EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set

by K. J. Chapman

  Cooper chews his lip, his fist clenching and unclenching in anger.

  “You are welcome to stay here, but I suggest you go soon. It’s unwise to stay for long,” says Silvain. “Those men will be back.”

  His cigar smoke wafts over me and catches in my throat. Emiko wrinkles her nose, but neither of us is willing to move from the warmth of Wheeler.

  “I agree,” says Jude. “But I plan on getting drunk tonight, so if any of you have any bright ideas, do me a favour and keep them until tomorrow.”

  “I g-gave her th-the gun,” Seth blurts. “A-a-and showed her how to u-u-use the phone. I didn’t think s-she’d—”

  “You did what?” Jude snaps.

  Seth cowers away, backing into Cooper who shoves him back into the room. Jude steps up to him.

  “I-I’m s-s-sorry. I d-didn’t k-k-now w-w-what—”

  “You stupid, little shit,” says Jude, lunging for Seth’s wet shirt.

  Cooper beats him to it, hitting Seth square in the jaw. “So, it’s your fault we’re in this bloody mess.” He hits him again, sending Seth sprawling on the floor.

  Adam rushes to help Fabian restrain Cooper. Seth spits blood onto the tiles and groans in pain. Cooper grabs him by the scruff, dragging him to his feet. I hold out my hand, cocooning Cooper in my telekinesis. There is no need for a violent outburst; my telekinesis is the only thing I have control over. I squeeze, and Cooper’s body goes rigid. He rises off his feet, only by a couple of inches, but it’s enough to scare him. I squeeze a little tighter still.

  “Are you done?” I ask Cooper, stepping in front of Seth. I study Seth’s bloodied face. “I told you not to say anything.”

  Maggie stares at the wall. Her indifference makes my temper flare. She has lost her damn marbles. I haven’t a clue what the hell we’re going to do with her.

  “Are you happy? At least we have no doubt that you premeditated everything,” I say to her.

  “You knew this?” Jude asks me. His voice raises an octave.

  “Yes, so you better get over yourselves. Touch him again, and I won’t be so forgiving.” I let Cooper body slam the ground, and then bustle Seth into what appears to be a laundry room, closing the door behind me. Jude’s face is a satisfying mix of shock and disbelief.

  “Why did you do that, Seth? Jesus, talk about setting yourself on fire.”

  He holds his hands out in defeat. “I-I-I can’t d-d-deal—”

  I place my fingers on his temples, and he smiles meekly. “I can’t deal with secrets, Teds. It’s easier if it’s all out on the table, even if that means I’m enemy number one.”

  “Just keep quiet from now on and let me deal with it, okay?”

  “You don’t have to look after me, you know. I know what everyone thinks of me. Yeah, I have a stutter, but it doesn’t mean I’m weak. Seriously, I can take a punch from Dom Cooper.”

  “Golding would want us to look after each other. What I do for you, I want you to return the favour when I need it. Don’t think of it as me molly-coddling you, but me having your back, for you to have mine in return.”

  “What are you two mind-talking about?” says Jude from behind. He’s quickly followed by a concerned Adam and Wheeler.

  I position myself between Jude and Seth. “You can bugger off if you’ve come here to tear into him. Maggie worked him.”

  Jude scrunches his nose. “Yeah, I realise. No hard feelings, eh?” he says, holding out a hand to Seth. Seth shakes it warily. That’s the best apology he’ll get from Jude. “Fabian has taken Maggie to a spare room before Yana loses her shit. That girl really is growing on me. You should have told me everything, Princess.”

  “Seth told me the truth at the beach. What more does anyone need to know? Maggie knew what she was doing, and I thought it was best to keep it quiet, at least from you, Cooper, and Fabian. I knew you’d react like you did. Then, Seth decided to open his big mouth. I mean- you know what he is like- we just can’t shut him up,” I say, a smile creeping into my eyes.

  Adam grins and slaps Seth on the back. “This guy and his verbal diarrhoea.”

  Seth laughs through a swollen lip.

  “But it’s out now, and you can put up and shut up,” I say to Jude, repeating his own phrase back at him.

