EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set

by K. J. Chapman

  Only Adam, Rafe, Cooper, Rio, and Cal are taking me to the drop off point. Adam casually leans on the truck, but his leg shakes with nerves. When Yana and Leoni hug and kiss me, it’s too much for him. He climbs into the truck and out of sight.

  Leoni pretends not to notice and offers me words of encouragement instead. “Keep your head in the game. This is not like last time. Everyone here will fight for you.”

  I take a deep, reassuring breath.

  “Play him at his own game,” Yana adds. “Crow told me to tell you that this is your time, so use it wisely.”

  “Is it true that he made Lorrell set him up a direct link to her with a laptop and headset?”

  “You didn’t expect him to be left out, did you?” Yana replies.

  The gang say their goodbyes, conscious of how they word them. ‘See you later.’ ‘See you on the other side.’

  All except Bo. “You really do have a death wish, Leason. Just try to keep your skinny ass alive until we can bust you out.”

  Fernan sticks her cane into the mud and gives me a two-armed hug. “You do this, and you’re forever my hero,” she says with a wink. “Show him for the fool he is.”

  Finally, it is Jude and Shana’s turn. Neither know what to say. Jude hugs me and scruffs my hair. “This feels a lot like last time,” he admits, his voice cracking a little.

  “And last time I survived,” I say, taking his hand. “I’ve got Lloyd blood in me. We’re made of tough stuff.”

  He sighs as he holds me against his chest. “They broke the mould with you, Princess.”

  He steps aside and allows Shana to take my hands in her shaking ones. Tears stream down her face and her nose glows red from where she has been blowing it.

  “Just come back safe, do you hear me? There’s so much I don’t want to miss out on now. We’ve only just started getting to know each other again. Promise me that I get to watch you grow, get married, have children… be a better mother than I ever was.”

  “I can’t promise that, but there is something I wanted to say to you before I left. I’m glad I’ve got you back. Thank you for trying.”

  “Now, it’s you who sounds like you’re saying goodbye,” she sniffs. “Go on with you. I’ll look after Darcy, so you don’t have to worry about him.” She hugs me one last time, kisses my cheek, and beckons Darcy away.

  Darcy won’t budge. He jumps up on me, paws on my chest, whining and crying.

  “It’s okay, Boy. I’ll be back soon.” I ruffle his fur and push him down.

  He whines louder, but I walk toward the truck to help him understand what is happening. He jumps up at me, pulling at the back of my jumper in his teeth.

  “No, Darcy. Down! I’ll be back soon, okay?”

  He weaves between my legs, almost tripping me. “Please, don’t make this difficult,” I say, biting back a sob. “Darcy, go to Shana. I’m going to be fine.”

  I push him back and walk on. I know everyone watches this heart-breaking display, and I’m trying to keep myself together.

  He’s still at my side as I climb into the truck. Adam has to push him back.

  “I know how you feel, Buddy,” Adam tells him, shoving him back down and closing the door.

  “He can sense your emotions, Kiddo. This brave front of yours isn’t fooling him,” Rafe says, buckling his belt.

  I don’t reply. I don’t look at those waving and clapping outside the van. I don’t look at Darcy barking wildly as we pull away. I stare out of the windscreen in the only direction I can go from here- forward.

  ***

  We’re getting close to the drop off point. I know because Adam shifts anxiously in the driver’s seat and drums his fingers on the steering wheel. Occasionally, he’ll glance in my direction and find that I’m already watching him. He smiles, but nothing can disguise that worry in his eyes.

  Rafe squeezes my shoulder, letting me know that the time has come.

  Adam stops the truck under some low hung trees. Cal stops the second truck behind us. For a moment, we all sit stock still. Only Rio jumps out of the truck and paces, relieved to have a break from using his ability to shield us all.

  “This is it,” Adam says, turning to me. “Are you sure about this? Any second thoughts and we can turn back, go back to the drawing board.”

  Rafe waits patiently for my reply.

