Page 28 of Drift

Jet black.

His hair carried that step into the dark of night like Martin’s… Jack’s… yet there was a distinct look of his mother’s Korean descent to the long cut and softness as well, with androgynous features that left the onlooker thinking boy… girl…?

Eyes closed as Jude fought off the licks of the dog also called a boy caught playing with his pup, nothing sinister. Nothing off.

Nothing to warrant a young boy running.

But pictures were deceptive.

Gray wished to God whoever had taken the picture had caught Jude with his eyes open. Light didn’t carry the Raoul blueness Gray did, so would Jude break tradition as well and he’d keep his darker part-Korean eye-colour, or would that soul-taking silver-greyness to Jack and Martin turn towards the camera if given the chance?

Or would he carry the startling forest-green of Joanna’s father’s?

Gray hoped to God it wasn’t the latter.

Ray shifted in his seat, always looking like he preferred to be on his feet, moving. “I’ve reached my limit on intel,” he said quietly. “But if this kid ran to the streets and somehow managed to survive, you know Raif might have contacts out there to get the word out?” He searched Gray’s look for a moment. “Do you want time to talk to Jack and Jan, or do you want me to liaise with Raif and—”

“No, neither. Not yet.” Gray snapped that too hard, more than a little uncomfortable. “I’ll handle it from here.”

Ray watched him for a moment. “Okay. That just leaves you picking up Light and Simon from the airport on Wednesday,” added Ray. “Do you need me to arrange that?”

Gray shook his head. “No. Routine,” he said eventually. “That doesn’t get disturbed until we know for sure either way if Jude’s out there. That especially includes Jack and Jan’s routine. It’s marked on our personal calendar that I’m picking Light and Simon up.”

“And when they do find out about Jude? When Jack does?”

Along with Jan hearing news over Monique’s brother…. Gray fell quiet for a moment. “Then he’ll find out knowing all the detail without the heartache of waiting for the blanks to be filled in like I have. They both will.”

Ray gave a short nod and got to his feet. “Just for the record.” And here it came. “Jack having a kid out there would send me over to Halliday’s psych unit for a padded… vacation and some happy pills. But Martin’s, whose daughter Joanna is?” His look wasn’t friendly. “It nearly killed us all with havingyourboy here. And now with the potential of one of Martin’s thrown into the chemical mixerandthat other kind of bloodline…?”

Gray snorted a cold smile. He didn’t deny Ray his frankness. Ray’s concern was security. It’s what he was paid a damn good wage for.

But Martin had looked after his when Gray had been too driven in other ways, so he’d damn well look after anything to do with Martin until he was here to do it himself.

The concern was Jack and just how he was going to handle Martin potentially having a kid out there….

Chapter 9

BLOODLINES

Nearly every muscle in his body pushed to breaking, Drift kept his swim through the pool hard. The hurt in his body should have been warning enough to call it quits, the mid-afternoon sun as well, but the faster he swam, the dirtier he felt, so another lap turned into ten, fifteen, twenty….

“Drift.”

Wiping at his face, the hard bark of his name forced him to stop, and he glanced quickly around, finally resting on the deep end. The glint of sunlight on water rebounded around the poolside, and he knew of only one Japanese man who had balls to wear a black Trilby hat here and make it look good.

Briefly closing his eyes, Drift made the long swim over to Essex before easing out of the pool.

Essex eyed him up and down as he got out. “Wrong turf, lick bait. You’re not due on mine for another two days. Jackson’s t’other side of London.” Despite the bite in his tone, an offer of a spliff came.

Drift shivered and rubbed water off his nose, grateful the pool was closed and work suspended on the renovations as he took the offer of the cannabis and leaned in to take the brief release. “Routine.” He eased back and blew smoke away from Essex. “It’sbad for the soul.” He offered a small smile he didn’t feel. “Good job you love me, eh?”

“Like a dose of the pox, yeah.” Essex watched him for a moment, then gave a sigh. “I got wind of what went down in Wales, that some of yours were down there too.” His English was cockney perfect, but now and again he’d style switch between English and Japanese, usually when it wasn’t talk surrounding Ava. The poolside fell quiet as the water began to settle, and Essex shrugged. “More I think that bitch forced us to catch wind of what went down in Wales. Nowt like using that shit to keep us rats running and in our place, huh?”

Yeah. Her whole point behind her weekend excursion. Word had gotten out, more like the pictures from Ava’s Welsh Connection had.

Drift looked back to the changing rooms, hating talk on work with Jackson, on Ava’s… way of communicating with day-walker crews. Essex nodded, but he didn’t know the half of it. Drift tried to bury it. But talk in general? It was why he never carried a phone. Talk from one crew to another could get him cut and tossed in the Thames. And this... thiswasEssex’s patch, his part of London, and a damn site closer to the Thames. But where Drift didn’t talk from one crew to another, he sure as hell didn’t breathe a word on… Freak. Word got around. Essex had just proven that.

The spliff was pinched, and Essex stole a few drags before handing it back.

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