Chapter Eight.
"Them?" I said, fighting to keep myself detached and objective, and on the whole managing quite well; though I had to admit Martin's presence was helping. "That's clever."
"Obfuscation," Sterling said, stroking his chin, "much better than hubris, and adds that extra twist of uncertainty and fear to your enemy's pot." Martin and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes.
"Much like your statement," Martin said. Sterling smiled.
"Quite
so what do we think?" He got up, and went to the fridge. "Coke?"
"Yes, please," I said as Martin nodded. "Well, it's definitely Brian's handwriting
," I continued, opening the can and drinking thirstily, "
though
."
"Yes?"
"I dunno, there's something about it that's
off." Sterling perked up at this.
"Off? In what way off?"
"It's his handwriting, his normal handwriting. If it was me I'd be frightened, terrified, and wouldn't that make my handwriting shaky?" I turned the evidence bag over to look at the other side of the paper, but it was blank. I handed it to Martin, who shook his head and passed it back to Sterling.
"He's not a friend of mine, so I've never seen his writing before, though like Gabe says, I'd be nervous too." Sterling nodded and stood up.
"Anything else, before I give it to forensics?" A light went on in my head.
"Hang on." I stood up and felt in my back pocket. The card Ashmiel had given to Lolly was still in there, though it had been washed along with my jeans. Gingerly I pulled it out and put it on the table. "I don't know if they can get anything off this, but it had the number for V Enterprises on it."
"That was very stupid of them." Sterling frowned, took the scrap of card and left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Shall we fire them up then?" I said, flexing my fingers and looking at the computers. "I'm gonna find the fucker, and borrow Rajit's gun."
"Yeah, right, of course you are, and I'm gonna turn into the Hulk and become your sidekick." Martin logged on with his thumb print, and once I'd had my thumb scanned he gave me second level administrator privileges, smirking as the mouse crossed over the selector for 'full' privileges. I pouted at him.
"That's mean, Martin."
"Yeah, so upgrade yourself ... if you can." He smiled; I managed to keep a straight face, and spun around in the chair.
"Martin?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing, Martin, and what about my keyphrase for the security system, when should we do that?" He sighed, and I almost giggled. I have no Idea why, but I was feeling lightheaded, almost silly.
"Now. Let's get all that out of the way, and then perhaps we can concentrate on the important things."
"Important things?" I was riling him, and couldn't have been more entertained. He shot me an annoyed look and pointed at the console.
"Microphone, dipshit. When the computer asks, speak your keyphrase clearly."
"Yep! I'll speak my keyphrase clearly."
Martin brought up the security submenu and set up my access account. "Ready?"
"Yeah."
"After the tone speak your keyphrase," the computer said.
"Seraph Shift Comma Three Sierra Oscar November," I enunciated clearly, and watched as Martin froze.
"Re-enter keyphrase for confirmation."
"Seraph Shift Comma Three Sierra Oscar November," I repeated, and Martin, his hand shaking, completed the audio capture and turned to look at me.
"You guessed," he said flatly. I shook my head.
"I worked it out. It wasn't hard, Martin."
"And?"
"And
," I paused. Though we'd only met in person mere hours before, I was sure. It had been like coming home. He was looking nervous and I put him out of his misery. "Shift Comma Three; Shift Comma Three, all the way.
I took his glasses off and put them on the console, watching as his smile grew bigger and bigger, matching mine. We stared at each other, and ever so lightly he put his hand around my neck and pulled me closer until our lips met. It was a gentle kiss, wonderful, and an affirmation of our future. It killed the darkness and guilt I'd been feeling since the explosion, and more than that, it was really, really hot. I don't know how long the kiss lasted, but by the time it ended I was too hard to be comfortable.
"Gabe
are you sure?" Martin said, trying to be subtle as he re-arranged himself. He caught me watching and blushed, coughed, and started cleaning his glasses.
"Oh, yes, Martin," I smiled, taking the opportunity to upgrade my administrator privileges, "I am." I grabbed his hand as he was about to put his glasses back on and leant forward and bussed him on the nose. "If I do that every time you clean your glasses, it'll become so annoying you'll get contacts." I waggled my eyebrows.
