“Yes, that’s something we would have to discuss, you and I,” Jeremiah says. “There was an attack on my men at Springhill. We got it in over the radios. They’ve gone dark ever since then. I’m guessing you know about that?”
“Yes,” Connor says. “I was part of it.”
“You killed some of my men?”
“Yes,” Connor says. “I had no choice. I was working up a way to get out of there when I could. At the time, the guards looked at me as a fugitive from Salem. But I was more of a captive, forced to fight against the very thing I believe in.”
“And you believe in what Screven does?” Jeremiah asks.
“Absolutely.”
Jeremiah shakes his head. He sits silently for a moment, staring at no spot in particular. He then looks up. “Guards!”
Connor’s eyes go wide. What is Jeremiah doing?
Several guards come with guns drawn.
“Take Connor away,” he says. “Take him to the prison and shoot him.”
The guards grab Connor by the arms and start pulling him toward the stairs.
“Wait!” Connor yells out. “They’re planning an attack. They’re going to kill you!”
“You shot my men, Connor,” Jeremiah says. “I’ve got no use for you.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he screams from halfway down the stairs. “There’s more than just Aaron and Mora. There’s a mastermind. Evelyn leads the lot of them.”
Jeremiah freezes and my stomach drops. “Wait,” he calls out to the guards. “What name did you just use?”
“Evelyn,” Connor repeats.
“She’s a Starborn?”
“Yes.”
“How old is she? What’s her power?”
Connor shakes his head. “The more I tell you, the less chance I have to stay alive.”
Jeremiah waves for the guards to let him go. “You’re going to tell me everything.”
I can feel the anger coursing through my veins. “You better come up with some good lies,” I say. “You’ve already messed everyth…”
I’m cut short when something from behind me grabs my braid and jerks me out of the trance that allowed me to follow Connor. I’m pulled so hard, I’m thrown out of my chair and to the ground.
I scramble to see what or who might have done such a thing, but when I look around I don’t see anything. I turn my head to the right and left. In every direction I seem to be alone. I stand and hold out my hands, ready to fight with the gifts I have within me.
Blood spurts from my nose and I fall to my back as some invisible force smashes into it like a brick. I feel a blinding kick to my ribs before I can get to my feet again. This time I raise my hands in front of me and push with all I have, sending the invisible force to the wall on the other side of the room. The force smashes into the wall and dishes crash into pieces as they land. I can hear the moan of a man in pain as I start to get up to my feet.
“Who’s there?”
I hear nothing but rapid footsteps and then another blinding blow to my face that throws me to the ground again. I could tell that one was a fist. It’s a man. Invisible. A Starborn? One of Jeremiah’s hunters? He yanks on my braid and pulls me up to my knees, and I suddenly realize my grandma’s advice to cut off my hair wasn’t so bad after all.
The invisible man kicks me in the side again and knocks the wind out of me. I do my best to whirl around and throw him back, but I have no target. The walls shake at my effort, but there is no victim this time. By the time I see the chair floating in front of me, it’s too late. He swings it with all his might and it crashes into my body. By the time I hit the floor I’m barely awake.
Weak and in pain, I can’t do anything when he drags me to a chair and begins to tie my wrists with rope. In a daze, I can hear him breathing and moving all around me. This is an enemy I’ve never anticipated. How long had he been in the room with me? How long has he been at Springhill?
I’m still barely conscious. I can hardly breathe, much less try to use my gift to fight him back. He pulls down on the rope and ties the rest of it around my ankles. I feel a hand grip my chin, and out of thin air, the man appears before me. I recognize the scar on the side of his head that points to the missing upper half of his ear.
“You’re lucky Jeremiah wants you alive.”
Before I can respond, Commander Green of Screven rears back his fist and knocks me out cold.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“YOU AND I want to kill Jeremiah for very different reasons,” Evelyn said to the man sitting in the shadows. Two of his bodyguards stood on either side of him. Evelyn didn’t care for his type or the kind of crowd he ran with. This guy, Tristan, was nothing more than a gangster who wanted more power.
“So what is it, revenge?” Tristan asked, leaning forward into the light. His eyes were sunken in and his skin was a pale, pasty white. Most of his hair was gone, but what was left was matted against the sides of his head. “Did he do something to you?”
“He’s done enough to all of us,” Evelyn said.
Tristan laughed too hard at this, but his face then turned very serious. “You can’t expect me to do this for free, of course.”
“All I’m asking you to do is help us get into the lookout tower next to the courtyard,” Evelyn said. “I’m not asking any of your men to get involved in the killing itself.”
“Yes, but if you and your people get caught, and one of you rats us out, we’re dead based off suspicious activity,” Tristan said. “I expect to be paid well for that kind of risk.”
“Your payment is Jeremiah’s death,” Evelyn said. “If he dies, Sudyka doesn’t become one of his colonies and you get to continue running things around here. If he lives, you get pushed out. You’re a goner.”
“How old are you anyway?” Tristan asked.
“I’m forty-two,” Evelyn said.
“If I’m going to do this, I want to know what motivation a forty-two year old woman has to murder one of the most powerful leaders around.”
