“How is Adam?” Fernan asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I start from her touch, wiping my eyes on the back of my sleeve. “Sleeping, finally.”
“How are you?”
Trying and failing to keep my emotions in check, I break down. “I’m responsible,” I sob. “This is all my fault. I used my name to encourage these people to fight with us, and now, Wheeler’s dead… so many people are dead.”
“That is not your fault,” Fernan insists. She wraps her free arm around my neck. “No one here is fighting for you, they’re fighting for themselves and their freedom. You can’t shoulder the blame—”
“We all know the truth, Fernan. I should have gone with Plan B,” I snap. “No one would have had to fight. I should have done it and I didn’t. I was scared, and now, people are dead. My friend is dead, and another is barely hanging on.”
“The decision to continue with the raids was mutual, and if we had succeeded, more beneficial to our plight.”
“We’ve accomplished nothing!”
“Not nothing. We’ve rescued over two hundred people, Teddie.”
“And nearly two hundred are dead! Everything that could go wrong went wrong. The information about the stealth plane was bullshit. It wasn’t at either centre because Towley knew a raid was imminent. The pellets were destroyed in the explosion. What little your team managed to salvage won’t even cover our people, let alone these starving rescuees.”
Fernan scuffs at the dirt with her good foot. “Yeah, well, it was never an option to do more than rescue them.”
“We got most of them killed!” I growl and kick the deck chair. “Plan B has just become Plan A. Do what you need to do to set it up, and tell Lorrell to have that chip ready.”
“Are you sure? What about Adam and Rafe?”
I half laugh. “Don’t pretend that this isn’t what you want. Get that chip ready. The rest is down to me. I’m not scared anymore.”
“I’m glad you’re seeing the light. Perhaps this wasn’t a total lost cause. You know the Technokins that Towley is blackmailing to do his bidding? Well, I’ve done a register of survivors, and it seems we have liberated their family members tonight.”
***
Adam still sleeps. He desperately needed rest, and I think his body is taking time to process his grief. Leoni told me that he went crazy when he woke up from the sedation after the world believed Teddie Leason to be dead, but that was different, he knew I was alive. He was angry. This is pure grief for his best friend- his brother. Grief without hope. I pray that I get him back from this. Just another bad memory to add to the catalogue. I have no idea how I’m going to tell him that we’re moving forward with Plan B, much like Rafe did, I expect: cussing and shouting until blue in the face. Rafe isn’t happy, but this is happening and he can see it in my eyes. He’d rather help get me in and out safely than spend valuable time arguing about it.
It’s too quiet. Not a soul passes by as I sit on the deck chair outside the tent. The final two transports are leaving at midnight, so everyone is getting what sleep they can. Taking a deep breath, I lean back and stare at the stars. How many names will I have to associate with the heavens before this is through?
The chair beside me creaks as Emiko sits heavily into it. She looks like her heart has been ripped out of chest. Her heart has been ripped out of her chest.
“It’s quiet tonight,” she says. “It feels right that it is quiet.”
There is nothing I can say to make this better, but I have to try. “I’m so sorry, Emi.”
Silent tears pool from her eyes. She makes no sound, her eyes look glazed, yet those tears don’t stop. “Sorry for my loss, or sorry because you feel guilty for it.”
“Both,” I sob.
“Wheeler isn’t dead because of you, Teds. He is dead because he was born EVO and had to fight for the basic human rights that have been denied to us all. We still have to fight for that. This can’t end here, otherwise, he died for nothing.”
“And that’s why I am moving forward with Plan B.”
For a moment, she looks worried, but then she lowers her eyes in acceptance. She knows that I have to do this. She understands where I am coming from and would do it herself if given the option. Her fingers trace the outline of my face.
“Wheeler was lucky that he got to call you a friend. And he’d be proud that something good could come from his death. You love him enough to do this, and I love you for it.”
