“Where was he six years ago? When he worked with Dancer?”
“He was in Yorkton. He was the man who trained your friend, Sevro. He trained Darrow. The Carver made the body. Matteo sculpted the man.”
“He’s telling the truth.” I step into the light so Quicksilver can see my face. He stares at me in shock.
“Darrow. You’re alive. I…thought…it can’t be.”
I turn to Sevro. “He’s a Son of Ares.”
“Because he got a few facts right?” Sevro snarls. “You’re actually serious.”
“You’re alive,” Quicksilver murmurs to himself, trying to wrap his head around what is happening.
“How? He killed you.”
“He’s telling the truth,” I repeat.
“Truth?” Sevro moves his mouth like he’s got a cockroach in it. “What does that even bloody mean? How could you possibly know that? You think you can get the truth outta some backroom-dealing shark like this. He’s in bed with half the Peerless Scarred in the Society. He ain’t just their tool. He’s their friend. And he’s playing you like the Jackal did. If he’s a Son, why’d he abandon us?
Why’d he not contact us when Pops died?”
“Because your ship was sinking,” Quicksilver says, still staring at me in confusion. “Your cells were compromised. I had no way of knowing how deep the contamination went. I still don’t know how the Jackal discovered you, Darrow. My only contact to the lowColor cells was Fitchner. Just like I was his contact for highColor cells. How could I reach out when I didn’t know if it was Dancer himself who informed on you and made a power play to get rid of Fitchner?”
“Dancer would never do that,” Sevro says with a sneer.
“How would I know that?” Quicksilver says in frustration. “I don’t know the man.” Sevro’s shaking
his head, overwhelmed by the absurdity. “I have videos. Conversations between myself and your father.”
“I’m not letting you near a datapad,” Sevro says.
“Test him,” I say. “Make him prove it.”
“I met your mother once, Sevro,” Quicksilver offers quickly. “Her name was Bryn. She was a Red.
If I wasn’t a Son, how would I know that?”
“You could know that a dozen ways. Proves piss ’n shit,” Sevro says.
“I have a test,” I say. “If you are a Son, you’ll know it. If you belong to the Jackal, you would have used it. Where is Tinos?”
Quicksilver smiles broadly. “Five hundred kilometers south of the Thermic Sea. Three kilometers
beneath the old mining nexus Vengo Station. In an abandoned mining colony, the records of which were wiped from the internal servers of the Society by my hackers. The stalactites were carved hollow using Acharon-19 laser drills from my factories in spiral halls to maintain structural integrity. The Atalian hydrogenerator was built with plans designed by my engineers. Tinos might be the City of Ares, but I designed it. I paid for it. I built it.”
Sevro sways there in stunned silence.
“Your father worked for me, Sevro,” Quicksilver says. “First for the terraforming consortium on
Triton, where he met your mother. Then in…less legitimate ways. Back then I was not what I am today. I needed a Gold. A hard-nosed Peerless Scarred, and all the legal protection that gives. One who owed me and was willing to play rough with my competitors. Off the books, you know.”
“You’re saying my father played mercenary. For you?”
“I’m saying he played assassin. I was growing. There was resistance in the marketplace to that growth. So the marketplace had to make room. You think all Silvers play it safe and legal?” He chuckles. “Some, maybe. But business in a crony-capitalist society is the craft of sharks. Stop swimming, the others will take your food and feed on your body. I gave your father money. He hired a team. Worked off-site. Did what I needed him to do. Until I discovered he was using my resources for a side project. The Sons of Ares. ”
He makes a mockery of the words.
“But you didn’t report him?” I ask skeptically.
“Golds treat sedition like cancer. I’d have been cut out too. So I was trapped. But he didn’t want me trapped. He wanted a co-conspirator. Gradually he made his case. And here we are.”
Sevro paces away, trying to make sense of it. “But…we’ve…been dying like flies. And you’ve been
up here…humping your Pinks. Fraternizing with the enemy. If you were one of us…”
Quicksilver lifts his nose up, regaining what poise he lost during the beating. “Then I would have done what, Mr. Barca? Do tell. From your extensive experience in subterfuge?”
“You would have fought with us.”