Fury of the Six (The Preston Six Book 5)

by Matt Ryan

  “Yes.”

  She peeled out on the dirt road, sending a cloud of dust over the construction crew. She laughed and Evelyn looked out the back window. “Oops, forgot about them,” Poly said.

  “I’ll send them extra money.”

  “HERE COMES THE PLANE,” LUCAS said, making a propeller sound.

  “Please don’t,” Julie said, looking at her Panavice under the table. She hadn’t touched her eggs and only ate half a slice of bacon. “She’s gone.” She breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “Good, little creeper,” Lucas said, shoving another spoonful of mashed bananas into the baby’s mouth. “You’re a hungry little guy aren’t you, Todd?”

  “Come on, we need to check on Will.”

  Lucas shook his head and smiled. “He’s fine, you worry too much.”

  “I’ll never stop worrying.” Julie got up and slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and then used the bib to clean the baby’s face.

  “I’ll get him,” Lucas offered and stuffed a piece of bacon in his mouth before lifting the baby and adjusting him with one arm. Walking out of the café, he realized he’d already forgotten the town’s name. He thought to ask Julie, but she was already ten feet ahead of him and setting a fast pace.

  A few more blocks and out of the way of any cameras, Julie entered a two-story brick building with a Douglas Inn sign situated over the door. Lucas caught the door with his foot, right before it closed on him. He spotted the bottom of Julie’s feet as she bounded up the stairs.

  “She’s getting faster in her old age,” Lucas said and smiled at Todd, before waving at the woman watching TV behind the desk. She never looked up.

  Lucas sighed and walked up the carpeted stairs. He didn’t like keeping his boy in a place where you had to put a sheet on the floor if you wanted your little one to move around. And the smell had hints of smoke and mildew, maybe mold. It had been their home now for a few weeks. Julie liked it because it only had internet in town and only the café had a connected camera. It made it easy to set up the ruse.

  Lucas hit the second floor and looked at the closed door marked 201D. He turned the handle and opened the door. Across the room, he spotted Jess. She lay on top of a comforter, spread out like a person who’d lost consciousness because of a large amount of booze.

  “There’s Mommy,” he said to Todd. He walked past her and stepped over a bottle of vodka. Tin foil wrappers littered the nightstand and he sighed. Jess had been doing well the last couple of weeks and they thought she might be turning a corner, but she must have found a local dealer. Lucas wasn’t sure where she got the money, but he shuddered at the speculations running through his head.

  Pushing open the next door, he heard Julie talking with Beth. They both stopped talking when he entered.

  “She’s fallen again,” Lucas said. He was glad the baby he held couldn’t understand the consequences of his mother’s actions in the next room.

  “We should get rid of her,” Beth said. “She’s not the kind of person we want around Will,” she spoke in a low whisper.

  “Daddy.” Will ran up to Lucas for a hug. “You bring me anything?”

  “Not this time. Your mom had a feeling and we rushed to get back to you.”

  Will smiled and looked to his mom. Each day he appeared to be weeks older and bigger. Lucas questioned Julie’s decision to accelerate his growth, but she agreed with Marcus in that it was cruel to keep him trapped in a baby’s body. Lucas didn’t share Poly’s wanting of a normal child, he was thrilled to have such a special guy. And to think, he created him—with Julie’s help, of course.

  Beth came over and took the baby from Lucas.

  “So, what have you been doing while we were out to breakfast?” Lucas asked Will.

  “I’ve been going through the Panavice Mommy gave me.” He looked back at Julie with a bashful expression.

  Lucas wasn’t the best at guessing ages, but he thought Will looked to be maybe two years old. Lucas knew he was special from the first moment he got to hold his baby boy.

  “And what did you find?” Julie asked.

  “Oh, not much, just learning how to code. I think we can adjust the shield so no one ever has to get hurt again.”

  “Don’t worry,” Julie said. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “There were six of you, and now there are four.”

  “Not true. We have Evelyn and you, that makes for six again, now doesn’t it?” Lucas said.

