by Rebecca Ward
✽✽✽
The sign by the door reads “Frank’s Gym”. Walking through the entrance she smells the sweat-drenched leather of the ring, the gloves and punching bags. The stink of disinfectant is an after note rising from the floors, but everywhere still looks grimy. Through a set of swing doors they come into a dark hall. At first it seems they have the place to themselves, then her eyes refocus. Strong spotlights light up the boxing ring in the centre of the room.
Balthazar sits cross legged in the middle of the ring with Evan facing him. They are silent with their eyes open, completely still. Flip sits to one side on a plastic chair pulling at split ends, bored. An old air conditioning unit grumbles its presence.
‘Thank god you’re finally here, now we can get on with it, whatever ‘it’ is.’ Flip’s clipped tones jar the calm. Evan shoots her evils and she glares back. Again Flip looks immaculate, cool even. She is wearing the neatest work out gear and a high ponytail. Her skin is flawless. Bodi looks down at her outfit. She has fast run out of clean clothes and living with two men doesn’t help. She is sporting another pair of off-black leggings and a holey Ramones t-shirt she found in the room of packing cases. She fiddles with her hair, which she has braided into two bulbous plaits. Her hair is becoming more unruly by the day.
Without using his hands Balthazar rises silently from his cross-legged position and Evan matches him. Evan turns and does a small bow to Bodi.
‘Miss Boo.’ She grins back.
‘Evan.’
Balt climbs out of the ring. ‘Right! Team! Let’s take action, my legion of intel gatherers. We don’t have much time and there’s a lot to do. Seats please trainees.’ Balt gestures to a line of seats in front him as he paces up and down in front of them.
They sit down quietly, the four of them. Flip, Evan, Bodi then Reed. Reed and Evan refusing to look each other in the eye. Balthazar commands their attention and begins:
‘What you will learn here today will be invaluable, not just in the coming days but in life. Humans only use around 20 per cent of their grey matter and are capable of super human strength if only they learn how to use all their muscles – body and brain – in harmony.’
Flip mock yawns. Another nasty look from Evan makes her sit quietly but she still rolls her eyes.
‘If you channel your inner strength you will overcome more than you thought possible. We will come to details of the plan shortly. But first, Bodi come with me. I need to assess your skills.’
‘I have skills?’ Bodi thinks.
Balt takes her to one side and the others walk off.
‘What do you do to keep in shape Boudicca?’ Balthazar asks looking her up and down.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘What regime do you follow to keep in shape? Yoga? Calisthenics? Running? How do you channel your energy?’
Bodi looks confused. ‘Clothes?’ she jokes. Balt keeps staring at her. ‘Okaaay. Not really big on all that exercise stuff.’ She dredges her brain for something, anything, energetic. ‘I walk a lot. That’s about it.’
‘Right. Let’s try some self-defence and see what your reflexes are like. What’s your reaction if I do this?’ His hand comes at her face as if to slap her. She squats down in a crumpled heap.
‘Seriously? You’re going to hit me?! I’ve already got one black eye, I don’t need a pair.’
‘Boudicca, we have a day, one day, to give you some basic skills and then we have to send you out to fend for yourself.’ He reaches down to help her up. ‘If even a couple of things stick today then you at least have something up your sleeve should anything happen. These guys have all done this stuff since they were kids. It was essential they knew how to take care of themselves, but I guess Ruby had other priorities…’
That gets her back up. Bodi stands up and looks defiantly at Balt. ‘Give it another go.’
This time when he goes for her she puts her arm up to block it. He shows her how to react to someone coming up behind her. How to step on their foot, push back with her elbow, put her hand between her throat and her attacker’s arm. He shows her how to go for weak spots: knee joints, the groin, to push at the nose or gouge eyes.
‘Can’t I just carry something, to protect myself?’ she asks.
‘What? Like a knife? No Bodi. Anything like that can be a potential weapon for them to use against you. Say you have a small knife, fine if you can hang on to it. What if they get it from you? Then you’re in a whole other hideous situation. Your mind is your best defence. What can you pull down on top of them? What escape route can you see? How can you block their path? Running is not cowardice, it’s self-preservation. Okay, take five. Then we’ll get going on some mental challenges.’