  “Pass me the bullet-proof vest and let’s do this.” I open the door and jump out into the wet mulch. I slip the vest and wig on before I change my mind. “Keys,” I state, holding out my hand to Adam.

  He begrudgingly hands them over. “No goodbyes,” he says. “Link with me when you can. Let me know anything of importance, and play his trophy for as long as it takes for us to get you out.” Wrapping his arms around me, he kisses me passionately despite the audience.

  “Quite right,” Rafe agrees, touching my cheek with the back of his fingers. “No goodbyes. She needs her head on the mission, as do we. Good luck, Kiddo. Come on, you lot, the mission starts now.” Rafe ushers Cooper, Cal, and Rio away. Cooper fights Rafe’s hold on his arm to blow me a kiss over his shoulder. “You too, Adam,” Rafe calls back.

  Adam clenches his fists and looks set to scoop me up and run away with me.

  “Go,” I say, softly. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you can get me out.” His eyes scrunch closed as if he is in physical pain. “I’ve got this.”

  He splays his fingers over my heart. He doesn’t have to say the words, I already know how he feels.

  I return the gesture and kiss him gently. “Me too.” Giving him a push toward the other truck, I jump into the driver’s seat, pull on my synth mask, and start the engine. “I feel the need, the need for speed,” I shout out of the window, my voice distorted by the mask, and I press my foot to the accelerator.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  My confidence quickly wanes after fifteen minutes of driving alone in the dark. I’m conscious of every move my feet make as I change gear, and the feel of the wheel running smoothly through my hands. My brain is having a war with itself. Why am I driving into danger? My heart has to keep reminding it exactly why.

  The B roads are quiet. I don’t pass another vehicle, and as I follow the directions drilled into my head by Fernan, I head off the road and onto a single lane track, shrouded in vegetation.

  I’m close, extremely close.

  Military training signs dot the hedgerow; similar signs to those I saw on my first trip to a detention centre. Signs to discourage unwanted visitors and to hide the truth of what lies ahead.

  I’m here.

  Lights cast a halo into the night sky, and the lane opens into a courtyard of sorts. Judging by the intimidating welcome of numerous soldiers pointing raised weapons in my direction, my arrival has taken them by surprise. A shot is fired, and my truck swerves to the left. I screech to a stop in a ditch, the blown tyre making a crunching and flapping noise.

  “Exit the vehicle and get on the floor!”

  I wind the window down. “My name is Theyda Leason and I am here to hand myself over to Ray Towley.” I shout back at them. “I will only surrender to him.”

  There’s silence.

  Finally, someone speaks. “Theyda Woodman is dead.”

  One of the trucks rises into the air, exposing the soldiers using it as a shield. I drop it back into position with a crunch, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

  “Get Towley,” I call again.

  Their auras are laced with panic and confusion.

  “Throw your weapons out of the vehicle!” the same voice shouts.

  I do what they ask. “Get Towley- now!” I repeat.

  “Exit the vehicle with your hands in the air and lie on the floor!”

  This could all go south if they take matters into their own hands. “Are you deaf? Where is Towley?”

  More vehicles approach at speed from the lane behind them. The reinforcements pile into the small courtyard area, more armed men pointing big ass guns in my direction.

  A sudden
chill spreads from my head to my toes. An aura I recognise tugs at my senses. It is familiar and terrifying, and I never knew I had picked up on it before. My subconscious must have absorbed the evil seeping from that man the last time I was in his presence.

  Towley.

  “Theyda, why are you here?” he calls. I strain in my seat to see where he is, but to no avail. “

  “To surrender,” I shout back.

  “And why would you want to do that?”

  “Because I have lost everything.” I leave a pregnant pause. “Adam is dead.”

  He doesn’t reply to that. I have his attention. Taking the opportunity, I open the door and swing my legs out.

  There’s commotion as the soldiers jump to attention. “Hands up and get on the ground!”

  I hop out of truck, hands in the air, and walk a few steps forward. It feels like I’m pelted with stones on my thigh, hip, bicep, and shoulder. I’m covered in tags from all angles.

