Drift (Don’t… #8)

Chapter 40 JACK… RIGHT?

Stood just a few feet from the security gates, Drift didn’t look convinced at all that it was Jack standing there, not trusting what Martin had apparently said about DID. But Jan saw that he didn’t run. He didn’t hit out. He stood there despite the hurt, and he tried to piece it all together, stay sane in the details and maybe just… say hello.

Jack looked him over, that same mistrust over not really knowing who stood there such a startling contrast to how Martin had looked at Drift. Martin had known exactly who stood there, but Jack?

“Yeah…” He gave such a rough, angry sigh. “I’m… Jack. Jack Harrison if Martin didn’t get to dick-tate before I jumped in.” His tone was a lot softer despite the hard mistrust in his look. “I’m… hmm.” He seemed to struggle so badly, and his brief, angered glance rested on Gray. “Cars…” He was back with Drift. “Give me a car, kid. I can fix anything you throw at me. But hand me a teenager, I tend to shout a lot. To… fuck up.” He dug his hands into his pockets too. “Sam… You really need to meet Sam at my garage to understand why… chainsaws.” He nodded. “They’re my default go-to around kids.” He eyed Drift up, took an unsteady long breath. “You caught me out again, nothing more. And there’s nothing worse than being caught out with this shit, huh?” He offered a softer smile, his head looking a little more calmed. “Sorry. I should have listened before shouting and… cars, fuck. You into cars, by any chance? You know, help me out here with finding common ground as we dance around each other?”

Drift snorted. “I’ve yet to meet a car I can’t outrun on London streets.” He shrugged. “Take or leave them, me.” He winced. “And by that I mean not in a Feeding sense. Bit awkward to run with one in my pocket, right?”

Jack smiled briefly down to his feet. “Bad habit, anyway,” he said, looking at him. “Stealing cars. Know your comfort zones.”

Jan coughed. “Wrong kind of common ground with thieving,” he said under his breath, and Drift tilted his head slightly at Jack, no doubt mentally listing just how many potential cars Jack had carjacked in his youth. Kid was damn sharp, or maybe he was just trying really hard to try and understand what was going on, if Jack really did have DID, and just how different he was to Martin. If it was a vicious trick from Martin. Had Martin had time to go into who was the alter personality? Who was the original host? Fuck, Jan hadn’t, not with West. Just how would that impact Drift?

“Yeah.” Jack dug his hands in his pockets, looking uncomfortable with the scrutiny, but then social… Jack avoided life for this very reason, and to have a kid, Martin’s standing there, scrutinizing his disorders? Yeah, Jan understood his anger over Gray allowing Drift in here. No matter the circumstance, Jack needed that time to adjust so he didn’t… batter his way through life and catch Drift with the blows. And the blush shying his cheeks said he saw he had unintentionally battered his way back blindly into things and nearly knocked Drift off his own unsteady course. “I mean… thieving. Don’t do it. Well….” Jack seemed to rethink that. “Don’t get caught doing it.” He finally smiled privately Gray’s way, and seemed to rethink that again. “Well… just don’t get caught doing it by him. He’s a bit of bast—” He stopped that bastard part so quickly. “A bit of a sharp old soul.”

Drift shifted awkwardly….

“Ah, Ray’s phone.” Jack tilted his head and searched Drift’s look. “Common thieving ground found after all, huh?” Because, yeah, Drift did take after Jack for running around on the wrong side of the fence and pissing Gray off when it came to theft and handling stolen goods, although Drift seemed a lot more professional than Jack.

“Dance,” Drift said eventually. “I like to dance, if you’re really struggling for… respectable common ground.”

Jack cocked a surprised smile. “You do, huh?”

“You?”

Jack dug his hands deeper in his pockets, winked. “A little. Maybe a lot.” Th’fuck could he, Jan knew that, had the X-rated content of him and Gray sparring and Jack going dirty dancing up to Gray each time Gray turned his back, but—“Not the kind to be done around kids, though.”

Drift snorted a smile. “Moonlight as a pole dancer, do we?”

Jack suddenly choked a laugh. “Hey. Watch it. That’s Sam’s mouth you have there over double entendreing.”

Drift blushed, so badly, and Jack cocked a brow. It looked like Drift had only meant pole dancing in one professional way, and Jack…?

