Ill-Fated (Ill-Fated Series Book 1)

by S. C. McMurray

  “Are you sure this is the first time you’ve handled a gun?”

  “I’m positive.”

  “Wow.” Adam said, impressed. “Smart and pretty.”

  Evelyn blushed, but glanced away in hopes that he didn’t see.

  “Now, I’m going to teach you how to aim and fire the weapon.” He tilted himself away from the targets, spread his legs shoulder’s width apart and raised the gun. “See what I’m doing?”

  “Yes.”

  He relaxed and gave her the gun. “Now do what I did.”

  She held the gun in her hand, it was sharp, cool steel. She stared at it like it was an alien artifact. It might as well have been.

  “Now imitate my stance.” Adam repeated.

  She tilted herself away from the targets, spread her legs shoulder’s width apart and raised the weapon.

  He lightly kicked one of her heels. “Another inch further.”

  She did as directed.

  “Perfect.”

  He stepped behind her, placed his head next to hers.

  She could feel his warm breath upon her neck as he whispered, “Line up the sights on the direct center of the target and pull the trigger.”

  She aimed at the nearest target, took a breath and fired. It was off to the right.

  “Not bad.” Adam admitted. “The natural tendency is to be rigid, but I want you to relax your arms a little bit. Picture the gun as a natural extension of your hands. It will help.” He reached down and lightly placed his hands on her hips. “A tad to the left.”

  He gently tilted her hips to the left. His hands lingered there before he stepped away. “Try again.”

  For a moment she contemplated missing on purpose in hopes that that would provide him another reason to correct her stance again. She had to admit that his touch felt natural, maybe needful, like breathing. But she reminded herself that what she was doing wasn’t a game and that what he was trying to teach her could save her life one day. Hers or his. So she relaxed her arms a bit, slowed her breathing and focused the sights on the target and fired. It was dead center.

  She looked over her shoulder at Adam expecting a compliment, she got orders instead.

  “Again.” He commanded.

  She took aim and fired. Another bull’s-eye.

  “Again.”

  She pulled the trigger. Same result.

  His eyes narrowed as if he couldn’t quite trust what he was seeing. “Try the next one up.”

  Evelyn took aim and fired. A perfect hit.

  “And the next one.”

  Another direct hit.

  “Keep going.”

  There were seven more targets and Evelyn fired seven bullets with seven direct hits. She lowered the gun and turned to Adam. He had a keen look about him. He didn’t look confused or even surprised. Only interested, like a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough discovery. Evelyn waited for him to say something but without saying a word he walked over to a nearby control panel.

  “How many shots do you have left?”

  “Six.”

  He pressed a button on the control panel and all the targets slowly sank into the ground. He typed something in then turned back to Evelyn.

  “Get ready.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just get ready.”

  Evelyn resumed the proper stance and raised the gun. There was silence, then one of the mid-range targets popped up. Evelyn fired. She continued in this routine until all six targets had sprouted out of the ground like weeds. And if they were weeds, she was the gardener and what a gardener she was. When it was all said and done, she had six direct hits.

  Evelyn lowered the gun and looked expectantly at Adam. There was no compliment waiting for her, only the manner of a man searching for an answer to a question he didn’t even think to ask. His eyes stayed on her, motionless. But she had a feeling but his mind was churning behind them.

  He abruptly turned back to the control panel. “Reload, I’m going to try something else.”

  “What now?”

  He pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t ask questions, just reload.”

  Evelyn sighed inwardly and replaced the spent clip of ammunition with a full one. Adam pointed toward the range and Evelyn resumed the proper stance once again. Adam pressed a button on the control panel and stepped back to watch. Seconds later there was a thunking sound as a ceramic disc was flung into the sky above the range. Evelyn fired but missed. The disc kissed the ground and broke into tiny little pieces. She stared blankly at them, surprised that she had missed.

  After a few seconds, she shrugged. “I guess I’m not perfect after all.”

  Adam nodded toward the range. “Try again.”

  Evelyn raised her weapon. He pressed a button on the control panel. The thunking sound, another disc. She took aim and fired. The disk broke and shattered into tiny little pieces that fell to the ground like snowflakes.

  Adam gave her no time to celebrate her achievement. He pressed the button rapidly and the discs flew in all directions across the range. Almost instinctively, she moved from one to another. Not a single disc hit the ground intact.

  Clap. Clap. Clap.

  Evelyn and Adam turned around to see Arthur standing with the help of Reg. He was still clapping his worn arthritic hands together. “Impressive, young Evelyn. Very impressive.”

  Finally a compliment. Adam was quiet.

  Arthur took the cane from Reg and trundled toward them. “How long have you been shooting, young Evelyn?”

  Evelyn liked the way he talked. He was curious, yes, but also impressed.

  She suppressed a smile at the fact that she was actually good at something. “Umm…this is my first time.”

  “Really?” The old teacher said with a gleam in his eye. “You must be a natural.”

  “I’ve never been accused of being good at anything in my life.”

  Arthur chuckled. “Well you are handling it quite well.” He turned his attention to Adam. “What do you think?”

  Adam responded nonchalantly. “She’s is very good.”