She’s being kind when I don’t deserve her kindness. “I should have done it before, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“Nanakorobi yaoki. Fall seven times and stand up eight. It’s an old Japanese saying that my grandmother would use. We always get back up. It’s what we do after the fall that matters. What you do now to give Wheeler’s death purpose is what matters.” She stands, straightens her shirt, and tucks her hair behind her ears. “Wheeler would never blame you for this. You know what he’d say? ‘Stop crying for me and finish this, Baby Girl.’
I look up to the stars once more and whisper to him, “I will.”
I watch Emiko head back to her tent and compose myself before heading back inside to Adam. He sits on the edge of the camp bed, head in hands.
“What did you hear?” I ask, sitting beside him.
“Everything.” He starts crying again, this time, laboured sobs through which he can hardly catch his breath. He falls into my lap, and I wrap myself around him. “I’m going to lose everything… everyone.”
“That’s not true.”
“You’re going to Towley. I’ve already lost you.”
“No,” I say, firmer.
He sits up, such a sorrowful, heart breaking look crosses his face, and it’s as if the air in my lungs is replaced with ice water. “I can’t protect you,” he whispers. “I’ve never been able to protect you- any of you.”
“You’re our leader, not our protector. What did I say to you? Support not protection, remember? I can do this. And do you know why I can do this? Because I have you on my side. I know that once I’m in, you’ll do everything in your power to get me out. You’re my other half- literally. So, listen to my words, my voice, and tell me that I’m lying when I say that Towley will not kill me. I will not let him. You will not let him.”
“Two halves of a whole,” he says, determination steadying the quiver in his voice. “I do this only because I know that I can’t stop you without you resenting me for it.”
“And for Wheeler,” I say. “You heard Emiko. This can’t end here.”
He sighs into the air. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
“Wheeler said something to me before the raid, ‘If not us, then who?’ I’m going to destroy the man who killed Nigel Wheeler, and I’m going to fight for what is right because he died trying to do just that.”
“And I’m going to help you.”
***
The first attempt at a ‘Plan B’ meeting didn’t go well. It ended with Adam pinning Cal to the wall by his neck, and Rafe getting a bloody nose from trying to muscle them apart. Adam isn’t handling the unknown well. Giving him anything less than a one hundred percent guarantee of my safety just antagonises him. He’s not being realistic and he knows it.
Fernan asks Rafe and Cal to leave, so she can have a word with Adam and I alone.
“You remind me a lot of the me from before. Despite what you may think, I do like you, Teddie.” She turns to Adam. “And in regards to what I said when I was angry… I do see you as my friends. So, believe it or not, I don’t want to see Teddie put in harm’s way. Towley won’t kill her.”
“How can you be so adamant?” Adam argues.
I place a hand on his to calm him. “You from before? You can’t be more than five-six years older than me.”
“You’ll be surprised by how much six years can change a person. You think that I’m some kind of heartless animal that cares for nothing but my own end. Truth is, I’m not the cold-blooded, E.N.C. bitch t
hat you think I am. The only bombings I have sanctioned were of military bases, air fields, and government buildings. The bombings in London, the attacks on the Non-EVO public, that wasn’t me or the E.N.C. It was Towley sullying our reputation. The government fear our numbers, our abilities, and our mission, so we’re used as an umbrella organisation. Not only that, Towley has a personal vendetta against me. I know what type of man he is. I know he won’t kill you because he has an obsession with you. I know this because he had an obsession with me too. I have him to thank for the dudd leg.” She taps her cane against her leg and leans a little closer. “I let him into my head, Teddie. I fell… Let’s just say that I was younger, and he said everything I needed to hear.”
Adam holds his hands up. “Whoa, back up. Are you telling me that you… and him?”
Fernan hangs her head. “You don’t know how he is. She does. Don’t tell me that he didn’t make you feel special. I was lonely, scared, and hurting. He was the sergeant who tried to protect me, who would look after me when they hurt me. He swore he would try to free me. I found out who he really was by accident. One of the guards let slip in conversation with another EVO. Ray was the head honcho. That meant that he was behind my electroshock therapy, he gave the orders to torture me, drug me, experiment on me. He even allowed the doctors to sterilise me, so I would never be able to reproduce.”