  “Speaking of her, when do I get to meet Evelyn?”

  “In due time,” Julie said, but Lucas remembered the weird little girl coming into the delivery room and announcing Will needed to be killed. What a morbid thing to say about a newborn.

  Lucas’s smile drooped when he stared at the stunned look on Julie’s face gazing at her Panavice. “What is it?”

  “Poly just texted me . . . she wants to meet.”

  “What do you mean? With Evelyn? You sure it’s Poly?” Lucas said.

  “Yeah, it’s her. I took a quick snap shot of her from her Panavice.”

  “Ask her what it’s about.”

  Julie typed into the screen and Will looked on with excitement. “She says it’s time to get back together. It’s what Joey would want.”

  Lucas let out a long breath and just hearing his best friend’s name put a weight on his chest, making his heart beat faster. Lucas felt he never should have left them to face Marcus. He could have done something, he had arrows tailor made for Marcus. He could have shot through the hole Maggie made in the shield or any other number of things. He didn’t regret it, as leaving them behind saved Julie and Will from Emmett, but it still hurt. The anger at the situation he was put in, simmered at a constant boil.

  “Maybe it’s time. She looks like she’s got it back together. She’s even driving a car,” Julie said and Lucas knew the look of optimism on her face.

  “Which child are you going to show her?” he asked.

  “I’m sure as hell not going to let them see Will.”

  “Come on, Mom.” Will pouted.

  “No, not yet. She might see you as a threat or who knows what. I don’t want to risk it.”

  Will looked to Lucas. “Let me talk with her. I think she’ll see I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

  “How do you know she would even think you would?” Julie asked and her question struck Lucas; they’d never told Will about Evelyn’s prophecy.

  Will looked at the brown carpet and kicked at it with his little sneakers. “I sort of looked through your notes.”

  Julie looked stunned and walked closer to Will. “Those are encrypted, by me. How did you get into them?”

  “I just wrote a program to emulate yours and was able to migrate the files across.”

  Julie closed her eyes and cocked her head. “That’s almost impossible.”

  “I’m sorry, but I just knew there was something about her, I could see the way you look when her name is mentioned. I want to meet her.”

  “No, we bring Todd. He’s our baby as far as they know and it’s going to stay that way.”

  “I agree,” Beth said.

  Will crossed his arms and ran to the bed, climbing up and flopping himself onto the sheets.

  Julie raised her eyebrows and nodded to Lucas, making him follow her into the adjacent room with a snoring Jess. “My guess is, Evelyn manipulated Poly into this trip. I think we should meet with Poly and Evelyn and show them Jess’s baby.”

  “And if she spots the fake?”

  “We beg for mercy.”

  “LOOK, MOM, A COTTON CANDY machine!” Evelyn dashed ahead and Poly rushed after her.

  Her daughter gazed at the large bowl and watched with anticipation as the man smiled and poured the sugar in. Threads spun around the bowl and the man used a paper stick to collect up the goodness.

  “Two dollars, miss.”

  Poly handed over the money and watched Evelyn take the stick from the man. She pulled on the cotton candy and then pinche
d it between her fingers. Some of it dissolved on her finger and she looked up with wonder.

  “It’s amazing!”

  “Yes, it is,” Poly said and offered a smile.

  The noises of the carnival surrounded her and the people skipped by, laughing and conversing about what ride they wanted to spend their tickets on, or where their child had gone. She stole some glances at other families, a dad cheering for his boy at the dart throwing booth, while another dad carried his girl on his shoulders. She felt tears building and a sticky hand touched hers.

  “Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can I eat it?”

  Poly laughed and wiped a tear from her face. “Of course. It’s what it’s made for.”

  Evelyn took a bite directly from the ball of pink and pulled a piece off with her teeth. Her eyes went wide and she smiled big, looking up to Poly.

  “Can we go see Aunt Julie now?”

  Poly took out her Panavice and checked the time, 4:32. Thirteen minutes early. “Sure, we can head over to the food court.”