Evelyn said nothing at first, thinking it might be unwise to say all of her true feelings. But then again, why did it matter?
“Twenty-two years ago he murdered the love of my life,” Evelyn said. “He tried to murder me. Before that he murdered a friend of mine.”
“Twenty-two years is a long time to hold a grudge,” Tristan said. “What were their names?”
“Mark was the man I loved. Whit was my friend. But this goes beyond revenge.”
“How?”
This was the part Evelyn thought they might not need to hear but she decided to let it out anyway. “He is selfish. He uses these colonies for personal profit.”
“Of course he does,” Tristan said. “The man’s a genius.”
“Also he created the greyskins,” Evelyn added. “Also he is a greyskin.”
“Jeremiah’s a greyskin?” Tristan asked with an eyebrow cocked.
“Yes. Partly.”
Tristan looked at the men around him for a brief, serious moment and then burst out with laughter. The other men followed his lead, cackling at the notion that anyone could be partly a greyskin.
“I think you might be insane,” Tristan said.
“Perhaps I am,” Evelyn answered, never waning in her composure. “And that would further lessen the guilt of your actions if you were to help us.”
Tristan suddenly became very serious. “Tomorrow, Jeremiah will be walking the streets of Sudyka. At noon, he’ll give a speech about what it means to be a new colony. Is that when you will strike?”
“All it will take is a squeeze of a trigger.”
“What’s your plan for getting out?” Tristan asked.
“I have one,” she said. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“If I’m going to help you,” Tristan said, “I want to know everything. What is your escape route?”
“You want to know my escape route so you can kill me when it’s over,” Evelyn came back. “You don’t want anyone alive
that can implicate you in the attack.”
Tristan shrugged with a cheesy smile on his face. “You got me.”
“I assure you, there will be no implications,” Evelyn said. “It will be a quick kill and a quick exit. You will never hear from me or my team again.”
“How many are on your team?”
“Three including myself.”
“Their responsibilities?”
“Support, kill, and escape.”
“Support? Support you?”
“To watch my back while I pull the trigger,” Evelyn said with confidence.
Tristan looked down at his desk for a few seconds while he twiddled his thumbs. Evelyn knew it might be a lot to ask, but she knew Tristan and his thugs had no choice but to go for it. Their days were numbered as long as Jeremiah was taking control of everything. Tristan and his men had run Sudyka for years the way they wanted to. Now they’d been given the opportunity to snuff out the competition by helping Evelyn and her team get into the lookout tower.
Tristan finally nodded. “You’ve got a deal,” he said.
Evelyn stuck out a hand to shake it, but Tristan just held up a nub. “Can’t shake. No hand.” He let out another long laugh and his bodyguards did the same.
Evelyn was a little put out that she didn’t get to shake his hand. She had hoped to touch his skin and see if his intentions were true. Without a willing gesture from him, she couldn’t just reach out and touch the man. It would be too awkward and his bodyguards would probably take it as a threat.
“Then I will see you first thing in the morning,” she said.
“Yes, you will.”
Sarah and Jeffrey had been waiting for her outside of the room. When she walked by, she gave them a slight nod and smile to let them know that everything was set in motion. Once they were finally out of the building, they had to keep themselves from cheering. They were so close to finally accomplishing what Evelyn had been planning for so long.
She had picked the large, bustling village of Sudyka before she had even met Sarah or Jeffrey. She knew that it would one day become one of Jeremiah’s colonies. It had only been a matter of time. Sudyka had a lot of resources that Jeremiah wanted. Sure, it had the ability to grow food, but it also had machinery and, for some reason or another, helicopters. Over the years, she had made it a point to visit Sudyka and make a few friends. Those friends eventually let her know that there had been a long series of greyskin attacks and they were getting to the point where they needed outside help. Then came Jeremiah.
It was the night before the big event. Jeremiah often enjoyed the pleasure of speaking to his colonies the day they joined with Screven. It was a chance to offer them hope of protection. None of them realized they were giving up their freedoms in the process. None of them knew what kind of man Jeremiah really was. For many, they saw it as their chance to be out from under the rule of thugs, and to give their village over to a trusted leader. They just didn’t realize how wrong they were.
Marcy had been kind enough to give the three of them a space to sleep for the night with the understanding that they never knew each other. Marcy had become friends with Evelyn several years before and knew all about Jeremiah from what Evelyn had told her. She bid the three goodnight and they all smiled at her and thanked her for the place to sleep.
Jeffrey put his arm around Sarah and she set her head against him peacefully as they sat against the wall. Evelyn stoked the fire in front of them, thinking silently to herself.
The two of them were about twenty years younger than Evelyn. Sarah was a terrific fighter, but she had no Starborn abilities. Jeffrey on the other hand was there to aid in their escape. He had learned of his ability to teleport when he was a young child. The only problem was that he had never developed the skill to perfection. He could hold on to anyone and have that person teleport with him, but his accuracy was limited. If Evelyn asked him to teleport to the watchtower, he would be able to try, but might end up in the colony’s sewers instead. The accuracy only got worse as distance became greater. Tomorrow, Jeffrey would be tasked with teleporting the three of them out of the watchtower and back to the village of Salem. Evelyn had joked with him, saying that he better not take them to Screven by accident. He had just smiled, but shook his head, fearing it was a real possibility. Eventually he assured Evelyn that he could get them all within a mile. He was sure of it. Evelyn didn’t care, though. As long as they were out of there when the shot took down Jeremiah, they would be fine. They could figure out the rest later.
