The Cumerian Unraveling Trilogy (Scars of Ambition, Vendetta Clause, Cycles of Power)

by Jason Letts

  “What is this about? I don’t have all night,” Portia said, reclining against the couch.

  “Why not? Your chickens aren’t the only ones looking for a cock tonight?” Velo said to Portia’s rolled eyes.

  “We’d all have a hard time finding yours,” she muttered.

  Ralph resisted the urge to grin as he pulled a sheet of paper and an envelope from the briefcase. With the chancellor gone, Ralph was sitting with three of the most powerful people in the country, and as long as their tenuous alliance held no one else had a chance at getting control of Cumeria. Velo and Portia bickered and sniped, and Keize was no great friend to either of them, largely there only out of convenience. Ralph had to find a way to drive them apart.

  “What I’ve got here is a document entrusted to me by the late Lowell Bracken, his last will and testament, to be exact. This constitutes the official reading of the will, which will determine the beneficiaries of his estate and fortune,” Ralph said, leaning forward in his seat. Velo chuckled and Arnold scratched his neck. Skepticism all around.

  “What farce is this? Shouldn’t this be read to his wife and kids?” Keize said gruffly.

  “I’ll get to that in a moment,” Ralph said, raising a finger to Keize.

  “The real joke is this estate,” Portia added. “Most everything the man had was snatched away by that bankster clan of Hockleys. Bunch of grifters and charlatans. What are you divvying up anyway, Bracken’s other pair of shoes and his false teeth?”

  “You say it like you wouldn’t take them, Portia. You’d steal a dead man’s eyes if you thought they’d help fertilize your melons,” Velo said.

  “Trust me, the last thing my melons need are any more eyes.”

  “Then maybe you should stop exposing yourself like a roadside fruit stand,” Velo said.

  “Hey!” Keize snapped, covering the girl’s ears. “Impressionable minds don’t need to hear that kind of nasty tone.”

  Ralph swallowed loudly and waited until he regained their attention. Of the three of them, Keize was the only one who could use an additional fortune, but he too would find himself tempted by what Lowell’s passing left up for grabs.

  “Fruit stands aside, the fact is that the estate of Lowell Bracken contains valuables of a quite different sort than money,” he said, pausing to give their imaginations a chance to run. “Yes, you might be wondering what a man who was formerly one of the richest and most powerful in the country has tucked away in his cellars, and the answer is quite a lot. There are the properties scattered around the country, sure, as well as quite a few antiques that would be considered national treasures. But don’t forget that he was a broker of energy with more thorough knowledge of the nation’s resources than anyone.”

  “Being a lawyer has given Mr. Fiori an incredible talent for beating around the bush,” Velo spoke up out of annoyance.

  “And we all know the only thing you’re concerned about is sticking your face in the bush. Let the man continue,” Portia said, receiving an icy glare from Velo that was as good a cue as any for Ralph to explain the contents of the envelope.

  “Let me be blunt then. This envelope contains maps detailing Cumeria’s entire energy infrastructure. It has every substation, transformer, alpha line, power node, right down to every cable,” Ralph explained.

  Keize erupted in laughter, squeezing the girl’s ears with his muscular hands.

  “I call bullshit on this. I’m not doubting you’ve got some maps, but they’re not going to be any different than the maps and schematics we’ve got back at Bolt & Keize headquarters in Rock Shield. We’ve been working with the grid for over a decade. If you thought you had something of serious interest, you’re sorely mistaken,” Keize said.

  Ralph chortled, letting a little contempt seep through. If Keize could be sold on this point, the other two would fall in line and it would be court adjourned.

  “A decade? That sounds like a long time, but Bracken Energy was in operation for more than a century. Did you ever stop to think why they were able to distribute electricity much more cheaply than you? We already saw during the campaign that there are alpha lines running through the country that no one knew about. That’s just the beginning of the secret system of conduits that connects every community on the continent, trumping the known grid as well at key points,” Ralph said.