“Fuh…” He stopped the fuck right there too and chuckled again. “Jesus. Kids and their delicate ear balls. Gotta remember that, right?”

“Hmm.” Drift shifted from foot to foot, then held a hand out back to West, his look staying on Jack. “This… this is West,” he said softly as he waited for her to take it. “As long as she’s okay, I’m okay.” It was an exact mirror of what he’d said to Martin, but maybe, just maybe a small acknowledgement off Drift that he picked up on some of the subtle difference between Jack and Martin. Or maybe he was being defensive with just sending out the same warning on how West was to be left alone with this level of mind game no matter who stood in front of him.

Only West’s look was on the gate, the roadside beyond, and Jan followed her look at the same time Drift glanced back when he realised she hadn’t taken his hand.

“Fuck,” breathed Jan.

Outside the gate, the young lad stumbled alone into the road, and as gentle sobs wracked his body, he looked no older than twelve. He was small for his age and wrapped up against the cold with a coat almost a size too big. Fingerless gloves always seemed pointless to Jan, but with how West reacted to him, he guessed fingerless gloves must be good for either musical talent or parkour skill and grip. He was one of their crew, that was obvious. The kid wore a cap, one that belonged more on the set of Peaky Blinders , but it suited him well, giving him a mean street urchin look. But young… how round his face was, it called out a youth that shouldn’t ever see a street on his own.

“Brighty…?” West took a step towards the gate, but Drift bolted over and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back into him and wrapping a hold around her. She looked back at him… then Light. “Get him off the bloody street. Now.”

Gray’s look was on the treeline behind Brighty, and although nothing but trees stood watch over the boy, his body language was all wrong. Drift must have seen it along with Jan, because he kept switching a frown between Gray and Light. Light didn’t reply to West either, his look fixed on the undergrowth, and his lowered gaze mirrored Gray’s.

Something else out there hid in the darkness, out of sight.

“Back away from the gate, both of you.” Gray slipped a touch under his jacket and came out with his firearm.

“What?” West shot a look Gray’s way.

Jan jolted towards her, but a hand stopped him, pulling him away.

The look in silver eyes was too sharp, too focused on the shadows where Gray and Light looked. Too full of black.

Martin was back.

Christ. It wasn’t just Gray and Light picking up something was seriously wrong: the whole pack shifted their muzzles towards the treeline even though nothing was visible in the dark beyond the security lights highlighting the boy. The thin line of blood running Martin’s nose had said Jack had been like Jan and not picked anything up from how he’d tried to retain control.

Unease hitting his gut, Jan stepped over by Simon as he slipped his firearm out too. Simon’s glance beyond the gate wasn’t as focused, but he seemed to naturally bounce off Light’s change in mood, and his silent order went to the guards, directing them into position. George took left side of the gate, another behind him as the third came over to Simon, backing him up.

His look on the treeline, Drift tried to pull West back again.

She shook her head at him. “Get him in here, D,” she said flatly. “Fucking now. Please.”

“ Think ,” Light whispered heatedly over to her. “Who had access to your phone back home? Who follows you around that you wouldn’t even look twice at? Who also knew this address? Because that kid ran into your bedroom just before you left and neither of you batted an eyelid. Every time we’ve met you, this kid’s been close by. And now he’s here, when you didn’t tell him where you were going.”

“Bullshit,” snarled West. “ Look at him. He’s terrified.”

Drift frowned at Light. He stayed on Light, but West…

A run of giggles and soft catcalls of “Here Kitty, Kitty” came from the darkness, behind Brighty, and the young lad started to shake, a dark wet stain running down the inside of his trousers.

“ Bastards .” West twisted out of Drift’s grip, shifting for the closest tree that would get her over to the roadside. Drift moved in the next breath, catching up to West as she used the trunk for leverage and reached for the first branch. He was on her heel, his roughness and reach for her ankle looking set to pull her down to the floor even if it broke her ankle. But something came from Brighty’s way. Jan barely caught it, but after Drift hissed and grabbed at his neck a moment later before pulling something free, a thin dart fell to the floor.

West reached the second branch, but Drift was up, matching her pace. The trees had long since been felled to a distance that would see any jump only hit fence either side, and Gray’s warning went up, shouting at Simon to get the current cut or risk it killing West on contact.

