The Battle Ground Series: Books 1-3

by Rachel Churcher

  I sit up. “Leominster was a weapons test, Sir. They blamed it on the terrorists, but Holden said they were testing a weapon.”

  On a town full of innocent people.

  “Holden is on the Terrorism Committee, Ketty. Holden, and Lee, and some of the others who planned the Leominster operation. Who’s to say they’re not running more weapons tests?”

  I shrug. “Sir. It’s a promotion. It’s what you came here to do. Track terrorists, monitor attacks, catch the bad guys.”

  He nods. “That’s true.”

  “This is how you do that. By being on their committee.”

  It’s how you keep your job, and mine.

  “You’re right.” He gives me a brief smile. “It’s what I’m here to do.”

  “And it beats babysitting recruits at Camp Bishop.”

  “All right, Ketty,” he snaps, anger on his face. “Enough.”

  He pushes his plate away, drains his coffee cup, and checks his watch.

  “Time to go, Sir?”

  “Time to go.”

  *****

  “So – any progress with catching your recruits?”

  Conrad is perched on the front of the desk I’ve been given, outside the conference room, attempting to intimidate me. Posh-shabby-gorgeous with a gloating smile on his face. I try not to roll my eyes.

  Yes, David. I’ve got them right here in my pocket.

  “You mean apart from putting Elizabeth Ellman and Margaret Watson on PIN every night?”

  He smirks, picking up my pen from the desk and playing with it as he talks. “Apart from that.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “You don’t think that will work?”

  “I think your recruits are on a jolly holiday in Scotland, and I think you can’t get to them. Plus PIN doesn’t air in Scotland.” He throws the pen in the air and catches it.

  “No,” I say, as patiently as I can, “but they have ways of reaching international audiences. If Bex Ellman and Dan Pearce can get to a PIN feed, they’ll be watching.”

  “The website? That’s hardly the same as watching the news. They get to pick and choose what they look at. You can’t force them to watch anything.”

  Come on, David. Think about it.

  “You think we’d have to force them to watch coverage of their own families? Their friends?”

  He shrugs. “Maybe the OIE is blocking it. Maybe they don’t have access.”

  “And maybe they’re watching every night in case we decide to give one of our prisoners some new bruises.”

  “Maybe.” He puts the pen down. “And I understand using Elizabeth Ellman. Bex must be going crazy, wondering what you’re going to do to her next.”

  I smile. “That’s the point, Corporal. Keep them wondering. Keep them frightened.”

  “But Margaret? What’s she adding to the equation?”

  “School friend of Bex and Dan? Best buddies, right until the RTS recruiters showed up? Come on. Wouldn’t you be watching?”

  He shrugs again. “I guess.”

  You’re underestimating me again.

  I sit back in my chair. “Margaret adds several things. We show Bex and Dan what we can do to them. We don’t let them forget who holds the power here. And we make them think twice before they do anything to act against us.”

  “OK, but you can do that with Elizabeth.”

  “True. But that’s mainly for Bex. What Margaret gives us is Dan.”

  Conrad raises his eyebrows. “How do you figure that?”

  I smile at him, and fold my arms. “Haven’t you watched her interrogation footage?”

  “Yes, but …”

  My smile is growing. “Watch it again. When she’s looking at the wanted posters? Take a look at which poster she’s most interested in.”

  He looks at me for a moment. “So you think – Margaret and Dan?”

  “I do.”

  “So we’ve got Bex’s mother and Dan’s girlfriend?” I nod, grinning. “And we’re putting them both on TV?” He’s smiling now – a gorgeous smile that puts butterflies in my stomach.

  Focus, Ketty. He’s not on your side. Show him what you can do.

  “I think that’s a useful connection. Don’t you?”

  He shrugs, smiling. “Can’t hurt.”

  No, it can’t.

  *****

  “How was it, Sir?”

  Bracken’s hands are shaking as he sits down behind his desk.

  “Fine, Ketty. Fine.” He won’t meet my eyes.

  “Is it what you were expecting?”

  He shakes his head.

  “I can’t discuss it with you, Corporal. You need Top Secret clearance for the committee, and while they have seen fit to give that clearance to me, to the best of my knowledge they have not decided to elevate you to those heights.”

  Watch the sarcasm, Sir. I’m trying to keep us in our jobs.

  “No, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”

  “Was there something else?” He looks up at me, his eyes still bloodshot.

  “No, Sir.”

  I’ll leave you to your whisky.

  I leave the room, and head out to find two cups of coffee. When I bring them back, Bracken has his head in his hands. I leave his coffee, and two more painkillers, in the middle of his desk, but he doesn’t respond.

  *****

  I have to take two empty bottles from Bracken’s office this evening. I try not to leave them for the cleaner to find, and while everyone here seems to know that he’s drunk at work, I don’t think they need to know how much he’s drinking.

  My job depends on Bracken. If I can keep him working, then I can stay in London. If he can’t do his job, I’ll find myself back in the Recruit Training Service, dragging clueless sixteen-year-olds through assault courses and weapons training and cross-country runs.

  I’d rather be here. I’d rather be doing a job that matters.

  And I don’t need to be reminded of Jackson.

  It’s been a month since I lost my friend. Four weeks where I’ve caught myself thinking about what I’ll say to him, when he wakes up. When I’ve reached for the phone to call the hospital. When I’ve pictured him, hooked up to his machines, wrapped in a hospital gown.

  But he won’t wake up. I’ll never see him again.

  There was a funeral, but I didn’t go. Jackson was energy and attitude and mocking and action. He was the opposite of stillness and peace. I couldn’t sit with his family while they said goodbye to him.

