Page 64 of The Quarterlands (Dark Water #4)

Chapter Seventeen

Josiah

There was a little patch of grass opposite the courtroom, not big enough to be called a park, but there was a bench and a large, shady tree. Josiah sat down and put his hands on his knees, breathing in deeply, trying to regain control of himself.

Why had that hurt so much? He wasn’t in a relationship with Alex, but he knew that was semantics. He loved him, whether they were together or not, and it hurt to think that Alex might have been using him all along. Did it change anything, though?

He thought of Alex’s kindness to him, the gentle way he’d brought him back from the frozen isolation of his grief and helped him reconnect with the world again. It didn’t change that.

He thought of the terrified young man who’d stepped up to fight Lars Driessen, a man twice his size who’d been wielding a knife. It didn’t change that, either.

Why hadn’t Alex told him how deep his relationship with Tyler had gone? No wonder Tyler felt so hurt and betrayed. It was clear that he’d been as much in love with Alex as Josiah was, and yet, Alex walked through it all untouched by the emotions of others, seemingly impervious.

Josiah wished he understood. He viewed himself as a simple, direct kind of man, but Alex was the opposite. Would he ever understand him? It was possible, of course, that this was part of the attraction.

Some time passed as he mulled it over. He was so deep in thought that he was surprised when someone sat next to him. He was even more surprised when he realised it was Tyler.

“Poor Josiah Raine. Did you really think he loved you?” Tyler chuckled. “I did warn you. I told you what he was like.”

“He’s what you made him,” Josiah said quietly. “He was nineteen when you first tried to get your claws into him. Nineteen. You were punching down, George. Whatever he is, whatever he became, he did it to survive you and the nightmare you created for him.”

“Ah, still defending him, I see.”

“I understand him better than you do.” Josiah sat up straight and looked Tyler in the eye.

“You keep telling yourself that. Maybe it’ll hurt less.” Tyler gave a rueful smile. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to talk to you. Privately.” He waved his arm at the little park they were sitting in.

“You mean with no opportunity to be recorded or overheard? That’s your trick, George, not mine.”

“Not entirely. You had that ludicrous dog cam.” Tyler chuckled. He sat back and breathed in the warm air. It was a gloriously sunny day, albeit with a distinct chill in the air. “So, it’s not going well for you, is it?”

“That’s for the jury to decide, not you.”

“Oh, I already know what the jury will decide,” Tyler told him smugly.

Josiah felt a chill creep up his spine. “You’ve paid them off?”

“Certainly not.” Tyler shrugged. “That’s harder than you might think. But no – the next-best thing.”

Realisation slowly seeped in. “The media. You’ve bought them off,” Josiah guessed.

“Some of them.” Tyler grinned. “The jury were warned against following the trial on the news sites, but that’s impossible to police nowadays, so they don’t even try.

This is a case that comes down entirely to which version of events you believe; there’s no conclusive evidence, on either side.

If the jury keeps seeing and hearing that the nation’s media doesn’t believe a word Alex is saying, well, that’ll make it harder for them to believe it, too. ”

“Were you that much in love with him?” Josiah asked quietly. “Did he hurt you that much?”

Tyler’s expression changed, and for a brief second, Josiah caught a glimpse of a sad and lonely man.

“Yes,” Tyler said softly. “And now you know how that feels, too.” He put a hand on Josiah’s shoulder. “I almost feel sorry for you.” He squeezed, gently. “We’re both in Alexander Lytton’s discarded pile, aren’t we?”

“Not really. I ended it with him,” Josiah told him, pushing his hand away.

“As did I, but for the same reason, I’d imagine. Because we knew he didn’t feel the same.”

That stung, to know that he and George Tyler of all people had this in common.

“So, I’ve been doing some digging on you, Josiah Raine.

” Tyler stretched out his legs and put his hands behind his head.

“With some surprising results. How amusing it was to find out that the great indiehunter is, in fact, a bleeding-heart liberal who scoops up poor, wretched indies and takes them to freedom across the sea.”

It wasn’t unexpected, but he felt a cold hand grip his heart all the same. He felt like a mouse being played with by a snake. Tyler held the upper hand in every aspect of his life right now.

“I was so angry with you, but seeing you here now, I almost feel sorry for you. You had it all, and you threw it all away because of Alexander Lytton. I was where you are now once, so I know how it feels.”

