Page 76 of The Lost Zone (Dark Water #3)

The one thing Josiah did miss from the Quarterlands, and God knows there wasn’t much, was that sense of camaraderie.

Tish had run a tight ship and the kids were always safe.

If anyone threatened a child – or worse – Tish would see they took the Splash before morning.

Word got around: kids in his Quarter were looked after, cherished even.

It wasn’t a good life, but it was better than many Quarterlanders led.

His way was suddenly blocked by a group of armed Quarterlanders, who appeared out of nowhere.

“Going somewhere, stranger?” one of them asked, standing right in front of him. “You’re not from our Quarter. This is Harbord territory. We run things here.”

“Thank you for your greeting,” he said carefully. “I’m looking for someone.” Keeping his movements slow, he opened his suit jacket and drew out his ID. They gave him – or at least his badge – a grudging respect. He pinged up holopics of Alex and Neil. “Seen them?” he asked.

“Nah.” They didn’t even bother looking, but he’d known they wouldn’t. Nobody in the Quarterlands would get involved in outside business, and if Neil was one of their own, they’d protect him. But Josiah knew for a fact this wasn’t his home, and if he didn’t live here, then he wasn’t one of them.

“This man abducted the other.” He pointed. “He’s also wanted for murder. He’s not one of you. He’s an accountant. If you protect him, it won’t go well for you.”

“Is that a threat?” the man in front of him demanded. He was big, clearly used to being the largest in any confrontation – so he looked rattled at being confronted by someone even bigger.

“Yes.” Josiah shrugged. “I’m not messing around. This man’s life is in danger.”

“Aw, are you in love with him?” a small, scrappy woman with spiky blonde hair sneered.

“Yes, I am.” He said it pleasantly with a smile, and her expression changed.

She peered at the holopic of Neil. “Seen him around. You’re right, he’s not one of us. He’s got powerful friends, though.”

“I know he works for the Cabot. You them?”

“Us? Fuck no. We don’t mess with the Thorities, and they don’t mess with us. We don’t run drugs. We’re clean.”

“Any idea where I can find him?” Josiah asked, seeing she was half-minded to be helpful.

“No.” A shutter went down. “The Cabot are hardcore. Not worth the hassle.”

“Where are the Cabot based? Can I speak to them?”

“Sure, but you’re in the wrong place. You need to look over there.” She pointed at the tall building opposite. “If you want to find that man, that’s where he goes. When they call him, he comes running.”

“Thank you.” He turned and began walking.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” she yelled after him. “The Cabot make good money off their croc farms. If you interfere with that, they’ll give you the Splash as soon as talk to you.”

“I don’t want to interfere with that. I don’t care about their croc farms. I just want Alex back,” he told her, continuing on his way.

“Good luck then, you poor sod,” he heard her mutter as he ran off.

He kept his gun drawn as he left the Harbord Quarter.

The Cabot Quarter promised to be a good deal more dangerous.

He had to leave the building he was in, throwing a cash card to a boatman to take him across the stinking water to the tall building the blonde woman had pointed at.

He was stopped at the entrance by two men with guns.

“I need to speak to the boss of the Cabot,” he said, holding up his Inquisitus ID.

The men were immediately alert, pointing their guns at his head. He returned the favour, and they gazed at each other warily.

“I’m not here for your drugs. I’m looking for someone who’s abducted my… boyfriend.” He had no idea if Alex would regard himself as that, but now wasn’t the time to mull over the complexities of their relationship.

“Wait here. We’ll see if that’s a conversation we want to have.

” One of the men disappeared, while the other continued to train his gun on him.

He didn’t have to wait long. Within minutes, the first man returned, accompanied by a small posse of thugs.

Josiah repeated his speech, and there was a definite flicker of recognition when he showed them Neil’s holopic.

“Come with us. Give us the gun. You can have it back when you leave – if you leave.”

“I’ll hang on to it, thanks,” he said politely. Esther would give him hell if it went missing and turned up as a murder weapon somewhere. He didn’t expect them to agree to his terms, and he was right.

“Suit yourself,” came the reply, and that was the last thing he heard as a gun was swung into his face and he went down hard.

When he came to a little while later, his head was pounding and blood was dripping down the side of his face from where he’d been hit.

He wasn’t surprised by how it had gone down.

He’d banked on them being curious enough to bring him to their leader rather than giving him the Quarterlands Splash, and on that score it seemed he’d been correct.