  “We’ve got no trouble producing power on our own, thank you very much,” Velo said, leaning back and putting his hands on his stomach. “There’s enough coal beneath our feet to heat our homes and power our light bulbs for thousands of years.”

  Of the three of them, Portia Illiam was the only one who didn’t have a reliable source of electricity. But it wasn’t the ability to secure cheap energy for themselves that he meant to dangle in front of them. Ralph opened his mouth to answer only for Keize to speak up.

  “If what you say is true and there’s some shadow grid spread across the country, what was stopping Lowell Bracken from using it to shut everything down once he was threatened? What’s stopping somebody in the ClawLands now from using it to drain the entire electrical supply?” Keize asked in astonishment. Velo and Portia were in rapt attention. Now they were starting to see what he was getting at.

  Ralph pursed his lips and held up the envelope.

  “Lowell was on the run before the battle at the ClawLands had ended,” Portia said, her eyes fixed on the envelope. “His towers had fallen, maybe cutting off his access. And then no one else there would’ve known the power they held if it was all hidden away…”

  “Inside this brown envelope,” Ralph concluded.

  A moment of silence ensued, in which Ralph gave them time to envision a scenario in which they had complete and exclusive control of the nation’s energy infrastructure. The lack of communication was an exceedingly good sign. All three of them had aspirations to establish themselves as the head of state now that Chancellor Aggart had died, and strategizing about an advantage like this was not something they could communicate with each other. Their wide, glazed eyes were all brimming with the promise of this opportunity.

  “But again, are you really leading us to believe that you’re just going to hand over the Brackens’ greatest heirloom to us, three of the people most instrumental in his downfall?” Keize said with refreshing honesty.

  “I bet that walking disaster Sierra Bracken would have something to say about this,” Portia said, snorting.

  Ralph set the envelope down and returned to Lowell’s will.

  “I said we’d get there,” Ralph chided them, looking over the page. “I’ll be the first to say all of Lowell Bracken’s estate and fortune should be passed on to his remaining family members, but there’s a very specific passage of his will describing his beneficiaries that has brought me here. According to the will, ‘the one who ushered him into After’ will receive the contents of his estate. In his private life, Lowell was a man of romance and passion, who expected to die with his true love Trissandra Bracken at his side. She, however, was not his wife, so using the word “wife” was out of the question, because it would’ve referred to Melody Hockley, who Lowell didn’t want to receive anything.

  “The unfortunate side effect of using this vague language is that from a strictly legal standpoint, the will means that the one responsible for his death should receive the maps in this envelope. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but one of you is responsible for Lowell Bracken’s death, right?”

  Another moment passed as the three executives warily exchanged glances. Then all at once they blurted out their guilt.

  “Keize, come off it! You had nothing to do with the old gas bag’s death,” Velo said, pointing a finger.

  “I beg to differ. Bolt & Keize’s rising stature provoked Bracken Energy, which put him in the sights of the chancellor and led to his death,” Keize said, his voice rising.

  “That makes about as much sense as that little girl being your daughter,” Portia sniped.

  “How dare you question my fatherhood!�
� Keize said in indignation.

  “He’s right,” Velo said. “Just because you haven’t been able to pass anything out of that shriveled-up prune doesn’t mean you get to question other people’s parenthood. Besides, I don’t see how anyone could question that I was responsible for his death. I gave the order, and the man was shot dead not half a mile from here.”

  “I have had enough of your impertinence,” Portia said, leaving the couch and taking a bold stride over to Velo’s chair. She towered over him. “It was my decision to cross the Still Sea for Madora, where we found Lowell Bracken in the first place. That makes me responsible and entitled to his estate.”

  Ralph watched the scene play out, each of them arguing with each other over who had really killed his friend. But none of them felt a shred of guilt over it, meaning they couldn’t really be responsible, not when Ralph had turned his back on Lowell. If only he hadn’t been so distracted by his divorce, Ralph could’ve made Lowell look like a saint in court, rendering him untouchable by any of these fools or the chancellor. But the chance for that was gone. All he could do now was hand over the brown envelope.

