3 of a Kind Read Online Free

the fake beard and glasses.
    ‘Dad – ?’ Darkus exclaimed, eyes wide. ‘I can’t believe …’ his voice turned to an accusatory whisper, ‘you’d embarrass me like this.’
    ‘Would you rather I let you fall?’ Knightley protested. ‘The chances of survival were approximately thirty to one. At best.’
    Darkus shook his head, and got to his feet. ‘Not here, Dad. Please.’ He walked from the balcony into the house.
    Knightley followed his son around the minstrels’ gallery with the partygoers gyrating below as if nothing had happened. ‘I know you don’t want to see me … But I need to see you , Doc. It’s important.’
    He spun. ‘It’s Darkus .’
    Knightley recoiled, then straightened up, lookinghurt. ‘As you wish.’ He trailed Darkus down the glass staircase, through the entrance hall and out of the front door.
    Knightley caught up with him on the grass, until Darkus turned to block him.
    ‘How did you find me?’
    ‘Tilly did a sweep of social media. “Jason’s summer pool party”, I believe,’ said Knightley using finger quotes, then winced as he peeled the fake beard from his face. ‘You’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time online lately,’ he said disapprovingly.
    ‘You mean, like every other kid my age?’
    ‘I would question the assumption that you’re anything like other children in any way, Darkus.’ Knightley glanced at the revellers falling about around them.
    ‘Well, at least I’m trying …’
    Knightley looked truly puzzled by this, as if the prospect of ‘normal’ was something to be avoided at all costs. ‘I suppose that would explain the outfit,’ he deduced, casting a disparaging eye over Darkus’s casual clothes and shoes, before returning to business. ‘The reason I’m here is I have a message for you … From Tilly.’
    ‘Since when have you become her errand boy?’
    ‘Well …’ Knightley mumbled, ‘well, we’ve sort ofbeen working together as a matter of fact,’ he confessed and shrugged apologetically.
    Darkus’s jaw dropped. ‘You mean, like –’ this time he was the one using finger quotes – ‘“Knightley and … surrogate daughter?”’
    His father shrugged again. ‘Something like an apprentice, you might say.’
    Darkus’s face ran a gamut of emotions from disbelief, through amazement, to bewilderment – coming to rest on betrayal.
    ‘She’s unpredictable,’ warned Darkus. ‘A wild card. You said it yourself.’
    ‘Since you took your sabbatical, she’s the only card I’ve got.’ Knightley paused, looking for any hint of forgiveness. ‘Before you shoot the messenger, don’t you want to hear what the message is?’
    Darkus turned away and walked towards the road.
    ‘We’ve apprehended Morton Underwood,’ his father called after him.
    Darkus stopped in his tracks, glancing around to make sure no one else had heard – but the party continued its noisy progress.
    ‘The trouble is he’s put himself into a post-hypnotic trance,’ Knightley went on.
    Darkus turned to face his dad, realising the gravity of the situation.
    ‘We have no idea how long this “episode” might last,’ Knightley added. ‘It’s a coma-like state, much the same as what he did to me. It could be years.’
    ‘Did he say anything before he entered this state?’ demanded Darkus.
    ‘He invited us to play a game. He said he had infor-mation about Tilly’s mother’s death. About Carol .’ Knightley’s eyes winced with painful recollection for a moment, before returning to their steely gaze.
    ‘What kind of information?’ said Darkus, his brow furrowing with concern.
    ‘He recited a code of some kind.’ Knightley unfolded a piece of paper containing a set of words and numbers, then read from it: ‘Fifty-three, sixty-four, chance, a relay, thirteen-thirty-nine.’
    ‘That’s exactly what he said?’ asked Darkus. ‘I mean precisely ?’
    His father nodded.
    Darkus closed his eyes and let the words and numbers whirl around his