Next Of Kin (Unnatural Selection #3) (15 page)

“Lovely,” I
said.

“Yeah, a real
charmer. Clarke admitted the whole thing less than half an hour
ago, including where Nick and Gordon were being held. I called Andy
to tell him we were moving in, only to discover you guys had beaten
us to it. Burton’s under arrest, and so is Oliveira. So is the
night manager and the security staff, and when we find them, the
other staff involved in all this.”

“And us?”

“Who?”

“Us. I mean,
me and my friends. The ones in uniforms.”

“The role
players who have carefully broken no laws except possibly causing a
breach of the peace which we will overlook in light of the much
greater crimes uncovered? Oh, you can all leave. I suggest you do
that pretty damn quickly before my sergeant changes his mind.”

“Andy wasn’t
involved in this at all.”

“So I heard.
I’m only a lowly senior constable, Anton. The doings of my betters,
I don’t ask questions about.”

Andy grinned.
“Wise man. Anton, take our boy home. I’ve been onto Gordon’s sister
and he’s being driven home tonight. Someone will call you two
tomorrow and ask some more questions. But for now, enjoy having him
back.”

“I plan to.” I
stuck out my hand. “Thank you.”

“Thank
you
. Go on. I’ll
let Harry and the others know.”

I ran back to
the car, and stripped out of the hazmat suit before climbing back
inside. “We’re free to go, so let’s get out of here before they
change their minds.”

It was a long
drive back to Battersea. Nick stayed firmly wrapped in his blankets
and in my arms as Charlotte drove us home. He let me make the phone
calls that had to be made. This time, it was a real pleasure to
deliver the news.

“Robert?
Nick’s home. He’s here with me now.”

“Oh God,
Anton. You’re serious?”

“Completely.
He’s been through a lot so I thought I’d call you now and let you
talk to him tomorrow. But he’s safe, well, and here.”

“I can’t
believe it. You’re not pulling my leg?”

Nick roused.
“Gimme,” he muttered, so I held the phone up to him. “Dad, it’s me.
I’m shattered and cold, but I’m fine. I’ll call tomorrow or you can
call me at the house. How’s Mum?” He listened to his dad, then
said, “Love you too, Dad. Talk tomorrow.”

I took the
phone back. “Robert, I have to ring a couple of other people
now.”

“Right you
are, lad. This is wonderful news.”

“Yes, it is.
See you soon.”

Nick had his
head on my shoulder again. “I don’t think he’ll believe it until he
sees me.”

“Then we’ll
arrange it. They’ve been through a terrible time. We all have.”

“Tell me about
it.” He said no more. I stroked his hair and wondered what that
bastard Burton had done to him.

I called Karl,
then my parents. By the time I finished telling everything to my
mother, we were in Hammersmith. “We’re nearly home, Mum,” I
said.

“Then I’ll let
you go. I think you two will want to be alone for a while.”

“I think
so.”

“Give my love
to Nick. He missed Rosh Hashanah but we’ll do something for Hanukah
for him.”

I grinned. “I
think he’ll love it. Bye, Mum.”

“What will I
love?” a sleepy voice near my navel asked.

“Mum putting
on a special Hanukah thing for you.”

“Yeah. Nice.
Don’t care so long as you’re there. Never leaving you again.”

“Technically
you didn’t leave me this time...uh, did you?”

“No. Bastards
got me in a lane near work. Paralysing injection, breathing bag,
nasty.”

“They sent me
a text from your phone saying you’d found someone else and were
leaving me.”

He twisted to
look up at me. In the flickering traffic lights his green eyes
looked huge and intense. “You knew it was fake?”

“Instantly and
completely. Never believed it for a second. Never gave up.”

“He really
didn’t,” Charlotte said. “If I ever get kidnapped by an evil
doctor, I want Anton on my side.”

“Hey!”

The back
of Beth’s neck was stiffly indignant. “I took
your
help for granted, darling.”

“Damn
right.”

Nick was still
staring at me. He reached for my hand and I squeezed his tight.
“Not for a second,” I whispered. “I would never have stopped until
you came home.”

“I have the
world’s best husband and I will bite anyone who disagrees with
me.”

