“Promise,” Dawes says again.
I doubt our promise holds much weight with him, but if it makes him feel better.
“I promise you won’t be harmed. We have already gotten Harry to medical help. We’re not here to kill unnecessarily.”
He nods in acceptance. “There were rumours about an escape shaft in Towley’s office. He is a paranoid guy, so I could well believe it. If he’s not on the grid when moving between floors, I guessing the rumours were true.”
“Thank you,” I say, slapping him on the back.
“You’re not how I thought you’d be,” he says to me.
I scoff. “I get that a lot.”
“Nineteen. You’re my daughter’s age.” He shakes his head rather than continue.
“I promise that we will not take your daughter’s father from her. I know what that feels like.”
“Your real father, Leason, was Non-EVO,” says the shaking soldier, as if waiting for my confirmation. He doesn’t believe Towley’s claims about Woodman. “And your mother too.”
This time, I smile. “It happens.” I know that isn’t what he’s getting at, but I’m not here to prove myself to them. I’m here to get Adam and my people out.
“Move it,” Rafe says, pushing them on.
I take Rafe’s forearm. “I’m sending them to the roof. They don’t need to be trapped down here if things go wrong.”
“Kiddo…” His voice hisses with warning.
“We’ve got enough to worry about without babysitting them. Besides, I promised,” I whisper back. “Radio through. Let them know they’re coming up.”
He makes a tutting noise, but after a hard glare at me, he speaks quietly into a radio.
“Thank you, Theyda,” the older soldier says, obviously overhearing the exchange.
Rafe muscles passed me. “You go up that shaft and await our people on the roof. Any funny business and you’ll be put down. If you have any other weapons, now is the time to hand them over.”
After frisking the men, taking two of their baton lights, and spitting more warnings at them, Rafe ensures all five soldiers make their way up the fire escape.
“Teddie, there’s some pretty ominous creaking from this end. Time scale?” says Adam’s fraught voice.
“The soldiers are going up-top. We’re on our way.”
“Good work, Baby. We need confirmation that your side is sound before we start moving debris.”
“And we think we know how Towley got up from the lower levels. There may be an escape shaft in his office. Keep your eyes peeled.”
I tentatively open the door to the office. Dust filled air pours into the room, wrapping around us like arms. It swirls, thick and heavy in the unnatural light from the batons. The hallway is intact for about six metres, and then there is a mound of timber and rubble where the ceiling above has fallen through.
“Adam?” I call.
“We’re through here!” he shouts back. He sounds distant.
As we draw closer to the rubble, and feel the tell-tale shifting of the floorboards below us, we know that this whole floor is teetering.
“How does it look?”
“Do you want us to lie?” Rafe shouts back.
“Yes, please,” Adam replies.
“It’s all roses. The building is not minutes away from crashing around our ears.”
“That good, eh?” There’s a moment of silence from his end. “How are we going to do this? We can’t move the load without putting extra strain on the floor we’re on.”
I’m guessing our end is sounder than theirs, and seeing as this is the exit route, we need to safely clear the path without blocking ourselves out of the hatch. “Just sit tight,” I call back. The humour in my words is not missed by Adam who laughs from his side. “We’ll move the debris from this side and drop it down the fire escape tunnel.”
Without having to explain further, Rafe lifts a mound of timber with his telekinesis. We take it in turns to levitate it and dump it down the shaft. When we get to pieces that seem to be holding up the remnants of ceiling, we have to lift smaller amounts. One lifts, whilst the other supports the wall and ceiling. Eventually, a smiling face peers through at us. He’s still a good twelve feet away.
“Who’s site foreman?” Adam jokes.
Rafe nods to me. “She’s the boss on this one. I’m only here to stop her doing anything too stupid.”
Cooper’s miserable mug appears beside him. “Did you tell her about my finger?” he asks Adam. “Lost another one,” he tells me, holding up the mangled stump. “No chance of learning to play piano now.”
