Council of Evil (15 page)

The hangar was dimly lit when Jake appeared. He wobbled on shaky legs and gingerly placed the backpack on a workbench so that he wouldn't drop it. He had been pretty sure that the bomb wouldn't detonate from a simple knock, but was uncertain how it would respond after being teleported about seven thousand miles.

After waiting for the wave of dizziness to pass, Jake headed for the passage that led to the command center. He was feeling weary and irritable as he recalled Chameleon's words. The superjerk had spoken to his parents, and Jake couldn't shake the ominous feeling that Chameleon had done something bad to them.

As he got closer to the command center, he became aware that the usual operation background noise was no longer there. However, he could just hear the faint sound of Basilisk's voice.

Curious, Jake edged forward to the end of the passage and froze as the door automatically spiraled open. Basilisk was standing with his back to him, and apparently hadn't heard the door open. The screen had eight separate images across it, each with a different person peering out. Jake was at an angle to the screen, so the dark contrast washed out their features; nonetheless he could still make out a range of bizarrely shaped heads. It was clear that whoever was on-screen was displeased with Basilisk, who was nervously shifting his weight from one leg to the other. Jake tiptoed into the room and hid under the nearest desk.

“The Council warned it was ill advised, Basilisk,” boomed the somber voice of one of the figures.

“Not that your opinion matters anymore. And I disagree. Hunter has exceeded your predictions.”

Jake perked up the moment his name was mentioned.
Who were these people and why were they talking about him?

“You have had no approval to recruit! And especially not him! That is a direct violation of Council rules, yet you still continue to indoctrinate the boy!”

“I am no longer a member of the Council! I left because of your stupid rules!”

“We threw you out! We'd gathered enough information about your activities to warrant our intervention.”

Basilisk sneered. “Ah, yes. You sent the weather boy to do your work. Well, it failed—and I will deal with Tempest when I deal with the rest of you.”

“An idle threat! And Tempest has served us well. Even as we speak he is rendezvousing to be brought back into the folds of the Council. You are on your own!”

“I could wipe you both out together. Save some time.”

A chorus of squeals erupted from the wall panel. Jake heard the words “insolence!” and “traitor!” Basilisk chuckled, amused at the reaction.

“Not that we'd meet him in person,” snarled the main voice again.

“You are all cowards to the last. And you wonder why I've broken away.”

“We
threw you out
,” reminded a female voice.

“No, I left before you could.”

Jake frowned. He remembered Basilisk telling him
that the Council was a governing body, designed to keep villains in check. But Basilisk was no longer a part of this? Was he an outlaw? Jake tried to get his head around the concept of a criminal who had broken the criminals' own laws. Jake's old black-and-white view of the world would have branded Basilisk as either a good guy or the worst criminal of the bunch. But after the last week he was fast learning that such polar opinions meant nothing. The truth was always something more complicated.

Jake didn't consider himself an
evil
person, but then again he had just bought a nuclear bomb from, he assumed, the Russian Mafia. Suddenly, accidentally burning down the classroom seemed a petty crime.

“Your rules are antiquated!” Basilisk shook his fist at the screen. “You have no idea of the boy's potential! There is more to him than what a simple online diagnostic test can show.”

There was a moment's silence as the figures onscreen muttered among themselves. The only phrases Jake caught were “anomaly,” “genetic matching,” and “database corruption,” all of which made zero sense to him. The woman's voice rose again.

“Until we have further chance to investigate this situation, you must not use him as an asset and you have to turn yourself over to us.”

“No,” bellowed Basilisk. “Plans are in motion that even you cannot stop!”

“Your scheme is extreme, Basilisk,” came a new gurgling voice. “Your calculations are in error and you pose an unacceptable threat to the world. You risk wiping out life as we know it and therefore your own allies!”

Jake could now see that Basilisk's fists were balled, and his shoulders squared in anger. “You are no allies of mine! The Council is archaic and grows weak!”