  “I said on the ground!” A soldier kicks at the back of my knee and rams the butt of his gun into the back of my neck at the same time, dropping me in the dirt. He pulls the synth mask and wig from my head, and there is an audible gasp from those around me.

  “I’m unarmed!” I scream as a foot pushes down on my spine.

  “EVO are never unarmed,” he hisses back. “Scout every last square inch of this place. She won’t be here alone.”

  “I am alone.” I scream out, as he applies more pressure to my back.

  “It’s okay, marine,” says that familiar voice that curdles the little food I have in my stomach.

  Towley jumps out of a truck accompanied by an armed guard of at least seven enormous men. From my position on the floor, I can see his tell-tale fitted suit, cherry-picker boots, and although I can’t see his face, I know his eyes bore into me.

  “Frisk her, scan her for tech, and secure her. Leave the tags for the time being. Oh, and get a skull scanner on her. This one has telepathy too. If she shows unusual brain activity, sedate her.”

  He knows about my dual ability.

  “What, Theyda? If you wanted to keep it a secret, you shouldn’t use it willy-nilly on my soldiers in your raids, and then leave them alive. You know better than to under-estimate me.”

  As I am dragged to my feet, our eyes meet. For a moment, his face is utterly stoic. That look drives a wedge into my throat, threatening to suffocate me with pure panic. An indifferent Towley is a deadly Towley. Just when the fear all but smothers me, the edge of his lip curls up in a smirk, and climbing back into the truck, he throws me a wink.

  “You’re like a human boomerang, Theyda. You always find your way back to me.”

  Finally, I feel like I can breathe again. “He’s happy to have me back,” I tell Adam. “This is going to work.”

  His emotions rush through me, and it’s all I can do not to gag on the worry and anxiety.

  “Remember, you’re not back, you’re just passing through. Just say the word and I’ll be there, Baby. Screw the plan.”

  “Mr Lovick, for once, please just do what the E.N.C leader says and follow the damn plan.” I make my internal voice light and jovial, and for a brief moment, he laughs. “I’ll check back with you when I’m inside.”

  Breaking my concentration, the marine who hit me with his gun grasps my throat and effortlessly lifts me from my feet. My coughing and spluttering pleases him.

  “You’re nothing but scum. Innocent people have died because of you and your people. Who bombs hospitals and kids?”

  “Probably the same people who blew up the detention centre, because it wasn’t us,” I manage to choke out. Meeting his eye dead on, I stare him out, despite the pressure building in my lungs.

  A horn blares, and the marine drops me in a heap at the sound.

  “She better be alive when I next clap eyes on her,” Towley barks out of the window before his truck speeds away.

  “If it was up to me, I’d put a bullet in her,” the marine growls under his breath.

  “Yeah, well, it isn’t up to you,” another says, pulling me from his grip and shoving me into the back of a truck with such force that my shins smash against the step. “They want her alive for a reason.”

  It’s Towley who wants me alive. I’m not going to die if he thinks I’m his. He is probably going to make me wish I was dead, but I can live with that- literally. Flicking my tongue over the filling in my tooth to ensure it is still there, I take a composing breath and continue on with my mission.

  ***

  During the five-minute journey to the facility, I have a sack over my head and cuffs on my wrists and ankles that are so tight they draw blood. I can see the blinking light of the tags through the fabric of the sack, and if the marines want to get my attention they tap one, relishing in the pain it causes me. Otherwise, they follow Towley’s orders, and I arrive in one piece with minimal injuries.

  I’m whipped from my feet and carried like a piece of luggage. Four soldiers hang me by my arms and legs, swinging me between them, belly down. I was expecting an audience, but it seems Towley has other ideas. The marines quietly carry me through a small door under the cover of darkness. Clearly, he doesn’t want word getting out that I’m alive.

  Towley is stood in the hallway, waiting impatiently for my arrival. I know he is there, but my only view is of worn out carpet tiles and dusty skirting boards.

