EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set

by K. J. Chapman

  “Bo’s downstairs,” I say to him.

  “We’re getting out of here.” His grip tightens on my top. “Follow me.”

  I pull from his grip. “I’m not going to leave her down there. She could be hurt.”

  “Do you reckon she’d come back for you?”

  “That’s not the point,” I hiss at him. “I’ll distract Boss, and you get out. I’ll find another way.” I jump to my feet, and Boss fires at me from somewhere in the dark. I race toward the corridor that leads to the cells, bullets hitting the walls and furniture in my wake. Cooper’s right, Bo probably wouldn’t come back for me, but I’m clinging onto whatever decent piece of myself I have left. I have to go back for my own sake.

  The corridor is thick with darkness. No light seeps in at all, and I half run, half bumble my way in a blind, fumbling state. Feeling for the swing door, I notice the cold, gust of wind before I even descend the stairs. A large hole has been blasted in the wall, and the cells are all open.

  Bo ushers men out through the hole, taking charge, and barking orders. She sees me and shakes her head in disbelief. A grin spreads over her face. “You’re one lucky cow, Leason. Why the hell have you come back down here?”

  “I came to find you. I heard the explosion.”

  She stops briefly, her brow furrowing. A dawning realisation graces her face, but she quickly shakes it off and replaces it with her stern, Bo face. However, I don’t miss her side glance or the sincere smile of thanks for coming back for her.

  “You definitely have a death wish, Leason. Get your ass outside.” She slaps my shoulder and follows me out.

  I scan the faces in the chaos. Where’s Cooper? “Cooper should be out here,” I scream at her.

  She, too, scans the crowd. “Well, he isn’t.”

  I left him and he was hurt. I thought he could look after himself better than Bo could. I feel sick to my stomach. Darting back into the cells with Bo’s shouts following me, I ascend the stairs once more and speed through the black corridor. Bursting through the doors into the fight room, I careen straight into Boss.

  He grips my hair as I struggle, clipping a collar back into place before I can react. Dread fills every inch of me. He drags me along behind him, launching me across an open stretch of floor. “Don’t try any EVO shit with me.”

  He back hands me across the face, and I stagger away with lights dotting my vision. Grabbing a piece of chain, he charges me, wrapping it around my neck before I can counteract.

  ‘Don’t panic, Teddie,’ I say under my breath, desperately grappling for my boot.

  Boss’ twisted face looms over me, his arms straining from the force of strangling me. I feel the smooth handle of the blade and stab it into his thigh. The pressure on my neck releases. He shrieks out, giving me enough time to find my footing, raise my hands, and jab cross. I do as Cooper said- I aim for his throat and bingo- he tilts his head, and I smash his jaw with a satisfying thump. He stumbles backward, and I round on him again. I swing another jab cross to his ribs and chest. The shock on his face is satisfying, but short lived. I stumble over a piece of wood, and he uses my distraction to his advantage. Swinging his leg, his boot meets with the side of the head, and then he tackles me to the ground.

  His nose bleeds, dripping on to my neck. “You’ve cost me a lot of money here tonight, but I’m sure I’ll get compensated when I deliver you to the detention centre. I wonder what they have planned for you?”

  I squirm under his grip. He pins my wrists with his knees and sticks a finger into my stab wound. I scream out in sheer agony. He doesn’t plan on killing me, he plans on torturing me.

  Wielding the blade over my face, he laughs loudly. “I think we need a more permanent way of knowing who is freak and who is not.”

  “You’ve already branded us,” I shout, still trying to free my arms.

  He pierces my forehead above my right eyebrow with the tip of the knife and sticks it in deep. I shriek out again, tears spilling over my cheeks and into my hairline. He’s going to carve freak into my forehead. I can’t let him brand me anymore. He drags the knife down toward my eyebrow, and I physically shake under his weight. In the next instant, he lunges forward; the knife drags down into my cheek, narrowly missing my eye itself. Blood spills over my face as Boss is knocked onto his stomach.

  Cooper throws himself on top of him. “Get out of here, Teddie.”

