Don't... 04 Backlash (36 page)

“Funnell’s the
best in the business.” Dare grinned up. “I’d hate to see the bill
for it all, though, especially—”

Footfalls back
at the door stopped Dare and had Gabe looking over his shoulder to
see if Jack could do the impossible and drag himself away from a
car. Maybe it was down to the clock back on the wall above the
fireplace that had Gabe frowning at Trace, but it said Gray had
only left for Thames House a few hours ago. He didn’t get back
until after seven p.m. Yet there he was, looking as though he’d
misplaced something, then found it as he looked over by Jan.

Only what he
found was very wrong.

After Gray came
into the lounge and paused, Trace started to stand as unease gnawed
at his own stomach. It was as if Gray had woken up and seen the
world after a blast and not understood where or why life had
imploded. Worst thing being, Trace couldn’t spot Gray’s firearm on
him. He always wore his firearm. Even if he found something from
the environment to use, he always wore his firearm. Now he looked
like he was trying to ignore every natural instinct to cause some
serious damage, and that was more than a concern. “Gray,” he
started to say, hoping to break the strain, “I didn’t think you
were—”

Trace got a
brief glance as Gray passed by, but then Gray covered the distance
so quickly to Jan, and a few shouts went up, including Gabe’s, as
Jan was grabbed and forced back into the wall.

“
What
have you done
?”
Gray slammed Jan back again and Jan gripped his head as it cracked
against the wall. “
What the fuck have you done
?”

Trace shifted
close. “Gray,” he said quickly, at roughly about the same time Jan
pleaded—

“
Please
—”

“
Tell
me what you’ve fucking done
,” shouted Gray.

“
I
don’t know what I’ve done
,” Jan cried out. “
What the fuck have I done
?” He looked so pale. “Gray, please. What the fuck
have I done?”

Trace felt sick
seeing Jan nearly break and try to crumple out of Gray’s hold.
Again he tried to get close, but Jack seemed to come from
nowhere.

Easing in
between Gray and Jan, Jack took Gray back a step or two. As he did,
Dare took the chance and shifted for Jan, almost blocking him from
Gray.

“Don’t know
what’s wrong, mukka.” Jack had his lips close to Gray’s cheek. “But
I can tell you now, it’s nothing to do with soft lad here.”

Gray’s look
stayed level on Jan, who had his forehead resting on the back of
Dare’s shoulder as the grip on his arm dug into Dare’s skin.

“Whatever it
is,” Jack said so quietly, hands now sneaking under Gray’s jacket
to hold him close, “you’re listening with your head and fists.” He
rested his head against Gray’s. “But I can feel how much you’re
shaking, mukka. Fuck, can I feel you shaking. That heart of yours
is telling you something different. You have no weapon on you;
you’re fighting those instincts.... Listen...” Jack closed his
eyes. “Please, just listen.”

Jan pressed his
back against the wall, almost hidden behind Dare, his eyes screwed
shut as Trace warned Gabe to stay back. He’d inched closer too.

“Trust him with
my life, Gray,” Jack mumbled. “I don’t even have to look back and
ask what this is about.”

Gray
didn’t shift, but he didn’t seem to hear Jack either, not on any
conscious level. “Tell me about
normal
, Jan. Tell me about being so fucking normal.”

“Normal?” Jan
started to shake his head. “I... I—no, no!”

Gray snarled
and started to shift. Jack went with him, stayed so up close and
personal that Gray stopped. Something Jack was doing was getting
through, but only barely.

“I had A-Branch
tear your accounts apart and run a banking footprint of every
personal account you’ve had and every account you’ve touched at
work.”

Jan seemed to
freeze and went to say something. But then he stopped and hid a
little more behind Dare.

“
Six
months back,” said Gray, “checks were done when you came under
suspicion then. Mortgage payments came in on time every month from
your work. Checks went into your historical banking transactions,
and everything tallied up to confirm your wage just about met the
payments on your Villa.” Gray shifted again, so did Jack, so did
Dare to keep Jan hidden. “But then A-Branch traced a B. L. Davies
account that you handled ten years ago. It’s the same Davies who
made an initial down payment on your villa, noted as a bonus for
services rendered. Go back ten years, you were fucking eighteen
years old; you’d barely learned how to shift numbers. And knowing
here that I’ve made checks into Davies
—why did you get the fucking money,
Jan
? Who funded
you?
Why
did they fund you?”