The current was cut, but some still ran the fence. West hit the barbed wire a moment later and cried out as the force sent her back. Then as she hit the ground, adrenaline fuelling every ounce of her wildness, she was up and running at the gate, scaling it a second later as Brighty cried out.

Above her in the tree, Drift matched her pace, actually managing the jump before landing next to West and dragging her down to the floor. Then he was pushing back towards the gates with her as Gray gave the call for them to open and get the electrical current back up and running on the fence.

West fought and kicked to get back to Brighty, and Drift cried out, trying to stand, to drag her up with him, but as he got to his feet, taking West up with him, he staggered, looking dizzy, sick.

A moment later, he hit the ground hard and didn’t get back up.

As the perimeter fence kicked back into life with the electrical current and opened up, Jan sent out a warning cry to get them back, into safety.

West snapped her head his way, then she crouched down, dragging Drift in close, trying to move back as Brighty quickly hid a long blowpipe behind his back, grinning.

“Oops,” he called over. “My bad, Westie.”

West snarled at him. “You bastard . You utter fucking little cunt. When did you turn? Fucking how?”

“Always been with them. And the name’s fucking Jacob, you dumb bitch.” A few more darts off Brighty hit the floor close to her, forcing West to sit down and bury her head in Drift’s shoulder, her grip trying to shield them both. With the warning made clear to everyone to stay still, she froze, caught just level with the open gates as Brighty stepped back into the treeline, blowing a kiss West’s way.

Martin pressed in close to Jan, forcing him out of the line of fire as his look stayed on Drift, how West cradled him against any more onslaught, how Jan saw he still wasn’t moving.

Light sheltered the opposite side of the gate, behind the wall with George and a second guard, where Gray stayed in front of Simon, Jan’s side. Steve crept up with Gray’s full security team as they slipped into position behind the parked Mercs. Some fifteen in total. All armed.

“That’ll be stale mate, right?” The softer female tones came from the trees, a run of giggles supporting her, and West groaned, her eyes solely on the treeline.

“How did you get to him, Ava? What did you do, you fucking bitch? He’s just a kid.”

“Aren’t we all, love. Aren’t we all…. I mean, look at us here, it’s the whole Lord of the Flies take over, only without the sexism. The girls run the island. Speaking of which…” A stone hit West’s shoulder, making her cry out. “How you doing… little sis?”

“ Not your fucking blood, ever .” West kept her head down, tugging Drift in a little closer. “Fuck off back to the sewers, bitch.”

A chuckle, another stone hit her head this time, forcing a cry out of West.

“Still trying to hold on to what won’t ever be yours, hm? Not fully.” A soft laugh. “Great fuck, ain’t he? Our little brother. So damn… young and tender to the touch.” Quiet. “Oh… My bad. You really wouldn’t know, even now, would you? Still keeping that heart of yours far away from him. Any wonder why he runs back to me each time?”

“I’ll find a fucking way to kill you for you touching him… Grace . You still hate that name out here, bitch? How you’ll always be little Grace to Drift, the scared little girl who was just too damn small to fit into her psychopath stilettos.”

Another stone hit West’s head, a third her hand. Four smacked around her feet, sending up dust.

“Kiki knee-high tall boots, actually,” called Ava. “The kinky sort found in our mother’s closet…. Hard bastards to fight in now, but they got Drift going back when he was ill and I played… doctor on him. Kept his fever burning with all sorts of meds back at home, but gotta start somewhere, right?”

“Eight years old…. he was just a fucking boy, you sick cunt.”

“Maybe I am,” shouted Ava. “Just a little. Hell, maybe a lot. But that wildness of our youth, huh? Shame you missed seeing it play out in my bed, sis.” Chuckles came from the trees.

Simon took his phone from his pocket, and after tapping something into it, he held it up for Gray to glance at. Caught on the phone, infrared lit up nine body heat signatures, or at least the nine Jan counted on screen.

Not even losing breath, Gray slipped free of cover, took aim, fired twice in quick succession, then slipped behind cover as cries and rustles from the undergrowth hit the air as two heat signatures hit the floor.

“I take two of yours for every goddamn stone or poison dart thrown their way,” said Gray flatly.

