The Eve Illusion

by Giovanna Fletcher

  The charge of my Pacify Glove sends a shock through his body, making it as rigid as a plank of wood. He hits the deck, unable to move.

  ‘You can’t keep running, Saunders,’ I say, leaning over and pulling his stiff frame around to face me while the Murphy twins regain themselves a few feet away.

  ‘They were here, I swear,’ he snarls, through clenched teeth.

  ‘I know. We found their clothes,’ I say.

  ‘There’s only one other place they can be. They’ll be there together.’ He struggles.

  My heart almost stops.

  He didn’t mention any other possible location earlier. If Eve is there, EPO doesn’t know.

  My thoughts fire around my head, like a battle between right and wrong, EPO and Freever, me and Bram …

  ‘Tell me now,’ I whisper, checking the twins are still out of earshot.

  ‘I c-can take you. I can lead you there n-now,’ Saunders stammers, the symptoms of having been pacified still affecting him.

  ‘Tell me right now or you’re going back to Miss Silva,’ I hiss, letting my eyes show him that I’m not bluffing.

  He pauses.

  Reluctant to do it but he’s out of options and he knows it.

  His eyes break contact with mine and move to a point over my shoulder.

  I turn my head and follow his line of sight. Through the overbearing cloudscrapers surrounding us, it lands on a distinctive spike, sticking out from the flood, like a great shard of broken glass.

  ‘Up there?’ I whisper urgently, turning back to him.

  ‘Yes, and if we hurry we can –’ I stop him with a second charge from my Glove, which passes through his already weak body. He blacks out before he can inform anyone else.

  ‘For Eve,’ I whisper into his ear, just before the Murphy twins hoist his unconscious body off the deck.

  ‘Put him on the ship. Separate him from the rest of the Freevers. Let’s get them all to the Tower ASAP,’ I order.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ they reply in unison, and I find myself alone momentarily on the dock.

  I stand with my back to the enormous hands of the clock and stare out at the broken triangular skeleton of the building. Another relic of the world we left behind.

  An energy pulses around my veins at the thought of being so close to her, potentially looking at the building she’s in. Then I remember that if she’s there so is he. Just the two of them together. The saviour, and the son of a psychopath.

  32

  Michael

  Saunders wakes, startled and confused. He stumbles to his feet and shields his eyes from the cold lights that focus on him.

  ‘Where … am I?’ he croaks.

  ‘Welcome home, Saunders,’ Vivian says, her voice echoing from the cold concrete of the stark room.

  ‘Miss Silva,’ Saunders gasps, standing to attention instinctively.

  She steps forward, her presence automatically demanding obedience. There’s not a hair out of place as the light casts sharp shadows on her angular features.

  She walks past us, the Final Guard, as we line the wall behind her, standing to attention. Alert and nervous.

  The last time we were all together a lot of people died.

  ‘For the benefit of everyone here, would you please explain the reason for your last visit? It’s not every day a convicted fugitive returns to the place they escaped from, begging to be let back in.’

  Saunders takes a breath that catches in his throat.

  ‘Can you remember what you said to me?’ she asks, in a disarmingly calm tone.

  ‘Yes, Miss Silva,’ Saunders says.

  ‘Then please remind me.’

  ‘I … I came here with an offer.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Eve’s location in return for full amnesty for my crimes against the organization.’

  There is a silence.

  Miss Silva stops walking as if she were letting that information hang in the air.

  When Wells told me that a reliable source had disclosed Eve’s location, one of her own, I found it hard to believe. Even more so when I discovered it was Saunders. He was totally in awe of Eve, infatuated with her. What the hell could have turned him?

  ‘I would grant your freedom and pardon you of your treasonous crimes in return for you giving up the Freever stronghold, where you claim Eve has been living,’ she clarifies.

  ‘Yes, Miss Silva,’ he says, fear clearly audible in his throat.

  ‘I must say, I was surprised that you of all people would come forward and betray Eve. You had freedom, the safety of these so-called Freevers, and now you had your precious Eve back. It made me wonder why you would turn your back on all that. You must have had very powerful motivation, Saunders.’