  Boss grabs Cooper’s mutilated hand and squeezes until Cooper buckles from the pain. He brings his fist down on top of Cooper’s head. Over and over he pummels him, wrapping the chain around his neck. Cooper claws at the chains, his face turning purple and contorted.

  Scrambling to my feet, I run up behind Boss, pick up the blade, and stab it into his neck. Cooper rolls out from beneath him as Boss falls onto his stomach. The blood pumps like a fountain from his jugular, and the knowing in his eyes is chilling. He knows he is dying and that I am the one who killed him. It feels like time has slowed, but it only takes a moment for the life to leave him.

  I grab Cooper’s good hand and drag him toward the exit. He stumbles over his own feet, wrapping an arm around my neck to steady himself. He’s practically unconscious and is like a dead weight on my shoulders.

  Figures appear through the doorway; torches shining in our direction.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Teddie, is that you?” calls Leoni’s voice.

  “Yes, over here,” I shout, lowering Cooper to the ground.

  He sees my face and groans. “You shouldn’t have come back for me. You could have been killed, you bloody idiot.”

  “Well, I wasn’t exactly going to leave you here. We assholes have to stick together.”

  He laughs, and then falls unconscious.

  Leoni wraps a blanket around my shoulders, escorting me out into the wet night. Rain washes over me, and I just stand for a moment, soaking in freedom. The gravelled car park is littered with dead bodies. Masked, armed people stand over the few surviving Taggers and the fight house punters.

  “Are they E.N.C?” I ask. Leoni shakes her head. “Where’s Adam? Is he alright? Is he here?”

  Leoni looks up to the clouded night and exhales loudly. “When we got back to the E.N.C base it was burning. Don’t panic- Adam was long gone. A couple of E.N.C guys hid in the surrounding fields and they said they saw him get out with a short-haired, blonde woman.”

  “Yana,” I gasp. “Bo said about a woman, but I never thought.”

  “They’re alive. We’re not sure where, but they’re alive. That has to be enough, for now.”

  I turn away from her and close my eyes.

  “Not here,” says a robotic voice. A man in a mask strides over to us. His mask is a black, skin tight fabric with a grill over the mouth. His voice sounds electronic from talking through some kind of synthesiser. “No telepathy until we’re away from here. We haven’t scouted for drones. Also, if you’re linking with your boyfriend, you might want to remind yourself that there could be drones his end too.” He hands me a bottle of water and keeps walking.

  He knows a lot about me, yet Leoni appears at ease with them all.

  “Who are these people? And how do they know about my dual ability?”

  “They’re Shift, Teddie. They seem to have found us. They’re good people, our people,” she says.

  “Strength and mercy,” Kesh says, slapping me on the back. He lugs an unconscious Cooper across the gravel with the help of a second masked man.

  “Look after him,” I say to Kesh. He dumps Cooper onto a stretcher. “He’s family.”

  “You too,” says the second masked man, gesturing to another stretcher. The synth talk is disorienting; I could be speaking to anyone. I know that is the idea, but I can’t help but picture Towley behind the mask.

  I refuse the stretcher. I’m walking out of this place. Leoni directs me toward one of the vans, but Kesh’s shouts stop me in my tracks. Cooper’s awake, no longer on his stretcher, and is beating two men senseless. He doesn’t let up
; their feet writhe between his legs. Kesh and the second masked man drag him away, so I can see who has felt his wrath: Armpits and Goatee. Cooper’s eyes meet mine, and I nod my acceptance. Those scumbags deserve much worse.

  “Leave him,” I say to Kesh.

  The masked men have gathered. I can spot the man who spoke to me about not linking just by his impressive gait. He stands forward, one hand in his pocket and one on his gun. The Taggers and punters cry and whimper like drivelling messes.

  “They’re rapists.” I add.

  The main, masked man studies me for a moment. “Are you one hundred percent on that?” asks his unnatural voice.

  “They had my trousers down, but were interrupted. I doubt I was the first.”

  “They’re scumbag rapists,” Cooper snarls, panting from the effort of beating them.

  The EVO escapees shout their agreement. “They’re rapists, alright.” “They all are.” “Cowards!”