Content with the size of the fire, Evelyn scooted to another wall next to her rifle. She brushed her fingers along the barrel and scope. She had been practicing her long distance shots for a while now. She would aim for the head; she was sure that a chest shot wouldn’t kill the half-greyskin man.
“Are you ready?” Jeffrey asked.
“It’s long overdue,” Evelyn answered. “People don’t know what they are getting themselves into. They don’t know what I know.”
“We know what you know,” Sarah said with a smile. “I wish I could be more of a help tomorrow.”
“You will be,” Evelyn said. “You’re providing me with peace of mind that there will be no one on my back.”
“I just want the two of you to be as close to me as possible,” Jeffrey said. He looked at Evelyn with a stern face. “If we’re in trouble and you haven’t taken your shot yet, I’m not waiting for you. We’re out of there.”
“I know,” Evelyn said. “If all of this doesn’t work out, we will find another way. May take years, but we’ll do it.”
“You think this will stop it all?” Sarah asked. “Screven will still exist with or without Jeremiah.”
“Maybe not at first,” Evelyn answered. “But with him gone, it won’t last. The colonies will realize how much Jeremiah demanded of them, and they will take back their power. You cut off the snake’s head, the body moves for a while, but it stops eventually.”
She watched Jeffrey play with Sarah’s hair and couldn’t help but think about Mark. It had been so long since she had lost him, but it felt like no time at all. The memories of Jeremiah and what he did to her felt like it had happened just weeks ago instead of years. The pain never went away. Just knowing what the man was capable of doing made her hate him all the more. How many people had he murdered in this lifetime? And to think that he had stolen the gift of long life made her shudder. Killing him was important for everyone’s freedom, not only because he was a tyrant, but also because he was a tyrant that could live forever. How old was Jeremiah now? Eighty? It was time for him to go.
That night, Evelyn didn’t sleep. She didn’t even try. As the fire died down, Sarah and Jeffery had been able to doze off while Evelyn stayed alert. Her mind went through every scenario. There really wasn’t any reason this operation shouldn’t work. There was little protection around Jeremiah because there were few who would consider killing the man. For most, it wasn’t even in their minds. He was there to help. The only reason Evelyn had any doubt about the flawlessness of her plan was the fact that Sudyka was run by thugs that didn’t want their power stripped of them either. Perhaps Jeremiah knew this and had prepared accordingly.
The morning came in slowly and it was time to meet Tristan. Few villagers were up at such an early hour, but Screven vehicles had already been pouring in through the night. Tristan warned them that the guards would swarm the watchtower quickly if they smelled trouble. He reminded them that they had better have a fast getaway planned. He led them to the tower and unlocked the bottom door.
“Just keep taking the stairs and you’ll have a clear view of the courtyard,” he told them.
“Thanks,” Evelyn said.
Tristan bowed low and walked away without another word.
“I don’t like this,” Jeffrey said. “Seems too easy.”
“The hardest part about this would be escaping,” Evelyn said. “That’s why having you here makes the operation so simple.”
Evelyn locked th
e door behind them, knowing that it wasn’t the only entrance to the watchtower. Sarah would have to be watching her back because the watchtower also connected to the top of the village wall where guards usually patrolled. She hoped there would be few guards. As long as everyone was preoccupied with the speech going on below them, they would be fine.
The stairs seemed to go on forever, but they finally made it to the top room where there was an open view of the entire courtyard below. The stage had already been set up and people were checking the microphones to make sure the sound levels were as they should be. Evelyn noticed three doors upon entering the room. There was the door that they had just come through, which Jeffrey locked. Then there were two doors on either side of the room connected to the outside wall. It wasn’t the most private place to take a shot, but it was close enough for someone in Evelyn’s skill level. Hopefully everyone would be looking in the opposite direction toward the stage. The other doors didn’t have a lock and there was nothing in the room to block them or wedge them shut.
Sarah suggested actually leaving the doors open so it would be easier for them to see someone coming. It would be better than just having someone walk through the door by surprise. Evelyn agreed with her and for the next several hours they waited. The courtyard below them started to fill quickly just before noon. It wouldn’t be long before Jeremiah took the stage and Evelyn took the shot.
Part of her wished that he would know who hit him; that it was she that took the shot that ended his life, but she knew it wasn’t necessary. The point wasn’t supposed to be revenge, even though she knew that was a big part of it. The point was revolution. The point was taking the power away from someone evil.
The introductions began. Jeremiah walked up to the stage and sat, waiting to be called. Evelyn could have taken the shot then, but it would be much more clear if he was standing at the podium.
His name was announced and he stood. He ignored the man’s handshake as he walked past and grabbed both sides of the podium.
“New colonists of Sudyka,” Jeremiah began.
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