  Saunders says nothing, just drops his head.

  ‘Why the silence all of a sudden? It doesn’t suit you. We all know what Eve meant to you. After all, your feelings for her were the very reason you were imprisoned in the first place. Could it be that those same feelings would turn you from her apostle to her Judas?’ The truth slices through him, like a knife. His torso shakes as he tries to suppress the emotions.

  ‘I imagine that your reunion wasn’t as special for her as it was for you,’ she continues.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I bet she struggled to remember you, barely a blip in her distant memory, a forgotten grain of sand at the bottom of an ocean.’

  ‘Yes,’ he snaps, and I see satisfaction on Miss Silva’s pale face.

  ‘But she remembered Bram,’ she says slowly.

  Saunders’s fingers roll into tight fists.

  ‘That must have been difficult.’

  ‘She’s not the same person she was. He’s corrupted her. She’s safer in here, away from him. This is where she belongs,’ he cries, still trying to justify his betrayal.

  ‘Jealousy,’ Miss Silva hisses.

  ‘Yes,’ Saunders confesses. ‘It is.’

  Part of me feels sorry for him. I mean, I’d be a hypocrite to judge someone for acting irrationally around Eve, but selling out your friends, Eve’s entire defence? He’s totally lost himself and it will be the Freevers who pay the price.

  Miss Silva paces the room again. ‘Now, I understand we raided the location you revealed to us, and while we managed to detain many of your so-called Freever comrades, unfortunately Eve was nowhere to be found.’

  ‘Yes, that’s true but –’

  Miss Silva stops him. ‘The days of you playing both sides of the board in this game are over, Saunders.’

  ‘Please, Miss Silva … I know where they are,’ he begs. ‘I tried to tell Guard Turner before he pacified me. If we move fast, they might still be there …’

  Vivian turns to me.

  ‘Is this true, Turner? Did he reveal a second location to you?’ she asks.

  I gulp. Here we go.

  ‘Yes, Miss Silva. He claimed he knew of another location where the saviour and the fugitive might possibly be,’ I say, bending the truth, ‘but having seen the extent of the Freevers’ armoury and operation in the place they call the Deep, I deemed it too dangerous to go on another wild-goose chase at the request of this traitor.’

  Miss Silva is silent, her mind processing this new information.

  ‘You were right to be cautious of Saunders, but this second location needs to be dealt with immediately after we have finished here.’ She shoots me a stern look.

  ‘Yes, Miss Silva,’ I reply, and subtly take a deep, calming breath.

  ‘Miss Silva, if we’d gone straight to the other location we could have had them! It’s Turner you should blame for Eve not being here right now, not me,’ Saunders says.

  ‘If Eve and Bram are still in Central, they will not get far. The most famous person in history and her kidnapper? It seems to me that Bram would stay put, and if that turns out to be the location you gave to Turner, we will find them,’ Miss Silva concludes.

  ‘And my amnesty?’ Saunders asks.

  Miss Silva takes a bre
ath and lets the moment hold. She looks at Saunders with an expression that can only be described as somewhere between disappointment and sympathy.

  ‘Turner. Would you do the honours?’ she says, not even raising her eyes to meet mine.

  I step forward, breaking the Final Guard line-up, and cross the room. The look on Saunders’s face as I pass is of pure fear.

  Poor bastard doesn’t have a clue, but it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

  I place my hand on the frosted glass on the opposite wall from the guards, and my options are displayed.

  I look to Miss Silva for confirmation.

  ‘Thank you, Turner,’ she says.

  I take a breath and hit the glowing circle with the word Privacy inside it, causing the entire glass wall to demist, revealing the cell within, allowing Saunders to see its occupants and them to see him.

  ‘What the …’ Saunders chokes, as his fellow Freevers stare out at him. He falls to his knees, covering his face with his hands, unable to look at them. Some cry silently at his betrayal. Others scream and pound the glass, the cell keeping their sounds muted.