“And that’s
why I love you.”

Beth made a
gagging noise. “Guys, we don’t force you to listen to this kind of
thing.”

“Oh, leave
them alone, Beth,” Charlotte said. “It’s not every day Anton gets
his man back from the bad guys. Nick, they paralysed you?”

“Yeah.
Couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. They could do what they bloody
wanted with me, and did.”

“Hmmm. Then I
think I have an idea what might have killed that poor man they
found in the burning car.”

“Killed?”

“Uh, we think
it was their first attempt to kidnap one of you,” I said, wishing
Charlotte had been a little more discreet. “Maybe we should talk
about this tomorrow.”

Nick sat up,
frowning. “Whoever’s investigating this better not fuck up the case
because I want these guys to be put away for the rest of their
lives.”

“I don’t think
you need to worry about that. Andy’s been kicking arse.”

“Huh.” I
sensed that Sergeant McDiamond would have a persistent former
partner adding to the butt-prodding when Nick was back on line. But
that could wait.

Charlotte
pulled up outside our house. “Here you go, boys. Beth and I will
supply the champagne tomorrow night. Nick, are you sure you’re
feeling okay physically? Do you want me to check you over?”

“I’m fine,
Charlie. I’m just unfit because I’ve been mostly sitting on my arse
for weeks. But they didn’t drug me except for that one time.”

“All right.
Anton, what are you waiting for?”

“Aye aye,
cap’n.” I pushed Nick out of the car, and draped the blanket around
him again. “I’ll ring you, Charlotte. Thank you, ladies.”

“Have a good
night, boys. You deserve it.”

Beth blew us a
kiss as Charlotte drove away.

“Inside,” Nick
said, shivering.

I unlocked the
front door. “Welcome home, love.”

Nick walked
in, waited until I was inside too, then kicked the door shut and
grabbed my face so he could ravish me. I manfully failed to put up
any resistance. I may have even assisted.

“I used to
hallucinate seeing you,” he whispered against my neck. “I knew they
were planning to kill us when they were done with us. But I still
dreamed about getting out. Mind you, you weren’t wearing a hazmat
suit in my dreams.”

“See? That’s
how you know it’s real. Living room? Bedroom?”

“Bathroom. Please. I want to get out of these damn clothes
and wash my own hair and
shave
.”

The way he
said it made me realise offering to do that for him wouldn’t be a
good idea. “Can I watch?”

“You better. I
don’t want you out of my sight.”

“Funny you
should say that.”

Nick wasn’t
the only one who’d dreamed about being back together again.
However, on those rare occasions when I’d let myself fantasise
about that happy time—a time I never allowed myself to admit might
not ever come—my imagination had been content with thoughts of
wonderful sex, lots of cuddling, and a long, peaceful night’s rest
wrapped in each other’s arms.

The cuddling
was the only thing that I’d imagined correctly. Nick hadn’t given
me any signal that he wanted more than kisses and lots of full body
hugs. It worried me only insomuch as it might worry him. After over
two months of being allowed no bodily autonomy at all, it didn’t
shock me that he needed time to relearn peace in his own skin. I
wanted him, but I wanted to be with him much more.

He fell asleep
clutching my hand. It took longer for me, partly because I wanted
to enjoy the sensation of his touch, and partly because I’d been
relying on sleep pills for so long, I had trouble feeling drowsy
without them.

But eventually
I fell asleep, only to be woken by Nick’s shifting around. I rolled
away from him to check what time it was, and he grabbed at me.

“It’s okay,
I’m here.”

He didn’t say
anything. I suspected he was embarrassed.

“Keep touching
me, love,” I said. “Remind me you’re here.”

“Okay. Sorry I
woke you.”

“You could lie
there pinching me all night and I’d never complain.”

He chuckled, a
sound that made my heart beat faster with joy. “Not tonight,
honey.”

I stroked his
now smooth face. “Go to sleep, Nick. You’re home.”

He settled
again. I kept up a gentle stroking on his arm and side to let him
know I was there, until his breath deepened into a sleep
rhythm.

But when I
woke again, it wasn’t his movement that had disturbed me—it was his
total absence. Panicked, I threw the light on. “Nick? Are you in
the bathroom?”