“Stand back,” I warn them, not feeling the humour as the wall I’m supporting shudders against my hold. “Rafe, chop chop.” His eyes flit to huge crack snaking its way down the wall. “Adam, ready the team. When Rafe moves this last load, you guys need to get to the hatch.”
“Not to be a party pooper, but there’s a gaping hole between us and you,” Kid states, replacing Adam at the hole.
Rafe peers through the remaining debris and clicks his tongue. “Adam and I will levitate you all. Trying to jump will only put more pressure on the floor.”
The wall shudders again.
“Sometime today,” I snap.
“You sound more and more like your uncle every day,” Rafe moans.
He takes a final look at the task at hand, and then nods to me. As he lifts the remaining debris, I feel the increasing weight of the ceiling and wall. I know Rafe shouts orders at Adam, Cooper, and the team, but I can’t hear him due to the creaking and my heartbeat in my ears.
Rafe darts passed me, rubble in tow. I can clearly see the team now, huddled on a floor that is literally dipping and swaying under them. Reaching out my telekinesis, I steady the floor as best as I can. Maintaining my strength and concentration on both tasks is a tall feat. I’m already tired from over use of my telekinesis.
Adam starts levitating everyone over the gap, placing them as gently as he can, although, his ‘unmastered gentle’ sends worrying vibrations through my feet. Everyone hurries down the corridor toward the hatch. Rafe appears, helping Adam move people in greater numbers.
“You holding up, Cub?” Brick asks as he helps a limping Cal along with him.
I grunt in way of a reply, unable to slip focus for even a moment.
Rafe relieves Adam of an injured TORO who lies horizontal in the air as he sails by, whimpering in pain from a bullet wound to his thigh.
“Go. Take him,” I grunt, understanding the worry in his eye as he roams my red, sweating face.
Only Adam and Cooper left.
The floor under their feet lurches down by at least two feet. “Move it!” I shriek.
Adam grabs Cooper’s scruff and half jumps, half launches the both of them in my direction before the floor can totally vanish beneath them.
Adam grips my arm, tugging me after him. “Run!” he bellows.
It would be my pleasure to release myself from this burden, but a silhouette sprints over the accordioning floor toward the gap, crying out in fear. Someone needs my help.
I pull out of Adam’s grip, sending him skidding to a stop behind me with Cooper crashing into him from behind.
The person runs and shrieks, their face marred by the dust and darkness.
“Theyda, help me!”
My stomach sinks.
I could let the floor swallow him. I could watch the roof collapse on him. I could allow the walls to eat him. I could, but I won’t. “Justice not revenge,” I whisper to myself.
“Leave him!” Adam hollers as the floor we stand on bucks violently.
Barely remaining upright, I reach out a hand in both directions. “We have to do the right thing, especially now!” I blast Adam and Cooper further down the corridor.
“Teddie, run!” Adam cries at me.
Towley eyes the hole as a cloud of dust showers down on him.
“Jump!” I shout at him.
He does as I instruct, throwing himself bodily into the air
as the floor finally succumbs underneath him. Whipping out my telekinesis like a tentacle, I wrap it around his body and pluck him from the air, dragging him back with me as I turn and run for my life.
Releasing my remaining hold on the walls, I sprint faster than I’ve ever pushed myself in my life, ensuring my grip on Towley. The walls and floor are collapsing behind me, but I can’t waste precious time looking back.
“Rafe, get them out of the hatch! This whole place is coming down!” I scream in my mind.
Once at the office, the floor totally collapses beneath us. One last push, Teddie. Grabbing all three of them - Adam, Towley, and Cooper - in my telekinetic hold, I force out the office wall. The noise is incredible, accentuated by the cries of the three men within my grasp. The rush of cool air filters through the rubble that fireworks out in front of us as I throw us out into the night sky after it.
The air whipping my scrubs to my frame chills the sweat on my skin. People scatter below us as the building rains down around us, and I land the four of us ungracefully and painfully on the gravel as the dust plume swallows us hole.
Eventually, the dust settles a little. My lungs feel dry and full and I gag up soot like phlegm. Figures and vehicles approach, and Fernan shouts orders over a megaphone.
