Yul held up the camera. “I wasn’t bluffing that scum Ymir that time. Got enough evidence here to keep Veramax and their affiliates iced for the next century. The upload was a bluff, true. But I have enough incriminating evidence with Veramax’s name mentioned multiple times to put a kibosh on their shenanigans. How much they paid Ymir. Names, times, places. Irrefutable voice signatures. They won’t be licensed for any business contracts on this planet for a long time, if ever.”
Banzari breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. So you’re confident they’ll back off?”
“Guaranteed.”
“Nice and clean, eh, Yul?”
“You paid me to do a job, I did it.”
Banzari’s face broke out in a broad grin. “Can’t thank you enough.” He gave Yul a hearty pat on the back. He winced at a sudden spasm in his leg. “You’ll get your 10k bonus when I see that there’re no follow ups. What’s your contact info, so I can send it to you?”
“Best you pass it on to my father.”
Banzari nodded. “Thought you might say that. Rande’s going to hear some good words from me.”
Yul smiled. “That’s worth more than all the yols in the world.” Surprisingly, even to himself, he meant it. He turned to stare at the dengals wandering in the pasture past the fence. But his face returned to that characteristic moody cast—of a man constantly under fire, waiting for the next crook with an eye for vengeance to come looking for him. A man wondering when it was all going to catch up with him and put him in his grave.
Banzari’s ebullience faded. “You don’t seem too pleased, Yul.”
“Never am, Lan, after a job, truth told.”
“Why’s that?”
Yul shrugged.
“Vrean, you got to lighten up. All business and no play makes a man cynical and jaded. Here, I’ll put you up on my ranch for however long you want. Please don’t protest. Pick any dengal. Yours free, to ride or keep. A good investment. Plenty of riding here, open space, fresh air and nature galore. Hell, I’ll even throw in one of the ranch cabins free! Stocked with booze, ice, food, whatever you want. You name it. You saved my ass, and Trixie’s and the dengals’.”
Yul looked to the sky, the placid field, the swaying trees. It was beautiful, a thousand acres of pristine ranchland. What more could a man ask for? His nerves were no less than jangled after the last couple of jobs—that messy one out in Cortis had nearly buried him. Still had nightmares of it—of falling bombs, knives in the dark. One of these days fate was going to catch up. Well, at least one good deed was done for the day. “It’s a nice offer, Banzari, but maybe later. I got another prospect. Just came through the holo tablet. Something with Cyber Corp, a mega company. Could be a major stepping stone, if not a sizeable bonus.” Too early for retirement, but maybe a start for a fund, or a ship of his own.
Banzari shook his head in wonder, not disguising his exasperation for his neighbor. “As you wish, Yul. But you’re making a mistake. I told you, you need—”
But Yul was already on his feet and walking away to the buggy his father had lent him. One hand was held high in a final salute to Banzari, but Yul’s ears were closed.
* * *
One more loose end to take care of. Then time to quit this planet of his childhood. Yul traipsed dutifully up the service lane to where his father worked with his back bent over a tractor-pulled cutting machine. The blades needed cleaning. Parts were littered over the worktable. The young sun shone down with a pleasant warmth on their backs. A halcyon day, all events considered, as if the horrors of yesterday had never happened.
Rande turned around and could not help but beam through a crinkled smile. “Cat dragged something back, I see.” Yul nodded, but then a pained expression came over his face.
Rande looked away, dropped his gaze. “I—am sorry, Yul. Maybe I misjudged you, and if I did, please forgive me. Guess I’ve always judged you for being what you were, been down on you for many things, which were untrue. Marthe tried to tell me but I didn’t listen. Had other plans for you of my own.”
“Don’t sweat it, Dad.”
“No, hear me out!” Rande pushed out a palm. “Always thought you were going down the wrong path, making a big mistake—but I can see you’re doing exactly what you were meant for, and I’m proud of you. What you did for Banzari. Opened my eyes.”
Yul could sense his dad’s struggle in saying what he did. A heartfelt attempt to reconcile old grudges, regrets and pains from the past. “No need to explain. Water under the bridge. It’s okay.”
“No, it ain’t okay. Too much stabbing in the dark on restless, rainy nights, thinking about where you are, who you are, and making the wrong conclusions. I really thought I was going to buy it back there. That lowlife coming at us with his gun. Banzari came wandering down the road babbling some story of a bomb to me. I decided to help him. Foolish me. Lan’s buggy broke down. We took mine. If you hadn’t come back when you did—”
“That’s what Lan said. Don’t worry about it. I was there and it all worked out.” Yul put an arm around his father’s shoulder, knowing how much it took for his father to say what he’d been holding back for so long. His father draped an arm in answer over Yul’s back.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable under the newness of an intimacy with a long-lost son, Rande broke away and sighed. “Me,” he said
