that his family had been able to take a
quick trip to Weave to see him. Mart and Fallon were on planet to present
tourism proposals for the
Regenta
to various travel organizations and
they’d brought the girls along for a mini vacation. It was fewer jumps for them
than to come all the way to Sayre.

Not that Lazlo would have encouraged that idea at all. What
his sophisticated and nearly spoiled brother would have found to do on the bare-bones
agricultural world was beyond Lazlo’s ability to imagine. Just the thought of
having to explain about the antifungals they would have to apply daily was
enough to keep them several jump rings away. But Sayre didn’t seem like a
hostile place to Lazlo. He missed it now. Missed the dust and freighters and
pallets of food and his colleagues and most of all Del.

Mart grabbed him in a big hug, which Lazlo was happy to
return, then he greeted Fallon with a kiss. Bets looked up at him with a
dubious expression on her round five-year-old face. Lazlo doubted she
remembered much about him, so he slowly crouched next to her and held out his
hand.

“Hello. I’m your Uncle Lazlo.”

She narrowed her dark-brown eyes and gave him the same
skeptical look that Del threw his way when she wasn’t falling for one of his
lines. Apparently women had his number at a very early age.

“I know who you are. I watch your vids.”

“I’m not too silly in them, am I?” Lazlo asked and Bets
slowly shook her head. “Why don’t you make me a vid sometime?”

The little girl drew up her mouth as if she had accidentally
eaten a very sour candy. “What about?”

“Anything you like. Your school or when you go to the park.
Vid your little sister or your mom.”

“Or your dad,” Mart threw in as he reached down to fluff his
daughter’s dark-brown hair.