"Or so addictive I clean my glasses more often." He stuck his tongue out. "Ok then, let's get Brian and John back."
We were just starting to discuss what to do when Sterling walked in and stood by the door, flanked by Nick and Celia.
"I'm afraid I'm leaving for a while," Sterling said. "However, Nick and Celia are staying as liaison with His Highness and his security people, so I'm putting you under their wing. If there is
."
Martin interrupted him.
"I'm afraid Gabriel and I are already under His Highness's protection, so Nick and Celia would be redundant, and frankly would better serve us all elsewhere." He was looking directly at Sterling as he spoke, and I watched Sterling's initial look of amazement turn to grudging acceptance. Martin had put on a remarkable display, and I was touched. Sterling wasn't finished though. He walked over and stood between us.
"Fair enough, Mr Trubshaw, but as Gabriel's father is in my employ I feel an obligation to protect his son
so Nick and Celia will stay, if you have no other objections?"
Martin looked away at the monitor. "If you insist, Mr Sterling, I'm sure His Highness will think that's commendable." Sterling glared at Martin's back, then turned and walked to the door.
"See you later, Gabriel," he said. "You two, come with me." He smacked his hand against his leg and walked out, followed by Celia and Nick, who gave me a confused look before closing the door.
Martin stood up and started tugging at his lip. "Right then, what did Sterling touch?"
"Hmm?"
"When he just came in
." Martin was looking at our chairs that Sterling had been standing between. He ran his fingers over the chair backs; "ah, thought so!" he said, pulling a small needle transmitter out between his thumb and forefinger, and snapping it in half. "Right, that's that taken care of
now
," he sat back down, put the broken transmitter on the desk, and turned to face me, "what do you think of Nick?"
It had to come, I knew it, but I was still thrown off balance by the immediacy of his question.
"Now?"
"No, Wednesday week
," he gave me an exasperated look, "of course now. I know you had a
well, a brief thing with him, but that was before we really met, and I just want
I want to know, Gabe, that's all. He's good-looking."
I felt a sudden flare of red tint my vision, and guessed it was jealousy. He wanted to know if I was still attracted to Nick, and there he was telling me he found Nick attractive.
"You think he's good-looking, do you?" I said with more than a tinge of worry. He raised his eyebrows.
"In the abstract, for sure, but
hang on
you think I like him?"
"Well, no, yes, alright I do
do you?" He licked his lips in an outrageous way, and I had to laugh.
"Look, Martin. The bottom line is Shift Comma Three, ok?" We looked at each other, and smiled.
"'nuff said then," he replied and took my hand, apologising when I winced. He took the other one and held it tightly, looking serious. "Tell me about Brian and John."
I was about to get upset and object, but sighed instead. "I've known them all my life and
."
Twenty minutes later I'd brought him up to date, and he looked as upset with Brian as I felt.
"That's outrageous!
"Yeah, pretty much."
"And he let you think John was to blame for three years!"
"Uh huh."
"What kind of best friend would do that?" He laid my hand back in my lap, got up, and started pacing. "Poor John, and he never told you, never told you it was Brian who was two-faced
damn. That's loyalty."
"I know," I said, "but then they are twins." I'd been rotten to John, calling him all sorts of unforgivable names. He was effeminate, but then he'd had the courage to realise what he was long before I had. He was 'out' and seemed to have a good group of friends around him, whilst Brian and I had sniped at him unmercifully from the sidelines.
Martin pointing it out only made me feel worse, and now they'd been kidnapped there was a distinct possibility I'd never get to apologise to him, or to kick Brian's arse.
The more I thought about Brian, the angrier I got. He'd not only screwed over his brother, without comeback, but had strung me along like a lemon. If he'd have just said he was jealous, we'd have had a row and 'the Three' would have been as tight as always.
"You know what really pisses me off is that Brian's straight. I can't work out why he was jealous."
Martin clapped me on the back. "Don't worry, Gabe, we'll get them back." He waited for me to stop frowning. "So when, where and why did you meet Valerian?" I thought for a moment of holding back; but if Martin was my soulmate, and I was sure that he was, secrets were pointless. I pulled at my ear lobe, and took a deep breath as Martin sat down.
