“What plan is this?” October asks.
“Towley won’t kill me,” I say for the millionth time, desperately not wanting to go into this now.
Cooper scoffs. “She plans to hand herself over to Towley to get some computer chip near his Technokins.”
The three of them look to me in shock.
“I was there, remember? I saw exactly what he did to you.” Cooper lifts my t-shirt at the back, and I swot his hands away. “You will always have a reminder of what he is capable of. Don’t give me that bullshit about him not killing you. You said yourself that the man is sick. What happens if he has found a new play thing and Theyda Leason is out of fashion?”
“He. Won’t. Kill. Me.”
October stands beside Cooper, subliminally admitting that she sides with him. “What you say and what you feel are two different things. You are terrified, Teds. The thought of handing yourself over to that man suffocates you with fear.”
“Of course, it does, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t do it… for all of you. Anyway, I’m not discussing this anymore.”
Cooper’s face turns a shade of beetroot, and he’s about to unleash a tirade of arguments upon me, but Seth places a firm hand on his chest.
“Teds, g-go and find Adam,” he says, warning me to leave.
Thankful for the opportunity to get away from Cooper’s temper, I don’t hang around to be asked twice. Yana excuses herself to accompany me. She has been surprisingly quiet about her opinions on everything of late.
“Please, don’t tell me what a stupid idea this plan is. You’re smarter than that. At least tell me that it is risky, that I can appreciate.”
Yana slows, taking my hand. “I trust you, and I believe that you would only do this if it was a viable option. I know you’re not looking to be a martyr. Just think about it rationally. Can you put this on hold until after the raids? If the raids are a success, can we find another way? If there are other options, Teds, then we must do them first. We will know when Plan B becomes Plan A, and when it does, you will have my full support.”
I throw my arms around her. “That’s all I needed to hear. Thank you.”
“That’s what best friends are for. Besides, I reckon something is going to snap soon and we won’t get a say in what happens either way.”
“I reckon you’re right, but for now, we prepare for the raids.”
Adam is sat on the hospital bed in the med lab whilst Jonah dresses his hand. He hangs his head sheepishly when I enter. Jonah finishes dressing the wound and gives us some privacy.
“I should never have shouted at you like that,” Adam says, moving his hand across the bed and linking his baby finger with mine. “I’m sorry.”
Resting my head on his shoulder, I turn his bandaged hand over in my own. “You’ve caused some ructions with the E.N.C.” He scrunches his brow in confusion. “You pretty much forfeited the whole objective - their freedom - in favour of saving me. They didn’t like that much.”
He shrugs. “I don’t care what they think, only what you think.”
“I think that you love me very much and I’m lucky to have you in my corner.”
He sighs. “But?”
“But, this is bigger than me, and ultimately, it is my decision.” Adam shakes his head in exasperation. “However, I think we should move forward with the raids.”
“Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid. If you’re planning something with Fernan…”
“I’m not planning anything with Fernan. I’m preparing for the raids with you.”
He pulls me toward him, placing a firm kiss on my forehead. “And if we fail?”
“We better not fail.”
His shoulders slump, but he manages a meek smile. “I still could do with beating the crap out of a wall.”
“Come with me,” I say, dragging him from the tent.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The thin sliver of moon offers little in the way of light, but enough to make sure we don’t break an ankle or a neck. The shadows of the trees twist and coil around us, isolating us from the civilisation of camp. It’s not scary out here. The others say this place gives them the creeps at night. I like the freedom. I haven’t had much of it growing up.
“How do you know where you are going?” Adam asks, scaling a fallen trunk.
“I stumbled across this place when I was suffering one of Rafe’s perimeter runs. We had a falling out, so I went off grid out of spite.” Stopping, I look back over my shoulder at him. “I was stressed, angry, and in pain. I kind of wanted to hit something too.”
Adam gives me a knowing smile. “Is there something for me to hit? Please, tell me there is something for me to hit.”
