Going Dark(27)

Lifting his eyes and gazing at the distant tent, Flynn said, “I committed myself to a cause, Thorn. You have any idea what that is? A righteous cause.”

“I’ve heard of them.”

“I gave my pledge to be part of something that truly mattered for once. Instead of the frivolous, bullshit career I’ve had.”

“Part of what?”

Flynn hesitated, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.

“Part of what, Flynn?”

“Oh, it’ll sound like grandiose bullshit to a guy like you.”

“Try me.”

“Save the planet, before it’s too late.”

Thorn waited through a stretch of silence, then said, “Save it how?”

Flynn gave Thorn a grim look, then chuckled. A what-the-hell laugh that a man might make just before he leapt off some killer precipice. “We’re about to knock over the first domino. After it falls, nothing’s ever going to be the same again.”





ELEVEN





“YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT you walked into, okay, that’s what. It’s a big deal. Bigger than anything you could imagine.”

Thorn wasn’t going to argue.

Flynn watched a squadron of pelicans coasting low over the island, then shifted his sober gaze to Thorn and shook his head. “And here’s an irony for you. You’re the reason I’m here. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be doing any of this.”

Thorn waited. A high-pitched whine was droning in his ears as if he’d dived deep into the pressuring sea.

“Last year, the day Mom brought me down to Largo, you remember?”

“I remember.”

“She thought if I could see how you lived, I’d come around, start to appreciate you or some corny bullshit like that. This big bonding moment. We could all be friends. I was pissy and hateful that day. A real son of a bitch.”

“I remember you scowled a lot. Didn’t make much eye contact.”

“I was angry about what you did. About Sawyer. I guess I still am.”

“I understand.”

“Do you, Thorn? I don’t think so. I don’t think you’ve ever lost a brother, have you? A twin.”

Thorn said, no, no, he’d never had a brother.

“So you don’t know. You can’t understand. Mother doesn’t either.”

Thorn waited in silence.

“I know you had no choice. Sawyer went nuts, he attacked you and Mom. You defended yourself, you defended her, you probably saved her life. I know all that on a rational level. But it doesn’t make any difference. Not in here.” Flynn thumped his knuckles hard against his chest.

Behind him a roseate spoonbill floated above the treetops. To the east out in Hawk Channel a power boat cruised by. Thorn held his tongue. This didn’t feel like the moment to try to set any records straight.

“The way you just came strutting into our world, this guy we’d never heard of before, all of a sudden you’re standing there in our living room. It was fucked up, Thorn. How cool and collected you were.”

“Is that how I seemed? Collected?”

“Like we were supposed to stand up and cheer. Look who’s here. Daddy’s finally showed up to the party.”

“I didn’t feel cool. I felt out-of-body. I still feel that way.”

“Well, that’s two of us.” Flynn took a deep breath and released it through fluttering lips. “So, anyway. That visit had an effect. Not the one Mom intended, but it made a difference. When I got home, I couldn’t shake it, how you lived. Your place, how primitive it is, but you seemed so at ease, like Tarzan in his lair.”

Thorn watched Flynn struggle to find words. Though the young man had Thorn’s sandy hair, his hard cheekbones and sturdy chin, his eyes belonged to his mother. Sensitive, shadowed with emotion, his changing moods appearing and disappearing in them when the rest of his face stayed unreadable. It was a solid face, given depth and dimension by those revealing eyes.

“Tarzan,” Thorn said.

“The whole Spartan thing. So simple, basic. So free.”

Thorn was silent. Not about to correct him.

“Just the opposite of me. Fucking Miami, my acting career, the fakes I have to deal with, the pompous assholes, the pressures. Some days I can’t breathe. I literally cannot draw a decent breath. Like there’s a strap across my chest, it’s getting tighter all the time. I know it’s stress, I should just suck it up, be thankful for what I have, handle it like everybody else does, but it kept getting worse. Then I saw your place, how you managed, so isolated, so little contact with the world. Just that glimpse and something kicked in, I was inspired. It’s nuts, I know. But that’s the truth. Inspired.”