  “Get her below before anyone sees,” he orders the soldiers. The sack is whipped from my head, and he lifts my face to the light by my hair. “As far as you are all concerned this woman does not exist. Do you understand me?”

  The men all collaborate. They must really hate me to not see the contradictions in the stories Towley and his cabinet have been spinning. Cal was spot on. The propaganda will only get us so far. We need to get ourselves into power, and perhaps force is the only way.

  Towley heads the procession through the deserted offices. There’s not another person in sight. Desks lie abandoned with the computer screens still on and coffee cups still steaming.

  “We set off the fire alarm, so we have about ten minutes before the administrators return,” Towley says, gesturing for one of his guards to open a heavy, metal door. He pushes his hand against a finger print scanner, and then looks into a small lens that scans his eye. The inner door whirs into life and opens, revealing an elevator. This place is all too familiar.

  “Take her down first. I am right behind you,” he says, side stepping to allow the soldiers to enter. “She is to be escorted straight to Cell A1. The team will take over from there.”

  I crane my neck upward as the doors close. Towley’s eyes lock with mine and he smiles. I don’t react. My acting skills are about to be tested to the limits in just a few moments. I can’t give an inch or I could jeopardise everything.

  The doors open once again, and I have to squint against the glare of the stark lighting. The corridors are brilliant white, streamline, and like something out of a science fiction movie. The only colour is the black of the soldier’s uniforms. There is a soldier positioned outside of each door along the corridor, just like the TOROs would do at Facility One. Four soldiers all in black take me from the four who brought me in. They’re relieved of duty and escorted back down the corridor.

  “Make her hurt,” the gobby soldier calls over his shoulder.

  “Control yourself, marine,” Towley scolds the man. “Now, if you will all make your way back up to the administration offices, there is some confidentiality paperwork for you to sign.”

  “Yes, Prime Minister,” the soldier replies, saluting.

  After dismissing his personal guards, Towley strides down the corridor toward me, tilting his head to get a better look at my face. “Cell A1. The medical team are awaiting her arrival.”

  I’m stripped, scanned, and stuck with every size needle you can think of. The tags are removed, only to be replaced with a scary looking one at the top of my back. Bloods are taken, saliva is taken, and then I’m forced into starchy, re
d scrubs and strapped into a wheelchair. The room empties of people until I’m only left with my thoughts.

  “I’m inside, and they haven’t found the chip,” I tell Adam.

  “Jeez, Teds, talk about taking your damn time.”

  “No news is good news.”

  “No news is torture,” he replies, sternly. “Are you okay. Are they hurting you?”

  “I’m okay, for now. Please, tell me the chip is working.”

  “Kind of. Lorrell says it is, but she still needs to hack… well, whatever it is she needs to hack. It won’t be long, Baby. All the Technokins are working around the clock. We’re already preparing to extract you. I’ve been dressed for combat for the last three hours.”

  The clink of dress shoes makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I hate everything about the man who stands just feet away from me. Even the sound of his breathing is like nails on a black board. He doesn’t deserve to breathe, especially when people like Wheeler lost that right.

  “Got to go,” I inform Adam.

  Here we go. This is where I get to play my part.

  “Finally, we get to speak privately,” Towley says, gently. He sits down on the bed and pulls my wheelchair to face him. “I’m am sorry to hear about your TORO.”

  I lower my eyes. “His name was Adam, and he died in the detention centre bombings. He died at your hands.”

  Towley squats in front of me, placing both of his hands on my knees. I’m glad that I am strapped in, otherwise I may have involuntarily kicked the man for touching me this way.

  “I know you had great love for him, and you are probably still getting your head around it all, but why are you here, Theyda?”

  This time, I look straight into his eyes. “I want this to end.”

  He nods. “And you thought that handing yourself in would somehow put an end to this war? The problem with your logic is that as far as this war is concerned, Theyda Leason doesn’t exist. The country believes you to be dead. No amount of raising ghosts will change that. So, how will my exposing you help at all?”