‘So no to the knife then,’ she mumbles.
Bodi collapses on a seat next to Flip who is by the ring watching the boys box. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Evan is thrashing Reed. But Reed isn’t backing down. He moves round the ring defending himself but isn’t on the attack.
‘What’s going on?’ Bodi asks Flip.
‘Testosterone,’ Flip groans.
The rivalry between Reed and Evan rages like an everlasting storm.
‘Come on man, give me a fair fight. This is ridiculous.’ Evan is winding Reed up and Bodi can sense his anger is building. ‘Can’t you see? Is your girly hair getting in your eyes? You want me to get you an ickle hair clip?’ Still nothing back from Reed, Bodi can’t understand what he is doing. He looks like he could hold his own against Evan but he isn’t fighting back. Bodi can’t even deal with the fact that they are fighting at all.
Evan is still baiting Reed: ‘Don’t want to break a nail? Worried you might bruise that pretty boy face of yours? The girls are watching man, come on let’s give them something to look at!’
Reed looks over to Bodi standing at the side of the ring. A punch from Evan catches him off guard and he stumbles back against the ropes. Bodi shouts out: ‘Evan! That’s really not cool.’ Flip does a low whistle.
‘Element of surprise Boo. Got to use everything around you to your advantage.’ He shrugs, doing a smug body roll to celebrate his win. Bodi looks for some support: ‘Flip?’
‘Well, he’s got a point.’ Flip shrugs.
At that moment, a huge flying kick comes out of nowhere, hits Evan on the shoulder and lands him flat on his back.
Evan lies on the floor stunned, reeling from Reed’s body blow.
‘Where the hell did that come from?’ he gasps.
Reed leans over him. ‘Taekwando. I’ve read books on it and practiced by myself but never had anyone to use it on. Before now.’
Reed looks down at Evan, thrusting his chest forward, his eyes bulging.
‘Element of surprise, boo.’
Reed climbs out of the ring and walks away. Bodi sits down in the chair again and puts her head in her hands. How on earth is this going to work with these two at each other all the time?
By now some other members of Populus have arrived. Morag takes Bodi aside and sits down opposite her.
‘Right wee’un. Let’s work out where your strengths lie. You seem to me to be super bright, but sometimes book smart doesn’t quite cut it.’ She is smiling and Bodi knows she means well but she feels like she is sitting an exam on a subject she had never even heard of, let alone studied. ‘What do you think you might “bring to the table” so to speak?’ Morag delights herself by making quotation marks with her fingers. Bodi wracks her brain and comes up short. ‘What sort of skills do you need to infiltrate a maximum-security establishment to rescue your stolen parent?’ she ponders.
Morag tries to help her along. ‘When you were moving around with your mum, how did you find that? Did you get on with people, could you win over strangers?’ Bodi thinks back to just a few days before when her life had been relatively normal.
‘I always got on with people but we had to keep a low profile.’ She answers. ‘I didn’t really have friends and we had to be careful what we said.’
Mor
ag nods, this is something that unites them all. Once they lived as a bustling huge community, now they are left to hide alone. Bodi offers hesitantly. ‘I’m quite good with languages I guess. I’ve never learnt formally. Mum’s terrible at them so she couldn’t teach me grammar and stuff. But I’ve always had an ear for them and picked them up along the way. We had a Polish neighbour when I was a kid and she’d watch me for Mum. Another one of our neighbours taught me some Punjabi. And you just hear so many languages where we live that it’s hard not to pick them up. Tusing kiṭhong ho Morag? Where are you from Morag? Dobry wieczor Morag. Good afternoon Morag. Stuff like that.’