Neither Adam nor I can find the words to speak.
“I was one of the weaker EVO. Yeah, I can give you an asshole of a headache, a nose bleed or two, but it won’t kill you. That meant that the guards became complacent with my transfers. One night, when I was unshackled from the wheelchair to get dressed for bed, I took the butter knife that I had sneaked from my food tray and killed every TORO and guard on my floor. I took their guns and went to the medical and science wards and killed every doctor there too, and then I went looking for Ray. At that point, I didn’t care if I lived or died. As soon as I walked into his office, he shot me. Once here,” she taps at the scar on her shoulder, “and once through my hip. All he knew was that I was no longer his. I was no longer under his control.”
“You are not making me feel any better about Plan B,” Adam says, standing to pace the tent.
“How did you get out?” I ask, ignoring his interruption.
“I didn’t, not for another ten months. I was transferred to another location, and once I was well enough, the experiments and the torture continued. Ray never came to see me after that, if anything, the torture got worse. I knew he was there, watching, listening. He wanted to hurt me because he had lost me. I was broken out by the E.N.C. Lorrell hacked the security systems of a cleaning company with government contracts. They used that as a way inside. Cal led the team to rescue me. Unfortunately, Ray wasn’t there, otherwise, I would have killed him once and for all.
“Did he ever tell you why he hates us. Well, why he hates EVO?”
“No, but once I was out, I did some research. A powerful EVO killed his family when he was just eleven years old. His step-father was an important, government man, and was one of the first to back the Evolution Project. The project was the first EVO hunt, capture, and test scheme. Rafe founded Shift to challenge that very project. Towley grew up in the image of his step father, vowing to avenge his parents and sister. He’s succeeding, but you can stop him. His weakness is his need to be in control - to own. That will be his downfall. Let him think he owns you, Teddie, and then make him wish he never heard the name Theyda Leason.”
Adam sits down beside me. “I wish you had told me this before. I’m sorry for what he did to you,” he tells Fernan.
“Don’t be. He made me into a weapon just as much as he did to you and the other TORO. I care about you both. Trust me, Adam,” she says, placing a hand over his. “He won’t kill her.”
“I believe that you both believe it and I can work with that.”
Fernan shoots me a smile. “Shall we get to work, then? I have a feeling that this is the operation that will go down in the history books.”
She gets to her feet and smacks the cane against her leg to get it moving. Adam rushes over to help her with the door. She stops, pulls him into an embrace. I don’t recall ever seeing such a display of affection from Fernan. “Thank you for sharing the burden of all of this with me,” she says. “It hasn’t been for nothing. I’ll make sure of it.”
Rafe and Cal stare wide eyed at the sight of Adam and Fernan hugging.
“I’m ready to listen,” Adam tells them both. He even goes as far as to pat Cal on the shoulder.
Rafe drags us both into the office, slamming the door behind us. “What the hell did she say to you in there?”
“She told us some personal stuff in confidence,” I say.
“Well, did she tell you anything that you are happy to repeat, or do I have to read you.” He’s agitated and taking it out on me.
“She told us that Towley’s motivation stems way back to his childhood. His step-father was one of the founders of the Evolution Project, but he was killed along with his mother and elder sister by an EVO.”
“The Evolution Project, hmm, that makes sense. Anyway, she wouldn’t have to tell you that in private. Come on, give me something to work with, Kiddo.”
“She has the cane because of Towley. She knows him personally, so we’ll do well to listen to her,” Adam interrupts.
His admission surprises me as much as it does Rafe.
“How does she know him? Can we trust her connection?”
