Chapter 25 MARTIN
Light didn’t know who saw the switch first, him, Gray, or Jan. But Jan was the first to react as Martin took in the hall.
“Easy.” Jan went in so close, lips almost brushing jaw. He looked like he wanted to touch, but wasn’t sure who he’d find if he did. “That you, Muh—”
Martin raised a finger to lips, then a smile went Jan’s way.
Yeah. That look that belonged solely to Martin, Light knew it, had bloody missed it. His slight cock of brow that called out Jan’s sanity to come play with his… if he dared. For a while back there, that look was all Light had needed in order to burn through the hurt of losing Brin. It carried destructive freedom fed by intelligence that Light had needed to hold on to when it came to learning to cry out against the world and get his voice heard.
“Personal space there, Janice. Respect it.” Martin winked. His look was focused, but it softened, just for a moment, and a brush went to Jan’s jaw, saying fuck to Jan’s personal space, and, yeah… that was the Martin he knew. “Hello there all the same.” Martin stroked along where he touched.
“ Fuck .” Jan snarled, then went in, the anger in his hold around Martin’s neck either saying fuck to boundaries too or just look after Jack for us, you bastard . Martin snorted before his look went Gray’s way.
Gray kept his distance as Jan eased back, but his attention didn’t shift off Martin. So much seemed to be said between them in that single shared moment, then Gray flicked a look at Jude. Giving a brief frown, a slight tilt of head, Martin naturally followed the fast-lane trail….
One thing about Martin that always knocked Light off his feet was his damn sharp ability to take everything in and condense it into a single moment of understanding, over working out the why, the what, the… who that had been left on a list of names. Of anyone here, he would have known Joanna was half Korean. But it was Gray going in and his whisper in his ear that had Martin shifting a sharp look to Gray—then back to Jude.
“ Joanna’s ?” Martin went over, and a grip to the back of Jude’s hair, he forced him to take a step back, tilting his look up. “Mine?”
Seeing them together, up close, the blood tie was undeniable.
“Oh yeah,” murmured Martin, a touch running Jude’s cheek. “Definitely Joanna’s beauty too.”
As Gray gripped Jan’s arm and stopped him from shifting and trying to break it up, Martin’s tight hold looked vicious, the act of keeping Jude still no more than a chew toy for the animal in play, but….
But?
“ Th’fuck off —” Jude snarled as he tried to break free, and Martin shifted, keeping him still.
“Shush, shush-shush,” he whispered, Jude’s look forced up to his. Martin seemed to struggle to find what he looked for, so he shifted in a little closer, a touch running under Jude’s eyes.
Who did his vicious grip call out to come bite back at the brutality?
Jude?
Joanna?
Cutter?
Himself ?
Was that why he’d never looked for a trace of kids? He could take the world on, just not a living, breathing offer of himself?
Martin’s frown went Gray’s way. “Even under threat, there’s no black in those eyes.” He eased back, all hardness lost from his aggression. “None.”
His push into Jude’s boundaries had been more physical than Gray’s. No kid gloves, all to try and find a trace of…
No black. No heritage over… psychopaths.
Was that what had really scared Martin? Heritage over being born… his way too?
Martin focused back on Jude, and another frown crept in. “Oh but look at the offer of what is in there. You’re no young lamb, either, not like Piper. The look in your eyes is so, so old….” He brushed at Jude’s cheek again, his head tilted slightly as he kept a grip in his hair. “That isn’t the look of a soft lad caught living in the pen. You…. Oh.” His look softened. “You’re neither welcome inside or out of it. Life lived in the void between, hm?” He brushed his cheek again. “The coat we both wear.”
Jude snarled, went to pull away, but Martin didn’t let the grip go in his hair. The silver had long since bled into black in Martin’s eyes, and like with Gray, Jude tried to back off, run. He seemed to pick up on their ill vibe despite them being no threat to him, which meant he’d been used to living with that… vibe. Or living life on the rooftops to hide from it at least. Yeah. He’d seen some things in his young life.
“Th’ fuck ?” Jude barely seemed to hear him. No family pictures were needed for anyone here, but Jude seemed to push against acknowledging anything beyond Martin’s eyes. Instead the waves on that beach seemed to crash in hard and fast with him, the sea rushing in and pulling him under. Bits of loose debris looked as though they cut deep, snapshots of potential history that had no real shape or form on their own beyond startling silver-grey eyes painted on the driftwood, like Gray’s eyes had with Light. They cut deep into Jude’s skin with the sharp, broken edges. And along with Gray, Martin was the sharpest out there.
Jude shoved Martin off and bolted for the door, colliding with Ray and knocking them both down as his scarf dropped from the tuck into his compression pants—then he was up, scrambling to his feet, trying to get out as Ray caught hold of his ankle, threatening to topple him again.
“ Off ,” snarled Jude. “ Get the fuck —”
“ Off ,” snapped Simon. “Let him go.”
“ What ?” Martin went to step up nose-to-nose close with Simon as Jude disappeared, and Gray tugged him away.
As he looked down at the grip on his arm, Martin tore out of it, then shivered and the strangest look came to his eyes, followed by a look around the hall as if he’d been forced out the door and he’d had to fight through mud to get back in. Tired. Silver eyes just looked so damn… tired. “Huh?” he mumbled.