  He stares at me, grinning. “God, you are just like my Dad- your Grandfather. He wouldn’t take any shit from me either.”

  “I think I would have liked him,” I state, raising an eyebrow at Jude. I can’t stop a smile gracing my lips.

  “She is good for you, Jude,” Silvain says from the kitchen.

  Jude smiles and leans back against the dryers. “She’s a pain in my ass is what she is.”

  “I deserved a-a-a punch,” says Seth.

  “Damn right, you did,” says Jude.

  “I’m sorry. I’m j-j-just feeling over-w-whelmed by it all, and I get f-f-frustrated when I can’t s-say what I w-w-want to say.”

  I squeeze his shoulder and lead him back into the kitchen. “If you need to get something off your chest just come to me, okay? I need to talk about Golding too.”

  Seth quickly looks to his feet. “What h-h-happened on the roof, Teds? How did he... d-die? I need to know. W-w-was it peaceful?”

  “It was... shit. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it was. He was so scared, so scared, but he was as brave as hell.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Adam whispers.

  “It’s okay.” I know that now is the time to share. They have a right- a need- to know why I killed Isaac. Tess and Golding’s story should be told. “Isaac and Yvette had synced a sedation collar with Tess’ life support. If her heart rate stopped, then the collar would inject Golding with some kind of lethal injection formula. They wanted Tess to use my body as a vessel or they’d stop her life support and Golding would die.”

  Yana buries her face in her hands, but I have to continue.

  “Golding was amazing. He influenced Yvette to remove the collar and it worked, but in the end, Tess couldn’t bring herself to kill Isaac. She let her guard down, and he took advantage of it. I remember a blow from behind, and somehow, he got the collar back onto Golding and switched off Tess’ life support. It was easy for him to flick that switch- he did it smiling. It was just seconds later that Golding... that he... He was so scared, and there was nothing I could do. I just held him as he...” Adam squeezes my hand, giving me some stability. “Golding told me to finish it. Then, Isaac threatened everyone and tried to drown Adam—”

  “You did finish it,” Seth states without a single stammer.

  “No, I finished Isaac, but what good did it do? It didn’t bring them back. Golding, Haydn, and Tess are still dead, and now there is a bunch of EVO rioting with no one to control them. Whatever Isaac was, he was clever. He’d have a plan.” Seth goes to protest, but I look to Adam. “You know it’s true.”

  “Maybe, but if you didn’t kill him, god knows who else would have died at his hands that night. There is no way of telling if Isaac could have controlled the mess he caused.”

  “You think Isaac was a one off?” Cooper pipes up. “The EVO Nation Corp is worldwide. We already know Gabe Kersey played the Big-I-am, but was a front man for Isaac. Isaac must have had other front men, or at least set up other E.N.C associations in other countries. Isaac deserved to die, but killing him has just cleared the path for another Isaac down the line. There will always be Isaac Woodmans, Teddie. You watch this space. Another dickhead will declare himself EVO almighty soon enough.”

  ‘Funny you should say that,” Jude says, grabbing Silvain’s laptop. “There is a guy, Grayson James, he took over my job as EVO recruitment when Gabe made me his right hand man. He’s a Cryokin. I think it’s some kind of temperature manipulation.”

  “A Cryo can freeze things,” Wheeler adds. Temperature is his forte, after all.

  Jude shrugs his indifference. “Anyway, Grayson fell off the radar about eighteen months ago, but now, he has magically popped back up. He’s head
of a new association who call themselves Syndicate. I received a letter from them six months back, but I just laughed it off and thought it was a bunch of amateurs trying to start up their own version of the E.N.C. They requested I join.” Jude pops a USB stick into the port and opens a video file.

  “Why did you not mention this?” asks Fabian.

  “Like I said, I thought it was a joke. Grayson never struck me as leadership material. Plus, by the time I started the meetings with you lot, I had pretty much forgotten all about it.”

  The video starts. A man in a denim jacket sits at computer desk, leaning on his folded arms. His hair is shaggy and blonde; I think it needs cutting and has not intentionally been left to get quite so long. His dirty-blue eyes are shrouded in crowfeet, and his nose has a small bulbous end. I wouldn’t place him much more than forty years old.