  “This is madness! I deserve those schematics. You wouldn’t even understand them.” Keize’s snarl would be enough to scare a gory bear, but Portia didn’t hesitate to turn on him.

  “And you, you’re just a hack who got lucky by stumbling upon someone with a great invention. You have no leadership skills, and the way you’ve grown attached to this girl gives me the creeps,” Portia said. Sniffling, the girl started to cry. “Let me show you both how a real executive acts. Give me that fucking envelope now.”

  Portia held her hand out to Ralph, who looked her square in her blue eyes and extended the envelope. It was over. If only Lowell could know what had been done for him.

  “If you think you’re going anywhere with that,” Velo said, jumping to his feet. Portia immediately got in his face.

  “What, you’ll tie me down and teach me a lesson again? I never make the same mistake twice, and I’ve got more farmers in this mansion right now than you have miners. If you lay a finger on me we’ll flatten this place until it’s no taller than cabbage!”

  The three of them started shouting at each other, but Ralph didn’t even try to follow. He put the remaining papers back in the briefcase and got up from his chair.

  “I’ll show myself out,” he said to no one in particular. They didn’t notice when he slipped out the door. On the way down the stairs, Ralph took comfort in the surprise Portia would get when she finally found out what was in that envelope.

  CHAPTER 1

  The cracking sound of a fist landing a blow sent a pleasurable thrill through Taylor as he walked along the streets of Toine in the early morning. His half-brother Randall waited for him at the Spiral, but the familiar sounds of a fight proved irresistible.

  Doubling back, Taylor peered down a cramped alley where two Guard members had a man pinned against the wall.

  “Are you a tough guy? Are you tough enough?” one of the men in the tight black uniforms yelled before drilling their victim in the stomach. Taylor hadn’t donned his uniform since the night the chancellor bled to death while still in his grip, and ever since the urge—desire even—for aggression was irresistible.

  Taylor turned down the alley to intervene, taking long strides as he evaluated the situation. A large Guard van blocked most of the other end of the alley not far from the fight. As Taylor got closer, he noticed the two guards had beards and shaggy hair, obvious violations of their code of conduct. The victim appeared to be a citizen of considerable size that might’ve been able to get away or fend them off, but he must’ve known the consequences for assaulting the men in the Guard, who were trying to provoke him into hitting them.

  “If he’s not able to help you, I will,” Taylor called. His breathing deepened, as did the anticipation for releasing the tension building inside of him. The two guards looked his way, and Taylor was sure he’d never seen them before. If their hair was any indicator, they’d only been in the Guard a few days.

  “That’s great,” one of them said, leaving the man against the wall and stepping down the alley. “Because we’re looking for guys like you.”

  His partner pulled a standard-issue baton from his belt and tapped it against his hip. As much as Taylor was itching to fight, he resisted the urge to unleash the energy in his veins that would make his skin turn blue. The chancellor had that same energy, caused by mutated bacteria, and they were still finding cadavers tucked away in his suite. Taylor didn’t want to find out where the energy would drive him.

  “You asked for it,” one of the guards said, cocking his fist back and charging at Taylor, who twisted out of the way and shouldered him off his feet. Alarm flickered in his partner’s eyes, but he slashed with the baton anyway, catching Taylor’s forearm and thigh before receiving a crushing punch to the face that sent him sprawling.

  The first one jumped on Taylor’s back and tried to choke him, but he wasn’t strong enough to inflict much damage with the maneuver. Taylor removed his arms and pulled him over his shoulder, slamming him head first against the ground. The guard groaned and flopped onto his side.

