Chapter Twenty-Two Homework Set #3
Patel let the silence hang for a beat before leaning in.
“Radley is hosting a private event this weekend. Core associates, trusted runners, the usual hangers-on. A number of them are local business owners. Whether they’re complicit in his other income streams or simply turning a blind eye, we don’t yet know.
That’s intelligence we’ll be gathering too.
Naomi has secured an entry point through her UC role.
She’ll be inside. Reid’s also been invited.
And Radley has already made it clear he wants to meet you, Mr Ellison. ”
Jude flinched. “Me?”
“Yes.” Patel’s expression didn’t shift, though her words carried weight enough to hit.
“Your name’s been raised more than once.
You’re the teacher who pulled a boy out of a burning school.
Radley likes optics. He likes a story. He’ll want to exploit your reputation.
Respectable. Reliable. The local hero. More than that, he sees you as a line into Worthbridge Secondary.
Someone who makes his recruitment cleaner, easier.
He believes you’d be pliable, easy to flip, because of your history with Reid.
Our assessment is that Reid didn’t come back to Worthbridge for you.
He came for money owed. It was Radley who pushed him to re-establish contact. ”
Jude’s stomach twisted, bile rising. “So he thinks… what? That I’d hand him kids?”
“That’s precisely what he’ll try to sound you out for,” Patel said, voice firm. “And we need that conversation captured.”
“Reid can wear a wire,” Warren snapped before his brain kicked in because he knew what was coming next. “He’s the one with the history, the ties. Leave Jude out of it.”
Naomi shook her head. “Too risky. Reid’s been around Radley long enough to know the tells.
They’d pat him down before he was in the door.
They trust him, but not that much. You put tech on him, he’s dead before he finishes his drink.
” Naomi cut her gaze cut to Jude again. “You’re different.
Radley doesn’t suspect you. He wants you there, which gives us an opening.
You wear a wire, we get him soliciting you directly—recruitment, grooming, any line about payment or expectation—and we’ve got him nailed.
Between that and your statement you saw Radley working with Reid years ago, we’re good to go.
No wriggle room. No legal gymnastics. A watertight prosecution. ”
Jude curled his hands in his lap, knuckles blanching. “You want me to go into that house. With Callum. To sit in front of Radley. With a wire on.”
“Yes.” Patel’s tone softened, but only slightly. “We’ll have surveillance in place. Naomi inside. Uniforms close. Armed response on standby if needed. You won’t be alone.”
Warren’s chest burned hot. “You’re asking him to walk into the lion’s den wearing steak around his neck.”
Patel’s gaze cut to Warren, hard as glass. “I’m asking him to give us Radley. Once and for all.”
Warren turned to Jude. Their eyes locked, and he saw the fear, yes, but underneath it a grim, immovable resolve. And that terrified him more than anything.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said, offering Jude a choice. Because he had to know he had one.
Jude tilted his head. The decision was already written across his face.
“I can’t let him walk away from this. Not after the fire.
Not after Alfie. Reuben. The kids in my school.
They need someone to stop it happening to them.
The shit that happened to me. If I turn my back now…
what sort of teacher am I? What sort of role model? ”
Warren blew out a sharp breath through his nose, nostrils flaring, then swung back to Patel. “If he goes in, I’m going with him.”
“You’re off the op, DS Beckford. You shouldn’t even be sat in this room. You should be back in London, feet up, watching daytime TV. You are benched. Pending review. As of right now, you are not police.”
Warren bristled. “Then put me in the van. Surveillance. Wire room. Anything.”
Patel pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling hard.
“How many times do I need to spell this out? If you so much as breathe near this operation in an official capacity, it is compromised. Defence will rip it to shreds in court. We’ll lose credibility, Radley will walk, and he’ll keep using kids to run his lines and girls to line his pockets.
And all because you couldn’t keep a hundred bloody feet away. ”
The words stung, each one a nail in the wall closing him out.
“Actually…” Naomi’s voice cut across the silence.
“I’ve already cleared Bailey for cover. He’s listed as staff.
On the waiting team. It’s low risk. He doesn’t go in as us, doesn’t touch the operational chain.
But he’ll be in the room. Eyes on.” She widened softening eyes on Warren.
“If that helps ease your… concern for Jude.”
Warren swallowed hard. He knew exactly what Naomi was doing.
She was throwing him a lifeline. Giving him the in he’d been begging for without saying it out loud.
And the sting of it? He’d never done the same for her.
Back when she’d been running deep cover, he’d stayed outside, played by the book. Trusted the op. Trusted her.
Not this time.
This time he couldn’t stay outside. Couldn’t trust the process. Maybe because there was more at stake. More risk. Or maybe because what he stood to lose wasn’t the job.
It was Jude.
“Is that agreed, then?” Patel glanced between Jude and Warren.
Warren met Jude’s gaze, and Jude gave a small nod. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll do it.”
Patel rose to her feet. “Good. We’ll brief you fully in the next couple of days.
Cover, comms, what to expect inside. Until then, your job is to keep everything normal.
Go to work. Stick to routine. Don’t raise suspicion.
By the weekend, we could have this wrapped.
” She dropped her gaze to Warren, sharp as a pin.
“And it looks like you just got your job back.”
He furrowed his brow. “I’m on the op?”
“No, Warren.” Patel buttoned her coat. “To maintain cover, you need to be in that school in the next thirty minutes. Worthbridge still need teaching how to throw a ball, considering their recruitment pipeline is about to collapse under our feet. That’s your role.
Nothing more.” She turned back to Jude, softer but still direct.
“Thank you, Mr Ellison. What you’ve agreed to, very few would.
That makes you a modern-day hero, whether you believe it or not. We’ll see ourselves out.”
Patel and Naomi scooted past, Naomi giving Warren a slight nod and mouthed call me. Warren nodded. Then the front door closed with a solid thud, silence ringing in its wake. Patel and Naomi’s footsteps crunched down the path, a car door slammed, then the low hum of an engine faded into nothing.
Warren moved to the sofa, shoulders heavy. He could feel Patel’s words clinging to him, sharp as glass. Jude agreeing. The wire. The bloody party. Hero. Patel had called him a modern-day hero. All Warren could think was bait.
Across from him, Jude perched on the edge of the table, staring at the mugs as if they might hold answers.
Warren’s chest burned at the sight. This was why he’d fought Patel so hard.
Why he hadn’t trusted Glasshouse either.
People like Jude weren’t meant to be evidence. They were meant to be protected.
“Jude…” His voice came out low, rougher than he’d meant. The single word carried too much. Fear. Frustration. Grief he hadn’t earned.
Jude slid onto the sofa beside him. “I said yes. And I meant it.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
That made Jude look at him, and what Warren saw gutted him. Not defiance. Not fear. Something heavier. Acceptance. A resolve Warren had only ever seen in soldiers who knew they weren’t walking back from a fight.
“Hey.” Jude gave a small, crooked smile tugging at his mouth. “It’s not the end of the world.”
“Feels like I’m sending you into it.”
Jude slid his hand into Warren’s and squeezed. “Then don’t think of it like that. Think of it as me getting to rewrite my history.”
Warren turned their hands, laced their fingers tight, and pulled him closer until Jude’s shoulder pressed firm against his chest. His heartbeat thudded hard beneath Warren’s palm, fragile and stubborn all at once.
And in that moment, Warren knew he couldn’t let Patel see Jude as a piece on a board. Couldn’t let Radley see him as leverage. He’d risk his warrant card, his career, his life if he had to.
Because Jude wasn’t evidence.
He was his.
So he brought their hands up to kiss Jude’s knuckles, “And I’ll make sure you reach that sea.”