Jan went in close. “You okay, Mart?”
A glance went Jan’s way that didn’t really see Jan, not properly, not as all feeling seemed to drop from silver eyes. “Not. Martin. Here.”
“Jack?” Jan startled, battling confusion, as Jack glanced around the hall, and Light was right there with him.
“Where’s Jude?” Jack didn’t even care that Martin was back? Would he even know? He didn’t seem to as he looked Gray’s way. “Where—”
Blood started to drip from Jack’s nose, and he wiped across it and looked down at it before shaking his head. When he looked up, anger ruled his look more.
“Oh Jacky boy… now what trick are you trying to pull, huh?”
Jan frowned, took a step back. “Martin?” He shot a look back to Gray, his confusion mirroring everyone’s.
Was that fast and short sharp switch between Jack and Martin something new? Light didn’t know, but it seemed to throw Jan and Gray out—and Martin right along with it with how heavy that anger was, the blood to his nose.
Gray went in close, cupping Martin’s jaw and lifting his head up to get a look at his eyes. “You… you two okay?”
More blood trickled from Martin’s nose, and, unusually, he went to speak, then failed.
Gray threw a quick look Jan’s way. “BP meds and ice. Fast as you can. George?” He looked over Martin’s shoulder. “Go with him. Don’t move from his bloody side.”
Jan nodded and left with George close by as Gray wiped a thumb under Martin’s nose. “Keep your head down. Pinch your nose.”
Martin shook him off, and Light went in, a grip at his arm to stop his retaliation.
A hard look came Light’s way, and Light returned it until he saw recognition filter in, but it took a while, which was really unusual, and eventually Martin snorted a smile and cupped Light’s neck briefly before he eased down. More blood dripped onto wood flooring.
“Fuck.” Martin kept his head down and pinched his nose. “Piper… good to see you again, kid. But… shit,” he said after a moment. “Why the jackass move off Jack to try and pull the leash back like that?”
Gray cupped Martin’s neck. “Cutter’s daughter,” he said flatly, shifting him slightly to hold his gaze. “You really need anything more beyond that?”
Martin shoved off Gray’s touch, and Gray held out his hands, backing down, but then he went back in close, looking to calm Martin down with the semi-aggression. “We need to talk. Now.”
“Oh you fucking think ?” The bite to Martin’s tone was undeniable, but nothing else was said. He pulled away eventually, but the discomfort in his eyes looked like his head bled from the inside out, and he didn’t move away from Gray. Tensions were lived, tested, and nullified all in that one silent exchange. Martin’s stay by Gray called for a moment’s downtime through the hurt, because in the end, Gray was the only one Martin trusted with handling his downtime. And Gray, he settled around Martin as he no doubt saw it.
But then Martin levelled a look Simon’s way. “You got a problem, Sharon? Only I seem to remember that anyone who runs from here doesn’t exactly come back bloody alive, let alone sane.”
Simon went over to him. “Ray.” He didn’t take his look off Martin. “Give me your phone.”
Ray paused on his comm with his radio and started to feel through his pocket.
Then his other.
Then his back trouser pocket.
Light buried a groan. Fuck.
Jude had bumped into Ray… not the other way around, and Simon had caught what they’d missed.
Ray’s phone was gone right along with Jude.
“Bastard,” snarled Ray, and a look went Gray’s way. “He’ll go via the roof. The way he got in. I’ll—”
“Let him run.”
Ray looked over at Simon.
“He won’t get access to the phone,” Simon said flatly. “It’s biometric and encrypted. Anyone but Ray trying to gain access to it, they’ll kill it. That includes any one of the Night-walkers who think they can gain access to any of my secure devices.”
Night-walkers… Light doubted Simon realised he’d just verbally confirmed he’d been doing his own private search history on the Night-walkers, and that look off Gray as Gray folded his arms…?
“He’s street smart and no doubt used to handling stolen goods,” said Ray. “He’ll know phones can be tracked via cell tower triangulation or GPS. He’ll switch it off.”
“He’s not MI5 surveillance smart,” said Simon. “The ones I issued you all have their own tracking tech that doesn’t require the phone to be active.”
Ray cocked a brow.
“Just in case you’re daft enough to leave it on a bus, right?” said Martin, and Ray snorted at the mistrust. Didn’t seem he knew about the secondary tracking device.
“But why risk anyone trying to take it?” That came off Jan as he came over.
“Yeah.” Martin went in close to Simon. “You explain why. And I suggest you lead with sapper. Because that’s what you’re doing, hm? You’re using him to track his location. See who he runs to.”
Simon held his look and didn’t back down. “Feeder,” he said evenly. “The whole point to tonight was to allow them in, then to track and trace. So I track. I trace. And I do it my way, using the tech they’re used to passing around the street.”
“Hm. You worked with them taking tech in mind. Clever you.” Martin went in breath-to-breath close. “But that’s you using my blood.” He gave such a cold smile. “And if he takes any damage outside those gates, you and me: we’ll play games for the rest of your natural born life.” He tapped his head. “Your wired system against mine.”
“Ease down.” Gray came in, tugging Martin back, then he rested back on Ray. “Get a call through to Raif. We get a location, we’re going to need his turf knowledge.” A look came Light’s way. “Go. Make sure Jude and these ‘pips’ got off the premises.”