by Mike Essex
“I’ll live,” he replied.
“It has to be because of Tobias. He was in there keeping me sane and letting me watch other people. It was the only thing that kept me going.”
“You saw people?”
“Yes. All the people Eli had us control and then when he wasn’t in our heads I could look through other people’s eyes.”
“I didn’t see anything,” said Will.
“No-one at all?”
“No. I felt nothing the entire time. It was like a dream.”
“Do you know what he made us do?”
“What?”
I told Will about all of the people I could remember; politicians, soldiers, protesters, husbands, wives, children, even the pastor. There had been so many over so long that I’m sure I forgot a lot of them. Somehow the more time I spent out of the machine the less I remembered.
My mind was fighting against the other memories as it sought to reconnect my mind to my body. It was a coping mechanism but at the same time it was making me depressed. I didn’t want to forget the lives I’d ruined. They were a necessary reminder of how much Eli needed to suffer.
The more I told Will about the past, the angrier he got. He explained how he’d been promised that our dad would make a difference in the world and that Eli felt it was the only way he could gain forgiveness for the sins he’d caused during the Siege. Unlike me, who had tried to escape, Will had signed up willingly to be a part of Eli’s machine. Sadly, even he hadn’t known the full truth.
Will, March, Gabe, how many people had Eli deceived?
“At least he didn’t hurt you,” said Will. “Like he promised.”
“He did?” I replied.
“Capstone,” he said wearily pointing to his chest.
I’d heard that word before. When Tobias had built the machine he’d needed a capstone in order to run it successfully. Unknown to Tobias, Will discovered that the capstone wasn’t a physical object it was a person and he himself had the power to act as a catalyst to run the machine. In an effort to stop Tobias getting the capstone he faked his own death and Eli hid him away.
I nodded at Will and he pointed back at my stomach.
“Protected you,” he said.
I was confused until I realised where Will was pointing. His fingers were aiming directly at the core that March had inserted inside of me on Eli’s instructions. Could that really be what had protected me? It wouldn’t be the first time that the core had saved my life.
Will nodded. “They operated on you? An orange core?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Good. I created it. For you.”
“You’re the reason I have this thing inside of me?” I let go of his hand.
“Yes. To protect you. We all wanted to protect you.”
“That can’t be right.”
“Before I was sealed away in London I made Dad promise to operate on you. He didn’t want to but I told him it was the only way I’d help.”
I didn’t know what to say. I’d blamed March for the core and with it everything that had happened. Now I’d found out Will had played an even greater role I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t even be mad at Will, his actions had saved my life and given me strength now. All of the people who had conspired against me were the reason I was alive today.
Everything had shifted to shades of grey. There were very few people I trusted totally, even R&R had changed during their time with Jacobi. Whilst those who had been light had turned darker, those who were dark were now lighter. Even Eli must have had good intentions at one time.
“Without the core, Tobias would have killed you and everyone else. It was the only option,” said Will.
Will explained his reasoning the best he could but it was ok, I didn’t need him to explain it any further. He’d been trying to protect me and everything else had just become tangled up along the way. I’d certainly done my share of crazy things in trying to save him and he’d done the same for me.
Plus it could have been worse; the last time we’d properly talked I’d thought he was a serial killer, so this was something of an improvement.
“What are you planning to do to Eli?” said Will.
“Whatever we have to,” I replied.
“You’ll mahek hism stohp?” said Will, slurring his words.
Something wasn’t right. Panicked, I shouted out into the hall for the doctor. She was nowhere to be seen. Grace came running
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“It’s Will, something’s wrong,” I replied.
Grace started knocking hard on one of the other medical bays until a doctor emerged. She grabbed him and told him to check on Will. Stunned, the doctor turned back to his patient and told them he’d be back in a minute.
Will’s head was on the pillow now, his eyes closed, his breathing slow. The doctor checked his pulse and his breathing. I sat down and stared at them, hoping he’d pull through. His choices were the reason I was alive right now, he had to make it.
“What’s wrong?” I asked the doctor.
“He’ll be ok,” he replied. “He just needs some rest.”
I waited with Will for thirty minutes to make sure he wasn’t going to leave me behind when I wasn’t looking. The doctor came back and told me Will would be fine. I saw that as my cue to exit and let him get some rest. I hoped that the sleep would do him some good. It was a miracle his body had survived the torture, especially after all the extra pain he’d taken just to keep me safe.
He drifted off to sleep and I slowly closed the door behind me so as not to wake him. Grace was waiting outside and I filled her in on what Will had told me. She looked tired and had to down an energy drink in an effort to stay awake.
“You should get some rest,” I told her.
“I’ll sleep when we’ve found Tom,” she replied.
It was no surprise she was exhausted. She’d been helping me for hours and whilst I felt like I’d just woken up after an eternal sleep she was running on adrenaline and caffeine.
