Page 61 of The Quarterlands (Dark Water #4)

She travelled beautifully, gliding over the lost zones like a swan, barely touching the surface of the water, cutting journey times in half. She also looked as beautiful as he’d always intended .

“People have money again, and they want to spend it on something luxurious, not some chugging piece of metal,” Alex remembered saying to his father once, and here she was. Nobody could ever call the Destiny a chugging piece of metal.

“Don’t you love her?” Elliot asked, clapping his hands excitedly. “Isn’t she wonderful?”

“I do love her,” Alex agreed, and then he followed Elliot back indoors and gave him one of his finest blow jobs to say thank you. Along with the duck, Elliot also gave him a nanopad.

“It only makes and receives calls,” Elliot warned.

“There’s no access to the internet. I don’t approve of indies spending hours on social media.

” Whether that was the real reason or whether Tyler had placed certain conditions on his sale, Alex didn’t know.

“The point is, if you are out and about in the duck, I need to be able to reach you, so you must carry this with you at all times.”

The first time he drove to the gym by himself, it felt almost transgressive. It was the most normal he’d felt in a long time, being out by himself, all alone… apart from the ever-present SUAV following on behind. He could ignore that, though, and just enjoy the drive.

Now that he had his freedom, he wondered what to do with it.

It took him a few weeks to pluck up the courage, but one day, on his way back from the gym, he decided to drive to Ghost Eye City, to see if he could reach Inquisitus.

Would the black SUAV try to stop him, or was it just there to follow him? It was time to find out.

Swinging his duck out across the lost zone, he headed in the direction of Ghost Eye. The Destiny was faster over water than the SUAV, so there was every chance he’d get there before they could stop him. It felt exhilarating, as if he was taking his life in his hands, which he supposed he was.

Looking in the mirror, he saw the black SUAV enter the lost zone behind him, trying valiantly to keep up, and that was when the adrenaline rush hit him. He was really doing this!

Years of fear melted away as he raced across the huge expanse of water. He could see Ghost Eye on the horizon, the massive floating city filling the skyline, dwarfing the remnants of Old London.

Behind him, the SUAV kept up its pursuit doggedly, but he was winning.

Soon, he’d be there. He’d drive right up to Inquisitus, run inside, seek out Joe, tell him he was Ben Smith, and beg for his help.

Then this nightmare would be over, and he wouldn’t have to pretend to be Chris anymore, or wear the blank mask Gideon had taught him.

He could be Alex again, whoever the hell that was.

He was so caught up in his own exhilaration that he didn’t hear the nanopad at first, but the duck automatically answered it, and Elliot’s voice filled the vehicle.

“Christopher Dacre, where are you?” he screamed.

“I’ve just been to the gym,” he replied, one eye on the mirror to see what the SUAV was doing.

“And where are you now?”

Why was he asking? Did he know about his mad dash across the lost zone? If so, how?

“I’m just driving. I wanted to put the duck through her paces. It’s no fun if you don’t go across a lost zone.”

“Well, that’s enough fun. Get home right now,” Elliot ordered.

“Will do,” he lied. Ending the call, he kept right on driving. The black SUAV was so far behind it was almost invisible, and Ghost Eye was straight ahead.

He was almost there when suddenly, out of nowhere, another black SUAV appeared ahead of him.

He swerved as it almost knocked him out of the water.

Had Elliot called for backup? Or the occupants of the other SUAV?

Either way, he had no choice but to swing the Destiny to one side and turn around.

It was over. Deflated, he returned home.

Elliot was furious. “You do not have my permission to go driving around all over the place, and especially not through lost zones. You’ll drive to the gym, then straight back here.

Do you understand?” He paced around the living room, his anger somewhat undermined by the fact he was dressed only in a loosely flowing robe that had fallen open to reveal him in all his naked, tubby glory.

“Yes, Elliot,” Alex whispered meekly. “But I was just having some fun. ”

Elliot slapped him hard across the cheek, taking him by surprise. “You worried me! Don’t be so selfish. You know how I lost the first Christopher.”

