Clouds of Venus (eBook)

Jeff Tanyard (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019 | 1. Auflage
270 Seiten
Jeff Tanyard (Verlag)
978-0-00-014469-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Dale Kinmont is a college student in post-catastrophe America. He's lucky; he lives in one of the walled cities for the nation's elite, and life is pleasant. He expects to graduate and find employment in his uncle's company.

Everything changes when he's framed for murder. He's tried, convicted, and sentenced to hard labor in the prison colony on Mercury.  

He ends up in Hesperus instead, a flying city that soars eternally through the acidic skies of Venus. His goal now is to find a way to clear his name and return to Earth before Hesperus erupts in civil war. He also must battle the harsh realities of the planet itself. Because if the Hesperans don't kill him, Venus probably will.

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Chapter 4 – The Kinmonts

 

“Easy, Dale,” said a soft, feminine voice. “You took a nasty blow to the head.”

Dale blinked a few times before opening his eyes for good. His vision was blurry, but it soon focused. He lay in a bed. There were bandages on his arms. He raised a hand to his face. There were bandages there, too, and a thick one on the back of his head. He was back home, back in his bedroom in the Kinmont mansion. His aunt sat on the edge of his bed and was peering down at him. Dale squinted at her. “Fran?”

“Hey,” she said with a smile. “Welcome back.”

“What happened?”

“You went outside the wall. That's what happened. You were lucky. You hit your head on a rock. That's what Raynor and Iris think, anyway. They found you in a creek.”

“A creek?” The last thing he clearly remembered was carrying strawberries. After that, the details got a little hazy. Dale closed his eyes and groaned. “Zack's going to kill me.”

“Let me worry about him.”

Dale's eyes opened. “Are Raynor and Iris okay? I didn't—”

“They're fine. They hid when the gang showed up. When you were attacked, Raynor wanted to rush out and fight them, but Iris held him back. She saw you fall into the underbrush and disappear, and she figured the gangsters wouldn't bother trekking through the woods just to finish you off. She was right. The truck backed up, and they looked for you for a moment, but they quickly gave up and sped off. Once the truck was out of earshot, Raynor found you and carried you back.”

“He carried me? By himself? The whole way?” Dale glanced down at his bulk. It was hard to imagine another man, even one as strong as Raynor, carrying him very far.

“Does that really surprise you? He'd have carried you all the way to the ocean if necessary.”

“Yeah, I know. Just hard to believe, is all. Adrenaline, I guess.”

As if on cue, the door to Dale's bedroom opened, and Raynor stuck his head in. “Hey, little brother. How are you feeling?”

“All right, I guess, thanks to you.” Dale felt his cheeks warm. “Thanks for bailing me out back there.”

“No problem.” He looked at Fran. “Mom, Dad said he wanted to see Dale when he's feeling up to it.”

Dale heart sank. He could imagine all kinds of things his uncle might have to say, and none of them were good.

 

* * *

 

“Have a seat, boys,” said the stern-looking man in the expensive suit.

Zachary “Zack” Kinmont, CEO of Tanaka-Chandra Enterprises, sat behind an enormous mahogany desk in his mansion's home office. He was tall, handsome, dark-haired, and athletic, similar to his son, and was renowned for his poker face during business negotiations. On very rare occasions, Dale could tell what the man was thinking. Most of the time, though, his face was impassive. This time was no different. Uncle Zack was a blank slate.

Dale and Raynor sat in the chairs facing the desk and waited stoically for the pronouncement of doom that was surely forthcoming.

Zack laced his fingers across his stomach and leaned back in his chair. “I have some bad news, I'm afraid. Mark Immerson has been killed. He was assassinated today in his office on Hesperus.”

“Oh, no.” Dale's concerns about being punished instantly vanished. His thoughts turned to Annora and Cole and how they must be feeling about losing their uncle so suddenly.

“Assassinated?” Raynor asked. “Not just murdered, but assassinated? That makes it sound political. You know that for sure?”

Zack's eyebrow twitched. “Very astute, son. The answer is no. I don't know for certain that it's political. But the man was shot in the head in his office. No one was captured. No witnesses. We know nothing about the killer. What does that tell you?”

“Inside job. Whoever it was could bypass the security well enough to get in and out unnoticed.”

“Correct. Which means?”

Raynor pursed his lips for a moment before answering. “I hate to say it, but it sounds like Dr. Aeneas.”

Zack looked at Dale. “What do you think? Was it Dr. Aeneas?”

Dale shrugged. “Beats me.”

Zack grimaced. “Try a little harder than that. Use your head for something other than trying to break the rocks in the creek.”

Dale's mouth fell open.