  Evelyn kept nibbling on the cotton candy as they walked past different games. “Oh, I want to play this one!”

  Poly stopped in front of the game, a rope leading up to a button located high on a wall. A kid currently was on it and was taking his time on the wobbly rope. A few dowels had been placed on the rope, giving a sense of it being possible, but Poly knew the game. “Sure, we have a few minutes.”

  The kid on the rope crept along on his stomach, sliding up the rope. As he got higher, it got wobblier. A few more feet and the boy fell to the bouncy pad underneath.

  “Come on up, missy. You want to give it a go? Three dollars.”

  Poly ponied up the cash and lifted Evelyn onto the platform.

  “She’s a bit small, miss. She’s going to have—”

  Evelyn held up her hand to silence the man and placed a foot on the rope, getting a feel for it. The game attendant laughed and waved Evelyn on.

  She took another step onto the rope and then two. The guy looked on with a confused expression. Evelyn targeted the button at the top and ran up the rope. At the last few feet, she leapt, striking the button and sending a flurry of sounds and a red light flashing.

  Evelyn landed on the bouncy surface underneath and rolled back down to the platform.

  “In all my time, I’ve never seen anything like that. She some kind of kid tight-rope-walker?” The guy said as he handed Poly a large stuffed panda bear.

  “She was blessed with good balance.”

  Evelyn hopped off the stage and gazed at her prize. “Give him the prize back, Mom. It’s not fair, me doing these challenges; they are built for you guys.”

  Poly hesitated, but Evelyn insisted, so she handed the panda back to a thoroughly confused man. “Thank you,” she said as they left the stand.

  Arriving at the busy food court, they found a table littered with empty paper baskets of leftover French fries and what looked like a pizza crust.

  “What did you mean back there, those challenges aren’t fair?” Poly picked up some of the trash and set it on the heaping mass around the stuffed trash can.

  “You know, for normal people.”

  “You’re normal.”

  Evelyn gave her a sideways look.

  “Mostly normal,” she amended.

  Evelyn rolled her eyes. “You were right though.”

  “About what?” Poly took a seat next to Evelyn.

  “Experiences. I’ve looked at videos of fairs around the country, studying them. I even understood how cotton candy is created, but to actually touch it . . .” She rubbed two fingers together. “To taste it and smell it, brought so much more detail into light. To experience something is much better than reading about it. Thank you for getting me out. And now, we get to meet Julie, Lucas, and Will. This day couldn’t get any better.”

  Poly smiled and enjoyed watching Evelyn experience the world, but she couldn’t help being anxious about seeing Julie and Lucas. She hadn’t even met Will yet.

  “Hey.”

  Poly jumped from the seat at Julie’s voice. She held a large diaper bag and looked tired, but Poly was so happy to see her best friend. Tears were already filling her eyes by the time she got her arms around Julie. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  “Me too, how are you holding up?”

  “I’m getting there.” She sobbed for a few seconds, before pulling herself together. “Aww, Lucas, come here.” Poly grabbed Lucas into a hug as he held Will in his right arm. “And this must be Will.” She pulled on his little baby hand and shook it. “He’s so cute.” And normal, she wanted to add. “Oh, this is Evelyn.”

  Julie stepped closer and Evelyn got up from the bench and extended a hand. “Oh no you don’t,” Julie said and pulled her in for a hug. “You’ve gotten so big.”

  “I’m growing more every day.”

  “You remember Lucas?” Julie asked.

  “Of course,” Evelyn said with a furrowed brow, looking from the baby to Lucas and back again. “Where’s Will?”

  Julie went wide-eyed and stood straight. “What do you mean? He’s right there.”

  “This isn’t him. This is some normal baby. Did you really think I wouldn’t know the difference?”

  Lucas adjusted the baby in his arms and looked at Julie. Poly’s mouth hung open as questions assaulted her mind. At the top was, why would they have a different baby? Were they that scared of Evelyn?

  “Why do you think this isn’t him? It’s him. This is Will.” Lucas said, bouncing the boy on his hip.