Jake reasoned that if Basilisk's plan was really crazy enough to wipe out all life on earth it was in essence a suicide mission—meaning Basilisk and Jake would die too.

And my family … and Lorna
, added a small voice at the back of his mind, a conscience he had not heard for a long time. He resolved that he would go home and see his parents and sister as soon as he had talked to Basilisk.

Basilisk's voice raised in fury. “A new generation is rising that will see you extinct! And I will lead that revolution!” He stabbed a button on the control panel and all the screens went dead.

Jake pressed himself farther under the desk and hoped that he hadn't been spotted eavesdropping. Basilisk spun on his heels and stalked into his side office. Only when the door had closed did Jake expel a long sigh.

He was out of his league in trouble, and he knew the
right thing
to do would be to turn Basilisk in to the authorities. But when had Jake Hunter ever really done the right thing? Besides, he was now implicated in
the madness. There was no way he could talk himself out of this situation.

He climbed out from underneath the desk and sat in a swivel chair. His eyes felt heavy, so he closed them, propping his head up with his arms as he worked through the new events.

Basilisk was working directly against the Council, and had said they would soon be “extinct.” And now Jake remembered bucket-headed Doc Tempest saying it was a good thing Basilisk had “broken away.” Jake had heard the term “loose cannon” before and it seemed appropriate here.

For some reason the Council knew about Jake and were against him. In fairness, Basilisk had defended him. His head pounded from a growing headache as he tried to rationalize.

His so-called friends hadn't attempted to defend him; in fact all three had taken the first available opportunity to turn on him. Did that make Basilisk his friend? In his experience, friends lied to each other all the time, but still remained friends. And while Basilisk's plan was absurd, Jake didn't think for a moment it could be
that
dangerous. Basilisk wasn't the suicidal type and he clearly had plans for the future, for leading the next generation. If it only took one explosion to rock the world, then the earth would have been destroyed many years ago.

It had to be a bluff
. His eyes flicked back open. The new thoughts made sense. Basilisk had originally told him that he was keeping the plan quiet for security reasons—no doubt that meant from traitors like Tempest. Basilisk wouldn't initiate a plan to kill himself, so the obvious conclusion was that detonating the bomb was a bluff, and his real scheme was some kind of attack against this sinister Council of Evil.

Jake could feel his superpowers ebbing. He now recognized the symptoms, which left him very tired and weak. He felt a strong desire to download more and wondered if this was what addiction felt like.

With a gentle swish, the door opened and the technicians entered carrying food and Styrofoam coffee cups. Obviously somewhere deeper in the complex was a dining hall. Jake's stomach rumbled with the glorious prospect of food. He gave his chair to one of the technicians, an old guy in his fifties, who reminded Jake of his own grandfather. The man nodded politely, and Jake thought, a little respectfully too.

That was one thing Jake could get used to: being respected rather than shouted at and ordered around. Basilisk reappeared from his side office.

“Hunter! Have you just arrived?”

“Yes,” lied Jake.

“And the bomb?”

“You could have told me it was a nuclear warhead,”
said Jake. He tried to sound angry, but was just too zonked.

“That would have been an extra concern you did not need. Where is it?”

“In the hangar.”

“And you had no trouble?”

Jake laughed at the irony. “Do you mean apart from my three friends turning against me and another run-in with that shape-shifting freak?”

“Chameleon? He found you so quickly?” Basilisk looked away, presumably staring thoughtfully into space. His cowl never lifted, and Jake felt curious, for the first time, as to what Basilisk actually looked like. Why was he concealing his face? That was another mystery, but his stomach reminded him there were more pressing matters at hand.

“I'm going to get something to eat now. Then I want to go home and see if my parents are okay.
After that
you can fill me in on the next part of this scheme of yours. And will we get to keep the money this time?”