  “Perhaps better than you?”

  Adam smiled and for the first time since she started shooting, she saw a crack in his focused veneer. “I don’t know about that.”

  A wry smile formed on Arthur’s face. “Shall we see?”

  “A shooting contest?” Adam asked.

  “No, I think she has already proved she is a better shot than you.”

  Adam shook his head in disbelief. Evelyn seized on it.

  She nodded in the direction of Arthur. “You know, I’m really starting to like him.”

  Arthur hobbled to the control panel. “Precision is one thing, Evelyn, application is another entirely.”

  “You are going to put her through the course aren’t you?” Adam asked.

  “Let’s see how good she really is.” Arthur pressed a few buttons on the control panel and a large door opened in a pull barn. He hobbled in that direction and gestured for them to follow.

  Evelyn hustled to catch up to Adam. “The course?”

  “You remember how I said that I spent my summers here? Well my father insisted that I receive extra training.” He paused. “The course was my extra training.”

  They stepped inside the long shadow of the pole barn and the door closed behind them. Evelyn had assumed that the large structure housed farm equipment or animals. She was wrong. On a large concrete slab sat a small block of homes, elbowing each other for room. Directly in front of them was a street lined with a few cars. Aside from the metal sky, it was a typical suburban street, much like the one where Everett and his family lived back in Cincinnati.

  “What were you training for?” Evelyn asked.

  Adam shot a skeptical glance her way. “Do you really have to ask?”

  Evelyn didn’t really need to ask. It was obvious that he was training for combat on American soil. She didn’t know why she felt so shocked about it. So, the Party was secretly training its of
ficers in American suburban warfare. What were they expecting?

  Adam held out his hand. “Gun please.”

  Evelyn handed him the gun. He put it to rest in the holster on his side.

  “We don’t use live ammunition on the course.”

  “What do I use then?”

  Adam walked over to a nearby metal case that resembled a large tool box. He pressed his palm against the top of the case and it opened. Inside were more firearms. He dragged his fingertips across the handles until he snatched out a handgun that was almost identical to the one Evelyn had just practiced with, aside that it was painted silver instead of black. He closed the lid and walked back to Evelyn.

  “It’s a 9mm replica.” He handed it to Evelyn. “Everything works the same, it just uses laser ammunition.”

  Evelyn held it down to her side. It was a tad lighter than the 9mm she had recently used. She made a mental note of that.

  “Are you ready?” Adam asked.

  “What do I have to do?”

  Adam shrugged. “I don’t know. Arthur controls the simulator.”

  Evelyn bit her lip. “Simulator?”

  “Yes and the simulator will be fighting back. Don’t worry, you won’t die. But if you get hit, it will hurt like hell.” He smiled. “Trust me I know.”

  Evelyn nodded her head nervously.

  Arthur’s voice beamed from a loud speaker. “Young Evelyn, step onto the platform please.”

  Evelyn took one last look at Adam. He patted her on the back and stepped away. “Good luck.”

  She attempted a smile and did as directed. One could say that she should feel confident with her skills after her recent display of proficiency, but as she waited on the platform for all hell to break loose, none of that mattered.

  All went dark before a hologram appeared before her. It was a face lined in green, she didn’t recognize the woman.

  “Soldier,” the hologram said harshly. “There is a bomb set to go off in five minutes. It will level this city and the SPC will do whatever they can to stop you from deactivating it. Your mission is to find the bomb and deactivate it. Remember there are civilians.”

  That’s it? That’s all I have to go on?”

  “You have five minutes.”

  The hologram dissolved into the darkness until there was only a countdown hanging in the air like red ribbon on felt. 10,9,8… Evelyn swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Her nerves were on fire. The platform beneath her feet began to rise until it was level with the street. She stared unblinkingly at the numbers as they trickled away. 3…2…1. The streetlights bloomed like bursting suns and the entire block lit up with gunfire. Evelyn bent down and scrambled to a nearby car. Her inauguration had begun.

  Lasers, like blue sparks, streaked the air above her head. There was fire and smoke, lots of smoke. Based on the angle of the shots, she estimated that there were at least four hostiles shooting at her, but that was really only a guess. She needed to get eyes on them. She attempted to stick her head up over the hood of the car but as soon as the top of her head appeared, the enemy unleashed a barrage into the shiny metal.

  She was lucky not to get hit. She dropped back down and searched for another way to get an eye on them. A few seconds later, her eyes fell upon the passenger’s side mirror of the car. With one good kick she was able to strip it off. Like it was a periscope on a submarine, she lifted it just above the hood of the car. Before the enemy blew it to smithereens (burning her hand in the process) she managed to see five shadows firing at her from across the street. Though they were not together, they seemed to be centered on one home. She would start there. But how?

  She pressed her back against the car and covered her hand. The pain quickly went away. Strangely, her thoughts were coming to her faster than the enemies lasers streaked through the air and she was able to formulate a plan of attack in seconds. She slipped off Adam’s hoody, wound it into a ball and tossed it to the other side of the car. The hostiles took the bait and lit into it like it was a fox and they were a pack of hounds. Evelyn jumped to her feet and took aim. Five shots, two and a half seconds and the hostiles were eliminated. There was a spark of glee, of pride, but she felt the tick of the clock in her body like it was buried in her ribcage.

