He walked back down into the garage.
Miles wasn’t to be deterred and pursued.
‘And animals. Road kill is going to escalate exponentially—that means it will go up a lot.’ He passed Molly pulling her unicorn back up the ramp and apparently thought up an even better point. ‘Little children like Mol Mol get backed over a lot in driveways already. Imagine how that’s going to increase!’
Austin snapped the clamps down on the solid case and heaved it in with all the others, slammed the boot down, got in the driving seat and began to back out.
Miles seemed about to stand his ground but backed off hastily. ‘It’s just as well we’re off on holiday to an island that doesn’t have any cars so you can’t run us over!’
Aleksey could tell that even Miles considered this was a weak parting shot. He’d clearly expected more from this scientist and was probably rethinking his own career options. He got better arguments from Ben, and that was saying something.
Aleksey patted his head as they watched the man heading towards the road. ‘He’s driving awfully fast. It said twenty miles per hour on the sign.’
* * *
Chapter Eighteen
It was raining hard by the time they got home, so no work on the obstacle course was possible. The rain continued through the night, swelling the stream and making Benjamin Falls roar over the little clapper bridge. The following day dawned late, the cloud cover obscuring the sun, making the glass house gloomy inside. Aleksey hadn’t thought about the serendipitous advantages of Ben’s new present when he’d bought it for him—he’d just wanted him to enjoy learning. Now, however, on a wet, miserable Devon day, the peace was delightful. Some unfortunates somewhere in the world were probably having their day ruined by strafing fire and low-level bombing raids, but he was not having to put up with the raging-bull of suppressed energy Ben became on days when he could not run or take his bike for a spin.
It was still pouring heavily by dinner time. The front lawn was pooling. Lake Aleksey had swelled beyond its banks. He wondered if it was raining on Light Island, whether the pond there ever overflowed the bridge. He hoped their temporary repair on the pavilion roof was holding.
He was standing in the kitchen, watching the rain falling on the glass, when Ben came up behind him and slid his arms around his waist. Aleksey laid his hands on them, leaning back a little into Ben’s strong, warm body.
‘Have you left anyone in the world alive?’
‘Nope. Well, a few, in Devon.’
‘Huh. I hope you spared some Russian cities.’
‘Took them all out first.’
‘Traitor. You are an honourary Russian, Benjamin Rider-Mikkelsen. That seems a perfidious way to treat your own countrymen.’
‘If I knew what that meant I might agree with you. But I bombed Scotland flat for you.’
‘Excellent.’
‘How about I light the fire, we split a bottle of wine and get some Chinese?’
Aleksey didn’t respond.
‘We could crank up the hot tub…’ Ben began to place light bites into his neck. ‘How about you come watch me work out for a while, and then just…come?’
Aleksey snorted quietly, but when he didn’t reply more enthusiastically, Ben grumbled, clearly a little exasperated, ‘Come on, entertain me. I’ve been good all day. What do you want to do?’
Aleksey pursed his lips and replied thoughtfully, ‘I was thinking of sleeping rough by the canal for the night.’
* * *
Aleksey couldn’t think of another time in their long relationship when he’d been the one uncomplaining in the wet and cold and Ben had been the one prissily fussing about it all. But Ben had clearly had the whole night plotted in his mind—roaring log fire to ward off the sou’wester’s effects; huge plate of Chinese food and some ice cream for pudding; a movie; then sex—and now he was squatting in the back of the old custom house amongst the derelict warehouses—a place he’d already expressed his dislike of—and shivering. And he hadn’t been fed.
They’d parked some distance away and had come along the unlit canal path before turning into the yard of the old building. There’d been an alleyway running to one side where a loading ramp sloped down to the cobbled lane. Every entrance, door or window had been boarded up at one time, but clearly people had pried these away in places and the space was being used as a doss house. Even in the dark and the rain, they’d seen it had been heavily graffitied at some time.
They’d hopped over the low wall which separated them from the narrow strip of weeds in front by the water and had gone to the ground-floor windows, trying to peer in. Ben had started to use his phone app to illuminate the place, but Aleksey had stilled his hand and nodded towards a broken pane.
They’d waded through the sopping wet grass and weeds. Ben had levered himself up onto the sill, removed a few final shards of glass, peered inside for a moment then helped Aleksey up alongside him. One by one, they’d dropped down to the other side.
Dropping onto concrete hadn’t improved the ambience of the place for Aleksey, and he’d held still for a moment, eyes closed, trying not to picture the pins in his leg shifting.