  I said goodbye when I left the hospital. The person in the bed – that wasn’t Jackson. Jackson died on the road outside the coach. They kept him breathing for months, but he never came back. Dan Pearce took away his action and his attitude with two bullets, and left him – left me – wounded and broken.

  Bracken and I drank a bottle of whisky and told Jackson stories instead. It was a coward’s way out, but it was better than hymns and flowers.

  And I know where Jackson would have wanted to be.

  The Battle Ground Series

  The Battle Ground series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish independence.

  Book 1: Battle Ground

  Sixteen-year-old Bex Ellman has been drafted into an army she doesn't support and a cause she doesn't believe in. Her plan is to keep her head down, and keep herself and her friends safe – until she witnesses an atrocity that she can't ignore, and a government conspiracy that threatens lives all over the UK. With her loyalties challenged, Bex must decide who to fight for – and who to leave behind.

  Book 2: False Flag

  Ketty Smith is an instructor with the Recruit Training Service, turning sixteen-year-old conscripts into government fighters. She's determined to win the job of lead instructor at Camp Bishop, but the arrival of Bex and her friends brings challenges she's not ready to handle. Running from her own traumatic past, Ketty faces a choice: to make a stand, and expose a government conspiracy, or keep herself safe, and hope she's working for the winning side.

  Book 3: Dar
kest Hour

  Bex Ellman and Ketty Smith are fighting on opposite sides in a British civil war. Bex and her friends are in hiding, but when Ketty threatens her family, Bex learns that her safety is more fragile than she thought.

  Book 4: Fighting Back

  Bex Ellman and her friends are in hiding, sheltered by the resistance. With her family threatened and her friendships challenged, she's looking for a way to fight back. Ketty Smith is in London, supporting a government she no longer trusts. With her support network crumbling, Ketty must decide who she is fighting for – and what she is willing risk to uncover the truth.

  Amazon release: November 28th 2019

  Book 5: Victory Day

  Bex Ellman and Ketty Smith meet in London. As the war heats up around them, Bex and Ketty must learn to trust each other. With her friends and family in danger, Bex needs Ketty to help rescue them. For Ketty, working with Bex is a matter of survival. When Victory is declared, both will be held accountable for their decisions.

  Amazon release: January 9th 2020

  Novella: Making Trouble

  Fifteen-year-old Topher Mackenzie has a complicated life. His Mum is in Australia, his Dad is struggling to look after him, and Auntie Charlie is the only person who understands. When his girlfriend is forced to leave the UK after a racist attack, Topher faces a choice: accept the government’s lies, or find a way to fight back.

  FREE download: freebook.tallerbooks.com

  Acknowledgements

  The Battle Ground series represents more than a year of hard work – not just for me, but for the people who have supported me and helped to make it happen.

  A huge thank you is due to my amazing proofreaders, who have given up their time to read every book and send me helpful and insightful feedback. Thank you to Alan Platt, Holly Platt Wells, Reba Sigler, Joe Silber, and Reynard Spiess.

  Thank you to my beta readers, Jasmine Bruce, Diana Churcher, James Keen, Karen MacLaughlin, Matt Paley, and Bea Purser-Hallard for encouragement and insightful comments.

  Thank you to all the people who have given me advice on the road to publication: Tim Dedopulos, Salomé Jones, Rob Manser, John Pettigrew, Danielle Zigner, and Jericho Writers.

  Thank you to everyone at NaNoWriMo, for giving me the opportunity and the tools to start writing, and to everyone at YALC for inspiration and advice.

  Thank you to my amazing designer, Medina Karic, for deciphering my sketches and notes and turning them into beautiful book covers. If you ever need a designer, find her at www.fiverr.com/milandra.

  Thank you to Alan Platt, for learning the hard way how to live with a writer, and for bringing your start-up expertise to the creation of Taller Books.

  Thank you to Alex Bate, Janina Ander, and Helen Lynn, for encouraging me to write Battle Ground when I suddenly had time on my hands, and for introducing me to Prosecco Fridays. Cheers!

  Thank you to Hannah Pollard and the Book Club Galz for sharing so many wonderful YA books with me – and for understanding that the book is always better than the film.

  Special mention goes to the Peatbog Faeries, whose album Faerie Stories is the ultimate cure for writer’s block. The soundtrack to The Greatest Showman, and Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, are my go-to albums for waking up and feeling energised to write, even on the hardest days.

  About the Author

  Rachel Churcher was born between the last manned moon landing, and the first orbital Space Shuttle mission. She remembers watching the launch of STS-1, and falling in love with space flight, at the age of five. She fell in love with science fiction shortly after that, and in her teens she discovered dystopian fiction. In an effort to find out what she wanted to do with her life, she collected degrees and other qualifications in Geography, Science Fiction Studies, Architectural Technology, Childminding, and Writing for Radio.

  She has worked as an editor on national and in-house magazines; as an IT trainer; and as a freelance writer and artist. She has renovated several properties, and has plenty of horror stories to tell about dangerous electrics and nightmare plumbers. She enjoys reading, travelling, stargazing, and eating good food with good friends – but nothing makes her as happy as writing fiction.

  Her first published short story appeared in an anthology in 2014, and the Battle Ground series is her first long-form work. Rachel lives in East Anglia, in a house with a large library and a conservatory full of house plants. She would love to live on Mars, but only if she’s allowed to bring her books.

  Follow RachelChurcherWriting on Instagram and GoodReads.

  TALLER BOOKS

  Battle Ground (Battle Ground #1)

  False Flag (Battle Ground #2)

  Darkest Hour (Battle Ground #3)

  First published by Taller Books, 2019

  Text copyright © Rachel Churcher 2019

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead; events; or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of quotations in a book review or book club discussion. For more information, contact admin@tallerbooks.com.

  Cover designs by Medina Karic: www.fiverr.com/milandra

  www.TallerBooks.com