Josiah was Thorities – the enemy as far as the Cabot were concerned – but also too dangerous to just throw out of the window.

He took a moment to orient himself. He was sitting in a chair, his arms tied tightly behind his back with what felt like rope.

He kept his eyes closed in case he was being watched, not wanting anyone to know he was conscious, and silently examined his body for injury.

Apart from the head wound, he was unharmed.

He flexed his hands but the rope was firmly tied, so he either had to talk his way out of this or hope that Reed rescued him.

He moved his feet slightly, checking cautiously, and discovered that his legs, at least, weren’t tied.

He also found that not only was his gun missing but the knife he kept hidden in his sock holster had been taken, too.

He could tell by the lack of weight in his pocket that his holopad was also missing, not that it would be much use to him here.

The Cabot undoubtedly had jamming devices in their territory, so there was no chance of anyone tracing his nym.

He heard a scraping sound, then footsteps, and he sensed someone standing in front of him. The boss of the Cabot? Or someone else?

“You can stop pretending that you’re still out. I saw your feet move.”

He opened his eyes and was startled to find himself face to face with Neil. He hadn’t expected to find him so soon, or to find him seemingly in charge.

“Long time no see,” Josiah rasped, his throat dry.

“You left me no choice,” Neil snapped. “I wasn’t going to stand by and let you accuse me of a murder I didn’t commit.”

“If you’re innocent, why not just clear your name and have done with?”

“Oh, please. As if you haven’t rigged the whole thing so that I’ll be found guilty,” Neil spat. “Then you’d get to keep Alex all to yourself.”

“That really isn’t how it works.”

He was in a large, brightly lit room, which was a surprise in the Quarterlands, where electricity ran at a premium. Seeing that it was full of industrial machinery, he realised he was in a croc processing plant.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” he said. “Or, should I say, your boss has. You’re just the numbers man, aren’t you, Neil? You don’t run the Cabot cartel. Where is your boss?”

“Duke doesn’t visit the plant very often.” Neil shrugged. “He doesn’t live in the Quarterlands. He’s got a fancy house on the coast.”

“Duke?” He raised an eyebrow and wished he hadn’t as his head ached. The blood was still running freely down his face.

“The boss of the Cabot. Not his real name, of course. He calls himself that because he says he lives like one off the profits he makes from all this.” Neil gestured at the croc factory behind him.

“I can’t believe it sits well for a man like you, working for an illegal drug factory.”

Neil’s face crumpled in annoyance. “What choice did I have? Nobody would employ me or even buy my IS contract. It was this or end up in the Quarterlands.”

“Well, you’ve kind of done that anyway,” Josiah said, glancing around the place.

“I wouldn’t have come here if I thought you knew who I worked for. I assumed it’d take you longer to discover my involvement with the Cabot.”

“Where’s Alex, Neil?” Josiah asked quietly. “Is he here?”

Neil crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know what you mean.” He was a terrible liar. There was something amateurish about him, petulant and defensive. He wasn’t exactly a hardened criminal.

“Sem identified you,” Josiah said quietly. “The man you hit in my house?”

Neil chewed on his lip anxiously.

“I know you have Alex. There’s no point denying it.”

“Fine. I have Alex. You can’t have him back. He’s mine now. I’m taking him away.”

“Ah.” Josiah sat back, still watching Neil intently. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead and he looked desperately out of his depth.

“That man… Sem… is he okay?” Neil asked. “I didn’t want to hurt him, but I had to stop him following us. I had no choice.”

“He’ll be fine. So, what’s the plan, Neil? You’re improvising, aren’t you? It’s all spiralling out of control.”

“I know exactly what I’m doing.” Neil glared at him. “I didn’t expect you to find me so soon, but it’s not a problem. We won’t be here for very long. I had a helicopter booked but the bad weather has delayed our escape. When the storm passes, we’ll leave.”

“ Our escape?” Josiah gave Neil a hard stare.

“I’m taking Alex away to somewhere he can be free. He should never have been made to wear an IS tag. He’s a free spirit. He’s a Lytton .”

“You’re a large part of why he was made an IS in the first place,” Josiah pointed out.

Neil’s face crumpled again. “I made a mistake. I wanted to hurt him, but I didn’t want this. I never wanted this.” He sounded desolate. “I just want us to be together, the way we were.”

“The two of you against the world, huh?” Josiah gave a wry smile. He could see that Neil meant every word. He believed this was the truth, and in a way it was. His truth.