  Evelyn let out a long huff, then disappeared.

  “Holy smokes, where’d she go?” he asked.

  “Evelyn!” Poly yelled, wondering why she’d gone slo-mo.

  Evelyn reappeared right in front of them with company—a small boy standing next to her, looking confused.

  “Did you do that?” the boy asked Evelyn.

  She nodded. “This is Will.”

  “How did—”

  “And,” Evelyn added, “I don’t think keeping him in a house with that woman, his mom I take it,” she pointed at the baby, “is the right thing to do. Will is special, like me, I knew it the second he was born.” She put her hand on Will’s shoulder.

  “Is this true?” Poly asked.

  Julie shook and stepped toward Will and Evelyn. “What are you going to do to him?”

  “I’m going to change his fate. Since the untimely death of Marcus, it’s become clear I’m going to need all the help I can get if we are going to save the world. Plus, I’ve figured out things about them, things that could help solve many of our great problems.” She glanced at Poly. “I need them to come here, and I need Will’s help.”

  “What?” Julie asked.

  “I’ve led them to us. We don’t have much time,” Evelyn said.

  “What are you talking about? Will, come to me.”

  “Come on over, Will,” Lucas said.

  “I’m fine, she’s not going to hurt me,” he answered.

  Poly couldn’t close her mouth from her astonishment. Will was a special just like Evelyn. In a way, she felt a great weight lifted, and in another way, she felt the burden of caring for a special child being passed on to Lucas and Julie. They even kept a woman’s baby as a decoy? What the hell?

  “Evelyn, what are you talking about? Who did you lead here?” Julie looked around, stopping at each suspicious looking person and moving on.

  “You know who. They tried to take me and you all saved me, I’ll forever be grateful, but as long as they are out there, they will eventually find us. If I’m not around at that precise moment, no one will stand a chance. So, I visited their planet and learned a great deal about who these people are and what they want. They don’t see us as anything more than a crop that needs harvesting. They are collecting our quintessence, as they call it, and they should be here soon.”

  “You’re talking about the purge people, aren’t you?” Julie blurted out.

&nbs
p; “Yes.”

  “You led them to us? Are you crazy?”

  “Quite the opposite.”

  “I’M SORRY, BUT WE DON’T have this kind of equipment.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to make it then.” Gladius crossed her arms and glared at the man holding her request and wearing a hard hat.

  He glanced at the paper again and then back to her. “It’s not going to be cheap. And you really should be wearing a hard hat, miss.”

  Gladius stepped forward, disregarding the idea of wearing a stupid plastic hat on her finely done hair. “Name your price.”

  “She really wants these made,” Hank said.

  The man rubbed the stubble on his chin and looked back at the factory behind him. Before the Cough had nearly destroyed Earth, they’d made bread there, and a few other bakery items.

  “Think of the jobs,” Gladius said.

  “Miss, there is nothing I’d like more than to take your money and give a go at this, but these cooking methods are new to me. I’m not even sure what some of this even does. Who made these plans for you again?”

  Gladius took deep breath and thought of the factory meeting she had in Vanar with the Snackie Cakes corporation. She’d signed an agreement stating they would never make a Snackie Cake on Vanar. But they weren’t on Vanar, and she had every intention of making her damned treat if it killed her. This was the one and only thing she remembered sharing with her mom.

  “I had them made,” Gladius said. “So, are we in agreement?”

  He stared at the plans, turning them sideways.

  “Hello?” Gladius said.

  “Yes, I can do this. But it’s going—”

  “I don’t ever want to hear a ‘but’ from you again. All I want to hear is ‘yes I can.’”

  “Yes . . . yes, I can.”

  “Good. You have three months to do it.”

  “But that’s—”

  “No buts. I don’t care if you have to bring in a city of people, employ everyone!” She pulled out her Panavice and completed the awaiting task on the screen. “I just sent the first ten million to your company’s account.”

  The man shuffled his feet and looked back at the factory. “We’ll get it done.”