Book 09 - Faded Steel Heat Read Free

daughter could do something productive. I think he
hasn’t sent for you just because he’s embarrassed to
admit that he can’t handle everything himself. He’s
still hoping he can get by without you but I think it’s been
too late for that for days.”
    I didn’t have a clue what it was all about yet. I glanced
at Nicks.
    Alyx told me, “Nicks is in it because my brother is in it
and they’re engaged and she’s worried.”
    What a cruel world it is where a beauty like Nicks wastes
herself on a creature like Ty Weider. Though Nicks did not appear
excited by her impending nuptials.
    She is not. But she does not have the heart to disappoint
two sets of parents who have had this alliance planned for twenty
years. She has found ways to delay it several times. Now her time
has run out.
    “And Tinnie?”
    “She’s my friend, Garrett. She’s just here to
lend emotional support.”
    A wise man would not now insist on subjecting all things to
a rigorous scrutiny, Garrett.
    I have lived with His Nibs so long that even his obscurantisms
and obfuscations have begun to make sense. This time he was hanging
a codicil on the rule about not looking too closely at politics,
sausage manufacture, or the teeth of gift horses. Tinnie was here.
I should enjoy that, not go picking the scabs off sores.
    “All right. I still don’t have a clue. Start at the
beginning and tell me everything, Alyx. Even if it doesn’t
seem important.”
    “Okay. It’s The Call.”
    I sighed.
    It would be.
    Already I knew I wasn’t going to like any of this.
     
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4
    I asked, “What are they doing? Strong-arm stuff?
Extortion?”
    “Tinnie says you call it protection.”
    I glanced at the professional redhead, so silent of late. At the
moment she wasn’t into her favorite role deeply. “They
tried it with my uncle, too.” She smiled nastily.
    I worked for Willard Tate once. He was a tough old buzzard with
a herd of relatives willing to do whatever he told them. He
wouldn’t be threatened. “He sent them
packing?”
    Tinnie grinned. “You know Uncle Willard. Of course he did.
Dared them to come back, too.”
    “That might not have been too bright. Some human rights
gangs are pretty wicked. Alyx. No. Both of you. Was it The Call
specifically?”
    The Call—as in “call to arms”—is Marengo
North English’s gang and is the biggest, loudest, best
financed, and most vigorously political of the war veterans’
groups. The Call includes a lot of wealthy, powerful men unhappy
with the direction Karenta is drifting. As far as I knew The Call
only raised funds by donation. But they might extend their reach if
rowdier, more radical groups began to attract more recruits.
    North English has a big ego and a personal agenda that’s
never been clear.
    Alyx said, “Yeah. No. I don’t know. They talked to
Ty. He claimed he knew some of them. He said they told him
Welder’s has to contribute five percent of gross receipts to
the cause. And we’ll have to get rid of any employees who
aren’t human.”
    Ty is Alyx’s brother. One of three, all older than she is.
Two of those three didn’t make it back from the Cantard in
one piece. The other one didn’t make it back at all. I
don’t like Ty Weider, though for no concrete reason. Maybe
it’s his relentless bitterness. Though he has a right to be
bitter. He gave up a leg for Karenta. The kingdom hasn’t
given him much in return.
    Ty is not unique. Far from it. Just look down any street. But he
belongs to a family with wealth and influence. “Why would
they take a run at Ty instead of your dad?”
    “Daddy doesn’t spend much time with the business
anymore. Momma is lots sicker. He stays with her. He only goes to
the brewery maybe every other day and then mostly he only stays for
a little while, talking to people he’s known a long
time.”
    “So Ty is more likely to bump into the public.” I
glanced at the Dead Man. Was he mining the unspoken side of this?
He didn’t send me a clue.