“Did you get everyone out?” I dare to ask Rafe.
“Look to your right,” he replies.
Rafe gives me a salute. He’s totally covered in dust, and the team make their way out of the cloud behind him. Tears streak down my face, half from dust and half relief.
A hand grips my ankle, and Towley crawls up beside me. His eyes peer out of his dust covered face like that of a demon.
“You are truly a magnificent creature, Theyda.”
Adam appears behind him, towering over us like a grey statue. He swings his arm, back-handing Towley unconscious. “Will somebody do something with this pile of shit?” he asks, stepping over Towley’s body.
Helping me to my feet, he leads me out of the mess that was once Facility One.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The stark lighting in the aircraft hangar hurts my already irritated eyes. Jude takes me from Adam, lifting me into his arms and rushing me to the back of the hangar where a team of medics have set up a triage. Leoni escorts Adam in, fussing like a mother hen over the both of us. The Facility soldiers are penned to the left of the space. They sit cross-legged, sullen, and tired. Our people guard them, guns trained. Yana is one of them. She calls after us, and I raise my hand to let her know I’m good… kind of.
Darcy darts about us in a desperate craze to get at me. I reach down my hand to scruff his grimy fur. “I’m okay, Boy, thanks to you. You were amazing in there.”
Jude lies me on a table, pinning my head back as Jonah wrenches my eyelids open and pours water in my eyes. I splutter and gag as the torrent covers my whole face.
“Don’t waterboard her for Christ’s sake,” Fernan hisses, stroking my wet hair back. She leans close to my ear. “You did it, my friend.”
I run my tongue over my tooth, only to feel a hole where the filling was supposed to be. “I lost the chip,” I state. “Expect it back in forty-eight hours.”
Lorrell laughs from the far corner of the hangar. Banks of computer screens are laid out in front of her and Kesh. “You can keep it,” she snickers.
“So, is that it? What now?” I ask.
“This is far from it, Teddie. We have control over the systems, but we haven’t control of the people. Now, we plan and make wise choices. Now, we meet with De’Laney and Cox,” Fernan says, serious face on good form. At least she isn’t beating around the bush with the truth.
Adam hisses at Jonah as he cleans up a nasty gash on his shin. “Have you informed Ethan about Mangard?” he asks Fernan.
She simply nods. “Ethan and the minsters are on their way to the check point. The broadcast will happen at sunrise. We shall be making our way there shortly. The TORO are readying the stealth planes as we speak.”
“Broadcast?” I ask.
Fernan preens. “We shall announce Towley’s incarceration.”
Shouting draws our attention to the front of the hangar. Towley is being carried in an undignified position by four TORO. I was carried the exact same way upon his orders.
“Don’t bring that son of a bitch in here!” Adam orders them.
“Aye, Chief,” they chorus.
“Why, Adam?” Towley calls back. “Can’t look me in the eye man to man?”
Adam launches himself to his feet, but is muscled back by Rafe and Brick.
“Hello, Ray,” Fernan says.
The hangar has fallen deathly quiet. Even the soldiers don’t make a peep. I’m sure Towley’s smile falters, if only for a moment.
Fernan limps her way over to him, her cane tapping as she goes. “Long time, no see.”
“I wondered when you would slither out of your hole,” he spits at her.
“It’s you who’s the snake, Ray,” she says, calmly. Her eyes rove over him as she circles his dangling form. “Drop him,” she tells the TORO. Towley falls in a heap at her feet. His arms and legs are tied, and he has to crane his neck to look at her. “Killing kids, Ray? Seriously? There were new-born babes in that hospital. You know, the one you bombed, and then lumbered the blame at my door.” He remains silent. “No comment, eh, Ray?”
“You haven’t won,” he says, the cracking of his voice making everyone bristle. Is Ray Towley crying? “You people can’t win. This isn’t right. It isn’t right.” He growls out a barking cry. This is Towley facing the truth. This is Towley being part human.