"The when and where are easy. The same time as I met you and in the same place, the forums of the white hats' site." He nodded, and then frowned.
"If that's the case, I must know him too. What's his name?" I shook my head.
"It was two weeks after we'd got to know each other in the forum. I got a PM from him. He said he'd been lurking under a variety of usernames, and he'd decided he'd like to ask my advice as I seemed 'nice'
," I glanced at Martin, who was rolling his eyes, "
and before you say anything, yes, I was stupid and gullible -- and flattered." He chuckled.
"Yeah, but you didn't meet him." I shook my head again. "So what happened next?"
"Apart from falling for you, you mean?"
He smiled.
"It was mutual you know."
"Yah
," I said, feeling myself blush, "erm
anyway, we got to know one another, and a couple of weeks later we started talking on IRC. Always a different room, on different servers
one night he gave me a dare
he said there was a site I'd never get into, and I said I could." I paused, thinking how naοve I'd been. Martin leant forward and held my good hand, his presence reassuring. I closed my eyes and sighed.
"It took me a couple of weeks, but I got in. They had serious security, but then they had serious stuff to protect." Martin cocked his head. "To win the dare, I had to get a case of M99 delivered to an address he gave me. I did."
"Shit."
"Yah."
"Erm
what's M99?"
"Oh
sorry; it's etorphine hydrochloride, like morphine but much, much stronger. It's used as a tranquiliser for large mammals, like elephants, and it's lethal to humans in tiny doses."
"Shit."
"Oh, yeah
it's what nearly killed Nick and me, and I think it's what Ashmiel killed the security guard with."
"No wonder Davey's so freaked out." I nodded.
"And that's not the only reason. Ashmiel's a sociopath, I think."
"Shit."
"Yah."
Martin squeezed my hand. "So then what?"
I sat up in the chair, stretched, and squeezed him back. "Well, I got a bank statement which showed a large cash deposit, and I wigged out. I told him I'd done it for a dare, not money, and then I realised I was trapped. And I lost a USB stick with a document on it that I shouldn't have had.
don't say 'shit' again, Martin, please, 'cause really, the whole mess is shit." He grinned, his eyes twinkling, and winked.
"Pile of poo!
So then, what happened next?"
"Isn't that enough?" I turned his hand over and looked at his palm. I was beginning to think I might have a serious hand fetish.
"No, you have to tell me everything, Gabe. 'cause we're in it together, and I want to help, so I need to know."
I looked across at him. His expression was serious, the care in his eyes all too real, and I sniffed loudly because I didn't want to start crying: I'd done quite enough of that in the last few days.
"He dared me again, and so I waited a bit, then told him I couldn't get in.
He called me a liar, said I hadn't tried
and he was right, I hadn't. The point was he couldn't have known I hadn't. So I did, and got him some
."
Martin was starting to look confused.
"I think I'm with you. So what did you get him?"
"Drugs from a large pharmaceutical company, and after that
please don't tell anyone, Martin."
"I promise."
"Guns. I got him guns from Russia, and had them delivered to the docks in Felixstowe."
"Fuck."
"Yeah
Valerian's got me over a barrel. I thought it was a laugh, and it was, until the M99, and the money, and he
he
was going to tell my father
." I squeezed his hand again, then let go, stood up, and started to pace. "I'm sixteen, Martin, and you know what I feel for you. But I've got to tell you, I've got to tell you that some of the information you gave me, I used to
."
"I know," he murmured, "or at least I guessed. But we were much younger when we started, and I'm probably just as guilty as you are." He stood up, walked over and pulled me into a hug. "Been there, done it, was rescued by Jamal, in much the same way as he's helping you now." I pushed away from him, astonished.
"But I've caused Jamal's apartment to be blown up, and I'm responsible for people dying, being hurt
and God knows what damage and misery the drugs and guns have caused
I'm
I'm worthless. I should turn myself in."
Martin sat down again, pursed his lips, and looked up at me.
"Well, actually you have."
"I have what?"