  ‘Yes, Saunders. In case you were wondering, they heard every word you just said,’ Miss Silva confirms.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ He sobs. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  I can barely look the Freevers in the eye. I might not have given up their location but my position in the EPO, the uniform I’m wearing and everything it represents, it’s all a betrayal to them and, right now, they are fighting for the cause I believe in: Eve.

  In their presence I feel useless, passive. I’m carrying out the orders of an organization I don’t believe in for people I don’t trust.

  Thinking about it, I’m not sure who’s worse, Saunders or me. At least he’s true to himself. Acts on his beliefs while half of me is still obeying the orders of someone I no longer support.

  In a really messed-up way, I’m a little jealous.

  ‘Is there anything you wish to say to the people you betrayed?’ Miss Silva asks.

  Saunders sobs uncontrollably on the floor outside the cell containing his friends, his family. With the harsh beam falling on him like a spotlight, he’s centre stage and all eyes are on him.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he chokes out. ‘I know that’s not enough. It will never be enough. I’m sorry. Please … what are you going to do to them?’

  His words are shot through with uncontrolled emotion, the guilt, the remorse instantly taking over his shaking body.

  ‘You betrayed Eve once, letting your feelings overcome reason. You had a lucky escape that time, thanks to the people in front of you …’ Miss Silva says, pacing at the edge of the pool of light. ‘If it hadn’t been for the rebels’ raid on the building years ago, you would have wasted away in your cell. They gave you a life, albeit one of treason and betrayal, but you were free – yet you still came back, betraying Eve once again. Why?’

  He breaks down further under the stare of the Freevers through the glass, unable to give Miss Silva any sort of answer.

  I’ve never seen anyone so utterly broken.

  ‘Saunders, you are guilty of treason, of putting the life of the saviour in direct harm and betraying the oath you swore to the EPO. Your sentence is death,’ Miss Silva says in a plain, unemotional tone. ‘Turner,’ she calls.

  Not me, please, not me.

  ‘Please carry out the sentence,’ Miss Silva orders.

  I look at Saunders, trembling, in tears on the floor. He slowly pulls himself to his knees, to face me.

  ‘Please. No. Please.’ He sobs, clutching at my boots, desperate for a forgiveness that will never come. His mouth moves but words fail to come out as he reaches for Miss Silva, so overcome with the weight of what is about to happen that he can’t even beg for his own life.

  ‘Commander Turner!’ Miss Silva repeats, snapping me into the reality that I now face.

  I reach to my belt to retrieve my gun and my hand brushes past the Pacify Glove. I unclip that instead and slip my hand inside it.

  I slide my thumb over the small sensor, removing the safety lock and selecting the highest charge. A small haptic warning inside the glove informs me of the danger and I ignore it as I take up position behind him.

  ‘Any last words?’ I ask.

  Saunders sniffs and splutters with fear as he pulls himself together and softly mutters, ‘I’m sorry,’ to the window of watchers.

  Few turn away as I place my open hand on the side of Saunders’s head and administer the fatal shock that relieves him of his guilt.

  It’s quick. His muscles spasm and contort violently before the thud of his body hitting the floor echoes through the Detention Level, followed by dead silence.

  I crouch over his still body and check his pulse.

  ‘It’s done,’ I inform Miss Silva.

  She just nods.

  ‘Miss Silva, I shall lead a team to the location Saunders gave me and, if they are there, I’ll personally see to it that Eve and Bram are returned to the Tower,’ I say, causing the Freevers to protest within their muted cell.

  ‘Eve is the only directive. Bram is acceptable dead or alive,’ she replies coldly, before exiting without a second glance at Saunders’s body on the floor.

  I take a moment to breathe. That’s the second life I’ve taken for the EPO.

  I take a look at the stunned Freevers in their cell. I want to call out to them, to scream to them that I’m with them. I might be on this side of the glass, but if their loyalty is to Eve, my heart is right in there with them.