“Well hello there to you too, big brother.” Ava’s tones came out so slow… seductive. “You want to come fuck about with me too? All your fight against… mine.” A chuckle. “Actually, I just wanted to see the face behind the culler, is all. I know your marksman skills. So thank you for that.”

Calls came from the undergrowth, followed by rustling leaves from all around… an itch to get free with the “Bastard” snarls that came Gray’s way.

“And look at that,” said Ava. “A serious profile change: you took the lives of two kids over here, one just fifteen, the other older than Westie there.” A chuckle. “But then conscience never did walk with us when the threat is to our own, did it?” A sigh. “Like I said, though: stale mate. Drift’s on a time limit, and the clock’s ticking. Twenty-eight minutes to be precise. Drift has basic curare poison working through his system, which is nothing to do with the virus itself, so no antibodies to keep him safely tucked in my bed. So… tick-tock. Whatcha gonna do? I mean, you do have the numbers behind you to stop any move we make, right?”

On Simon’s phone, one after another, numerous heat signatures started to manifest out of thin air, then rustling drifted over as they started to shift out onto the road.

“Fuck,” murmured Simon. “I’ve got a count of over seventy.” He looked at Gray. “That’s seventy goddamn kids.”

“Street kids,” said Ava. “And we’ve had a lifetime of being unnoticed and ignored. Who knows where we’ve had access to, huh? But we know the toys you play with.” Quiet. “You wanna see some of mine? Because it ain’t only Drift who’s been given the one-minute-to-midnight upgrade on the doomsday clock. You not followed all the… horizontal signs yet?”

Gray glanced back, his frown on the manor. No, not on the manor, beyond it—above, to the horizon, and he suddenly shifted and tugged out his phone as—

One after another, balls of fire lit up inner London almost as a reply, and even Gray jolted as the London scene burst into fire, making a silhouette out of the manor in a twisted New Year’s Eve unprofessional display of too much searing light.

Jan blinked, unable to process everything he was seeing, yet couldn’t hear from this distance.…

No sound was good, right? Explosions had been one of the weekly questions Jan had asked Gray about: the different types. Part of him remembered low order explosives, those without a supersonic heated pressure wave were the least dangerous. No sound wave meant no internal damage for those close to the blast areas. High order explosives—they were the danger: they sent out a heated energy that could smash bone. But there’d been no sound at this distance from the city, no blast wave. Nothing but fire and—

“Fuck… fuck .” Heated wind slammed into Jan’s body as the first sound wave reached them, sending a wall of dust and debris at him as trees waved their terror, and he crashed to his knees, covering his head at the blasts that relentlessly hit his ears and bones.

“ What the hell, what the fucking hell ?” It’s all he had as someone turned into him, covering him from the dust and debris as more sound waves hit them.

Gray crouched, turning his back to the chaos, shielding an ear against the noise and distant screams that drifted over as he snapped something into his phone, but most of it was lost to Jan’s hard pound of heart that hurt his ribcage as the ground cried out around them.

“ No… no fucking on-scene response from anyone unless in full hazmat suits .”

Jan looked Gray’s way, not knowing who the hell he spoke to. Why …? Why would Gray delay help, why—

“ Disordered control of the environment…. They need emergency services out on the streets and moving from building to building .” Gray dipped his head as dirt and debris still shifted around them. “ They’re releasing the virus after the bombs, targeting emergency services called out in order to infect as they try to protect. They’re after social upheaval from the top down. You get army, police, fire crews, and ambulance crews out without protection into buildings with poor ventilation, they’re our infection source . Get on to Brennan. Buildings around police stations are also going to be hit to draw them out into infected buildings … . No. They’ve fed us a false MO. Drift had no natural disorders presenting when he contracted the virus the first time, but it still made him ill. That’s the testing they’ve been hiding. They’re going general public .”

“ Jesus, oh Jesus ,” breathed Jan. The whole house of London cards was being forced to tumble down behind him into madness, with the prison guards turning into the killers. “ This isn’t happening. This isn’t fucking happening .” He stayed down, covering his ears and twisting into Martin. Then a car pulled up a few feet from them, and a shove off Martin had Jan moving, scrambling for it along with Simon. Jan’s Merc was ballistic proof along with Jack’s, and Light kept the engine running as Simon slammed the door shut behind them.

