The Best Made Plans | Page 7

trouble. The police would
probably give a lot to really get their hands on some of them."
"I'm not so sure about that," Pete told him. "It was my uncle who was
interested in the Hunters. Now, it's different. Maybe the guy that went
and got the proof of their membership would be the one who'd have the
trouble. Real, final type trouble."
"What's that?"
"Look, I just told you. Among other things, my uncle was interested in
the Hunters." Pete bent his knees and took a squatting position. His
elbows rested on his knees and he relaxed, resting his chin on folded
hands and looking up at Don.
"Seems as though some other people didn't like to have him asking too
many questions around." He paused.
"You think my uncle was getting a lot of money from the gamblers and
some smuggling combine. That right?"
"Well----" Don hesitated.
"Sure you do. So does everybody else. The galactics are telling each
other about why don't they get somebody in authority besides some
stupid Khlorisana. And the Khlorisanu talk about the old nobility--how

they can't stop robbing the people. It all goes along with what the
papers have been saying. There's been more, too, but those bribery
charges are what they've really worked on. They keep telling you some
of the same stuff on the newscasts. And everybody believes them. But
it isn't true. My uncle was an honest policeman. They got him out of the
way because he wouldn't deal with them--and maybe for...." He held
out a hand.
"Figure it out. Why didn't they just give him a trial and put him into
prison if he were guilty? Or, if they were going to have an execution,
why not make it legal--over in Hikoran?" He paused, then waved the
hand as Don started to speak.
"They didn't dare have a trial. It would be too public, and there was no
real evidence. So they say he escaped. They say he slugged a
guard--took his weapons. And he's supposed to have shot his way out
of Khor Fortress, after releasing some other prisoners. They say he
forced his way clear from Hikoran to the Doer valley." He laughed
bitterly.
"Did you ever see Khor Fortress?
"And you should have seen my uncle. He was a little, old man. He'd
stand less chance of beating up some guard and taking his weapons
than I would have of knocking out all three of those fellows a few
minutes ago." Again, he paused, looking at Don searchingly.
"I don't know why I'm telling you all this, unless maybe I better tell
someone while I'm still around to talk," he added.
"Now wait." Don shook his head. "Aren't you making----"
"A great, big thing? No." Pete shook his head decidedly. "I've talked to
my uncle. I've heard my uncle and father talk about things. And ... well,
maybe I've gotten mixed up in things a little, too. Maybe I'm really
mixed up in things, and maybe----" He stopped talking suddenly and
got to his feet.

"No, my uncle didn't escape. That whole affair was staged, so they
wouldn't have to bring him to trial. Too many things would have come
out, and they could never make a really legal case. This way ... this way,
he can't talk. No one can defend him now, and no one will ask too
many questions." He turned away.
"Oh, listen." Don was impatient. "That flight developed into a national
affair. All kinds of witnesses. It was spread out all over the map. People
got killed. Who could set up something like that and make it look
genuine?"
Pete didn't look around.
"Look who got killed. A lot of old-line royalists," he said shortly. "And
some of the Waernu. You think my uncle would kill his own
clansmen?" He expelled an explosive breath.
"And there's one man who could set up something like that. He doesn't
like the old royalists very well, either. And he hates the Waernu. Think
it over." He walked quickly out of the room.
* * * * *
Don looked after him for a few seconds, then sat down and fixed an
unseeing gaze on the far wall of the locker room.
"Gaah!" he told himself, "the kid really pulled the door open. Wonder
why he picked me?"
Come to think of it, he wondered, why was it people seemed to tell him
things they never mentioned to anyone else? And why was it they
seemed to get a sort of paralysis when he barked at them? He scratched
an ear. He couldn't remember the time when the ranch hands hadn't
jumped to do what he wanted--if he really wanted it. The only person
who seemed to be immune was Dad. He grinned.
"Imagine anyone