Walking for another five minutes, we approach the rocky landscape that overlooks the small gulley. The river glistens, the trees sway, and Adam’s gasp of awe sends shivers down my spine.
“So, what did you do when you made it here?”
“I screamed.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” I tell him. “Go on, shout at the world. It feels really good.”
He rubs a hand over the back of his neck, adorable, nervous laughter giving him away. “You’re being serious?”
Stepping closer to the edge, I hold out my arms like a bird in flight and scream at the top of my lungs. When I finish, Adam is wide eyed in disbelief. “Your turn,” I coax. “It’ll make you feel better.”
He’s caving. Moving to my side, he takes a deep breath and screams into the night. His baritone wail vibrates in my belly. I scream again, grabbing his hand as we both stand there yelling at nothing.
Rain follows our screams as we fall about in hysterics.
“See, you feel better, right?”
He pulls me close and places hot kisses against my lips. “I do, but I’m sure it has more to do with you than the screaming. I don’t want to go back, yet. Lie with me.”
We both lie down on the cool rocks, looking up to the storm clouds passing over head. Neither of us pay much heed to the fat raindrops that soak us through. As we lie, hands linked, staring at the sky, we allow each other’s auras to fill us up. It is such a weird, yet euphoric sensation. It’s like you’re not fully in control of your own mind. Subconsciously, you are letting someone in because you trust them with every fibre in your body.
Thunder rumbles overhead, followed by a flash of lightning.
“My favourite weather,” he whispers, letting go of my hand. Raising his good hand, he shoots a blast of electricity from his palm. Lightning zigzags from the clouds, connecting with Adam’s electrokinesis and sparking the air in brilliant white. Breaking the connection, he turns his head toward me. “Your turn. It’ll make you feel better,” he says, reciting my words.
Not one to turn down a challenge, I inhale deeply, wipe the rain from my eyes, and hold my own hand up to the sky. Fear niggles at the back of my mind, but if Adam can do it, I can do it. Blasting only a little electricity from my palm, I await the lightning to connect. A few moments pass, and a loud, crack of thunder shakes the air around us. Lightening connects with that coming from my hand, and a buzz like no other races through every nerve in my body.
“Break it as if you are pushing it away,” Adam tells me.
The lightning jumps away from me as if I have scolded it. “Piece of cake.” I waggle my eyebrows at him. “Do you reckon this place is secluded enough to practise our joint ability?”
Adam shrugs. “I can’t see why not.”
As soon as our hands touch, the tendrils of electricity reach into the clouds. The power is enough to make me feel faint. Hundreds and thousands of mini sparks and explosions light up the bruised sky. A lightning bolt worthy of Thor connects with our tendrils, and my skin pings as small electric shocks rattle through me. Every hair on my body stands on end, and even my teeth zing in my mouth.
“Push it awa
y!” Adam yells, his fingernails gripping into my hand as the same force overwhelms him.
We shove the lightning back with primal roars and get flung across the rocks from the force. A good few volts race through me. Adam is thrown in the opposite direction, stopping just shy of the ledge. Both of us scramble onto all fours as deafening thunder reprimands us for messing with the storm. Adam’s body is steaming and small bursts of blue electricity run over his skin before fizzling out.
My small amount of hair has stuck out on end, and I, too, steam like a hot rock in ice water.
“Shit!” Adam says. “You look how I feel. Your hair!” He can’t control his laughter. I haven’t heard that laugh in the longest time. I’ve missed it. “Where’s Marty McFly? Have you parked the DeLorean out back, Doc?”
“Shut it, you.” Running my hands over my hair does little to tame my crazy, new do.
“What in shitting hell was that?” Rafe yells, running toward us at speed.
Crow is next to arrive. “What happened to your hair?” He can’t disguise his smirk.
“Electrokinesis malfunction,” Adam admits, composing himself before facing Rafe.
