Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1)(60)

If only there was someone he could speak to about everything that was going on – someone who wasn’t right in the middle of it all.

But Ryan started talking and Luke discovered it was good just to listen, to lose himself in the mundane details of someone else’s life. Half his brain followed Ryan’s account of his new exercise regime and something called Basic Training. The other half felt luxuriously drowsy. Maybe he’d actually get some sleep tonight.

Then adrenaline coursed through his body as if someone had jabbed a syringe of it between his shoulder blades like the Doc had with Oz, the night they broke him out.

‘You what?’ he said to Ryan, squinting in the fluorescent light. It didn’t actually make anything brighter, just turned the room a sickly yellow.

‘I said, big day tomorrow?’

And what the hell did that mean? Luke’s throat closed up, but he lifted his mug of tea to buy himself time. He rested his elbow on the table in case his hand shook.

‘Big day?’ he said, trying to grin. ‘This isn’t Henshall Academy, Ryan. Tomorrow’s only Friday – nothing big about that. My week doesn’t end till Saturday night.’

‘Ah, yeah,’ said Ryan. His gaze darted around the worktop, seemingly fascinated by the meagre appliances. It settled on a particularly riveting stack of saucepans. ‘It’s just that I heard . . .’

Luke put his mug down. He was losing the struggle to keep his hand still, and tea would be sloshing over the side in a minute.

Ryan hesitated.

‘It’s not easy here, is it? You must be angry about the fact that they transferred your family but not you.’

Luke went cold. He couldn’t believe it. Ryan was fishing, trying to catch him out. He was sure of it.

So what did they know – whoever they were? Did they have an eye specifically on Luke? Which would be bad, because that’d mean they’d made some connection to the club. Or had they simply got wind that something was up at Zone D? And Ryan, like a good little cadet, had volunteered to try and get something out of his mate who worked there?

His mate. Not any more. The bastard.

‘I’m hoping my family will get me transferred to Kyneston soon,’ he told Ryan. Let him think that Luke wanted out, and would therefore be toeing the line like a good boy. ‘I’m crossing off the days, to be honest. Who could have guessed I’d actually miss my sisters?’

Ryan huffed a weak little laugh and turned back to Luke. He looked wretched.

‘So you’ve heard nothing out of the ordinary at work lately?’ he said. ‘Nothing odd?’

Ryan had clearly abandoned the subtle approach. Luke’s palms were sweating. Outright denial would be suspicious. Better to hide a big lie in a small truth.

‘Look, I don’t know what it’s like where you are in maintenance, but Zone D is pretty hardcore. Moaning is about the only way to deal with it. I hear intense stuff all the time. Blokes talking about wrecking machinery, bunking off, or beating up the guards. It’s how they let off steam.’

Ryan frowned. ‘You don’t report any of it?’

‘It’s just talk, Ryan. Might as well report someone for going to the loo or picking their nose. You know what it’s like here: grim and boring. You’ll be well out of it as a mauler. Good choice you made there. I’d do it too, if I was sticking around.’

Ryan looked down at the table. He’d drunk even less of his tea than Luke. Maybe even none at all. Then he pushed back his chair, looking more cheerful than he had since he arrived.

‘Better turn in. Been a long week and it’s not over yet. Thanks for the brew.’

He slapped Luke on the back as he went past.

Sod you. Traitor.

Luke listened to Ryan’s footsteps moving along the corridor, towards the stairs. It was hard to tell with the echo from the stairwell and the background noise from other men moving around and talking, but it sounded like Ryan was going down.

Not back up to his room on a higher floor, to turn in. Down and out – to make his report?

Luke stayed at the table for a few moments, not daring to stand till his legs stopped trembling.

What should he do? Asif was the club member closest to him – most of Millmoor’s single males were in West dorm blocks. Had he had a late-night social call from a ‘friend’ too? But if anyone were keeping an eye on Luke, then going to find Asif would be an incredibly bad idea. If they knew about the club, it’d just confirm the connection between members. If they didn’t know, it’d give them a new person of interest.

The same held for going to find any of the others.

Perhaps Renie was skulking around in the streets?

He knew she wouldn’t be. She’d be away across town, slashing tyres. But he so badly wanted not to be alone that he washed up the two mugs, set them on the draining board, then jogged down the corridor to go and find out.

He was nearly at the stairs before he thought of Ryan. He stopped. What if his sometime schoolmate hadn’t gone anywhere to share the details of their conversation? Perhaps the person he reported to had come here, and they were talking on the pavement outside this very minute.

Besides, surely it was too late to do anything now. The men of Zone D would either turn up for work or they wouldn’t. Everything else would happen as planned, or not. Luke turned in a circle considering his options, but it didn’t seem like he had any.