“You came here to tell me this?”

“No, I came here to make a deal. You’ve lost the case – forget about that. However, I want whatever Jabir gave you. Give it back to me, and I’ll keep your secret.”

“Who said he gave me anything?” Josiah queried with a cold, hard stare. He could bluff with the best of them.

“Don’t fuck with me,” Tyler snapped. “I very much doubt it’ll be much use to you.

There’s no way you’ll ever find your way into it, but I want it back.

Give it to me, and you can rest assured that nobody will ever find out who the indiehunter really is.

Otherwise, well…” He leaned forward and spoke softly into Josiah’s ear.

“You’ll be the one eking out the rest of his life in prison, Josiah, not me.

Or maybe they’ll sentence you into servitude.

That would be amusing. To see the mighty fallen.

The great, self-righteous Josiah Raine, reduced to wearing someone’s ID tag, with a chip in his arm.

You know what? I think I might buy you myself.

Big guy like you, who knows how to fight.

I always need good security officers. Or perhaps I’ll find you something more in Alex’s line of work.

I’m sure I’d have men queuing up to enjoy your services.

” He grinned and nudged Josiah conspiratorially.

“You should have accepted my offer when you had the chance, instead of taking me on. I never lose, Josiah.”

Josiah stared straight ahead, feeling the sun soaking into his skin. There was an inevitability to this, like the last act of a carefully choreographed show reaching a foregone conclusion.

“What will you do to him?” he asked. “If you get him back.”

“ When I get him back,” Tyler replied sharply. “That’s none of your business. You’ll be in no position to help him; you’ll be under arrest.”

“Will you kill him?”

“No. Despite what you and he think, I’m not a killer.” Tyler sighed. “Besides, I still care about him.”

“Not so much that you won’t make his life a living hell,” Josiah predicted.

“Well, he has to pay for what he’s put me through this past year,” Tyler said with a wave of his hand, as if that much was obvious.

Josiah shivered. He could only imagine what it would be like to be this man’s prisoner. Alex had already lived through years of it, and it had warped and twisted him almost beyond endurance.

“So, what do you say?” Tyler asked. “Give me those nanodrives, and you, at least, will go free. Not Alex, of course. He’s mine. There’s no scenario in which you get him. But I’ll keep your secret if I get back what’s mine.”

“No.” Josiah stood up. “I won’t belong to anyone, George. I’d rather take my chances with the justice system than sell myself out to a snake like you. If I’m sentenced into servitude, so be it, but I won’t betray myself in the process.”

“You’re a fool,” Tyler snapped. “When I place my ID tag on you, you’ll wish you’d taken this deal.”

“If,” Josiah corrected. “ If , George. This trial isn’t over yet.”

“It’s as good as, and your data tech won’t find his way into those drives if he tries for a hundred years.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?” Josiah gave him a pleasant nod. “Now, lunch recess is nearly over, and I’m due on the witness stand this afternoon, so if you’ll excuse me.”

He stalked off across the grass, leaving Tyler behind. He’d always known this was a high-stakes game, and he’d gone into it with his eyes open. Had that been a mistake? Maybe. Yet he knew he’d do it all again if he had his time over.

Alex came running to meet him as he entered the courtroom.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,”

“I was in the park, getting some air,” he said tightly.

“Joe, please… we need to talk,” Alex said urgently, tugging on his arm.

Josiah glanced around at the various members of the media and public waiting to file back into the courtroom.

“Not now. Later,” he growled.

“Okay, I just want you to know it’s not as simple as he made it seem. There’s so much more to it than that footage suggests.”

“I know that. Of course I know that,” Josiah said. “Now go and sit down. We’ll talk later.”

He watched as Alex returned to the courtroom.

The thought of Tyler getting his hands on him again, of torturing what was left of his sanity out of him, wringing him dry and leaving him a shattered ruin, was too much to bear.

He wouldn’t even be able to help or launch a rescue attempt because he’d be behind bars.

Tyler had him backed into a corner, and there was only one thing he knew how to do in that situation, and that was to come out fighting. It might be dirty, and he might have to do things he’d rather not, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.

He was called to the stand next as a character witness for Alex. There weren’t many people who could testify on Alex’s behalf. Elliot and Solange were dead, and Alex had kept most people at arm’s length during his servitude, with good reason.