Of course. In his excitement, Alex had forgotten how his namesake had drowned in a duck accident, although whether that was the real reason for Elliot’s panic or not, he didn’t know.

Later that evening, he saw on the news that Joe was in Northampton on the trail of the elusive Bram Janssen, so he wouldn’t have been at Inquisitus even if he had managed to get there.

He could have kicked himself for doing something so impulsive.

If he was going to do this, it had to be planned, and he had to be more careful.

Just because he wasn’t in Tyler’s direct custody anymore didn’t mean he wasn’t under his control.

He took a long look at himself in the mirror that evening.

He’d become reckless and lax. What would Gideon say?

He could guess. Returning to the gym had imposed a much-needed discipline on his body, much as he disliked it, and his muscles were starting to show some definition again.

Well, the brain could be trained the same way.

No more slip-ups. It was time to resume his mental training.

He moved the rug to the centre of the bedroom and began his yoga practice.

His body ached afterwards, but his mind felt better than it had in years.

From that day onwards, he did half an hour of yoga every morning before going downstairs, all the while listening to his song over and over again on repeat. Elliot had given him an old-fashioned media player and allowed him a playlist, and Alex made the most of the gift.

At first, it wasn’t easy finding his mask again.

His mind rebelled and he could see himself chafing.

There was no doubt that life was more complicated now, as he essentially had two masks to wear, juggling Gideon’s blank emptiness with Chris’s vacuous hedonism.

But that was the challenge he set himself, and somehow, he mastered it.

After the Ghost Eye debacle, he lapsed back into caution. He watched, enthralled, as Joe finally arrested someone who turned out not to be Bram Janssen after all, in a thrilling twist to a saga that had kept the nation gripped for weeks.

Elliot’s embargo on him driving anywhere except to the gym lasted several months, but he relented eventually and allowed him to drive around by himself for a couple of hours after his gym sessions, provided he had no other plans for him, and as long as he stuck to certain prescribed routes.

Meanwhile, the parties and the shows continued, as did the holophotography. Alex was becoming an old hand at how to pose for the holocam now. He knew precisely what Elliot wanted and was easily able to gaze elusively on command.

One morning, he heard Elliot having a loud argument on holochat and saw him pacing around in his study afterwards, chuntering away to himself under his breath.

A door behind him opened, and the housekeeper, Chantal, entered.

Alex moved away from the study door quickly, so she wouldn’t see that he was eavesdropping, but she shot him a disapproving look all the same.

She adored Elliot, but he always felt she didn’t like him.

Not that he’d made any effort to befriend her.

He’d never forgotten Gideon’s insistence that he couldn’t have any friends.

Besides, there was something about her nervous, birdlike energy that reminded him of D at Belvedere, and that was enough to stop him even attempting to engage her in conversation.

In the weeks that followed, it became increasingly clear Elliot was stressed about money.

Not that Elliot shared his concerns with Alex, but he overheard snatched snippets of conversations that confirmed his suspicions.

Elliot was at the height of his success in his career, feted everywhere, invited to all the best parties, and his works were increasingly being treated as serious on the arts scene, which Alex found vaguely astonishing.

Yet, it seemed the more Elliot earned, the more he spent, wasting his cash on ever more lavish costume parties and vast quantities of drugs that he supplied to an increasing number of hangers-on.

Alex wondered if it would have made a difference if Elliot had had a proper partner in his life.

If Chris hadn’t died, then maybe he’d have had someone who could have stood up to him and told him he was being a fool, although he doubted it.

From what he could tell, Chris had been as much of an airhead as Elliot, and if anything, would probably have egged him on .

Joe was back in the news again a few months later, standing outside Inquisitus, dressed as exquisitely as ever.

“I feel the same sense of shock as the rest of the nation that one of our members of parliament has been murdered,” he announced in a grim tone.

“This is an attack on our democracy, and I can assure you that, as Inquisitus’s senior homicide investigator, I will not rest until the perpetrator has been caught. ”