I hastily
dressed and flew downstairs, relaxing a little when I realised the
light in the kitchen was on. Nick wasn’t there, but I looked
through the back door. He was sitting on one of the garden chairs,
staring at the sky. I went back and fetched my coat, wellies and a
couple of rugs from the living room, then tapped on the door to
give him some warning before I opened it.

He didn’t turn
around. “I had to get outside,” he said. “I needed to see the
sky.”

I laid one of
the rugs over his knees, then took the other chair, pulling it
close to him. Heavy clouds obscured the full moon. “Not much of a
view.”

“It’s
beautiful, trust me.”

It was less
than three weeks before Christmas, and the forecast was for snow in
the next two days. It was fucking freezing. But if my husband
needed to sit outside until his balls fell off, then I’d sit there
with him. I put the other blanket over his shoulders.

“What about
you?” He turned to look at me for the first time.

“I have extra
body fat. And besides, I like the cold. Do you want your
gloves?”

“No. Anton,
I’m not crazy.”

“No, you’re
not.”

“I mean it. I
don’t want you to force me to go to a psychiatrist or anything. I
don’t want to go back into a hospital.”

“I wouldn’t
allow it unless your life literally depended on it. Love, this is
nothing more than I’d expect. I freaked when you weren’t there
though.”

“Sorry.”

“I’ll
survive.” I took his hand, but kept it under the rug. “Does it
help, being outside?”

“Yeah. Being
cold does too. It was so...climate controlled. Quiet and the same
temperature, and everyone wore masks.”

“Masks?”

“Yeah.
Surgical masks and caps. Every time. I never saw a face, except
that other guy just the once. His name was Gordon?”

“Yes. Gordon
Dangerfield. You weren’t allowed to talk to him?”

“The only time
I left that room was to use their gym and shower every other day.
Once I was going in and I saw Gordon being led away in the other
direction. I could tell he was a prisoner too. I knew better than
to try and talk to him.”

His hand had
tensed up. “They hurt you?”

He hunched
under the blanket. I moved closer and put my arm around his
shoulders, then waited.

“The first
time they tried to draw blood from me, I fought like hell. So they
injected me with something that totally paralysed me—same as they
did the night they grabbed me. They let me choke for a minute or so
and then put a breathing bag on me. They did the same when they
caught me trying to pick the lock—they had cameras everywhere—and
another time when I tried to attack the man guarding me while I
showered.”

“Jesus, Nick.
You told Charlotte—”

“Yeah. You
tell her and I’ll get cranky. She’d only fuss and it’s all over
now. Anyway, they found something that worked better.”

“What?”

“They showed
me live film of you, said you were under surveillance, and that
you’d get beaten up every time I caused trouble. It might have been
a bluff, but I couldn’t risk it. It was then I realised they were
probably going to kill me anyway. The only thing I could do was
make sure you weren’t hurt.”

I was lost for
words. To hear he’d been tortured, then he’d submitted because of
me, was too much. Too much after everything else.

He saw my
expression and squeezed my hand. “Look, the last thing I want is
for you to start getting all guilty over this. It was them, not
you.”

“I know. But
fuck...Nick. No one should have to go through that for any
reason.”

“I told you
people would get crazy over this fountain of youth bullshit.”

“This isn’t
crazy, it’s pure evil.”

“Yeah.”

“I think you
might be wrong about one thing. If they were hiding their faces,
maybe they really planned to let you go. If you couldn’t identify
them and didn’t know where you were....”

“I don’t know.
I didn’t know what to think. They never answered any questions,
told me why they wanted my blood, or anything. They never even used
my name. It was always ‘you’—‘you get up’, ‘’you behave’, that kind
of thing. They gave me books, and a tablet with games on it, and
they let me use the gym, but it was all so callous. Like I was a
lab rat who had to be kept healthy but not happy.”

“That’s all
you were to them, but not to the rest of us. You should have seen
our war council in action. And Charlotte with fake tits and a blond
wig.”

“Now that I’d
like to see.” His voice was harsh and the humour forced, but if he
wanted to change the subject, that was fine. “Tell me how you found
me.”