Long Division (10 page)

James was clearly much deeper in than he’d originally led me to believe.

I sent him a text the moment I was free from the building. I could only hope he would answer; would be around. I had no idea what those two men had ushered him off to. Too many near-impossible scenarios ran through my head.

My journey back to my flat was without reply, and I began to worry. James either always answered immediately, or not at all. Normally I did not fret. And why should I? Up until recently, I hadn’t truly known what James was involved in. I had always explained his absences to him working on a particularly difficult problem, or off doing whatever James did for fun. If he did anything at all. But that was before I’d seen the men in black suits. That was before I’d learnt of InVizion. Now all those absences seemed to have a more sinister quality to them.

I drummed my fingers on my pocket, over my phone. I hadn’t even realised I’d been doing it. An hour had passed since I’d arrived back at my flat and still no word from him. I chided myself for getting worked up over it. James was a grown man, fully capable of taking care of himself. He did not need my worry, and my worry was more than likely completely uncalled for.

At last, a message arrived.

I APOLOGISE FOR EARLIER. I AM FINE.

My tensed shoulders slumped as I gazed down at the glowing screen and the small words striped across it. The knot in my stomach I hadn’t noticed till now loosened.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT TODAY? DOES THIS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH INVIZION?

I didn’t know if it was my place to ask. At the moment, I didn’t really give a damn. I didn’t think there was anyone else in James’s life. Someone who wasn’t wearing a suit, of course. If he had no one else, then I had to know. Someone had to look out for him.

IT’S COMPLICATED.

I huffed my breath irritably. I didn’t want to pry. Yet at the same time I did. The tiny window into James’s life that I’d been treated to I found absolutely fascinating. Fascinating, and terrifying.

ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING TONIGHT? YOU COULD EXPLAIN IT OVER A PINT.

An unfamiliar flutter filled my insides at the idea. Something almost akin to excitement. Had I really just invited him out? I wasn’t even sure if that was the proper way to go about such a thing. How exactly did one straight man go about asking another man—I realised at that moment I didn’t know
what
James’s sexuality was—out for a night in a pub?

WHERE?

I was at a bit of a loss. I hadn’t really thought that far. I wracked my brain. The Stag’s Head was the only place I could think of. And so I suggested that.

To my amazement, he actually agreed. We settled on an hour from now. I dropped my mobile to the counter and stared into space and pressed the back of my hand to my mouth. What was I thinking?

Whatever I was, it was too late to back out now. And I didn’t want to, anyhow.

An hour later I was swiping up my keys and my wallet and out the door.

From the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help but notice it: the car parked at the end of the street. The one with the man sitting inside. The man who blatantly sat watching. I squared my shoulders and turned my back on him. Nothing. There was nothing about me to be interested in.

I was relieved as I finally approached the warm yellow glow of the pub. I scanned the front of it, belly a twist of nerves. Off to the right of the open doors I saw James. He was gazing at the shop window before him in disinterest. I hurried up.

‘James! Hope I’m not late.’

He languidly tore his gaze away from the window. It was only as I neared that I saw it was an adult bookstore. Some of the pieces on display were…intriguing to say the least.

‘No. I’m simply early. I like arriving precisely on time.’

‘Oh.’ My eyes automatically strayed once again to the books in the window. I dragged them away and back to James. ‘Shall we go in?’

He gave an indifferent shrug and tagged along after me into the noise and light and smells of the pub. I pushed through the crowd and went up to the bar and ordered two beers, deciding since I had invited James out, it was only proper I buy the first round. Judging by the way James was looking about at his surroundings, I wasn’t entirely sure he’d ever been in a setting like this before. Odd to think about.

I guided James, along with our lagers, to a quiet corner of the bar, and set the drink before him. The place was packed tonight. James sat down, reminding me a bit of a deer in headlights as he glanced round.

I took a pull at my drink and sighed. ‘Been a while since you’ve been out?’

James looked back to me, still not meeting my eyes. ‘First time in a place like this.’

I raised my brows. So, I’d been bang on there. ‘Well, drink up.’

He peered down to the pint before him uncertainly. ‘This is certainly an evening of firsts.’

That made me stop. I cast a glance to him. ‘You’ve never had a drink before?’ I didn’t know why I was surprised, but I was.

James nursed the glass before him, sniffed it, wrinkled his nose, and then set it back down. ‘No.’

I gave his shoulder a nudge. ‘Come on, just try it. You don’t have to drink it all if you don’t like it.’ I nodded my head towards the tumbler. ‘That lager there is a real treasure of Scotland. I’m starting you out on the good stuff, trust me!’ He didn’t catch my attempted humour. Maybe he’d not seen the adverts. Maybe he didn’t watch television. I wouldn’t have been shocked at this point.

James gave me a rather dubious look which made me laugh. Unfortunately, it was as I was taking a sip of my own beer and I ended up almost choking. He grinned at my reaction and then lifted his own beverage to his lips. He swallowed an impressive mouthful and screwed his eyes shut; coughed and then shook his head wildly back and forth, reminding me of a disgusted child.

I laughed harder.

‘Why do you
drink
this stuff?’ he said hoarsely, holding up the glass and peering into the caramel-coloured liquid. ‘It takes like shit!’

‘Oh come on, it’s not that bad!’ He’d never sworn before in our conversations and it sounded alien to hear it now.

He downed another mouthful and crinkled his nose; this time, seeming to roll the flavour over his tongue. He gave me a sideways look, which was slightly amused. ‘Perhaps it is something one must become accustomed to. Though I’ll be damned if I ever understand
why
.’

