Page 102 of Drift

Jack almost, almost shifted with a snarl, everything inside hitting a wall with how Jan always got tugged away from him, but whatever ran through Ray’s eyes, it was still part-fuelled on protection, on protecting Jan. And Janhadjust gotten a few steps closer to the front door, only Ray still had a hold on him.

“Gray….” Jack nodded. “Gray’ll be back soon, okay? Why not let Jan go, if you’re worried? I won’t try anything. I’ll stay right here with you. Then us, we—”

“Shelley.” Spit came out on Ray’s snarl. “I just want fucking Shelley. What… What the fuck did you do to her, you mad bastard?”

Sweat coated Ray’s body, and the whites to his eyes took on a redness that called fever, one that only kept eating into him.

“Look,” said Jack, “I don’t know what’s going on. Shell—”

“Don’t say her fucking name. I… I—” Fresh tears soaked Ray’s cheeks, and he wiped them blindly away with his arm. “I just need to know where she is. Please. For god’s sake, please, Jack. Not Shelley. Not her, okay?”

Shelley usually kept to herself in the gatehouse, offering a wave over, but not much more, and—“Call her?” Jack nodded. “Call her, shall I? Find out where she is, yeah?”

Ray’s look shot back up the stairs. “Shelley—Shelley.” He shouted it continuously over his shoulder, and Jack jolted, nearly dropping his hold on his phone as he tugged it free.

“No. I meant call her on the phone.” Fuck. Ray had lost it, but how the gun shook in his hand as he waved it about scared him more. “She always carries hers, right?”

“Don’t playfuckinghead games with me. I’m not Gray.” The gun levelled Jan’s way.

“No. No no no no.” Jack ducked slightly, two hands raised Ray’s way. “No games, never with Jan, please. Never with Shelley. Just… if you think she’s hurt, she might hear her phone, right? She—”

Steve skidded into the hallway behind Jack, and Jack almost cried relief, only with the gun levelled Jan’s way—“Back off,” snarled Jack. “Just back the fuck off.”

“What?” Steve’s look went from him, to Jan, to the gunonJan… to finally not being able to look away from Ray blocking the main door as he stood there, naked. “What the Jesus H Christ…?”

“Shelley,” snarled Ray, and the call of her name was followed by a heated security code. “He’s… Jack’s got her somewhere in here,” he cried out. “He smashed her fucking head in.”

“What?” Steve tore his attention off Ray, and Jack knew he was fucked with the code Ray had just called out. A takedown came on the back of it, four-point restraints, sedatives… because he was the nutjob here, right? Ray the professional. Trusted. Gray’s righthand bastard man.

Anger should have come, but instead Jack raised his hands to his head, utterly backed down, forced all feeling away beyond taking to any goddamn corner without Gray here, because with that gun Jan’s way, he fucking make a home in that goddamn corner if he had to.

“Okay, okay,” Jack said flatly as Steve buffeted him from behind, tugging an arm down and twisting it behind his back. “I—”

“I’ll fucking kill you and him if you don’t tell me, J—”

Someone shifted up to Ray, and a hard and fast elbow went to Ray’s face, once, twice, a third time as Ray’s gun was also twisted out of his hand in the same breath. Then Ray was put in a choke hold, and the grip didn’t loosen in any way shape or form until he blacked out. Ray was lowered to the floor and the gun picked up.

“Back off,” Light said flatly to Steve, the gun levelled his way. “Now.”

Steve eased his hold off Jack, breathing heavy, suddenly raising both hands.

A moment later, Light lowered the gun and chucked his phone Steve’s way. “Get an ambulance here through Cal, Gray’s father. He’s first contact for an emergency if Gray isn’t here to answer it. Warn him Ray’s potentially infected with a potential unknown drug that heightens aggression and causes hallucinations. He’s been given the upgrade alert threat. Then call Gray and get him home.” Another code went his way, one that would ensure Gray would get here. Jack knew it: he’d used it most of his fucking life.

Steve’s heavy breathing hit the quiet.

“Fuckingmove.”

He bolted on Light’s last snarl, and Jack shifted in the same breath. “You okay?” He took Jan back a step into the hall, into the light, checking him over, needing to make sure he was all right.

Jan nodded. “You?” He was shaking, but so too was Jack.

Jack roughly pulled him in. “Fuck. Just fuck.” He screwed his eyes shut and held on, his touch shaking as he ran through Jan’s hair and looked at Light.

Light tore off his grip, taking Jan back a step. “He cut you?” He shoved up Jan’s shirt sleeve, checking where Ray had gripped his arm.

“No.” Jan frowned his way. “What…?” He tried to pull away. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Light flicked him a look. “He’s running a fever and naked, Jan. Ray’s got something in his system, and the only ones playing biological weapon are the Night-walkers that Jude’s run around with. I need you to get washed down in the lab upstairs. We’re used to handling chemical spills. But after that, we’re going to need to isolate you for a few hours just to make sure you’re okay.”

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