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he doesn’t want to be. If that’s the case then
he’ll have to decide now.”
    They all looked at Harley, waiting for a
response. He appeared more like a child than ever with all those eyes on him.
Harley looked to his grandfather for guidance, but only received steel eyes in
return. He had to make this decision himself.
    “I want to stay,” Harley said. His voice was
barely able above a whisper as he tried to amass the courage to sound
determined.
    A paper thin smile etched itself on Ancil’s
face. “Good. Now all that is needed is-“
    A heavy knock at the door stopped Ancil in
mid-sentence. Every head in the room snapped to the doorway as another loud
knock pounded on it.
    “Open up! This is the county Sheriff,” a booming
voice yelled from behind the door. “Open the door immediately or we will open
it for you.”

Chapter 6
     
    Maxon waited in the office of the Director of
Wrecking with the crew docket in his hand. When he accepted his docket and
looked over the crew list for the night, he regretted it immediately. The
computer had put Bruce Lennox on his crew and Maxon knew that was going to be a
problem.
    Bruce was the nephew of the Chief of Upgrades
and Structural Advancement and that proved to be his only needed qualification
to be placed in the wrecking department. He served under Maxon on a few other
wrecks that year and they all ended with Bruce attempting to hijack the job and
run at it solo. He was arrogant, consistently disobeyed protocol and a danger
to others on the crew. Maxon needed him off that night’s wreck.
    The door slid open and the director walked in
and sat behind the desk. When he sat the chair immediately started to massage
his neck. He groaned with pleasure and closed his eyes. Maxon watched him,
unsure of what to do. He was about to speak when the director opened one eye.
    “And why is it I find you in my office for the
second time tonight?” he said.
    “Well, director Hayes, it’s about tonight’s
wreck,” Maxon said.
    “What about it?” he said. “You have your
protocol, don’t you”?
    Donovan Hayes was an impatient man who didn’t
respond well to small talk or non-essential conversation. He expected that if
you had your orders there was nothing else to talk about.
    “I have Lennox on my crew tonight. I don’t think
that’s a wise choice given his past behavior and the nature of tonight’s
wreck,” Maxon said.
    Donovan sat up in his chair and the massaging
stopped. “The crew lists are spit out by the central computer. We have no
control over who gets picked or not.”
    “I realize that, but I feel in this case we
really must make a correction.”
    “A correction?” Donovan asked as he eyed Maxon
with a suspicious look. “You’re questioning the system?”
    “No sir, I’m just asking if a request can be put
in and a new list be created.”
    “Max, these lists are generated by very
sophisticated algorithms that neither of us understands. It knows what is needed
on any given day for any given job. If we go about messing with its X’s and O’s
we can cause the entire system to malfunction. Then where would we be?”
    Maxon didn’t give an answer, not sure about what
to say.
    “I’ll tell you where,” Donovan continued, “right
back to twenty years ago when we were scribbling everything down by hand and
worrying if someone in dispatch sent out the right docket. This way there’s no
concern about any of that. So no, I can’t grant your request to take Lennox off
tonight. Besides, he’s my boss’s nephew. We have to find something for him to
do. Handiwork might be gone, but nepotism isn’t.”
    “Sir, you don’t understand the implications putting
Lennox on tonight will have,” Maxon pushed on. “He’s not fit for this wreck.
You know as well as anyone of the reports against him and how he sabotages
assignments. He has no consideration for his fellow crew members and will put
everyone’s life at risk. This is too important a job with too many