  “Hello Jude, it’s been a while. I’m hoping, with the change in climate, that you’d reconsider our offer. I know what you have to lose, and we agree that she is very important.”

  Jude fidgets, but refuses to look at me. Grayson holds up a picture of Jude and me holding hands outside of the secret meeting place. He had just kind of apologised for dropping the ‘Uncle’ bombshell on me.

  “Who took that photo? I thought we were alone,” I say. A creepy, unsettled feeling spreads over my skin. Someone was watching us.

  “Just listen,” snaps Jude.

  Grayson continues. “I’ve been monitoring you for a while, Jude. We could use someone like you in Syndicate. You can pretend all you want, but you and I want the same things. We have waited our whole lives for liberation, the chance to live openly, but this fiasco was NOT our dream. I know that even Jude Lloyd cannot stomach the killing of innocent EVO and Non-EVO, or seeing children snatched from their mother’s arms. I know what they did to your family- your sister and brother in law, your father, to Tess Kersey. Syndicate have no affiliation with the government, we have no affiliation with Isaac Woodman and the E.N.C. We only want a just world. Right now, we can provide safety for those who want the same.” Grayson leans away from the camera, his chair straining behind him. “I won’t beg you, Jude. We could use you, but we don’t need you. However, we have vital information that affects the one person you have left in this world, and like I said, she is very important. You can contact me via the number on the envelope.”

  “Aw, ain’t that cute,” laughs Cooper. “Is he high? He’s playing you. Number one, he knows you’ll protect her.” He jabs a finger in my direction. “Number two, he sounds like a pussy.”

  “And number three, someone posted that envelope through my letterbox five minutes ago,” Silvain says. “They got through my security systems.”

  “They were here?” Adam asks Jude, jumping from the counter. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?” He makes a move for the door with Wheeler, Cooper, and Fabian on his heels.

  “He’s not dangerous,” Jude calls after them. “The man wears a denim jacket for Christ’s sake.”

  I have to admit he has a good point. Grayson doesn’t seem like a bad guy, not that I’m sure what constitutes as a ‘bad guy’ these days. The lines are blurred and frayed around the edges.

  “What do you think, Princess? Do we contact Grayson? He says he doesn’t need me, but I reckon he needs you pretty bad. We need to know why he’s interested in you and what information he has.”

  Adam marches back into the room, his jaw sets hard, and his eye blaze. “The E.N.C needed her,” he spits. “I won’t put her in that situation again.”

  “It’s not your call,” says Jude. His voice is quiet, but his words clearly sting. “The truth of the matter is that for the moment, I’m skint. All I have is tied up in assets- assets that I can’t get my hands on. How far can we run on nothing? Syndicate might have just thrown us a lifeline, and if they have information on Teddie, I want to hear it.”

  Wheeler sighs wearily. “What are their motives? What is their game plan? I think we’ve all got trust issues now, and I’m with Adam on this one. When people need something from you, it usually ends in you being shorthanded.”

  “Okay, so what’s the alternative?” Jude has an edge to his words, and Wheeler bites his lip to stop himself retaliating. “We need them as much as they need us. Swings and roundabouts.”

  “I thought you weren’t the plan man,” snipes Cooper.

  “If you got a better idea, Cooper, let’s have it? The only opinion I value is hers,” he says, nodding toward me.

  October manoeuvres herself between Jude and I. “I want to talk to Teddie... alone.” She leads me out of the kitchen and into the gardens. I’m grateful for the respite. “Wow, it’s suffocating in there. I needed to get you out to find out what you feel?”

  “I think—”

  “No thinking. I asked you what you feel. Ignore Jude, Adam, everyone. How do you feel about it? Adam is worried, Jude is lost, Cooper is angry, but when isn’t he angry? It’s a hurricane of emotions in that room and I know from experience that those emotions seep into us and alter our mind-set. I wanted you to have this breather to make your own mind up. After all, Syndicate has asked for you, not us.”

  I close my eyes and breathe in the salty sea air. It’s crisp after the storm and awakens my senses a little. I do feel better now I’m out of the house. “I feel like we have no other way to turn, and they at least sound like okay people. I can’t be sure until I meet that Grayson guy face to face. I need to read them to know their intentions. What do you feel?”