“He’s a smart
man, mukka. We all do jobs cash-in-hand sometimes and shuffle the
details around,” said Jack, and Gray looked at him for a
second.

“
Of over
£200,000 and up? Because that’s a
villa
, Jack, where £200,000 will just about get you a sparkly
new welcome mat. That’s one hell of a cash-in-hand job.”

Jack frowned
slightly, but didn’t look back as Gray focused on Jan.

“But that isn’t
all of it, is it, Jan?” His voice wavered, just slightly. “Davies
was also the financier handling an insurance company’s payout
surrounding your father’s death. Over the years, other smaller
handouts from that insurance company came to you. Do you want to
tell Jack about how those payments went into a second account not
in your name, or should I?”

Nothing but
silence came from Jan.

“
Going
back ten years, all the insurance documents were falsified,” said
Gray. “The insurance company responsible for those payouts over
your father, it never existed. And Mr B. L. Davies himself? He
doesn’t exist beyond your fingerprints. That makes all the money in
his account,
laundered
.
It makes the down payment on your property, your artwork—the fading
remains that you bought Jack’s necklace with—fucking filthier than
a paedophile’s look into a schoolyard.”

Gray shifted
again, but Jack stayed with him, resting his forehead against
Gray’s and stopping him from getting close. “Shush, shush,”
whispered Jack. “Don’t, mukka.”

“
Where did the funding come from, Jan? Who gave you the
money?”

That jolted
Jack and Jan followed suit, calling out angered fear.

“Stop it,
Gray.” That came from Dare this time.

Nothing
was said, and Jan shrugged, going calmer, although it looked very
forced to Trace. “Gray...” said Jan, “you put me on this fucking
pedestal and keep turning it.” He stepped away from Dare
slightly.
“I never
once said I was fucking perfect.”
He snarled and wiped both hands down his face.
“Who’s my father, Gray?”

There was no
reply and Jan let out a shaky exhale.

“He was a thief
who died in prison. But do you think GBH and handling stolen goods
was all he did?” He stepped a little closer, more angry now. “He
knew his numbers, too, how to shift them around, make money
disappear. He... he....”

Jan cried out,
his fists clenched, and Dare tensed up at the raw emotions, but
kept his focus on Gray. “What do you know about having no money,
Gray?” Jan briefly held out his arms, looking around. “With all
this, what the hell do you know about having nothing?” He looked at
Jack for a moment. “I found my dad’s offshore account when I was
seventeen, and for once, one bloody moment—I didn’t do the right
thing; I didn’t tell anyone. I kept the money. Rob...”

Now Jack
glanced back.

“
Rob
transferred the money to the Davies account when I was eighteen,
and he set up the bogus insurance forms that let me take the money
with a clear conscience.” Jan groaned. “I never said I was perfect,
Gray; I never—
no,
no, no
!”

Jan covered his
head and almost crumpled to the floor as Gray shoved Jack aside and
grabbed Jan again. Dare slipped an arm between them, trying to stop
Gray a little by almost wrapping an arm around his waist as Gray
gripped Jan’s jaw, making sure he stayed pinned against the
wall.

“
I
find out, you fuck.
” Jan’s head hit the wall again; as it did and he cried
out, Gray dropped his head against Jan’s and ran his hands into his
hair. Trace didn’t understand how this tied into the codes. Why had
Gray shifted focus?

“
I
always fucking find out.”
Gray seemed to try every which way to calm himself. “You
tell me now, is there
any
other
funding that didn’t come from your father. And I mean
fucking
anything
that I should know, Jan?”