"Turned yourself in, or rather we pulled you in. Sterling's D27 is part of the Government security services, 'The Boys' are affiliated with both UK and several Arabic security services, and your father is part of it all too." I blinked rapidly as he continued. "Of course, a lot of this is recent, and positions change, but
erm
Seraph666 has a reputation that far exceeds Gabriel Dawson. Seraph is actually legendary, whereas SoN isn't, I'm sad to say, especially since I've had much better equipment."
"My equipment's as good as yours," I smirked, and Martin groaned.
"Oh no, not the Seraph puns, please! I surrender."
"You said my dad was part of all this," I asked, "
so does he know about
?"
"The plans for the WiFi network were stolen by an employee at the printers, and not from your USB stick, if that's what's bothering you."
Like the sun shining through the clouds on a grey day, I felt lighter, as the worry, the gnawing uncertainty I'd been carrying for over two years disappeared, along with the guilt.
"Thank you, Martin. Thank you." I stopped pacing, and sat down, picking up his hand again. "You know you're addictive, don't you?"
"You're a sap, Gabriel, a total sap."
"Provided you're my tree, I don't mind a bit." We smiled at each other and he was leaning forward, towards me, when the door flew back against the wall.
"Sellick!" we bellowed together, breaking apart. But it wasn't; it was Nick.
"This was just handed in to the same bloody policeman," Nick spat. "The same policeman who got a bollocking for not questioning the person who delivered the letter is now going to have his nuts roasted for not questioning the person who delivered this!"
"What?" Martin said, holding out his hand.
"This." Nick passed over a small cardboard box, the sort jewellery came in. Nestled in a bed of cotton wool was the bloody tip and last knuckle of a small finger. I felt my stomach churning as Martin, with a dispassionate expression, had a look, before handing the box to me.
"It's Brian's," Nick said, his pallor white, his face gaunt.
"No. It's not," I said, handing it back to Nick, and being careful not to touch his hand. "I saw Brian in the park yester
the day before yesterday. He's good with his nails, he never chews them, whereas this," I pointed to the finger, "has been badly bitten for a while."
They looked at each other, and then back at me before Nick, who hadn't said another word, left, closing the door behind him.
"See, it's not your age, it's your maturity. You're one of us now, Gabriel." He grinned and I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Why are they leaving us alone for so long, Martin?" I asked, primarily to cover my embarrassment at seeing Nick and Martin together. Though I'd only just met Martin in person, I loved him - he was my future, but I only knew it because of the brief time I'd spent being attracted to Nick. It was complicated, and it was confusing.
I guess I faded away into a daydream, because the next thing I knew Martin was asking if I was ok.
"Umm, yes, thanks. Better than ok, actually."
"You do still like him, don't you?" He wasn't visibly frowning, but I heard it in his voice. I smiled.
"We've just had this conversation, Martin." I sighed, looking at him, thinking what the future might hold. "I was just thinking I'm grateful to Nick. He made me admit things; face up to who I am." I slid off the chair onto one knee and struck a pose, clutching my heart. "As for you, you Son of Neo, you
I said it was Shift Comma Three, and it's Shift Comma Three all the way
fool." I sat back in the chair. "Right, now our interpersonal stuff's sorted, where were we?"
"I was about to ask you what you thought started the violence. If it was Valerian who bombed the apartment, something must have set him off."
"Oh, I'm sure it was Valerian. He tried to kill me, then had his goons chase me with a view to kidnap or kill me, and then Jamal's apartment gets destroyed. What are the odds of someone else picking that same time and place?
No, it was him alright, and
."
"As a matter of interest, how do you know he's a he?" Martin's question threw me. I had no proof either way. We'd never spoken, except with our voices electronically disguised, never met or seen each other in real life. Yet Valerian knew who I was and where I lived. He had referred to my parents, yet I'd never thought it odd and had always thought he was male.
"I don't, I just assumed," I said, tugging at my ear lobe.
"And the start of the violence?" Martin asked, watching me.
"That's easy. He thought I'd gone to the authorities, and also I refused point blank to do something he asked of me."
"Which was?"
"He wanted me to find him a nuclear weapon."
Chapter 7
Index
Chapter 9
Seraph by Camy © 2006/2007/2008
Thanks to Kitty, for all the editorial input and tweaking.
She has made this tale much, much better than it was. Gassho.