“I can still aim and shoot,” she explained. “That’s more than enough.”
TWENTY EIGHT
As we made our way to March’s holding cell there was only one thought on my mind. An hour ago I could have filled an entire journal with questions and accusations but now there was just a single question I wanted answered: “Why couldn’t you trust me?”
Will’s revelations about the core meant that all of the guilt I’d been projecting onto March had been misguided. What hurt the most wasn’t that he’d done it, it was that he hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me what Eli was planning.
Deep down there was another reason I’d projected so much hate onto March and that reason was something I was only coming to terms with now. Back in what seemed like a lifetime ago now, I’d spent almost six months dating March. I’d developed strong feelings for him during that time and he’d helped me recover after my encounter with Tobias.
He’d helped me save injured animals and saved my life more times than I could remember. I’d drawn a thick red cross through all of that since, assuming it was all just an act to get close to me but what if it wasn’t? There was no reason for him to stay with me after we’d defeated Tobias so why did he?
Although he’d never said the words, had he been in love with me? Or was it all just an act?
These were the questions I needed him to answer. But first I needed to find out what he knew about Tom’s kidnapping and Gabe’s whereabouts. My romantic dilemmas were another issue.
“You look confused,” said Grace, probably realising I hadn’t said anything for quite some time.
“It’s nothing,” I told her.
“Ok,” she said, as she neared the door. “Just remember men are scum.”
“Right. So has anyone else spoken to him?”
“Jacobi tried but he said he’d only speak to you.”
“Makes sense.”
“Because he’s still in love with you?” joked Grace.
“No,” I replied, suspecting she may actually be right. “He’s probably worried Jacobi will kill him once he gives us the information.”
“And he wants to see you before he dies? How sweet,” said Grace. “But seriously, don’t trust him. Men. Scum. Got it?”
“Ok, I’ve got it jeez.”
“I’ll be watching behind the glass with Jacobi, in case he tries anything,” said Grace as she disappeared into an adjoining room.
I took a deep breath and walked into the holding cell. March smiled immediately on seeing me, the same as he’d always done when we’d been together.
“You came,” he said as he sat with his hands bound to a hoop on the table in front of him.
I rested one hand on the chair in front of me, preferring to stand.
“Was everything a lie?” I asked.
“Some of it,” he explained.
“I want to know everything,” I told him. “I want to know it now!”
“I lied about the device but that’s it I swear and we only did that to protect you in the long run.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
“Your father, Gabe and myself. Grace was hardly involved. Don’t blame her for this.”
“Anyone else?”
“No, it was just us.”
“Liar!” I slammed my hand on the table in front of him. He moved back, startled. He’d never seen me this way before. “I know someone asked you to do it.”
“Yes. Your father did.”
Either Will was lying or March was. I needed to know one way or the other.
I tugged on the chains running through the hoop on the table and pulled them forward. March’s hands were pulled tightly towards the middle of the table and his body sprung forward with them.
“If you ever loved me, then you’ll tell me the truth about everything,” I told him.
“That’s why I can’t,” he explained.
“I know Will asked you to operate on me. He asked for the core to be put there, didn’t he?”
March looked down at the table, quiet in thought. I could tell he’d been caught out in the lie, unable to reply without implicating my brother. He’d probably call it an omission of love, some misguided effort to protect me but I was done with that.
“You don’t have to protect me anymore,” I told March. “You were my white knight a long time ago but those days are gone and we can’t get them back.”
“We could try,” said March. “We had something once, we still could.”
“If you wanted to protect me so much you should have told me. I could have handled it. No matter what Eli may have said. I’m not a child.”
“No,” said March. “You’re much stronger now, I can see that. Just don’t lose yourself along the way.”
The patronising nature of his words angered me. I grabbed his face with my hands and made sure he was looking at me. “Let me explain something March. I am lost and I’ve been lost for a long time now. And do you know the reason why I’m lost?”
He stared intently at me, daring to not look away. I pushed his head backwards until it lent back from his body and then kept going, his body lifting the front of his chair up as he arched his back. With his head hanging backwards he looked at me, whilst I held his face.
“I’m lost because of you. No matter how you justify what you did I am broken because of you. You were my first love and you broke everything.”
I released his head and he wobbled as he aligned his chair, until it landed with a thud. His body was thrown forward, only stopping when his hands hit the table hard.
I couldn’t look at him. I turned away and stared at the door, folding my arms. It was the first time I’d told him that I’d loved him and it was not the way I’d planned it when we’d been together.
I placed a hand on the door, ready to leave and then heard March mumble something behind me. I turned to face him and heard him say “I can fix it.”
Intrigued, I let go of the door and told him to continue. He kicked the chair in front of him and it slid forward, a sign for me to sit down. I put one hand on the chair and pushed it back in again. I didn’t want him to have any feeling of control.
