The Navigators by Dan Alatorre Read Free Book Online Page A

It sounded like a gunshot. Barry was caught off guard and fell back on his desk before he could catch himself.
    Hell, it practically made my ears ring. I stepped between them. “Okay, okay, that’s enough.”
    She stood, teeth gritted, cheeks turning red. I put my hand on her arm. “Melissa...”
    Still glaring at Barry, she pulled her arm away and turned in a huff, storming off toward the kitchen.
    Roger lowered his voice. “Barry, you had no right.”
    “I did what I did.” Barry rubbed his cheek. “I was right. We never would have gotten anywhere without Findlay. You know that.” He glanced around. “But… I should have told you.”
    I leaned forward to catch his eye. “No, you should have asked us.”
    He nodded. “Okay. I should have asked. I got excited. It won’t happen again.” His eyes went to Melissa. “And I’m sorry about… my comment. It was rude. And stupid.”
    Melissa heaved a heavy sigh, righting herself. “Okay. We’re decided. From now on, it’s a group decision on everything. We vote before we do anything.” She came into the living room and held out her hand to Barry. “Agreed?”
    He took it and she helped him up. “Agreed.”
    “Agreed,” I said. Time to reset the course and focus on the priorities.
    “Fine.” Roger paced around the living room. “But you’re all forgetting something. We’re allowed to take rocks from the mine. Bones. Little crap like that. A machine like this is definitely out of bounds. The university will lay claim to it.”
    “Plus, anything over a certain size or value, the state gets first claim on.” I sighed. “Not the school.”
    “Or the university grabs all the good stuff first and it mysteriously disappears.” Roger resumed his pacing. “The rumor was that Dr. Anderson used to back door any significant finds to the bigger state universities. Now he's the Dean of the whole department." He glanced at Barry. "Remember freshman year? Lance Montague found that big mastodon skull down in New River and it practically never saw the light of day. Fucking Anderson swooped in and made some kind of a big thing out of it, and the next thing you know, it's off to a major corporation.” He looked around at us. “The paleontology department damn sure didn’t get any credit.”
    “Which is why we have to keep it secret.” Barry sat back down on the edge of his desk. “We study it, check it all out, and then go public once we know everything there is to know. Then they can’t take it away from us. And there’ll be too much publicity to cut us out.”
    Roger folded his arms. “Boy, you have it all figured out, don’t you Barry?”
    “I don’t have anything figured out. I’m figuring it out right now, with you guys.”
    “Except for calling Findlay in.” Roger leaned back on the window sill.
    “Oh, will you let it drop!” Melissa shouted. “Findlay was a good call. He’s an asshole, but he’s a smart asshole. In fact, I can’t believe he went to class instead of staying here with you and working on it now. What gives?”
    Barry smirked. “He would have stayed, but he’s administering an exam to a bunch of undergrads. Couldn’t get out of it no matter how hard he tried, the poor schmuck.”
    “You played him.” Roger shook his head. “You brought him in when he’d have just enough time to help you, but without enough time to figure things all the way out. You baited the hook and played him, just like you’re playing all of us now.”
    “Who’s playing you?” Barry got up. “Come on!”
    Roger narrowed his eyes. “You kept the machine here, away from us. You studied it all night, and then you got Findlay involved. So are you guys partners now?”
    Melissa stepped in. “You didn’t, did you Barry? You’re smarter than that, right?”
    He looked away.
    “Oh my God.” Roger jumped up. “You did partner with him! What did you promise him?”
    The room fell silent as we waited for an answer. Barry dropped his gaze to the floor.