  Taylor smirked when he saw the other one hadn’t taken the hint that they were outmatched and ran. It felt so good to release all of the pent up rage, and Taylor didn’t want it to end. He leapt forward and caught the man by his chest, pushing him back against the wall. It seemed an effortless act to close his hands around his neck and lift him off the ground, so much like he’d done to Chief Investigator Toggler not long before. Killing Toggler was necessary for getting to the chancellor, but this guard was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Gritting his teeth, Taylor continued to squeeze as his hands took a deep shade of blue. The man’s eyes fluttered closed and his mouth hung open, but Taylor couldn’t let go. The first guard got Taylor’s attention when he lurched onto his feet and scrambled away, and only then could Taylor let the dead man in his hands drop to the ground.

  Taylor clenched his jaw. It used to feel good when he’d expelled all of that pent-up aggression, but now it only brought guilt and shame at his loss of self-control.

  “Are you all right there?” Taylor asked at last to the man the guards had been harassing, who took one awestruck look at Taylor and escaped around the van. Sighing, Taylor couldn’t help feeling like something of a monster.

  But the question remained what these two new guards were doing and why they were looking for guys like him. A thump inside of the van got his attention, and Taylor grabbed the keys and went around to open its enclosed back cab. When the lock turned, a number of muffled voices erupted inside. When the door swung open, it revealed half a dozen men and a few women all bound, gagged, and blindfolded.

  “Liquid hell!” Taylor was shocked. These looked like regular people. Taylor yanked the gag out of one woman’s mouth and began looking for the key to the cuffs. “What happened to you?”

  “They just found me on the street and said I needed to come with them. I’ve been sitting here for hours while they drove around roughing people up and…‌and…” she stammered.

  “And abducting them. I get it. Do you have any idea why?” Taylor asked, undoing her handcuffs and removing her blindfold. The man sitting across from her began emitting noises through the gag, which Taylor pulled off.

  “They told me I was going to join the Guard and fight to keep my country in order,” he said. Taylor raised his eyebrows at these worrisome developments.

  “So they’re what, conscripting citizens to form some kind of Guard militia. That’s crazy,” Taylor said, thinking about all the ways it went against the Guard’s ethos of taking only the strongest.

  “Is that guard dead? Did you kill him?” the woman asked in shock, peering down the alley at the man in the black uniform lying still on the pavement. It brought an uncomfortable feeling to the pit of Taylor’s stomach.

  “Release the rest of them and tell everyone you know
what happened to you, but you can leave that body out of it,” Taylor said, tossing the keys into her lap and darting away.

  He resumed his walk along the street, trying to pretend nothing had happened, but in just a few minutes so much had changed. After he and Randall had killed Chancellor Aggart, they’d expected to immediately encounter resistance from the Guard, but instead it appeared that Cumeria’s primary military institution had found something else to keep itself busy.

  Taylor rushed back to the Spiral, which Randall refused to leave under any circumstances. As the seat of power in Cumeria, Randall believed that leaving it for even one minute would shut him out of whatever happened to the country now that its government was history.

  After Aggart died, his staff fled. Word got out to the masses assembled in Triton Kniviscent square that the election was moot, and the country had entered a state of anarchy. Signs of looting, small-scale riots, and utter lawlessness could be found everywhere, and the Guard snatching people off the streets would be the lynchpin that kept everyone locked in their homes. That was all just in Toine, and what was going on in the rest of the country was anyone’s guess.

  Taylor passed the statue of Triton, who would wield his giant cudgel until the end of time, and approached the magnificent Spiral. It was majestic, full of curves and slopes, and stood high above everything ugly happening on the ground. It took a while to ascend even halfway up, where Randall had claimed an office for himself. His media crew had departed, leaving him with only a few supporters.

  “Randall!” Taylor called, pushing open the door and embracing the warmth inside. His brother was standing at one of the windows, where light filtered into an otherwise dim room. “I’ve stumbled upon something terrible.”

  “Taylor!” Randall called in alarm.

  “The Guard is taking people off the streets and pressing them into service!” he said.

  Only then did he realize Randall had called his name in order to shut him up. Some base chortling from near the center of the room and the scratching of a pen against paper drew Taylor’s attention to a table on a red carpet.