Shattuck – The Clues
“Tuck,
you need to come home,” Lena pleaded. “You’re burning up all your stake for the
big one.”
This was the third time she had
contacted him to beg him to come back since he left over a month ago. Tuck
looked exhausted. His eyes were red, his hair uncombed, his clothing a mess. He
was a man obsessed. He wasn’t coming home until he found this elusive Watts character.
Shattuck was following the last lead
he showed her of a recording he found in Watts’ N.E.T. history. It had no
delivery site that you could follow, but it was a conversation between Watts
and Arr about the release of William Braden.
“You don’t understand,” Shattuck
said. “This is the big one, and I am so close, Sis,” Shattuck said. “I can feel
it.”
They were both hooked up with Ethinn
in the N.E.T. This was where Lena always found him lately.
“Where are we?” she asked. The room
they were standing in was a shambles. It had obviously been tossed by someone.
“In Watts’ home on Rigil 4’s second
moon,” Shattuck answered. “I physically just left Outpost #68. I found another
lead.”
“What?”
Before her brother left he confessed
to her that he found his way in through the backdoor of the Braden brother’s
trial records. They were accused and convicted of murdering innocents on a
mercenary mission. They had abused Azar root, a substance used sparingly by the
military to stay awake on long shifts of duty. Five of their fellow mercenary
team witnessed against the Bradens, Tim O’Malley (deceased), Jake Harcourt
(deceased), Daniel Douglas (now deceased), Arr of the Henu (whereabouts
unknown) and Ezekiel Watts. Shattuck formulated the theory that Braden was
tracking down the men who accused him and murdering them one by one. He wasn’t
able to get a lead on Arr of the Henu, but he knew where Watts lived. Watts was
the man to follow if you wanted to catch Braden and Watts was way out of Wade’s
jurisdiction.
“Watch this vid. It was one of many
I found under the bed at Watts’. Whoever tossed the room thought they weren’t
important enough to bother with. They were wrong. I’ve studied these until my
eyes are bleeding,” he exaggerated and rubbed his red eyes for emphasis. “They
are full of information.”
Shattuck started the recording which
showed a man in a kilt playing a ukulele. He was singing the Earther version of
Happy Birthday with a backup chorus of no less than a dozen very drunk grown
men.
“That’s Tim O’Malley in the kilt.
The time stamp on the recording is years ago. Each of the recordings I found
were of Jake Harcourt’s birthday parties. The guys all got together each year
to celebrate.” Shattuck explained. “Wait…Wait…” Shattuck flipped to a bookmark
he’d placed in the recording. “This is the part I want you to see.”
Shattuck narrated as the recording
started of a group of drunken guys sitting around a room littered with limp
party decorations and half eaten plates of birthday cake with runny, melted ice
cream.
“That’s Jake on the right of Tim,
Douglas is in the big armchair, Arr there at Jake’s feet on the floor and you
recognize Watts. Listen….Jake is telling them about a mission he and Arr were
on during the past year.”
Jake told the story of a mission
that had turned into a nightmare. A whole colony of miners and their families
had died on Galnon Station #41. When he was finished, Tim checked the bottle on
the coffee table in front of him. It was empty. He stood up and retrieved a
fresh one from the bar at the back of the room. He came back and walked around
the room filling all their glasses. He filled his last and raised it.
“To the families of Galnon Station
#41,” he toasted.
Everyone raised their glasses and
drank.
Shattuck stopped the recording.
“I am running with a hunch here,”
Shattuck explained. “I think when Watts said he was going to hide in the
‘deepest, darkest hole’ he could find, he was being literal. I think he has
gone to Galnon Station #41. I have been researching it and it is being
independently mined.”
“Where in the verse is Galnon
Station #41?” Lena asked.
“It’s
out a ways. I’m headed to Trade Post A8767 on the outer rim.”
“Jez Tuck, that’s half way across
the galaxy. You have to use a window to get there,” Lena said in a worried
tone. “Tell me you’re not thinking of using a window. That’s downright stupid.”
“I’m not going to use a window,”
Shattuck repeated obligingly.
“You’re lying. You have to.” Lena
cursed under her breath. “You idiot! Haven’t I taught you anything? You could
get yourself killed hurtling through windows.”
“I love you too, Sis. Don’t worry.
I’m fine. I am picking up some really good stuff out here,” Shattuck assured
her. “Have you been reading it?”
“Of course,” she replied with a
sigh. It was good stuff. Probably the best her little brother had ever written.
He seemed to be feeding off the danger. He had a mission. He was going to get
to the end of this story.
“Promise me you’ll be careful,” she
begged him. “Promise me if you catch the slightest glimpse of this maniac
Braden guy that you’ll call the officials. No playing like you know what you’re
doing in a fight. Promise me,” she reiterated.
“I promise.” Shattuck crossed his
heart with his fingers.
“Tuck..I don’t know what I would do
if something happened to you,” Lena confessed.
“You’d have a lot more money to
spend on yourself,” Shattuck replied with a grin. “Don’t worry, Sis. I’ll be
the bane of your existence until the day you die.”
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