The Shadow Setters Book 1: Prominence

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

After a very rushed get-together of belongings, the visiting party had loaded the seven seater in typically teenager style fashion (throw it in, squash it all down and forget about it) and was ready to depart for London, ready to end an educational chapter in their lives by concluding their GCSE exams. 

Jason hauled an oversized bag into the front doors threshold where his father was waiting to bid him farewell. What David did not know was that Jason was loaded with as many belongings as he could muster without creating suspicion from his eagle eyed father. As it was, the bag had gained a frown from Conroy senior but sticking with the tried and tested keep it cool and don't say nothing method when under his stringent gaze had seemed to come up trumps once again for young junior. Whatever clouds that built up on the horizon between father and son over the past couple of weeks instantly parted briefly as David smiled faintly at Jason. He was a clever and talented boy, far even beyond both of their knowledge. David knew that when he had pressed Jason about his previous exams, the boy had smiled at his father and informed him that he thought that he had done well. If the past was anything to go by, then that modest remark had to be amplified. Jason was a straight A student and even through a difficult period in his early adolescence, had not faltered once even when his eye was not completely on the ball. David went on to do something that he had never done to his son before and it was picked up on immediately by Jason. The clouds of division that seconds before had apparently lifted, loomed in thicker, darker and more menacingly than ever before. David offered his hand towards his son, to which Jason hesitantly accepted with a look of nervous anticipation. 

'Good luck son. I trust that you will do your usual best for me?' 

Jason felt slightly intimidated by the somewhat cold farewell that his father had strangely bestowed upon him. David's handshake was deceptively powerful; his grip radiated a power from the smaller of the two to which Jason never knew existed in a man that hogged the other end of the fitness\/strength spectrum. It felt like it was a show of power to a perspective adversary, a statement that clearly stated 'I am the boss, don't forget it'. 

'I will do my best as I always have dad.' 

David smiled at his son but Jason looked at his father's expression with a new doubt. It opened the floodgates in his mind for all the negative things that had pointed in his direction since they had moved here. David's face, although it adorned a weak smile, exuded no affection. It was a cold gaze, almost devoid of any parental contact between father and son, making the hairs on Jason's arms stand up on end. 'Good. I expect nothing less of you now. Call me when you arrive to let me know that you are safe. And call me after each exam. You know how I have no patience to find out how you've done.' 

Jason felt a cold shiver at his father's friendly but false demeanour. 'As soon as I know...you will know.' He picked up the hulking bag and slung it powerfully over his shoulder. Jason smiled flatly at his father as David opened the door for him. 'Don't work too hard while I'm gone and keep and eye on Kato for me.' 

'Will do. See you soon son.' 

Jason slung his bag into the waiting open hatch of the wagon and bundled himself into the front where Tim was poised, engine running to make a steady get-away from the creepy surroundings. The group was less than a minute down the road when Tim turned to Jason. 

'You alright mate? You look like you've seen a ghost.' 

Jason shook his head. He did indeed look rattled. 'He knows Tim.' 

'Knows? Knows what mate? You're not making much sense.' 

'He knows that we've been up to something. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.'  

Steve had overheard the conversation in the front and had broken away from his own at the back to hear what Jason had to add. 

'What was that J? You think that your dad has rumbled us? What makes you think that then? Has he said something? Do you think we cocked up somewhere?' 

'No, you all have done mustard this weekend, top job. There's nothing in-particular, it's just the way he was with me at the door. He's never shaken my hand before or spoken to me in that way. I could almost feel that what he was thinking was disappointment and anger towards me. I could see it in his eyes. He knows. I'm sure of it.' 

Grant added his thoughts on the subject. 'Don't wind yourself up mate. If your old man had sussed you he would have kicked your arse before now. It's probably his way of showing you that you are on the edge of being a fully fledged adult now. It's a man thing isn't it? And as for seeing it in his eyes you've got better vision than me if you can see that, it took me five minutes to find the wagon when we were loading up so I wouldn't read too much into it if I was you.' 

Jason smiled but it was more for Grant's benefit than his own. 'I wish you were right but I know my old man, or at least I thought I did. No, things have changed and the sooner I can get the truth about things from those disks then I'll know really where I stand with him.' 

Tim punched Jason's leg playfully. 'Grant's right mate. I don't think that you should read too much into the way that your dad's been with you. You're on edge about last night and you're looking for signs that he's sussed. I couldn't see any sign of your old man having a moody on. He's probably anxious about your exams coming up, coz you never show any worries concerning them do ya?' Jason looked at Tim's calming face and smiled weakly but said nothing. 'I'd be feeling just the same as you J. Forget about it mate, seriously.' 

Steve and Grant both added to the debate at the front of the car. Both were asking Jason for clarity on his reasoning as to why he had felt the way he had. At the same time they leant towards a unanimous dismissal of his worry for the sake of Jason's ever eroding sanity. Spider shrank away from the conversation at hand. He snatched tiny glimpses of the others deeply involved in the conversation as they always had done; his intent it seemed, was to disappear into the infinity of his winter coat and scarf that drowned his meagre stature. He felt an instant sanctuary squashed insignificantly into his corner of the blackness that bathed the interior. Always did the boys throw themselves into the topic at hand, he thought. they were constantly eager to listen to the others and be listened to. Content with his sudden anonymity, Spider pulled out his phone casually, with discretion painted in his eyes as he continued to listen at the progress of his peers whilst watching where their view fell. He began texting as the conversation crowded the interior, almost as if they were trying to keep pace with the wagon as it sped in sleet swept darkness towards London.

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