The Man Who Sold His Son (Lanarkshire Strays) by Mark Wilson

anywhere, and neither was Tommy. In her view, she’d only just got her life back and wasn’t going to accept that it would be taken away from her. As the day and the night wore on and the discussion grew more panicked, they realised that they were being naïve. Snippets of the conversation flashed through Alex’s mind as he weaved along the torn-up carriageway.
    Does he really have that much power?
    Corporations have always influenced government policy. There’s only one, global government now and Ennis’s company is arguably the largest in the world, and the most influential.
    We’ve only just got ourselves together again.
    They’ll find us if we run, we don’t have the finances to leave Britain. Even if we did, would it matter to a guy with Ennis’s connections and wealth?
    I’ve seen articles that are pro-segregation of Randoms. They don’t think of people like Tommy as real people at all. More like embarrassing throwbacks.
     
    As the early hours sped towards them, they’d rallied themselves, dreamed up possible solutions or negotiations to offer Ennis. By morning they’d realised that they had nothing to offer Ennis and that only one option remained: Alex had to take the job. To be safe, Sarah would take Ennis’s money and leave for Alex’s grandfather’s place in New York with Thomas immediately.
    The ten billion had pinged into Sarah’s account less than five minutes ago. Alex was speeding his way along the M74 to bring his son home from his gran’s by the fastest route. Thomas and Sarah would be leaving Bellshill and the UK within the hour. Sarah was already making her way to Bellshill International airport via The Tubes. Alex promised to have Thomas there in plenty of time. As he cut the air with his Kawasaki, his helmet-Comm popped an image of his e-tickets arriving. He made a gesture with his eyes and flicked the ticket open. He’d be leaving for China two hours after his family were on board their flight to America.
    Alex leaned sharply to his left and took the exit that led to his mother’s home near Hamilton Racecourse. Twenty minutes later, he and an over-excited Thomas stepped off the Kawasaki at Bellshill International.
    He’d never allowed Tommy to ride with him on his bike before and the family had never dreamed that they’d need to use the airport. The boy was hyper with excitement.
    “That was awesome, Dad. Let’s go see our shuttle,” Tommy said, eyes alive with wonder.
    Alex grabbed him by the arm. “Hang on a minute, son.” He went down on one knee and held his son’s forearms, making him turn away from the airport building to look at him.
    “I want you to know that I love you very much, more than anything.”
    Tommy pulled to turn away. “I know that, Dad,” he groaned. “C’mon…”
    Alex pulled him back.
    “Listen, Thomas. This is important.”
    Tommy sighed and rolled his eyes, but turned to look back at his father.
    “’Kay.”
    “I wish I could come with you…”
    “I know, but it’s too expensive,” Tommy interrupted.
    Alex smiled and kept the hot tears from escaping.
    “Yes, it is. But I want you to know that I’d give anything to be coming on that flight with you and your mum.”
    “I know, Dad. You’ll be working anyway, and we’ll be back in a few days. Let’s go.”
    Tommy broke off and ran into the building, laughing as a Holo-steward greeted him by name at the door. The holographic assistant led Tommy and Alex to where his mother sat, red-eyed, drinking coffee in the lounge. Turning to Alex, the steward said, “I understand you won’t be boarding the New York flight today, Dr Kinsella.”
    Alex made a subtle gesture, turning off the steward’s speech facility before it could blurt out to Tommy that he’d be boarding another flight.
    Alex walked over to where Sarah and Tommy were standing together and wrapped his arms around them both. The acid behind his eyes was threatening to burn through and release every emotion he’d ever felt. He