  “I want to do some good. I feel that Syndicate want to do some good. I can’t base my feelings on my ability because I can’t empathise until I meet them, but hey, it’s worth a shot.”

  “I trust your opinion, you know that, right?” I say to her.

  She runs her hand over the shaved part of her head and offers me a crooked smile. “Yeah, ditto,” she says. She looks pale and exhausted.

  “I’m sorry about your Dad. How are you doing?” I don’t hug her. October seems uneasy with affection. I assume she’d class it as weakness.

  “Dad died fighting for what he believed in, and I guess I’m okay with that. It was about so much more than Tess. Tess was a lovely woman. I remember her from when I was a kid, and Dad thought highly of her, but it was about so much more. The E.N.C was- is a scary thing to be a part of. It wasn’t meant to be about the supremacist hypocrisy that it became. Dad would talk about equality- no fear- living with our abilities publicly. ‘Imagine the good you could do with your blessing if only we were free to be ourselves,’ he’d say. That was why he signed up. After that, people signed up from fear of the government, and then from fear of Gabe.”

  I met October’s Dad once and I knew he didn’t like me from the get go. I think he thought I was dangerous, and perhaps he was spot on. He was an intimidating man, but a good man with a level head on his shoulders.

  October sits on the low wall, picking at a scab on her finger. “I grew up amongst all that hate, but I never agreed with it. Isaac screwed up in a monumental fashion because people don’t react well to fear. They will fight it every step of the way. The only way there can be any kind of normality again is to show the Non-EVO that we’re not all a threat. That we’re happy to stand at their side.” She straightens herself out, putting her hard face back on; her hard face that has never fooled me.

  “Do you think your Dad will ever get his wish? Will we ever have equality? I don’t want to be afraid anymore, but it seems a long shot to me.”

  She rests a hand on my shoulder, her face flinching as she does so. “I reckon this moment, right here, right now, is the defining factor. I can sense the shift- the shift in you.”

  “No pressure, then?” I say, half laughing.

  She winks at me and heads back inside.

  Adam has positioned himself between Jude and Cooper. Jude looks ready to explode with rage, and Fabian shouts at Cooper to ‘let it go.’

  October rolls her eyes at me. “Testosterone,” she says under her breath
.

  “Both of you wind your necks in,” Adam warns. He can be scarily authoritative when the situation calls for it. “Jude, mate, have a word with yourself. Are you really letting him work you like this?” He restrains Jude with a firm hand to his chest.

  Jude spots me and shoves Adam away. “Are you two done with your little powwow?” He snaps. The fight seems to be over in an instant.

  I look to Adam. I want him to know my decision first. “We have to do this,” I say, privately.

  He looks taken aback, but he nods. “Okay, then we do this.”

  “Well?” Jude asks, still raging with anger.

  “Give me the number.” I take Silvain’s mobile from the counter and type in the number before I lose my nerve.

  Adam and Jude linger just inches from me, and I take Adam’s hand as the dial tone is replaced with a ringing. He traces comforting circles on my palm with his thumb.

  “Jude, I was hoping you’d call,” says a soft spoken, male voice.

  “Not Jude,” I say, turning on speaker phone.

  There is a moment of silence. “Am I talking to Theyda?”

  “We’ll meet with you, but we’re not making any promises. And remember, if you try anything, we have high grade EVO ready and waiting.”

  “Expect us first thing tomorrow. You won’t regret this, Theyda.”

  “I’ll judge that for myself,” I say, and then dial off.

  The room is quiet as I hand Silvain his phone.

  “You should have let me do the talking,” Jude says, breaking the tension.

  “No, this is about me. I don’t know this guy or what he and his people know about me, or want from me, but I’m not letting him think I’m hiding behind anyone.”

  “So, you don’t trust him?” Yana asks. Her cheeks appear drawn in and she chews on her nails.

  “We have no other option, and he talks a good talk, but as for trusting him- nope. I won’t make that mistake again. If they’re coacher, I think it’s our best move. I need to meet Grayson, so I can read him.”

  “And what if you read him and don’t like what you see?” asks Wheeler.