Rafe tilts his head back with a sigh. “You were playing with the lightning.” I await a full force scolding from him. His stern glare falls on me, and then he falters into a gasping, laughing wreck. “You look like Bowie from his early years. Go on, give us a rendition of Space Oddity.”
Adam and Crow join in with the teasing, singing along with Rafe.
“I needed a laugh after that fiasco,” Rafe says.
“You guys are jerks.” I punch Crow’s arm and give him an involuntary electric shock.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The camps are a lot quieter than they were. They’re not as motivated as I would like, but at least they’re not baying for blood. People smile at me sheepishly, or turn away completely. I can deal with that, because the truth hurts and so what? Grow up. Adam is only twenty-three. Fernan is twenty-five. No one asked them to grow up, they just had to.
Adam takes people in groups to discuss the raids tomorrow. Two teams have been assembled to take each centre. Rafe and Fernan are to head one team, and Adam and Crow the other. A logistics team is to remain behind at the checkpoint to help Lorrell. The entire operation requires timing and discretion. Two separate transports need to move into location without giving themselves away and work in unison with each other to raid both centres before Towley can counteract.
I’m on Adam’s team as per his deal with Fernan and Rafe. We’re taking what is known as detention centre two. Members from each organisation have been split across the board to disperse skill sets evenly, and more importantly, to get everyone working as one body. There is no TORO, Shift, or E.N.C, just EVO. Each team has medics, Techs, Illusionists, and Cloakers working behind the scenes.
Cooper, Wheeler, Emiko, Yana, Kid, and Coco are on my team with Adam and Crow. Bo, Vin, Cal, Anders, Brick, Rio, Jude, and Leoni are on the second team. October and Seth are part of the personnel who will await the detainees at the checkpoint.
Our whole team has been training together to get a feel for how each other works, who has the strongest abilities, the best weaponry skills, the best manual combat skills. It has also encouraged us to get to know some of the members from the other organisations.
Adam plans every last detail down to the dot, but as with everything we do, there is only so far our skills and abilities can take us. We’re dependant on a little bit of luck. Everything has to follow a smooth, uninterrupted time scale to ensure all detainees from both centres are extracted at the same time and within the eleven-minute time scale.
Adam hands me my wig, a bunch of Lorrell’s stickers, and my gun. “Remember, you don’t reveal yourself to any guards until we have secured the detainees and the supplies. A quick glimpse of your face, use your telekinesis, and then they’ll be tranqed.”
“Who’s tranqing them?” I ask, expecting him to claim that privilege. Adam’s buddy system is to be announced at the final meeting in ten minutes.
“Cooper’s partnering you.” He doesn’t miss the surprise on my face. “You thought I’d have buddied myself up with you? No, we need to split the skill set. We’re short on strong telekins, so its best we separate.” He nods toward Darcy snoring on the bottom of the bed. “Have you asked Shana to watch him?”
Shana is one of the few to remain at The Hive along with some Illusionists and Technokins. Yet again, Darcy will have to stay behind with her. Somehow, he knows I’m leaving him because he sulks and won’t look at me. He’s safer here, and Shana likes the security of having him around.
“Yeah, she’s happy to have the company, but he sure knows how to make me feel guilty.”
“He’s just worried about you. I know how he feels. Just stick to the plan, remember your training, and if things go south, get the hell out.”
“Yes, Chief,” I reply.
His lip quirks up in the corner. “I like that.”
***
Wig, check. Gun and ammo, check. A Cooper who won’t stop fidgeting, check.
The convoy rolls to a stop at the check point. The journey was pretty straight forward aside from the one military blockade we encountered. The Illusionists and Cloakers had to pull out all the stops to disguise the fact that a train of vehicles had to drive over an embankment and through a field to make it passed. The other vehicles on the road were stopped, and no doubt, the drivers had their Non-EVO registration documents checked.