Light twisted the wheel towards the gate, wheel spinning it to where West shielded Drift on the road, but something made him pause.

As dust and debris started to settle, in the backdrop of distance screams and sirens, one hell of a beautiful Japanese young lady turned low circles as if in a private dance with the dust, and her hum that drifted over belonged to “Every Breath You Take” by The Police.

Seemed she’d been watching everyone for such a damn long time….

Gray stepped from behind the gate, his firearm levelled on her forehead as he shielded West and Drift.

As he did, Ava stilled and looked his way. “Tick tock,” she said quietly. “Twenty-five minutes.” Her look went to Drift, and she gave a tut. “In all this chaos too…” Her look found Gray’s. “You get my meaning, brother?”

After only a moment, two more—Gray lowered his firearm, his look holding Ava’s. “Run. And make it fucking far and fast.”

She kissed at her fingertips, touched hand to heart. “Check and… mate, love.” She then nodded off to her right, and four older teens broke free and tore West away from Drift, then dragged them both back into the undergrowth as Jan locked the car doors and stopped Martin from shoving out.

Ava tipped her head. “Streets belong to you and me, brother.” All emotion flatlined across her features. “Hell is empty, and all the devils are coming out… here. Well.” A wink. “All accept you. We both know who’ll be on their way to put you on lockdown, away from all the… sin. Protocol One, right?”

Gray could have taken the shot. Why the fuck didn’t he take the shot? And what was Protocol One?

Ava took a bow, then turned away for the treeline, blackness swallowing her up.

Giving a snarl, Martin was out of the car, shoving Gray up against the Merc. Only Gray shifted so much faster, slamming Martin down on the bonnet, a grip at his throat.

“Calm it.”

“ That’s my blood she’s just taken .” Martin pulled him down close. “ You should have fucking ripped her apart for a location on where.”

Forcing Martin’s head back with a grip in the back of his hair, Gray went in closer as, despite all of his warnings, sirens sounded in the backdrop. “Fucking Curare poison,” he said flatly. “It kills within thirty minutes and London’s burning. There’s no time to get an antidote or interrogate her. She knew that. She played on Protocol One, a culler’s pull off the street by the King’s guard because the poison would see me go after them, not her, the ones who were behind taking mine down. She’ll have the antidote close by where we won’t be able to do a bastard thing.”

Martin held his look. “She only needs the antibodies he carries.” Flat calmness came to his voice. “She doesn’t need him to be alive for that.”

Gray turned his ear towards the sirens for a moment, and such a dead look came in his eyes as he focused back on Martin. Jan saw why. No one would have had time to get protective clothing, not at hazmat level. They’d ignored his warning.

London was falling, and killers were about to be made in the backstreets….

“Domestic terrorism through a virus that burns out of the system in just a few short hours…” Gray said down to him. “Get your heart out of your ass and fucking think over why .”

Martin frowned, looking so pissed off with being forced to think beyond Drift. His one flaw was that he really didn’t give a fuck beyond who or what he needed to protect. Jan knew that—had felt it tear at his own head with how sometimes all that intelligence could be so goddamn relentless, to the point he’d take down everything and everyone just to look after himself and his.

“They need Drift alive,” said Light to Martin now he was out of the car with Jan. “Whoever’s in charge is after a brutal but short chemical attack, one that will clear from the streets, all so she can threaten elsewhere across the EU. With different countries come different climates, different rates of infection. So she’ll need to make sure Drift gets that antidote in order to keep on top of creating new strains to bypass whatever we come up with. It’s why so many tests have been done over such a long period. She’ll go international terrorism and traffic him out as soon as possible.”

“That won’t go for West.” Jan tugged Gray off Martin. “They’ll kill her.”

Gray shook his head, but his look stayed with Martin as he pulled Martin up. “Terrorism. They’ll keep her alive to keep Drift in line.”

“You can’t know that.” Jan went in so close, but Light pulled him back.

“Yeah, I can.” Gray looked Jan’s way, and his look was so… off. Black-eyed full of… off… “Because it’s what I’d do.”

“Well clever fucking you,” said Martin flatly, going in close. “You’ve bought them both time so she can give him the antidote, but he won’t make it back to wherever it is she’s taking him to with this virus hitting the streets. Every sick, virus-infected wannabe police bastard with access to firearms is going to tear apart anyone caught out there. And you allowed her to fucking walk my kid back into it because she’s a watcher: she’ll want to see London burn, and even he can’t run fast enough from a city full of freaks. He couldn’t run from Ava.”