  Armpits sobs through his blood filled mouth, and Goatee raises his hands in surrender. Two gunshots fire simultaneously, and both men slump over in pools of blood. Shouts and screams erupt around us; the Taggers and punters quaking in their skins.

  The main guy turns to the quivering crowd. “EVO or Non-EVO isn’t the issue here. We will kill all rapists. We also kill anyone who fights EVO for entertainment.” Another three gunshots resound off the buildings. The Non-EVO punters scream and shout. “As for the rest of you, don’t forget the mercy we’ve shown you tonight.”

  “Please, take me with you,” calls a woman at the back of the crowd. Her husband- lover- whatever he is, punches her so hard that she falls to the ground. “Please, take me away from him. I have no problem with EVO. Please,” she begs. “Please, don’t leave me with these people.”

  The main guy walks over to them, hits the husband with the butt of his gun, and gently helps the woman to her feet. “We know a place that will provide you with shelter.”

  I watch him lead her to the bus and help her inside. All the while, my heart beats a little faster. I’m watching Shift in action.

  “Strength and mercy,” Leoni whispers in my ear. “Your people. Our people.”

  I look at the EVO faces. “Where’s Bo?” I ask Leoni.

  She shrugs. “That blonde E.N.C girl?”

  The main man takes my hand and helps me into a van. “She had a choice and she chose to head out on her own.”

  That sounds like Bo. Nice to know that she waited to see if I made it out alive.

  ***

  Our van jostles over uneven dirt roads, and Leoni dresses my eye.

  “Adam was safer if he believed that I had died along with Stuart. I couldn’t take a child on the run, and Stuart begged me not to drag Adam into my world.” Her sudden willingness to communicate takes me off guard, but I don’t interrupt. “I knew he was a young EVO, but he was always so sensible with his ability and understood the importance of secrecy. I had been working with Shift since Adam had turned three. I was foolish enough to think us invincible. We were anonymous; Rafe was the only one who knew all of our identities, and I trusted him with my life.”

  “But Jude betrayed him?”

  “Not betrayed exactly. Jude joined the E.N.C to gain intel for Shift, but he got pulled in and never came back. That broke Rafe. He had already lost your mother to her hatred and the drink, and then to lose Jude too.”

  “He told you all of this?”

  “We were friends. Rafe was intelligent- dedicated- some called him a renegade. Brilliant isn’t enough of a word to describe that man.” She smiles to herself, staring off into the distance with glazed eyes.

  “You loved him,” I say. I can feel the emotion settling around her like a cloud.

  Leoni snaps out of her reverie. “I loved my husband.”

  “I never said you didn’t, but you loved my grandfather too.”

  She hangs her head. “We never had a physical relationship. I couldn’t have done that to Stu, but Rafe was...magnetising. I did love him, possibly more than I ever loved another man.” Her voice catches in her throat. “I idolised Rafe, but he was twenty years my senior. Is it bad for me to say that if I hadn’t had Adam when I met Rafe…Well, I guess I would have taken that risk? But Adam needed stability, and I did love Stu. He offered me normality whereas Rafe could never.” She shakes at her head, leaning back from me.

  “So, who killed your husband?”

  “Rafe sent me to Cornwall when Shana contacted him out of the blue. She was worried about your advanced telepathy, and Rafe suggested she try a memory manipulator to give you a chance at a childhood. When I met your mother, I knew that you had little chance at a normal childhood regardless of your ability.” She gives me a sympathetic smile.

  “Observant,” I say, returning the smile.

  “I locked away the memories of your telepathy, of me, of Adam, and even the ones of Isaac on Shana’s request.”

  Shana was covering her own tracks, rather than protecting me.

  “The crash happened no more than seventy-three hours after I manipulated your memories. We we’re driving Adam back from football training when the brakes failed. The government had tampered with our family car. They were willing to sacrifice the life of a nine-year-old boy to rid themselves of me. Stu tried to steer us clear of railings, but the sharp turn just rolled us down an embankment. He died on impact, and Adam witnessed it all. I was in pretty bad shape, but I managed to get him away from the car. Rafe came and collected us. He set the wheels in motion, sorted out death certificates, bribed the medical examiner. If everyone believed we were dead, they wouldn’t be looking for a dead boy.”