“Come on, Dad,” Raynor said. “Dale's had a hard day. Besides, going out there was my idea. So don't blame him. It's not fair.”

“It's completely fair.” Zack folded his arms across his chest. “I've told you boys countless times not to go outside the wall. That wall exists for a reason. You took a terrible risk going out there. I could have lost you both. And if a few barbed comments are what it takes for my nephew to learn his lesson—if that's what it takes to keep him alive—then it's a price I'm willing to pay.”

Dale flinched. His uncle tended to emphasize “nephew” when he was really disappointed in him.

Zack gave Raynor a stern look before turning back to Dale. “I've been strict with you, and demanding, but it's because you're my brother's son. When Everett died, I felt like I had failed him as an older brother. I felt like his drinking problem was the result of my not being a good enough example. So I felt obligated to raise you as best I could as a way of trying to make it up to him. I've come down on you hard at times, but never think that I don't love you. Because I do. And if hurting your feelings is necessary to raise you properly, then that's what I'll do. If I didn't love you, then I wouldn't care what happened to you. I'd let you do whatever you wanted.” Zack's expression softened. “So let's put our thinking caps on, both of you. Well, Dale? What do you think? Was it Dr. Aeneas? Concentrate. Explore all the possibilities and probabilities.”

Dale rubbed the knot on his head. It hurt, along with his pride, but Zack was right. The man hadn't become a business tycoon by making foolish decisions. And what they had done was foolish. Now it was time to make up for it with some hard thinking.

“I think,” Dale said slowly, trying to force the logic to come together in his mind, “that the assassin is probably not Dr. Aeneas. Mayor Immerson wasn't a friend of Free Space, but he wasn't so bad for the Party, either. He tried to mediate between them and the federal government as best he could. And the Vice Mayor is Cameron Gantry, and he's well known as an opponent of the Free Space Party. So Dr. Aeneas wouldn't seem to have a good motive.”

Zack gave him a single nod, a rare indication of approval. “I agree. So who would have a good motive?”

Raynor turned to look at Dale. He stared at him with earnest, imploring eyes, as if desperate for Dale to say something “smart” and therefore redeem himself in Zack's view.

Dale quickly looked away. He stared at the top of the desk, trying to ignore the two men in the room so he could focus. Cameron Gantry... Cameron Gantry... And then he knew. His eyes snapped up and zeroed in on his uncle's face.

One side of Zack's mouth curled up, forming his trademark half-smile. He was always good at reading other people, and he could read Dale like a book. “You've got an idea.”

“Maybe.” Dale cleared his throat. “I just remembered that Cameron Gantry is Nat Leland's age. Both men would have been at Veneralia at the same time.”

Raynor slapped his forehead. “Veneralia! I should have thought of that.”

Dale grinned for a moment before continuing. “Leland would have wanted political allies on every planet, and the biggest party on Venus would have been the best place to find them. Gantry was the major up-and-comer there. It's almost a certainty that the men bartered for favors with one another.”

“Are you suggesting Nat Leland had Mayor Immerson killed?”

Dale frowned. “I don't know. Leland's a sleaze, but I've never heard of him being connected to a murder. A contract killing seems like a bit much. And I'm not sure what he'd have to gain anyway.”

Zack nodded. “But Leland has connections. You said it yourself—he would have wanted allies on every planet.”

“He was a middleman,” Dale said, snapping his fingers. “That's it! He would have vouched for Gantry to his friends, knowing one of them might see it as an opportunity to win his favor. Nat Leland might be innocent, but someone in his social circle is likely the killer.”

“He's long been rumored to have a number of politicians and judges in his pocket,” Zack said. “There's another rumor, though, one that few have heard. And it's not to leave this room. Understand?”

Dale and Raynor nodded.

“There's talk,” Zack said in a low, conspiratorial voice, “just whispers, really, that Leland has some dirt on the President.”

Dale gaped. “No way.”

“Wow,” Raynor said.

“If it's true,” Zack said, “then I suspect the assassination plot goes all the way up to the Oval Office. Which means we need to alter our own plans.”

“What do you mean?” Raynor asked. “I've put a lot of effort into those plans. I've been trying to make my own political allies, just like you've always wanted. I'm committed to being President myself some day. I'm still planning on going to Veneralia in the fall so I can hobnob with the right people. Is all that out the window?”

“Relax.” Zack leaned back and propped his elbows on the arms of his chair. “I'm still working to put you in the White House. I have no other choice, really. You're a necessary foil for Brice Leland. If you...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.1.2019
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• ISBN-10: 0-00-014469-X / 000014469X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-014469-0 / 9780000144690