Page 26 of Crocodile Tears

“Me? Not bloody likely. All that stuff is beyond me.” Charles gave a self-deprecating smile. “I’m not the clever one – that was always Alex.” He winked at his little brother. “He’s the one destined to take over at Lytton AV, once he finishes at uni.”

“If he’s good enough,” Noah said with a grunt. “He’ll start off at the bottom, like my father made me do. If he shows promise, he can work his way up to the boardroom, but he’ll have to drop the attitude and commit to some hard work.”

Alex made a face into his soup, but said nothing.

“Do you know the history of Lytton AV, Neil?” Charles asked, ever the peacemaker. This was a subject that was guaranteed to make their father puff out his chest with pride.

“Bits and pieces – my mother worked for Lytton AV for many years, but I don’t know much about the early days. I’d love to hear it,” Neil said eagerly.

Alex swirled his spoon noisily in his soup.

“In those terrible times after the Rising many roads were impassable, millions of homeless refugees were housed in schools and churches, and the economy collapsed – as did law and order,” Noah said, recounting the story with the ease of repeated telling. “The military were the only ones who could get around the country, distributing aid via helicopters and amphibious vehicles. The Orchard is a big house, so my father, Theodore Lytton, took in a number of families who’d lost their homes.”

“It sounds like he was a good man,” Neil said approvingly.

Alex glanced meaningfully at Charles, because their memories of Theo were of a mean old tyrant who yelled at them for playing too noisily in the upstairs corridors when they were small. Charles shot him a little wink in return.

“He was,” Noah said. “He was also a businessman, and one of the people he took in was an engineer called William Tyler. My father and Will got talking one evening about how everyone’s lives would be much easier if they could get around the way they used to, and Will suggested building a little amphibious vehicle – not the big AVs the army used, or those fancy Pre-R AVs that nobody could afford to makeor buy anymore, but something smaller, for ordinary people – cheap, no frills, just to get everyone moving again.”

“And that, my dear Neil, is how Lytton AV was born,” Alex interjected in a bored tone.

Noah ignored him and carried on. “My father saw the possibilities, so he set up Lytton AV and took on Will Tyler as its first indentured servant. It was Will who designed the Lytton Classic – the first duck.” He gave a proud smile. “It wasn’t easy to source the capital to begin production back then. You have to understand how unstable and chaotic the world was for years after the Rising. Many countries were bankrupt, and Europe was at war. Agriculture was decimated, and even when therewasfood, there might be no way to distribute it. Millions starved to death. Previously successful companies had disappeared under water, all their plants, factories, and know-how vanished in the Rising. Finance, trade routes, and supply lines had to be rebuilt from scratch. When we started, Lytton AV was just a tiny, ramshackle business, trying to make people’s lives a little better. It’s a miracle it survived and prospered as it did.”

“Praise be,” Alex muttered sourly.

Noah shot him a glare. “My father took a massive risk and used all his savings, as well as mortgaging this house. It was a hugely worrying time for him and my mother – they could have lost everything.”

“Surely not,” Alex said. “They led such virtuous lives. As a Floodite, didn’t Granddad believe that God would save them?”

Noah threw down his soup spoon with a loud clatter. “He believed that being a good person and leading a worthy life is the key to building a better world. You could learn from that.”

“He also believed that God wiped out millions of people in the Rising as punishment for their sins, so I think I’ll pass on revering his religious views, thanks.”

“Ignore him,” Noah told Neil. “My father was a man of strong faith, but he was hardly the religious bigot Alex is making him out to be.”

“He named you Noah,” Alex pointed out. “Did he see you as a saviour, building arks at Lytton AV to help people navigate the flood?”

“Half the male babies in the world were called Noah in the years after the Rising. My father believed in hard work.” Noah shot Alex awithering look. “And he put everything into Lytton AV for the first few years, working eighteen-hour days, non-stop, for months on end.”

“It paid off,” Neil said.

“It certainly did.” Noah shot Neil an approving smile. “Thanks to my father’s drive and ambition.”

“Lytton AV might have been the first to offer affordable ducks, but it’s not the best – not these days anyway, Neil,” Alex pointed out maliciously. “That honour goes to Tyler Tech, with their Aquacruise range. If the name’s familiar, it’s because it’s owned by George Tyler – Will Tyler’s son.”

“I’ve heard of George Tyler,” Neil said.

“You should – he’s one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs. Like my grandfather, George Tyler built his business from nothing to become one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Now, I don’t know George personally, but I’d say he was a bit pissed off that our family got rich off the back of his father’s designs, wouldn’t you?”

Noah’s expression darkened, and Alex felt a sense of perverse satisfaction. He always knew which of his father’s buttons to press.

“Will Tyler wasn’t the one who took the financial risk – my father did,” Noah snapped. “And George Tyler is a nasty piece of work.”

Another awkward silence fell around the table.

“Uh, so, what about you?” Neil asked, glancing at Charles. “You hinted that you have a new career path in mind when we were outside earlier.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Charles replied. “Dad and Alex don’t know this yet, but…” He paused for dramatic effect, grinning broadly. “I’ve decided to start training for the Paralympics.”

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