Chapter 28
Moto sat at the conference table in the HERO Force suite, surrounded by some of the men he respected most in this world and a boy who’d just blown his mind.
Wyatt had found a way to use a malware keystroke logger that was already on Ben’s machine to pull up an exact record of the evidence being planted on the computer.
He could see the system date being changed before and after the creation of each falsified file.
“You figured that out from what I taught you?”
“Well, that and a bunch of YouTube videos. It was luck, really. Most people look for malware and delete it, just like viruses, but Uncle Ben’s anti-malware software was out of date.”
Moto grinned. “Carelessness finally worked for him.” He tousled Wyatt’s hair. “I’m so proud of you, kid. You just saved your uncle from going to jail.”
Razorback sat down at the head of the table. “You ever need a job, kid, you come see me. Two of our best men couldn’t figure that out.”
“Two?”
“Logan was working on it in Atlanta, too,” said Moto. “He’s not as smart as me, though.”
Razorback snorted.
Moto stood. “Come on, kid. You want to go see Uncle Ben?”
“Where is he?”
“In the hospital. He’s okay, but he got beat up pretty bad yesterday by the same thugs who were trying to put him away for murdering that federal agent. I think you should be there to tell him the good news.”
They drove to the hospital, stopping for celebratory milkshakes at a drive-through. “Are you going to leave now?” Wyatt asked. “Uncle Ben doesn’t need you anymore.”
“You know I live in New York.”
“Yeah.”
“How would you feel if I lived here some of the time, too? I have to talk to Razorback. See if I can make it work being part of HERO Force from a thousand miles away, but I think it might be doable.”
“Where would you live?”
“I’ve got some land on a river about a half hour from here. It belonged to your grandparents. I’m thinking about building a house.”
“Oh.”
Moto narrowed his eyes. “That sounds like you’re disappointed.”
For almost a mile, Wyatt didn’t answer. Moto tried to be patient, remembering Razorback’s advice. He had to prove to the boy that he would be here for him, time and time again, no matter how long it took for Wyatt to believe him.
“I thought you might marry my mom.”
The hospital came into view just a few blocks ahead, but it was too great a distance to stymie this conversation. He had feelings for Davina. He absolutely did. But marriage was leaps and bounds ahead of him right now. He wasn’t even confident she’d be happy he was moving to town.
He thought of at least seven different sentences, discarding each one before it could reach his lips.
“Never mind,” said Wyatt. “You don’t even want a girlfriend, so I guess you don’t want my mom.”
“Oh, Wyatt. You’ve got it all wrong.” He turned into the hospital parking garage. “The only woman I ever wanted was your mom. It’s just going to take a little time for us to figure out our feelings for each other, okay? You need to be patient with us for a while.”
“And then you’ll get married?”
He’d never truly considered marriage in his life before that moment, and he was shocked to realize it sounded rather good.
“Maybe, if she wants to.” Or maybe the exploding ship had sent a shock wave through his brain, destroying his higher reasoning ability.
He kept that possibility to himself but didn’t rule it out.
They got out of the car and walked inside, then headed upstairs to Ben’s room. His face was a riotous mixture of blues and greenish-yellow, a cast on his left arm and his leg in traction. “Jesus, Ben. You look like shit.” Moto handed his brother a chocolate milkshake.
“Thanks. You don’t look so good, either.”
Moto barely had a scratch on him, but he smiled at his brother’s quip. “Wyatt has a surprise for you.” He leaned back, watching as the boy explained how he proved Ben had been framed. When he was finished, Moto clapped him on the back and looked at his brother. “That’s my kid.”
Ben slurped his milkshake. “A couple of DEA agents were here earlier. Said they’d salvaged most of the ship from the bottom of the river.
It was loaded with more than a ton of pseudoephedrine that’s used to make meth, enough heroin to supply half the US for a month, and three shipping containers full of nothing but oxycodone. ”
“Damn.”
“They said with DeRegina out of the picture, they have a real shot at cracking down on some of the distribution in the American south.”
“Until another head pops up in place of that one.”
“True. We’ve got to take the victories when they’re offered.” He turned to stare out the window. “I did a lot of damage when I worked for that son of a bitch. I have a long way to go to make up for it.”
“You can go back to selling houses and the American dream, instead of the American horror story.”
“I want to try to be a cop, if they’ll have me.” He grinned at Wyatt. “And thanks to you, they just might.”
Moto rocked back in his chair. “You know, when you’re cleared of these charges, you won’t need a lawyer anymore.”
“Not for nothing, I’m already one step ahead of you.” The men laughed.
Moto looked from his brother to his son and back again, thinking of how much he’d gained in such a short time and feeling happier than he could remember being in a very long time.
“I’m glad you’re not going to jail, Ben, but I sure am glad to be back in your life.
I don’t know if I ever would have come back here. ”
Ben nodded. “I’m glad I’m not going to jail, too.” He smiled.
Moto stood, grabbed the pillow from beneath his brother’s head, and hit him in the face with it. “You dickhead. Get some sleep. I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you.”