“ Fucking psychopath ,” Gray said coldly. “You let me know when my version of it finally sinks in.” He gripped Martin’s jaw. “You’re damn right Ava’s a watcher, and with the antibodies she carries, she’ll want to be in the thick of London burning. From Ray, we know the virus takes an hour to work fully into the system, so within fifty minutes, she’s going to need to get as close as possible, but she’ll need to make it high to get the best vantage point and keep her crew safe, in one of the best ventilated buildings. That cuts down her vantage points, and handover with Drift will take place at the highest point she can reach.” He let Martin go.

“Only she’s not seeing the wider playing field, why this geneticist is keeping completely under the radar and allowing Ava to be seen on the streets,” Gray added flatly. “She’s going to want to cleanse as much of Ava’s hold off the streets because she’ll have Drift and the virus, someone who doesn’t have Ava’s blood thirst. Ventilation in that building won’t be working, and she’ll turn on Ava’s crew. All of those kids are walking to their grave like anyone else caught out there. And me?” Gray pushed him away. “You wanna know why I wasn’t targeted and Ray was? The Monarchy will and is making the call to put me in lockdown because they won’t risk infection my way, not with how I’d turn on them. But they’ll send me in afterwards for cleanup. So I’m back to dancing naked in whorehouse windows because this woman knows that I’ll be called to make damn sure the killing field is cleared of the infected for her next step.” He snorted. “But I really don’t give a fuck about collars, the world, and everyone burning in it. I just want three people. Ava, this geneticist— and Drift. But it will be without any collar, on my streets, my fucking way.”

Martin stayed quiet as Simon got out of the car with his phone.

“Here.” He quickly handed Gray the phone. “These are the two buildings with the highest isolated vantage points and ventilation within the given time limit. They also haven’t been hit from what police drones are telling me. I’ve focused on heat signatures tailored towards movement from kids in the surrounding area.” He flicked a look at Gray. “Drones will be switched off, cameras stopped as soon as I know which one.”

Gray looked at the phone briefly and nodded before finding Jan. “Lilliana Whitlock. Get in touch with Raif. Find out if Jackson’s was hit, then ask Raif to get a location for the doctor who diagnosed Drift. She didn’t prescribe drugs, but I bet she recommended pharmacies to hit. From the list we saw, Sodium Valproate and clobazam were on that list that Jackson’s crew stole from the pharmacy. Both are medications for seizures and could have been switched. Either way: tell him to get her found and put on the MI5 Most Wanted. I need the identity of this geneticist.”

Jan nodded quickly and tugged out his phone as Gray looked at Light.

“Drift’s bloods…. The meds he hides in the Anadin box,” said Gray. Jan hadn’t made that connection: how the Anadin box had Drift’s name scrawled across it. “Start tests on them both,” said Gray. “Find out what poison has been mixed in with them, give me a name and a cure for what people are facing out there. You’re going to need it.”

Light stiffened, then shifted over to Simon and backed him into the car, and Jan didn’t understand why, but it was lost as Gray went in close to Martin and rested a hand on his neck, pulling him in breath-to-breath close. “You need to stay here.”

Martin snarled, tried to pull away.

“Trust me when it comes to getting Drift back.” Gray tightened his grip. “Because I really need to trust your bastardness too now when it comes to calling enough for me out there on those streets.”

Martin frowned. Stilled.

“Don’t let anyone in to follow me until you call it,” Gray said quietly. “No one else, you hear me? Light will try to push you to breaking that bastardness of yours in order to get Drift back to you. You hold him back for as long as possible any way you can and give the airborne virus time to burn its shelf life out. We don’t know in what way it does affect psychopaths, even ones who don’t have the virus. Find out why. But just, just don’t let me go up against my own kid out there. Please. I will kill him.”

The antidote. You’re going to need it … Jan frowned so seriously at Martin, then rested back on Gray.

London burned, all the devils made here, and Gray….

Gray knew he wouldn’t make it back out of there sane.

Not alone. Not without killing anyone who tried to help him.

TO BE CONTINUED

BURN

(Don’t… Book 9)