“I know you can’t forget what I did but I hope one day you can forgive me,” said March.
“Then how are you going to make things right?” I asked.
“I can help you stop Eli and find Tom.”
“How?”
“By helping you find the one person that can hurt your father, no matter where he is or how many people are protecting him.”
I knew immediately who March meant but it was impossible. No-one had seen him for years and no matter how many bodies I jumped into I couldn’t find him either.
“You know he’s out there,” said March. “If he wasn’t then how could Eli be alive?”
“And you know where to find him?”
“Yes,” said March.
“And what do you want in return?” I asked.
“Nothing. I’m doing it to make things right. Even if you don’t forgive me then perhaps I can sleep at night.”
“Well then it seems like we have a deal. Now tell me, where can we find Eli’s twin?”
TWENTY NINE
“I can’t believe he’s in London,” said Jacobi. “In my city.”
“You mean State,” said Grace.
“It’s a city, not a State!” snapped Jacobi. “Until the day I die I won’t call my home a State. We are not American.”
“Anyway,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back on track. “He’s here in the ‘city of’ or ‘State of London’ whatever you want to call it.”
“City,” interrupted Jacobi.
“And thanks to March now we know where and how to get to him,” I explained.
“I don’t like him,” said Jacobi, pointing to March sat behind the glass. “I don’t like traitors and he’s got rat written all over him.”
“What choice do we have?” said Grace. “He’s the reason Emmie is free and he’s our best chance of stopping Eli.”
I was reluctant to trust March again, but Grace was right. The plan we’d devised saw March taking on a huge amount of the risk. If he chose to betray us and things went wrong then he’d be the first one to suffer.
Eli’s twin, Evan, had always been a mystery to me. In our world filled with twins Will and I were always curious to meet our father’s brother; but we only ever saw him in photos and were never granted the opportunity. We begged and begged but it got us nowhere. Eli was too stubborn and eventually we stopped asking.
Now we finally had the opportunity to not only meet Evan but to use him to give us the upper hand.
If we could reach him then we could trigger a Tether event. If we could do that then we could speak to Eli and have his undivided attention. It was no surprise Eli had kept his brother hidden, if anything bad happened to Evan it would also happen to Eli and that was a huge risk.
He wouldn’t be the first high profile figure to keep their twin hidden away. Key military figures hid the identity of their twins and even some celebrities refused to tell the world who their brothers or sisters were.
For a price you could get records changed to hide your twin’s real name or even pretend someone else was your twin. Then it was just a case of living with the fake twin or hiding the real one. Eli was just the latest in a long line of people who had gone to great lengths to hide the Tethers that bound them.
It was time those Tethers were revealed.
“How many men do you need?” asked Jacobi.
“Just a couple,” I replied.
“A couple? We have a mini army here!” said Jacobi.
“Yes, and a mini army will give us away in seconds. We need to be subtle and we need to go in quietly.”
“Frankly I’m offended,” said Jacobi. “Do you really think my men are such bumbling fools that they’d give you away? We can be stealthy when we need to be.”
“You’re going to stick them in a van aren’
t you?” I said.
“Oh no,” said Jacobi. “That’s just for out in the sticks. In London we have a much better way of remaining hidden.”
After some discussion we agreed that myself, Rex and Grace would breach the base with March’s help and that a small group of soldiers would serve as a secret backup team. Jacobi would be watching us via satellite and we’d wear ear pieces so he could keep us informed of any developments.
Rex wasn’t happy when I told him March would be the one helping our group but he didn’t have a choice. He marched into the holding cell and uncoupled March from the table, only to handcuff his hands back together again.
“Is this really necessary? I’m cooperating,” said March.
Rex didn’t reply as he led him from the room.
Outside of the theatre he placed March in the backseat of a car with blacked out windows. I sat in the front with Grace, whilst Rex sat in the back next to March so he could watch him.
“If this is a trap I swear…” said Rex.
“It’s not,” said March. “I wouldn’t do that to Emmie,”
“Again, you mean?” said Rex.
“No! I’ve spent the last seven years looking over her. Where have you been?” snapped March.
Rex pushed March against the car door and reached for his gun. “What did you say?” said Rex.
“Boys!” shouted Grace. “Enough!”
Rex dug his elbow into March as he pushed himself away and back to his side of the car. March leant away from the door and sat straight in his seat. He looked down at his handcuffs, suspiciously.
“Where are we heading?” I asked.
“210 Garden Drive, Kensington,” said March.
Grace started to drive.
“There’s something I’ve always wondered,” I said to March. “Back in Smyth West my family lived in poverty and yet Eli managed to set up The Deck and fund his plans. How did he do it?”
“Despite where you lived your father was never poor,” said March. “He was a very successful scientist before the Siege and even afterwards he was very well rewarded financially.”