Morag’s face lights up. ‘That’s great Bodi. People don’t even get me when I’m speaking English so I’m jealous! That’s a very useful skill. Not only for communicating with our friends on the inside, but for baffling those Sick Boy ninnies. Their languages skills are a bit limited to say the least. Der…’ Morag’s eyes bulge as she pulls the face of an idiot and laughs to herself. Bodi is beginning to think that everyone involved in this group is insane. ‘How about other forms of communication? Did your mum teach you anything from her time with us?’
Bodi scans the room, hoping something will jump out at her. She isn’t used to talking about what she is good at and it is unnerving. Obviously her mum just accepts her for what she is and she doesn’t spend much time analysing her strengths and weaknesses. She has good hair? She loves science fiction? She can make a mean dinner out of a seemingly empty kitchen cupboard? None of these are particularly pertinent now.
Reed is talking to Morag’s brother Fergus in one corner, looking over some old books. Across the room Flip is sat with Hatty and her face is a picture. She looks like she wishes she were doing shooting practice instead with Hatty as her target. Bodi is starting to feel wound up. While all this stuff is no doubt extremely useful, they are losing yet another day. Nothing is actually happening and her mum is still gone.
She is about to raise this with Morag when her attention turns to raised voices coming from the trainer’s office. Balt is giving Evan a hard time but Bodi can’t make out what he is saying. Balt is standing with his hand on Evan’s shoulder, talking to him just inches away from his face. Evan stands stock still, eyes locked on his father’s. Morag rests a reassuring hand on Bodi’s arm. ‘Quite intense our Balthazar,’ she says. ‘Been tough on Evan since he was a bairn. His heart’s in the right place but I’m not sure Evan sees it like that.’ Evan marches out the office and the door slams against the wall behind him. He heads toward the changing rooms.
‘Evander! Get back here!’ Balt is fuming.
‘Don’t worry dear. It’s just father and son stuff. Been going on since time immemorial. The young stag challenging the old buck! Keeps Balt on his toes.’ Morag goes off to get a cup of tea.
Bodi leans her arms on the back of the chair in front of her, observing the room. Reed and Fergus are still leafing through old books. Flip has given up studying and is looking idly at old pictures of boxers on the wall. Evan is still sulking or raging. Bodi can’t quite work him out yet. He seems nice enough but he does have a bit of a temper, then again with Balt as your dad it would be hard to keep a lid on it all the time.
Balt regains his composure. ‘Take a break everyone. The teachers and I need a quick debrief to work out the best ways to make you a cohesive team. Given our time constraints we’ll do the best we can to ensure you can work together and to your combined strengths.’ They all go into the trainer’s office and shut the door.
‘Oooh! The drama!’ Flip says to Bodi and they both laugh together for the first time.
The hint of smile on Reed’s face as she walks towards him soon becomes a scowl when he sees she is headed past him to the changing rooms to find Evan. The changing room smells even punchier than the gym. Evan is pacing up and down, his fists clenched. It doesn’t look like he’s calmed down one bit.
‘Evan? You okay?’ she asks.
‘Hey Bo. Sweet of you to check up on me. Yeah I’m okay I guess. Dad, well, you know…’
Bodi sits down on a bench and he sits with her. ‘I’m really ready, really up for it. Ready to go get the baddies. My chi is aligned and all that.’ He gives her a small chuckle but Bodi can tell he is struggling. ‘This is what it’s all been about, the years of training and the studying, but sometimes I don’t feel I’m fighting my own fight.’ He pauses, trying to contain what he wants to say but then it comes tumbling out. ‘I feel like I’m always fighting his battles. All the time, every day. Where am I in this? Do I even get a say in what happens in my own life? It totally sucks.’
Bodi is surprised to see this side of him, she thought he was totally into it. She also lost her childhood but she hasn’t been trained for anything, she hasn’t been moulded in her mother’s image against her will. She thinks about Ruby’s decision to leave and raise her away from Populus. She is seeing first-hand what happens if you stay.
‘He’s quite formidable your dad,’ she offers.
‘You think?!’ he laughs.
‘What is it that he wants you to do?’
‘Just stuff I don’t believe in. Nothing specific.’ Bodi knows he is covering something up but tries to coax more from him.