Pushing myself from the bed, I stagger my way over to the whimpering mess of a man who used to terrify me more than he ought. No one looks to stop me. I reckon they’re much too curious as to what I have to say to the man who put me through hell.
“I know who you are,” I say, dropping to a crouch in front of him. “Your step-father was part of the Evolution Project. They imprisoned, tortured, and murdered EVO, right? And I know that an EVO killed your entire family in front of your eyes. You were just a child. That’s horrific, it truly is, and I’m sorry that you had to witness that that at such a young age, but you have always had the power to stop the cycle. You’ve had the motivation since that day to stop the segregation and hate.”
There are tears in his eyes, and for the first time since I have met Ray Towley, I actually feel pity for the man.”
“I understand it now- you’re need to own me. I could be anyone, right? I have been many people to you; the epitome of those you’ve collected over the years. I’m just a crutch for you. If Ray Towley controls the strongest of EVO, he can quieten the screams and cries of his eleven-year-old self. I make you feel strong, but I won’t let you have that power. Your hate has turned you black inside. Do you know who you remind me of? Isaac Woodman.”
Towley hangs his head, tears dripping from his nose and onto the floor. “Well, then, that doesn’t bode well for me, does it? We all know what you did to him.”
“I killed Isaac because he was an immediate threat to my friends and family. It was him or them, an easy choice. You’re no longer a threat to me. Unlike you, I don’t want revenge. I deserve it, but it won’t make me feel any better. It won’t bring people back. But what will make me feel better is justice. A friend of mine, Jonah actually, was right when he said that I have to live with myself after all of this.” I look to Jonah, and he bows his head to me with a smile. “I won’t kill you Ray because that would be purely for revenge. However, I will see you on trial for your war crimes.”
His shoulders shudder as if sobbing, but it’s laughter that seeps out in short hisses. The sound gets louder until he is hysterically guffawing.
Fernan tenses at the sound. “I’m glad you’re finding this funny.”
Towley continues laughing. “I lie down for no one, especially a FUCKING EVO!” Spittle flies from his mouth and his head rages red as his anger takes over. “I am a threat to you, Theyda.” Bend
ing his wrist at an awkward angle, he taps at his watch.
Adam and the TORO race forward, but they’re too late to stop him.
“What did you do?” Adam snaps, hoisting him from the floor and snatching the watch from his arm. “What was that?”
Towley continues to laugh. “That was my legacy.”
Fernan gets right up in Towley’s face. “What have you done?” she whispers. There is pure fear in her voice, a fear I’ve not heard from Fernan until now.
Every hair on my body stands on end as I stagger away from the maniacally laughing man… no, creature. He is the creature, not me.
“Answer her,” Adam roars, shaking Towley like a rag doll.
“I have three ground launched missiles destined for London. Bombing that many people is low, even for you, Theyda.” He grins maniacally. “Did you think that I would go out without a fight? There is no other way.”
“We control everything, Asshole,” Adam snaps. “Kesh?”
“I have traced the message to an encrypted file, but I can’t gain access. I don’t understand.”
One of the rescued Technokins barges Kesh aside and frantically types. “We’ve given you access to everything. This shouldn’t be.”
“Get access- now!” Adam barks.
“We’re trying!” Lorrell squeaks.
“Give me some credit,” Towley says, stretching out on the floor like a man with all the time in the world. “I didn’t get this far without being thorough. It was quite a covert mission to have those missiles moved. I had my best Tech sort the rest.”
Instantly, I search out the techs. “You won’t find him here,” Towley admits.
“You killed him?” I ask.
He doesn’t look to answer. “My operator is solid. He already knows the drill, and now, your time is up. They’ll be on route before you can counteract.”
“What is wrong with you?” I shout in his face. “You’re going to kill hundreds of people. Your own people! End this, now!”
“I am,” he screams back. “There is no scenario in which you win. Like you said, the EVO are in control, so I guess the EVO sent the missiles. This is my ‘Last Hurrah’. You’ve forced my hand in this, Theyda.”
EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set Page 88