Ethan’s latest information about an abandoned commune just forty miles from the detention centres was spot on. Apparently, an illegal, religious cult started a settlement here back in the seventies. Once disbanded, the secluded place was left to rot. The houses are more wooden structures than homes. Rafe and Fernan are already making use of the barn like structures, setting up triages and places for people to sleep. Their convoy set off a good four hours before ours.
As was suggested after the first raid, we won’t be taking any detainees back with us. The check point has to act as a recoup point to provide a brief spell of shelter and a chance for people to decide on their next move. Hopefully, if Ethan’s right about the supplies, we can offer them a little food too.
I stretch out after the long journey and take in a lungful of the fresh night air. The chill is better than being cooped up in the truck, breathing in hot, stale air. Adam warns us not to stray far from the trucks because we’re heading out within the hour. I don’t feel scared. Nauseous, yes. Scared, no. There’s no point in fearing something that is going to happen either way. Keeping my thoughts on the innocent is all I can do to focus my mind on the task ahead.
Lorrell waves at me from her tech station. Adam consults privately with both her and Kesh and tests his VIDI screen. Kesh covers over Adam’s TORO number with a black marker. If I’m the most famous EVO in Britain, Adam is definitely the most famous EVO-TORO.
Fernan bangs her cane on the side of a truck. “Mine and Rafe’s team is heading out in ten minutes. Adam’s and Crow’s team will be leaving just after. We should - all being well - arrive at our destinations within a two-minute window of each other. Some things to bear in mind: First and foremost, we look after ourselves. It may sound heartless, but what good will it do for the mission if all our trained soldiers die martyrs. Secondly, stick to the plan, it’s in place to get us all out alive, even if that means sacrificing the mission. Lastly, listen to your leaders. We’re the ones with communication with Lorrell and Kesh. If we say get your asses out, get your asses out. Speaking of leaders, do not call us Boss, Chief, or Guv directly. Through the radios is fine, but we’d prefer not to be singled out as targets.”
Adam nods in agreement. “And Teddie is Cub. On a final note, if anyone surrenders to you, restrain them, or if possible, tranq them. Only resistance is met with resistance. We don’t kill those who are not a threat.”
Fernan sucks her teeth in distaste, but keeps her mouth shut.
Rafe waves his hand. �
��Get ready to move out.”
There are no goodbyes, no good lucks, no watch your backs, just knowing looks pass between us all. I may not voice it, but I pray to whoever or whatever is on our side that everyone comes back in one piece. From the wild look in the other’s eyes, I reckon they’re doing exactly the same thing.
Cooper nudges my shoulder. “Let’s get this over with.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The centre is lit up like a football pitch. Flood lights surround the perimeter, and vehicles and people move about like ants inside. The front gates are heavily guarded and reinforced with solid metal and those damn Sprayers. Guard posts are stationed at regular intervals around the perimeter fencing, and two air craft hangars sit in the epi-centre. The government sure like their air craft hangars for housing detainees. I suppose they’re spacious, sheltered, and quick to erect.
“That’s a lot of personnel, and even more weapons,” Cooper whispers.
Adam is statue still as he watches the activity within the centre. I wish I could see under the VIDI screen. In the dark, the only things reflected in that visor are the lights and the moon.
“Those fences are at least fifteen feet high,” someone says.
“Then, it’s a good job that we’re going straight through them,” Kid replies. He shakes his lank hair out of his eyes, and turns his attention back to his gun.
Adam holds his hand up to silence us. “In sixty seconds, we take the vehicles closer.”
Crow nods in agreement. “You heard the man,” he snaps.
We all race back to our trucks, and Cooper practically chucks me inside.
I’m not sure if sixty seconds pass or sixty minutes. The wait is agonising.
The trucks start rolling.
My heart thuds so hard that I can feel it in my fingertips. Cooper takes the synth mask out of my pocket and slides it over my head to my nose. “Just think, in less than fifteen minutes we’ll be able to eat,” he jokes. “I haven’t had a decent crap in weeks.”
EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set Page 78