“If this works, we get to keep
everything
,” purred Basilisk. “But your parents—”

Jake had been ready for an argument. “You picked me, remember? So if you want us to work
together
, then I'm going to see them. Just for a few minutes to make sure the Enforcers haven't got to them. No arguments.” He
stared levelly at Basilisk. Or at least where he thought Basilisk's eyes should be.

“Very well. But before we go I have one last important task for you.”

Jake sighed; Basilisk was pushing him around again. “Can't it wait?” he snapped.

“No. It's to show you how much I trust you, and how important you are to the success of this operation. I want you to be the one who announces our intentions to the world!”

Mud sucked around Jake's boots as they teleported into the field close to his house. Jake eagerly started forward, but Basilisk cautioned him.

“Be careful. If the Enforcers have been here, they will have set perimeter motion alarms.”

Jake didn't respond. He was feeling exhausted and there were so many unanswered questions about Basilisk that he no longer knew who to trust. He pushed forward through the trees on his own.

One phrase from a video game ran through Jake's mind: “the point of no return.” It meant that you had traveled too far to turn back, since the destination was closer. And that's exactly how Jake had felt when, before they left the island, Basilisk had placed him in front of a camera.

Jake had read from a preprepared sheet hanging just to the side of the camera. They had to record the demand twice because his mouth dried up. Basilisk had assured him that his face would be obscured and his voice digitally altered to hide his true identity.

Jake wondered why Basilisk had not announced his intentions to the world himself, but the question remained unspoken, as he didn't want to provoke Basilisk and ruin his chances of seeing his parents. And that was another point that irked Jake. If he was free, then why did he have to ask permission?

The patch of woodland gave way to Jake's yard and he could see the house ahead. Warm lights blazed from within, which was an encouraging sign. Jake was slowly advancing across the lawn when something caught his attention—a small orb poking from the grass next to a garden gnome. That was new.

Jake carefully approached it, and a small whirling noise inside made him freeze. It sounded like a tiny camera moving. It was one of the motion sensors that Basilisk had warned him about. He had said they were configured to detect the altered DNA that supers possess, so they wouldn't go off every time a bird moved past.

He cursed his clumsiness. The Enforcers now knew where he was. He didn't have much time.

He tried the back door but it was locked. He was sure that only his family was home, but still he proceeded cautiously. He climbed onto the porch, inched open his bedroom window, and dropped inside. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and when they did he felt a chill run through his body.

The room was empty.

All his possessions were gone. His posters, his computer, Xbox, and even the mirror that was covered in stickers and postcards were gone. The room smelled strongly of fresh paint. It was as though somebody had tried to erase any trace of him.

Downstairs he heard strains of music and laughter from the television. He crept out onto the landing and poked his head into his sister's room. That was as messy as usual.

The floorboards creaked under his weight as he stealthily walked downstairs. In the living room his parents were watching TV and enjoying a glass of wine. Beth sat with her feet up on an armchair, reading a book. His father's deep laugh reassured him that everything was okay.

“Hi,” he said nervously.

Nobody stirred. They must be really annoyed to ignore him like this. He stepped into the room.

“I'm back!”

Still no response. Now Jake was hurt. He purposefully stood between his parents and the television.

“Hello? I'm back. Your son has returned!”

His father just belly laughed again at an inane joke from the TV sitcom. Jake frowned; nothing felt right. He waved his hands in front of their faces, and noticed his parents' expressions turn glassy, as though trying to focus behind him. Beth looked up.

“When is that pizza going to come? I'm starving.”

“Shouldn't be too long,” their mother replied.

“What's going on?” Jake demanded. “I'm not invisible. I know you can see me. Hello!”

Their ignorance was so frustrating that Jake swiped a picture off the mantel in exasperation. It smashed on the floor but nobody took the slightest notice. Jake was about to shout when he noticed the photograph. It had been taken on a family holiday about five years earlier. It was one of the few family photographs they were all in.