‘It’s not easy communicating with them at the best of times and this weird bubble we’re trapped in doesn’t make it any better,’ she says. ‘But I’m sure he wants what’s best for you, deep down. Whatever it is he’s asking you to do…He’s used to being a leader and he’s gone into battle mode. Admittedly, he does look a bit like he’s in that all the time…’
‘No kidding,’ Evan gestures at his soldier boy outfit.
‘It’s just clothes Ev. Maybe he even hides behind them so people can’t see he’s actually afraid. Well, maybe not afraid as such. He wears it as armour. But I can see that you’re different and you aren’t his little puppet. You’ve got your own style. Your own...’ She stops. Thousands of pennies drop like a Las Vegas windfall.
‘Boo?’ Evan runs his fingers up and down the inside of her wrist. ‘Boo? You alright?’
She pulls her arm away. It was Evan that she had bumped into at the park. And she gets the feeling he was there where she dropped her locket in the street. Populus had known she was coming to see them. For days. In fact, they had known she was coming even before she did.
‘Erm, yeah, fine.’ She almost whispers. She has to keep it together. She can’t tell him what she is thinking.
‘Am I in too deep now, relying on the one group of people that can’t be trusted? Are they all Balthazar’s puppets? What do they need from me?’ she worries, but tries not to show it. She has to convince him nothing has changed. She still has to get her mum back. All this intrigue will have to be put on ice.
‘There’s no normal here Evan. But I’m sure we can make our own normal, eventually. I’ve got to believe that we can do it and you’re a huge part of that. If you’re not around, I don’t think it’s going to work.’
Ego suitably plumped, he smiles back at her.
‘That’s true Boo, we can’t lose focus.’ He jumps up on the bench and stands to attention. His softer side shut down once again. He offers her his hand to pull her up but she ignores the gesture. He pulls the front of his army sweater instead, jumps down and bundles out the changing room.
Bodi goes to follow him out of the changing room. ‘Is Evan watching me? Are they all watching me?’ she frets. The wheels are in motion and she won’t be able to get off without doing herself, and her mum, some serious damage. She pushes the double doors and there is Reed pretending to be occupied in a book, but she knows he is waiting for her, for them, to work out what has gone down. She walks past him without acknowledging him. She can’t deal with this dopey rivalry right now. And maybe he’s in on it too.
Bodi joins the other three in the line of chairs. Flip is unhappy that Bodi and Evan had been having some alone time and sits with her arms and legs crossed staring straight ahead. Reed is eyeballing Evan, who sits to attenti
on in his chair, ready for orders. Balt marches back into the room. ‘If he could have a Sergeant Major’s stick and rap us with it I’m sure he would,’ thinks Bodi. ‘Never mind Evan, this is the one that knows something that I don’t and I need to find out what it is.’
‘Thank you all for this morning. It’s an unusual situation where we have to hand over the reins of an operation to our children but we hope that we have come up with a plan that will see the safe return of Ruby.’ Bodi forces a smile for Balt. ‘We have identified your skill set and together you make for quite a formidable team.’
Balt continues: ‘We are working with our friends on the outside to implement a quick and safe plan to get Ruby back. The last thing we want is to put you in danger.
‘So, I’m sure you’re keen to hear, what the plan is. We are sending you out to infiltrate TrueSec HQ.’ Balt holds up a photograph of a large, nondescript office building. ‘This building is their central office in Charing Cross. We have different tasks for each of you to help us gather the information we need in order to get Ruby back in one piece.’
‘Felicity. You are now the newest receptionist for TrueSec. A position I’m sure you will embrace with vigour. We need you to keep an eye on who is coming and going. But discreetly, of course. Hatty will fully brief you, go with her please.’ Flip goes to high five everyone but is left hanging.
‘At the other end of the spectrum. Boudicca, you will be joining the maintenance staff.’
‘Maintenance? But I don’t know one end of a spanner from another,’ she says, bemused.
‘Maintenance is a grand way of saying cleaner, Boo.’ Evan tells her, smirking.