  “Oh, God, Leoni. I’m so sorry.”

  “That’s why I had to leave Adam. I manipulated him for his own safety. I was keeping tabs on him, though. Una, a retired care home manager, was a friend of your grandfather’s. She helped sort Adam’s paperwork and get him in the system. She even played along with the story of my death. Una made sure that Adam eventually got into a safe care home. I was sick to my stomach when I knew he joined the army. He was fighting for the people who killed his father and never even knew it. I lost track of him when he went to Italy with Wheeler. I had no idea what Roscoe had made of him.”

  “How did Yvette Simmons not access those memories during her manipulation sessions with him?

  “Because I’m good at what I do. There’s no shame in admitting that.”

  I like her confidence, it makes me feel safe with her. Her ability isn’t physical in nature, but Leoni is a force to reckon with.

  “And what happened to my grandfather?”

  “Una contacted me to tell me she had heard talk that Rafe had died. They murdered him in his own home and staged it to look like suicide.”

  “How do you know it wasn’t suicide?”

  Leoni shakes her head. “I had spoken to Rafe that morning. He told me he’d been tipped off about a hit out on him. It’s too much of a coincidence.”

  “And these people are Shift. I mean, the real deal?”

  “Yes, I believe so. You will understand soon enough. They’ve had an ear to the ground where you are concerned. Grayson was right, although, it wasn’t you finding them, it was them finding you. When we arrived at the E.N.C base, Shift were already waiting. We had no idea what had become of you or Cooper, but it didn’t take much for Kesh to discover that the Boss man was researching you.”

  “Why have Shift been looking for me?”

  “Because you are your grandfather’s blood and that means something to these guys. Well, one in particular.”

  The door is flung open, and the smell of bonfire blows in on the breeze. I hadn’t even realised we had stopped moving. Leoni jumps down onto the frozen ground, her breath escaping her in a cloud. I follow her, my eye and chest throbbing from the cold. Six large, military style tents surround a camp fire situated in the middle of a tree shrouded field. The night sky is wet and quickly turning frosty.

  The masked people get out of the vehicles w
ith Kesh and Cooper. Cooper scruffs my hair and kisses my forehead. It’s a comfort to know that he genuinely cares. It wasn’t just a need for companionship in an impossible situation. Cooper and I are a team.

  Our driver, a woman judging by her slim frame, gently pushes me on. “I’ll get you something warm to wear,” she says. She’s being kind, but the synth makes her sound monotone and emotionless.

  I stand motionless, soaking in the warmth of the fire. Wheeler pops into my mind and my heart aches again. Adam and Yana might be safe somewhere, but Wheeler, Emiko, October, and Seth are still at the mercy of the government.

  The main man walks up to me. “The answer is still no. Give us an hour to scout the area, and then we’ll consider a link.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Shift.”

  “No. Who are you? Do I get to see your face?”

  He turns on his heels. “Follow me.” Then, he shouts to some of the other members. “Brick, Kid, bring everyone in. We’re having a meet.”

  I enter a tent behind him. Leoni is already pouring herself coffee from a kettle on a camp stove. Cooper sits on a deck chair, growling as the masked woman dresses his hand.

  Main guy opens a second deck chair and taps it impatiently. I sit, unsure of anything except the pain that’s slowly overwhelming me and my hunger that is fuelled by the scent of hot coffee. Cooper grabs a cup and downs it in one, then pours another and downs that too.

  “You’ll be shitting through the eye of a needle tomorrow,” laughs main guy through his synth. It’s not so much a warning as a statement. He wipes at his hands with an antiseptic wipe, squats in front of me, and peels my dressing away. “I’ll butterfly stitch it, for now. It’ll have to do until we get to Syndicate headquarters. I hear they have a doctor.”

  “Is that where we’re going?” I want to see Jude, and I need to give Adam a location when I link.

  He concentrates on my eye. It’s unnerving not being able to see their reactions or hear their real voices.