  I feel a fire inside that I’ve not felt before, a desire to do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. I need to find Eve before anyone else does.

  The three-dimensional map of the city slowly rotates in front of us, the real-time image still replicating the light smoke billowing from the Deep.

  My heart is pounding as I point out the building to the watching eyes of First Response and the Final Guard.

  ‘From there they’ll have a clear view of the Deep. Do you think they’ll know?’ Franklin asks, running his fingers nervously through his wavy hair.

  ‘After the noise we made today, yes. I think half of Central knows,’ Reynolds replies.

  ‘We are to use non-lethal force only. Some live rounds were fired this morning and that’s a risk we cannot take. I want Eve-lock on all weapons,’ I instruct. The safety precaution is not automatic outside the perimeter of the Tower.

  There’s an audible groan at being made to switch their weapons so that they won’t fire in Eve’s direction. If she’s standing close to Bram, they won’t fire at all.

  ‘We’re not dealing with the threat of the Freever army now. This is Bram and Eve,’ I remind them. ‘Non-lethals. Are we clear?’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ they reluctantly reply.

  I step to the wall and wave my hand across it, causing the realiTV screen to wake. The view is displayed as crystal clear as if we were staring out of a window. Dark storm clouds obscure the skyline, as they do every single day, hiding all but the very tallest of cloudscrapers from sight. Nothing comes close to our level in the Tower.

  ‘Highlight skyline,’ I command, and the realiTV traces the outline of the buildings through the smog and cloud.

  ‘That one?’ Hernandez asks, pointing to the box-shaped building I showed them on the map.

  I nod and feel the adrenalin pump inside me. The rush of a lie.

  Hernandez taps the square skyscraper of the old city.

  ‘First Response, you are to secure and search the building and allow Final Guard to handle the recovery,’ I order.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ they reply.

  ‘Dismissed,’ I call, and the dozen First Response officers hurriedly fall out.

  No one wants to miss the chance of returning the saviour to the EPO. It would be a historic moment among the ever-expanding list of recent historic moments.

  Except I already know it won’t happen.

  Not if I can help it.

  The noise lev
el rises as people suit up and check weapons around me. I use the moment to familiarize myself discreetly with the real location Saunders gave me – the pointed spike of a building adjacent to the square relic to which I’ve sent these men.

  Close enough for me to slip away unnoticed? I hope so.

  What the hell are you doing, Turner?

  It’s too late to turn back now.

  33

  Eve

  I’m startled awake by the sound of a boot scraping along the floor and echoing up the stairwell. I don’t know when I fell asleep or what time it is, but it’s getting dark outside. The day is over. We should’ve been getting ready to leave. The fact we’re still here might mean we’re trapped with no way out, and I think one jump off a tower is enough to last me a lifetime. I don’t want to do it again.

  ‘Bram,’ I hiss, leaping to my feet, but he’s heard the noise too and is glaring at the opening, gently rocking with his fists clenched. I can tell by the puffiness of his face that he’s also been asleep, and that this arrival has caught him off guard too. The realization leaves me feeling uneasy.

  ‘Who knows we’re here?’ I ask.

  ‘No one,’ he mouths, glancing at me with a frown.

  We stay frozen in silence as we listen for more signs of an intruder. I don’t breathe.

  We saw the Freevers being captured: either one of them has escaped, or the EPO have found us, or someone else happens to like this spot too.

  ‘It’s just me, Eve. I’m not going to hurt you.’

  I recognize the voice. It transports me back to the Tower, back to the lift and into that lab. Fear floods me at the memory of all that’s come before, and the anticipation of what’s to come now that one of them is here.

  Then I remember.

  It’s him.

  Seeing his face outside the Deep and having the two worlds collide was a shock, but I wasn’t horrified by the sight of him. Far from it. After meeting so many strangers in the Deep, it was comforting to see someone familiar, especially him. He’s seen so much of what I have. So much of the torment. I flash back to the moments when he could’ve hurt me but didn’t, and the moments he’s shown me kindness and understanding. I’m not scared of him.