  Wasting no time, she sprinted for cover behind another car but a whiff of gas brought her to a screeching halt. Instinctively, she ducked and covered her head as the car erupted into a ball of flames. She crawled through wreckage to the base of a nearby tree.

  A door on the nearest house opened and a woman stormed out. Evelyn raised the gun and fired, not at her or the child she was carrying, but at the man behind her with a rifle. His head swung back and he crumpled to the ground. She fired again at a hostile aiming at her from an upstairs window.

  The female hologram sprinted by her as Evelyn hurried to the side of the house. With bent knees and two hands on her weapon, Evelyn crept along the side of the woman’s house to the privacy fence that separated her from her target. She took a peek through the cracks between the boards. There were no hostiles in sight, so she swallowed a quick breath and hopped over it. She landed softly on the fake grass and headed straight for the back door.

  She tried the knob, it was locked. She took a step back and kicked the door. It didn’t budge. She sighed, took another few steps back and then launched herself at the door. There was a sharp pain in her shoulder but the door was open. She quickly picked herself up. There were footsteps trampling stairs. They were coming up. She looked for a basement door and readied herself.

  It opened slowly and something was tossed out. Evelyn wasn’t sure what it was, and she didn’t stick around to find out. She ducked behind the fridge and closed her eyes. The house trembled and billowed out smoke as if it was coughing. Evelyn’s ears rang with a high pitch sound that was slowly suffocated by voices, shouting at each other in a language Evelyn didn’t understand. There were two of them, a man and a woman. She caught them by surprise. The smoke helped.

  She crept as silently as possible to the basement door and slowly pushed it open with her foot. The stairs leading down were empty of life. But she had no way of telling who was waiting for her in the basement. She paused at the top of the stairs before cautiously climbing down.

  There was a red glow coming from the corner of the basement, the timer. However, standing between Evelyn and the timer was a man holding a gun to a young girl’s right temple. He shouted in a language Evelyn couldn’t understand but she got the meaning. “Take a step closer and I’ll pull the trigger.”

  Frightened tears dripped from the little girl’s desperate eyes. She was so life like that Evelyn forgot that she was just part of the simulation. Evelyn glanced at her, at him, at the timer behind them. She was running out of time, one minute. She had to make a decision. She had to make the right decision. It wouldn’t be a clean shot but she could hit him. But the girl? What would happen to her?

  If I don’t deactivate that bomb, it won’t matter.

  She sighed.

  I’m sorry.

  Evelyn pulled the trigger, but so did he. The man and the girl both fell. Refusing to look down, she stepped over them to the timer. There were wires, too many wires, of multiple colors. 10 seconds….Evelyn studied the wires. 5 seconds…She felt panic grip her with its razor like talons. 3 seconds.

  Do something! Do anything!

  She dropped the gun and took the timer with both hands and ripped the entire device from all the wires. She closed her eyes and waited for something to happen.

  Adam and Arthur had watched the entire thing from the control booth. They stood in awed silence before Adam finally brought life to what they were both thinking.

  “She won.” He said in disbelief. “No one ever wins.”

  The old man clapped his hands together. “Remarkable, utterly remarkable.”

  Adam turned slowly to Arthur. “And she let the girl die.”

  “Indeed.” He touched his chin. “What do you know about this Evelyn?” Arth
ur asked.

  He shrugged. “She said she was a science project.”

  “She’s not a science project, Adam.” Arthur responded. “She’s a weapon.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  They ate lunch out on the portico, under the diligent eye of the sun, which was suspended above them like the burning rim of a Champaign glass. Evelyn leaned back and basked in both its light and her victory. She completed the course two more times and each ended better than the previous attempt. The scenarios were never the same and were played out in such a way that she rarely went to the same part of the course twice. The one constant each time was that she improved. Everything became efficient, her thought patterns, movements, her use of violence, all became fluid. She was good and she knew it. She didn’t bother to think about why, she didn’t want to think about the why.

  For the first time, she was good at something, perhaps better than anyone else. Definitely better than Adam. When she finished the course the third time, without breaking a sweat, there was only one thing he could say.

  “Damn.”

  She took it has a compliment.

  It was all so exhilarating.

  For Adam, her success only confirmed what Arthur had suggested. With even the best teachers and years of training, he couldn’t do what she did and no one could. It was no question now as to why she was coveted by both the SPC and his superiors. She could be useful to both sides, even if she wasn’t aware of that fact. She both intrigued him and frightened him. He was intrigued by her raw strength and resiliency but afraid of the same things, though his pride wouldn’t let him admit the latter.

  He took a sip of his tea, leaned back and crossed his arms and watched the conversation unfold between his captor and his mentor.

  Arthur crossed his legs. “So tell me about your father, Evelyn.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Let’s start with the basics.” He said, easily. “What does he do for a living?”

  “My father works for my Satrapy’s Transportation Department. Or should I say worked. I doubt they will let him go back after all of this.”