I shrugged. I’d been downing the stuff since I was fourteen. I made a mental note that I had better not offer him anything harder.

James again directed his gaze curiously to those around him. He seemed rather easily distracted.

I bit my lip, wondering if I should pry into what I’d seen this morning. I was dying to know, of course, but I didn’t know if it was prudent. And charging straight in, demanding to know what had happened after he’d been pulled away from me didn’t seem the best course.

‘InVizion must be pretty paranoid about keeping their employees from talking about things without their supervision. Do they just watch you at all times, then?’

James finally looked back to me. ‘You know I am no longer their employee.’

‘So those two men today…’

‘They were from InVizion, yes.’ He turned his attention to his drink.

I shook my head, confused. ‘Then why—’

‘Why did they appear in the middle of the Science Library and bully me in to leaving?’

‘Well, yes!’

James smiled grimly. ‘Oh, what a delightfully intriguing question. I suppose the simple answer is that you can leave InVizion, but InVizion never leaves you.’

I struggled for an argument. ‘But that’s not right! That’s illegal! They can’t just…take over your life like that! Control your actions! What you do! Did they
force
you to go on that chat show, James?’

James laughed, flashing white teeth. ‘Oh, Mark, you do realise what you are saying, don’t you? They cannot control someone’s actions? They are the owners of Godlink, are they not?’

I wished I could ignore his words. Not hear them. Why, oh why couldn’t the world just be normal? Why couldn’t I be like the groups surrounding us? Talking about football, or girlfriends or whatever was considered normal compared to the conversation I was trapped in now. I kept expecting—almost praying—for James to simply stand up, laughing, and inform me that I’d been had. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be.

‘You’re saying that InVizion is forcing you? Controlling you to do things—’

He broke over me. ‘I’m saying that when a company is in control of technology that makes the impossible possible it is unwise to resist them.’

I slumped against the bar heavily. ‘I just don’t see how you could have been okay with making something so dangerous. Especially when you knew what it could do.’

James puffed out a breath. ‘Technology is not evil, Mark. It is what people do with the technology.’

I nodded. ‘Yes, but you can’t really trust people to all make good decisions with it, can you? I think your friends in black would be an excellent example of that!’

James shook his head. ‘No. Not at all. The world is full of stupid, careless, violent people. It is only a matter of time, and no doubt sooner rather than later, before it will be abused.’

I frowned into my beer. ‘And you feel comfortable about it being released to the public?’

James moved his shoulders up and down. ‘That wasn’t my call to make. I was hired to simply do a job. That was all.’

Baffled, I shook my head. ‘But, don’t you think that that’s a bit…irresponsible? If you
knew
what this was capable of; if you
knew
what one could do with it and yet you went ahead with it anyway—’

James scowled, his expression clearly mirroring his irritation with the conversation. ‘It was simply a job,’ he muttered again.

I chewed on my lower lip for a moment. ‘You don’t really believe that.’

His keen eyes flitted over to mine. ‘Oh?’

I shook my head tightly. ‘No. I know you don’t. Not after what you told me at your flat. What you showed me.’

His soft lips pulled up suddenly into a grin. He nodded his head. ‘Yes, I suppose not.’

I cast my gaze on those around us, letting the silence settle. ‘Do you think any of your friends are here?’

James followed my gaze. ‘No,’ he said uncertainly after a moment. ‘But no doubt they know I’ve gone out for the evening.’

I blew out my breath. ‘Damn it, James. That is maddening! How can you stand people spying on you all the time?’ I had to fight back the nagging feeling that perhaps, he was no longer the only one.

His mouth twitched. ‘I didn’t say I enjoyed it. And you may want to reconsider just how close you get to me. They’ll no doubt start to show an interest in you, too.’

I huffed. ‘Yeah. Think I’m already there, mate.’

Someone bumped into me and staggered drunkenly to the other side of James, where he then collapsed against the bar. I irritably turned my attention back to James, but it didn’t appear that our interruption had finished with us yet.

The man looked sideways at James. ‘Hi,’ he drawled in a thick, Irish accent. ‘This spot taken?’ Something sparked in the back of my mind. I couldn’t rightly find it.

James glanced to the man briefly, said ‘No’; then went back to his beer. I was about to open my mouth to speak again when James suddenly stiffened. His eyes went wide and his head snapped to the side, back towards the newcomer sitting next to him. He lunged forward and grabbed the man by the front of his tshirt, hauling him off of his seat.

‘James!’ I cried, standing, knocking my beer over in the process. ‘What the hell?’

The bloke laughed, not at all ruffled by James’s actions. ‘Bit excitable, aren’t we?’ he said, voice wavering just a bit as James nearly lifted him off the floor.

James, still with a grip round the front of the man’s shirt, pulled him towards the door. I swore and went tearing after him, shoving past people in the small space.

James was already outside by the time I arrived and nowhere in sight. I cast about, heart thudding in confusion, till I heard the unmistakable sounds of scuffling coming from the alley to my right. I spun after them, swearing under my breath.

Wonderful. The one time I try to have a normal evening out and it turns into him having a go at someone. What the
hell
was this all about? He hadn’t seemed the type…

How they had made it as far as they had down the alley was beyond me. I hurried after them, stomach knotting, just as I saw James slam the man against the stone wall.

His target gave a grunt and a swing, and I watched James’s head snap back from a punch before he lunged in again. I swore—realised I hadn’t stopped swearing since this had started.

Finally I reached them and stood back, trying to find some opening to step in a break it up. James was much taller than me, but at a glance I could tell I was stronger. I didn’t really give a damn about the other man. Hopefully he’d just back off once—
if
—I got James away from him.