Jan shook
his head, quickly, just once, then cried out and tried to shove
Gray off. “
Why were
you fucking investigating me again? I didn’t... I didn’t have
anything to do with our rape
;
I
keep telling you I didn’t have anything to do
with
—”

It was
there, all that fire in the hall, the anger, the hurt, and Gray
pulled Jan in close, a rough arm-hold around his neck, the other
around Jan’s waist. “
My job
,”
shouted Gray. “I’m doing my job, Jan, and it’s fucking killing me
with how I’m being made to dance naked in different whore-house
windows.”

Dare shifted,
getting in a little closer. “He needs you to back off, Gray.” And
Trace could see that Jan did, his struggles mostly panic at being
held still.

“
Don’t....” Jan cried out. “Please.
Pleasepleaseplease
, get off. I’m not Jack. I’m not Jack. I
just need, need to breathe—”

“Now,
Gray—”

“
Don’t fucking get in the way of how I hold him,
Darrek
,
Too many fucking people are
getting in the way of how I hold
—”

Gabe was there,
on the other side of Jan, and he pushed his smaller frame between
Jan and Gray, making sure Gray stepped back just a pace. “On your
invite, we’re here as friends. As a friend, my sub asked you to
calm down. Take a step back, calm, but mostly you look at Jan. And
I mean really look.”

Gray’s glance
slipped to Jan, to how he struggled to breathe and crumpled to the
floor to hide his head in the arms across his knees.

“Not Jack, not
Jack,” mumbled Jan. “Just need to breathe, nothing more.”

The slip was
there, Trace saw it in how Gray ran a hand through his hair, then
both over his face. He crouched down, and neither Gabe or Dare
stopped him getting close to Jan again.

Gray ran a hand
through Jan’s hair, and screwed his eyes shut. “Don’t play with my
head like that, you fuck. And... don’t ever think I expect
perfection. But don’t ever fucking doubt just how much you—” Gray
dipped his head against Jan’s. “Always be straight with me, Jan.
Please. That’s all I ask. I’m not one for people changing and
shifting shape either. Scares the life out of me when Jack shifts
shape, so you....”

Jan pulled
back. “I know how much you love him, and need to keep him
safe.”

“Oh for fuck’s
sake...” Gray kissed at Jan’s cheek, just the once. “Somewhere
along the line, I fell in love with you, you asshole.”

Jan’s look was
searching, and Gray wiped at his face, the cold sweat playing
there.

“You...” Jan
shivered. “You tell someone you fancy them by roughing them up
against the wall?”

Jack had
steadily backed away a few paces, hands running through hair, and
now he seemed to finally breathe life into his voice. “Yeah, scary
as fuck... but yeah, soft lad. There’s a slight MO there.”

“Not helping,
Jack.” Gray pulled away, and none of the tension eased from Gray’s
shoulders. It hadn’t from Jan’s either; he looked ready to bolt or
bring out a baseball bat if Gray shifted the wrong way. Gray must
have seen it, too, because he stayed close anyway, ready to catch
him either way he fell, both looking scared by their reactions.

“I’m sorry,”
whispered Gray.

Jan didn’t say
anything, and it took him a moment to move. When he did, he frowned
as he took hold of Gray’s hand and balanced it on his. For all of
Jan’s addiction and Detox, Gray’s hand shook more as he studied
it.

Jan nodded.
“Okay. We’re okay.” Tears were held back. “It’s breaking you too.
Just... just....” He let out an unsteady breath. “Just please don’t
come at me like that again. I’m not Jack... I’m not...” He took a
few breaths, deep, enough to leave Gray wiping at Jan’s cheek.
“What the fuck’s going to happen to me?” Fear creased Jan’s eyes.
“The money? The fraud?”

Jack came over
and crouched down next to them. “Of all the people who should have
been sent down,” he said, trying to control his anger, “he isn’t
one of them, Gray. Please. For once just look the other way.”

Gray’s look
back to Jack wasn’t friendly, and Trace understood it in so many
ways. “I look the other way, Jack, it will be found by someone
else.”

Ah. So someone
else had forced this up to the surface, but Trace said nothing.
Gray was being pushed into too many snake pits and reacting to the
poison. He didn’t need questions now.