She said nothing for a moment, then asked, “But you don’t think I’m a wrong you need to correct?”
“No, baby. You’re the one thing in my life that’s Flor-damned perfect, and I intend to keep it that way.” No matter how many peacemakers, scientists, or brothers he had to overrun to do it.
Gar glared at the com unit he’d just disconnected. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn Drekk was deliberately slowing his progress, which made no sense. Gar knew Drekk better than most. An inheritance that came with Cheltam’s cover, Drekk provided both muscle and invaluable contacts throughout the System. He couldn’t be bought, and he never stopped on a mission. In a way, he reminded Gar of the Xema, and were it not for his large frame and unsettling grey eyes, Drekk might have passed for one.
So why would Drekk intentionally sabotage Gar’s efforts to find Rafe and keep him safe?
“He wouldn’t.” Gar rubbed the back of his neck, tired from his worry and the successive nights of no sleep. The nightmares had returned. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Taika and his son crying out for help. Unfortunately, the dream ended just like his reality had, with his wife and son being blown to bits.
Closing his eyes tightly, Gar willed away the images that refused to fade completely and focused on the family he had that were still alive. He had to trust that Drekk would do his job. As Drekk had said, the man preferred Rafe to Gar anyway. Rafe, the brother who most looked like Gar, but possessed an arsenal of charm that stayed him well in life. Hell, were it not for Rafe, Gar doubted he’d be here today. Only his brother’s dogged persistence, that ever-annoying penchant he had to get his own way, had woken Gar from a grief filled daze long enough to return to the peacemakers.
Sernal’s attitude, on the other hand, Gar could do without. But not permanently, he hastened to add, should fickle Flor be listening close. That fucking Mardu god had an odd sense of humour on Gar’s best day. No sense to exacerbate Sernal’s problems by wishing for something he didn’t really feel. Truth be told, Gar counted on Sernal’s steadfastness. Sernal was like a rock. Good and bad had definite sides, and to his law-loving brother, a grey area between the two didn’t exist.
That attitude had propelled Sernal through the peacekeeper ranks to the head of the organisation. That and his propensity towards an honest living. Little by little, Sernal emptied his forces of the corrupt peacekeepers giving justice a bad name. But the process was slow-going, and Gar thought that maybe this time Sernal had stepped on the wrong toes.
From what Gar had thus far gathered, Sernal had simply disappeared from sight four nights ago. No one had seen or heard from him since, and ugly rumours began spreading that Sernal wasn’t as honest as everyone had thought. Typical peacemaker politics. Without Sernal there to stem the accusations, his career would surely come to a screeching halt. And Gar knew how much Sernal lived for the law. To Sernal, being a peacemaker held the same importance as being Xema.
“Dammit.” Gar shoved the communicator in his belt and grabbed a pistol from his weapons stash. In minutes he found his rover and plotted a course to his nearby landing pad.
As he travelled, he decided he’d put it off long enough. Taking a deep breath, he set the rover on autopilot and checked in with his youngest brother.
Mara’s Light picked up after two short pings.
“What?” The growl belonged to one of the behemoth Raggas, Nu or Set, Catam’s crewmates. Commotion sounded in the background, and then the Ragga cleared his throat.
“Mara’s Light. What can I do for you?”
“Who’s this?” Gar asked, aware he came off as rude. But hell, who had the patience for social niceties?
“Nu Fas. Who the hell is this?”
Gar snorted. So much for Nu’s attempted diplomacy. “Gar. Put Catam on.” Nu cursed loudly enough to be heard three planets away, and then Catam joined the conversation. “Gar, any word on Sernal?”
“Not yet, but I’m working on it. What do you have on Blue Rim?” As Catam relayed his dealings with two of Blue Rim’s underlings, Canunn and Synster, Gar understood that his little brother had come a long way from the aggravating imp he’d once been. No longer was Catam the smaller boy trailing after his brothers. He had a successful career as a bounty hunter, a beautiful wife and two breathtakingly wonderful children. At short moments like these, when envy and pain cleared from his mind, Gar could appreciate his little brother and grasp how much he loved and was proud of him. But the memories always intruded, and eventual heartache wiped away any good feelings resurfacing. Before they could overwhelm him, Gar thanked Catam, promised to keep him up-to-date, and broke the connection.
Breathing hard, Gar wished he could overcome his need to distance himself from the happiness of others. Drekk, fortunately, proved easy enough to work with. The large man rarely spoke, and when he did, it was with rancour or dismissal. Though Drekk worked hard, he didn’t project that loving, familial tone Gar’s brothers did. That need to protect Gar simply didn’t exist for Drekk, and for that Gar was grateful. Oh, he knew he could count on Drekk to watch his back, but Drekk and he operated less on affection than on mission-oriented success. A mutual respect for an end state both men wanted. Nothing more.
Nothing like the seeming affection Drekk held for Rafe, which Gar definitely appreciated considering the circumstances.
Mulling the notion that he didn’t quite fill Rafe’s shoes in this job, Gar decided to make the change he’d been debating for several months. Playing Cheltam had helped free him from a course set on self-destruction, but this job didn’t fit. Rafe needed to come back, just as soon as Drekk pulled his ass from that troublesome Eyran refugee. Flor’s dagger, trust Rafe to land himself next to a fucking Creation.
Gar sighed. Just as soon as he cleared Sernal and settled Rafe once again behind Cheltam’s desk, he planned to pack up and head out, to where he didn’t yet know. But his instincts told him it was time to leave. Already he skirted the law more than Rafe, and definitely Sernal, would be comfortable with. The fact that his lawlessness didn’t bother Gar at all made his existence as a peacemaker a real problem in the organisation Sernal idealized.
No, Gar’s time as a lawman had ended.
Arriving at his landing strip, Gar left the rover and soon piloted his small craft into space, towards Sernal’s last known location—Mornio, a mining planet filled with more criminals than those populating Jintak’s jails. There Gar hoped to find a lead on Sernal, and maybe an idea about what to do with the rest of his pathetic life. But in the meantime, he planned to continue monitoring Drekk’s progress, or lack thereof, because if his shady assistant thought to screw with Gar’s orders, there’d be hell to pay. After all, Gar lived in the grey between right and wrong. And Flor help Drekk if he thought to sabotage any of the Mardu brothers.
Teleporting into the forest had been easy. And from his vantage in the crook of the tree above, Drekk watched Rafe stroke Erin’s full breasts, his motions tender and not at all rough as the marks on Erin’s wrists might have indicated. Listening to their conversation illuminated much about Rafe that Drekk had suspected but never actually witnessed. Drekk respected the hell out of the peacemaker even more, and the fact that Rafe knew about Erin and still planned to help her cemented Drekk’s decision to give them more time alone together; screw Gar’s orders. With Rafe, Erin would be protected. The Mardu would help her and her siblings, no matter what. As would Drekk. And part of that help meant backing off to give Rafe time to claim his new mate.