Page 107 of Drift

Gray nodded, then looked his way. “Jack agreed to back off and give you space.” He kept the details brief over what had gone on, over catching a memory belonging to Martin. “It comes down to it, don’t fight him for control. He backed off and gave it you last night.”

Martin watched him a moment, then—“He doesn’t get to see inside my head. He can’t cope with what’s inside his own. That’s why I’ve always stood here. Security will always be mine.”

Gray gave a rough sigh and nodded. Martin was set for a fight regardless. Then as Light came back their way, Martin moved off and gave them space.

“Simon’s gonna set me up with body cams and audio,” he said to Gray, watching Martin. “I’ll go in early in the morning.”

Gray nodded, then pulled Light to a stop as he went to walk away. “Watch out for the virus. Think protection and you get out with it. You get me Jude as well, got it?”

Light nodded. “Poisons I know how to handle. Jude…?” He gave a small snort. “He’s a work in progress.” He moved off a moment later, and after a moment, Gray looked back at the board as a call came through.

“What help do you need your end?” asked Cal over the phone, and some of the tension eased in Gray, more specifically because it came from his father in MI6 in particular. Gray trusted him.

“Get the PM and the cabinet isolated and in lockdown in previously unused locations. No Cobra meetings.” The Monarchy had already been moved outside of the UK over a month ago. “Talk to Simon about communication outside of normal channels. These marks know secret service tech and the deep web, especially our security service history over using it for classified material. You need a code system they won’t haveknowledge of when it comes to coordination meetings from here on in. Make sure Brennan and his Met know about the new channels and threat upgrade.”

“And public measures? What do you want initiated to get people off the streets?”

“Anythingbuta new variant of Covid-19,” he said evenly. “Get them back in their homes. School shutdowns as well as non-essential workers. They work from home, going back to wearing masks if they go outside.” Quiet. “When it comes to rural, keep people to masks and working from home where possible.”

“Okay, that should keep the streets mostly clear.”

Gray frowned and thought it over. “Put pressure in hotels and hostels. Get them to open up shelter where they can for the kids on the street without a place to go to. Get as many of them off the streets as you can as well.”

“Any lead on the location of the marks and virus itself?”

Gray held Light’s look. “Yeah. We’ll know more come sunup. Keep your focus on getting the streets cleared just in case. Can you also put pressure on the head of the Health Agency here with us? They held back over mentioning an upgrade from drug to virus. That I needed to know despite the lack of evidence to back their claims up. We’re working with an unknown, so I need to know details when they do, not forty-eight hours later.” He paused for a moment. “And thank you for taking the code over Ray.”

“I’ll get Susan herself involved. She’s director of the agency and the best out there. It will mean moving Ray over to her now we’re potentially looking at airborne, but I’ll handle that.” Quiet. “And you’re welcome, son. Always.”

Chapter 31

SUNUP

Weighed down by dirty clothes and a jacket, Light adjusted the violin on his shoulder, then looked up at the old townhouse on Cromer Road as he stood by the gate. His skill on guitar was best, but playing that would always be kept between him, Brin, and whoever tried to send hurt his way. So the choice of violin it had to be because carrying a drumkit or piano was, well, damn awkward on the street.

Set back from the main road and surrounded by a host of ragged trees that loitered more like a group of hooded kids with ASBOs, the townhouse, from the outside at least, had seen better days. Ivy seemed to be the only life crawling the brickwork and wanting in. The drones’ broken-down imagery really had done it justice. The street that led down into the town was busy enough, with car and passersbys offering a good background lullaby noise to soothe any fears for the kids inside, but they still drove past without looking. They still walked on by without noticing the ruckus drifting through some of the windows.

Giving a glance up, catching the camera turn his way, Light tugged his beanie hat down to cover his eyes a little more, then eased the gate open and knocked at the door. Didn’t matter how run down the townhouse was, someone kept a watch inside with top market CCTV.

Maybe cancelled work with MI6 and haunting Gray’s manor of a night helped his look and mood. Sleep came in patches, always broken, never giving him a full night’s sleep. He certainly felt the deep exhaustion as the chill of the afternoon seeped into his knuckles, making wrapping on the door hurt. But he’d only spent one night on the streets with nowhere to go, and it brought in a whole upside-down displacement to a nightmare world. Light was used to having things to do, places to go, but having one night of having that taken away for months… years at a time? It wasn’t his world, and he couldn’t imagine how Jude had survived over the years. Life passed on by without a backward glance at them. How many homeless had he walked by without looking back, lost to his own troubles, let alone oblivious to Brin…?

From next door, two kids laughed and ran about on the front lawn, and off to his left, neighbours talked over the fence.

“You seeing this?” he murmured under his breath.

“Yeah,” said Simon through his earpiece. “People are staying home, but not exactly indoors.”

“Too much damage was done last time around,” mumbled Raif. “They knew the PM went partying as relatives died, so why should they follow the rules now, huh?” Raif gave a rough sigh. “Focus,” he said quietly. “Remember: toothbrushes are gold dust. So too is soap and any way to keep clean. Food is the ultimate prize, that’s why you’re here. You see something, keep your eyes on it. For god’s sake, don’t ask anyone why they are on the street. That’s their business, and you’ll be thrown out as law, or worse, a YouTuber out to make himself look good by offering food to the poor and needy. Which you have an opinion on if Jackson asks, and that is: at street level, medical and hygiene needs count for nothing to a bed-warmer. If you needsoap, their answer is a McDonalds. You need dressing for a cut… McDonalds. You’re diabetic: they give you a coke spiked full of sugar… and a McDonalds. So rather they give you cash so you can get what you need, not what makes them feel good for a few seconds. Got it?”

As his third knock had the door opening up, Light offered a sniff as a reply.

No carpet lined the floor, offering a walk back into the 1920s, but it was swept clean and looked after as Christmas lights framed a mirror. The girl holding the door wide was certainly looked after and clean, and Light shifted uncomfortably with how dirty he felt.

Anywhere from sixteen to twenty, the girl had three studs in her nose with a chain running to one in her ear. Designer jeans were loose, her jumper thick and without frayed edges, and straight, long hair hung in a plait over her shoulder. He noticed people a little more lately, more because of job necessity with MI6 over identifying trouble, but even though he could see them, he didn’tseethem, not beyond a profile, and this girl was trouble.

The thin stream of black in amongst the green of eyes called it out.

That didn’t bode well with Light. It wouldn’t with Gray or Martin as they viewed the camera Light carried on him.

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