Page 51 of Drift

“I need housecleaning done at two sites.” Thorn had made it clear he knew of Gray’s one… playroom, so it was obvious he’d know about his other. He sent Ray the coordinates. “Prioritise removal of furniture and wood polish.”

Wood polish… Gray’s own cleanup chemicals. Over the years, bodies had been disposed of with a super-heated lye mixture that reduced skin and tissue to pulp in a few hours, leaving the bones brittle and easy to grind down. The rest was scattered to the wind as and when needed. Lye, or sodium hydroxide, was also easy to obtain off the shelf, and it only needed water for the mix. It was how roadkill was broken down, and it also offered the most effective breakdown for human remains as well. Unlike hydrofluoric acid, it also didn’t kill the user. DNA he didn’t leaveon scene, and it didn’t take a complex antiDNA cleaning product to do it: biological washing powder and knowing how to clean in the first place worked wonders. But the mine’s needed to be swept clean in case, with the order for them to be filled in as soon as possible.

“I’m on it in a few hours, mostly because you called me before I could call you.”

Gray turned his ear. “You found something on Chris’s onboard camera?” It’s what Gray had left him working on.

A rough sigh came over the line. “Yeah. And you’re really not gonna like this, boss.”

A video came through, and Gray kept the call on loudspeaker as he opened up what had been sent.

“The onboard camera from the crash had been tampered with, too professionally for my skill,” mumbled Ray. “So I gave Simon permission to use hisLet me Inhacks and share my computer from Egypt. He managed to repair what I couldn’t.”

Gray pressed play.

Chris’s headlights lit up the darkness of the B road, the shadow of the old oak in the distance. Then a streak of headlight off to the right from the T-junction saw Chris’s bonnet shift violently to the right as well to avoid the dark shadow of a second car. The impact of the tree was brutal, sending a briefcase from the back smashing into the window just before the air bag and window screen burst open.

Gray paused the footage, then scrolled back a few seconds. The reflection off the second car’s licence plate was too bright, almost as if a luminescent had been used to blind it to cameras. This technique was subtle, but sneaking more and more ontoBritish roads lately, all in order to blind CCTV cameras to those who wanted to keep life in the fast lane.

Tightening his jaw, Gray scrolled forward to the time marker Ray had given.

As the radiator leaked steam, the angle of the camera lay tilted on the bonnet. As it did, a pair of Doc Marten work boots came into view, the left carrying a deep scuff into the steel toecap….

Gray wiped a hand over his mouth.

“Fucking seriously?”

Jan glanced to the Oval as he passed, in many ways grateful for the sound proofing and how it allowed him to almost creep on by. Christ, he felt stupid. He hadn’t meant to creep past Gray, but he needed to go and see Monique, just make sure she was Okay. A call wouldn’t ever suffice there, not when it came to her losing her brother. Ray was busy, locked in his obs room with a note Jan’s way not to disturb unless it was an emergency, and, well, he couldn’t be blamed for not telling Ray he was heading out if he’d been told to give him a wide berth anyway… right?

Jan winced. Fuck, he felt really stupid creeping around like this. But Jack was due back for evening dinner, and, well… he was easier to bribe than Gray ever would be when it came to legging it out of the window, if only for an hour or two.

Jack’s Mercedes pulled in as he made it outside, and Jan breathed a heavy sigh of relief, then quickly shut the door and headed over.

“Hey.” Jack got out and kissed at his cheek as Jan came around to the driver’s side. “Missed me that much, huh, soft lad?” He grinned. “You know you could have come out all nakedlike, really welcomed me home.”

“Ass.” Jan kissed him back, then glanced briefly back at the door as Jack eyed up his ass and felt it up with a grin. “Fancy taking me for a quick drive?”

“Your ass? Yeah, maybe.” That sounded too dream-like, then—“Oh…” Jack pulled back and folded his arms. “Fuck… off.”

“Fuck off?” Jan tugged a magazine out from under his jumper and kept it away from the CCTV cameras. “I’ve got a limited edition with your name on it?”

Jack choked a laugh and eyed it up, then Jan. “You’re on lockdown for a reason. So fuck… off. You’ll get me hung, drawn, with no promise of an easy out with being quartered.” He meant that, unusually so, and Jan deflated.

That seemed to work more than the offer of a bribe, and after a long sigh, Jack took the magazine off him and tugged him in. “Fuck. Compromise?” he mumbled in Jan’s hair before kissing at his head. “How about I call and wreck Raif’s security plans, see if Monique and Andrea want a few hours of being waited on here? I’ll even smuggle them in via the cat flap so Gray doesn’t see.”

“The cat and the size of the cat flap scares her.” He rethought that. “Grayscares her.”

Jack laughed and kissed at his jaw, but his hold was long, quiet. “How you really doing, soft lad?”

Jan gave a sigh and eased back to look at him. “It wasn’t my brother or his wife and their kid killed.”

Jack nodded. “I know. But it’s got nasty echoes, right?”

Jan tensed up, not wanting the echoes of Rob, how him and his toddler had died, all because some spy had needed Jack in Jan’s life.

“Annnnd…” Jack eyed him up through a twitching eye. “Kind of sucks being on lockdown side, right? Me? I’m used to it, but you?”

Jan snorted a sad smile. Yeah, he really understood Jack’s push back against the noose-tight security now. A long time ago, in the aftermath of Vince and Henry, he’d needed Gray’s security, maybe even hid in it for a while along with the heroin. But now…? “I’m more worried for Monique. Just wanted to check she’s okay.”

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