“She has the best knowledge of the real Towley aside from me. I trust her,” I admit. “Let’s just say that he has made enemies of the wrong women.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The final transports leave the check point and we’re on the road for home. I’m desperate to see Crow. Kesh has been in constant communication with Lorrell who went back with the first convoy. Surgery has started to remove Crow’s damaged leg. I suppose, no leg is better than the alternative. At least Yana is by his side. She was punishing him before for leaving her behind. Now, she is punishing herself for not forgiving him sooner.
The journey home couldn’t have come at a better time. Adam is preoccupied with ensuring a trouble-free trip, and hence, not fretting over Plan B. Other than the three leaders, Cal, Emiko, and I, and no doubt, the Technokins at base, no one knows that Plan B has been given the green light. That means I haven’t got anyone chewing my ear off. By anyone, I mean Cooper.
Wheeler and the member who died at the camp are being transported back with us. They will be given a proper burial during a memorial service for all those lost at the centres. I can’t bring myself to think much on that.
The morning sun crests on the horizon when we make it back to base. First stop, visiting Crow.
“He’s still drowsy,” Yana tells me, throwing herself against me in tears. “Jonah says that he shouldn’t really be having visitors for a while, but I know he’d be happy to know you’ve stopped by. How’s Emiko?”
“I daren’t imagine,” I say, truthfully.
“And Adam?”
“Devastated, but distracted. He’s got something else to be focussing on and it’s helping him cope, for the time being. You were right, we no longer get a say either way. Plan B has become Plan A. Adam and Rafe are reluctantly on board.”
She takes my hand in both of hers. “I’m in,” she says. “But don’t speak of this around Crow, not yet.”
I sit at Crow’s bedside for the best part of an hour. Sometimes, he wakes and looks at me as if still dreaming. Occasionally, he says my name or panics if Yana isn’t close by. She settles him easily enough, and he drifts back to sleeping once more.
“Let me know if there is any change,” I tell Yana, excusing myself to find Adam. “I’ll send the Shift crew down one at a time to keep Jonah happy.”
She follows me out. “Tell Adam to count me in. If there is anything I need to know, you know where to find me. As soon as Crow is on the mend, I’ll be back to training. I need to be a part of thi
s, Teds. I want to marry that man in there one day, have his kids, and I want to be able to tell them that their Mum was part of the revolution, that their Mum helped their Auntie Teddie change the world.”
I laugh, blinking away tears. “I want that for you too, but does Crow know that he’s a betrothed man?” I joke.
“He asked me. He had just woken up from surgery and was high on drugs, but it still counts,” she giggles. She hands me a tissue from up her sleeve. “What about you? What do you want from the future? It’s a good thing to hold on to.”
“I’m so tired, Yan. I need to find some peace for Adam and I, but I’m finding it hard to think that far ahead.”
Darcy bounds down the hallway to me, almost flooring me as he leaps into my arms. He licks over my face, checking that I’m alright. I carry the dopey mutt like a babe in my arms.
“I told you I’d be back, didn’t I?” I tell him, burying my face into his neck.
“Yeah, but for how long?” Cooper marches toward me, looking like he’s about to knock my teeth out. Adam must have clued him in on Plan B. “Why do this?” he says, quieter. His anger seems to disperse like steam.
I lower Darcy to the ground and allow him to dart around us in a craze. “Because we’re out of options, and I won’t let Wheeler’s or anybody’s death be for nothing. Our story has another chapter to it.”
“It’s called ‘Suicide Mission’.”
“This is how it’s going down, and if I’m doing this, I need my number one asshole backing me up.” I judge his reaction, waiting for him to call me an idiot and storm off. “You will back me up, won’t you?” I press.
He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and then he hugs me close, fitting me against his chest much to the shock of the bystanders. I know this Cooper- the big softie that hides behind arrogance ninety-nine percent of the time.
“Stupid question,” he says, placing his chin atop my head. “I love you, Asshole. I mean, not in that way. God, no.” He shudders, and I laugh. “But I do love you.”
EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set Page 80