A Fistful of Trouble (Outlaws of the Galaxy Book 2), Paul Tomlinson [bts books to read .txt] 📗

behind that was the workshop where the owner worked his magic. There was a young blond-haired man sitting on the counter swinging his legs. He jumped down and greeted me with a smile. I expected him to tell us that his father would be with us in a moment.

“Business is a little slow,” he said, a sweep of his arm taking in the empty shop. “I only stayed open because you said you were coming.”

“Mister Maguire?” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “But its Danny. If you were expecting to see my uncle, I’m afraid he passed away.”

His blond hair was a little longer than was currently fashionable. Country boy hair. His eyes were a dark blue that made you think of a deep ocean. Maybe he had hidden depths. When he smiled, his teeth were straight and even. White, but not the blinding white of porcelain. It was a natural smile and he used it a lot. I liked it. It was the sort of smile that made you want to buy things you didn’t need. His clothes and sneakers were stained with oil and splattered with paint, but he wore them well. He was on the thin side and this made him seem taller. He had strong hands and there was dirt under his fingernails. Working man’s hands. You could imagine that he’d be a bit clumsy but incredibly gentle with it.

“Actually, we weren’t expecting anyone at all,” I said. “We were surprised to find a robot repair shop in Cicada City.”

I was talking but I don’t think he heard a word. Danny’s smile faded and his eyes grew wide as Floyd ducked in through the door and then straightened up.

“I’ve seen pictures, but...” Danny’s voice trailed away and then his smile was back, wider than before. “Wow!”

“This is Floyd,” I said.

Danny didn’t say anything, just stared up at the big blue robot with a big fan-boy smile on his face.

“You’ve taken over your uncle’s business?” I asked.

“It was either this or ploughing fields.” He shrugged. “I prefer robots to tractors. Though I could probably make more money shucking corn.”

“We haven’t seen many robots around town,” I said.

“Most folk in these parts can’t afford them – even these old junkers.” He nodded towards his display. “And robot ownership isn’t exactly encouraged.”

“No?”

“Colonel Hodge – he’s got some robots. Uses them to keep people in line, if you get what I mean?”

“He’s the local bully?”

Danny gave me a sideways look. “I didn’t tell you that.” Maybe he thought I was the Colonel’s spy, sent to test him.

“I must have heard it in a bar somewhere,” I said.

Danny’s grin returned. Some beautiful people know they’re beautiful and that makes them somehow less attractive. And some people don’t seem to know and that makes them more attractive. Danny fell into the second category. The way he didn’t quite look you in the eye made him seem shy without being coy and there was an innocence in his smile that made you want to smile back. He reminded me a little of my ex-husband. Not that Matty was shy. Or innocent. He just knew how to fake it really, really well. Maybe Danny did too, but I didn’t think so. He was as genuine as his threadbare little shop.

“What brings you to Cicada City?” he asked.

“We found the pace of life in Vulture’s End a little too frantic,” I said.

Danny laughed. “If it’s lack of excitement you’re after, you’ve come to the right place.”

“Tell me about Colonel Hodge,” I said.

Danny cast me another suspicious glance but then his shoulders relaxed. Apparently I didn’t look like one of Hodge’s boys.

“We saw three robot-bashers on the way over here,” I said. “Were they his men?”

“Probably,” Danny said. “His men come down here after they’ve been paid and blow off some steam. Maybe if there was more for them to do they wouldn’t act out so much. We never see much of the Colonel himself. Not in town. He and his men mostly prey on the farms roundabout. It’s got so a man can hardly feed his own family. Hodge takes everything.”

There was a hint of anger and shame in the young man’s words.

“That why you took this shop?” I asked.

“My old man grows crops. Though probably not for much longer. I try and help out, but...” Danny shrugged.

“Business is slow,” I said.

He nodded sadly. “It’s market day on Monday. If I’m lucky I might be able to offload a couple of the old-timers.” He jerked a thumb towards the row of mended robots. “What they fetch won’t put much of a dent in what my family owes the bank.” He sighed. “If we had a robot like yours, we could maybe defend ourselves. But no one here can afford to buy something like that.”

“Except Colonel Hodge?”

A nod. “Except him.”

“Hodge uses his robots to scare the farmers?” I asked.

“Yeah. And the sheriff here can’t do a thing about it.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“We’ve had a few sheriffs who have tried,” Danny said. “They don’t last very long. There’s a whole row of them up in the cemetery. I don’t blame Sheriff Galton – he keeps the peace as best he can. My cousin Jed is a deputy, so I know what they’re up against.”

I looked up at the big blue robot. Floyd looked at me and shook his head – he knew what I was thinking. I was thinking about breaking some of my rules of survival again.

“We’d like you to have a look at Floyd’s cooling unit,” I said. “It packed up about a month back and I’m not sure how long the repair will last.”

“I can probably replace it. I should have everything I need here. I’m running low on some stuff – the old scav that brings me parts hasn’t been round yet this month.”

“That wouldn’t be Happy Hawkins by any chance?”

“Happy, that’s him,” Danny said. “Though I never figured out why folk call him that.”

“He smiles when he points a gun at you,” I said.

“Good to