The Radical (Unity Vol.1) (27 page)

He was out of breath
and started coughing, still getting over the ordeal.

‘I didn’t know where else to go, but here.’

‘Ryken, calm down, you’re here now. Take a breath. They can’t get you. Just relax. The bathroom is through the bedroom, go and clean yourself up, alright?’

He nodded and looked
pleased that I was instructing him. Meanwhile, I went to the security panel near the front door to set it to stun if anyone were to attempt entry. I closed the wooden shutters in every room.

He ca
me back out after a few minutes but still looked the worse for wear. I got him a blanket out of the closet and laid it out on the couch for him.

‘Take it easy for a minute Ryken, while I think.’

He didn’t have the energy to argue, simply wrapping the blanket around himself and falling down on the sofa. He breathed a deep sigh of relief and closed his eyes. I was pottering about in the kitchen, trying to look busy while I considered the situation.

‘What’s this?’
he asked, nodding at the sheets on the coffee table.

‘It’s what Eve left for me. Only, it seems s
he only wrote on the first page.’

He lifted his head slightly and asked
, ‘Pass it here.’

He looked at the papers
and turned onto his back to get more comfortable as he held them between his hands and turned them over.

‘You know what kind of paper this is, don’t you?’

‘No, what? What is it?’

‘Pass me my
xGen from inside my bag over there.’

I
rummaged around and found what he wanted, passing it over to him. He took out the miniature torch and switched it to UV lighting.

‘It’s translucent printer paper. Spies used to use this kind of stuff.’

As he shone the torch on the pages, I saw letters appear.

‘Oh my god Ryken… all this time.’

I grabbed the papers from him and flicked the torch over them all, checking there were words on each page. I arranged them in page order and eyed Ryken. He had a serious look on his face as he pulled the blanket back up around him. I dared not believe in resolution, I was so wrung out of hope, but knew the words within that letter needed to be read.

‘I don’t know if I can handle wha
t’s in this.’

I knew
another emotional scolding from Eve might finish me off. This would mean, once I had read it, my connection to Eve would be broken. It would all be over and my beloved aunt would be lost to me forever. There would be no more late-night conversations when one of us got lonely or upset and needed to just feel that connection to someone who understood. No more messages or greetings cards. No way of reaching her. It was a hard reality to face.

‘You don’t know what she was like
, Ryken. She was the deepest, truest person I ever knew.’

‘It might be best to just get it over with.’

‘You’re right. I know you are.’

‘I’m here if you need me.’

He beckoned me close and nuzzled my nose, kissing the tip. I reached down and planted a lasting kiss on his lips, a hand against his bruised cheek. His groan of approval rumbled desire throughout my body. Without chance of imminent intercourse, we just kissed for a long time, licking and nibbling until my face scorched.

I tore myself away and moved toward the bedroom.
‘I’m gonna go through and read it in there.’

‘Okay’, he groaned, shifting his huge bulk on the sofa in a bid to get himself comfortable.

M
y darling Seraphina,

I hope you’re sat comfortably. I’m sure by now you will have uncovered the truth about me. Officium wouldn’t imagine their greatest enemy writing a pathetic little letter on paper, so I’ve no doubt this will have found you safely. But, this is not going to be an easy read. There are a
lot of things you need to know and I’m sorry they have to be revealed in this manner but it’s the only way. By now, I will be gone and there is so much you need to know.

I always regar
ded you more as a granddaughter and I hope you thought of me somewhat as a grandmother. I let you believe so many things, but I will tell you the truth now, even if you’ve already found it out for yourself. I hardly know where to start, but I guess at the beginning might be best. I married Tom Bradbury in 2013, the best year of my life. I was so, so content with him, you cannot imagine. Our love was a kind rarely found. We shared so many laughs, so many happy times. There was non-stop laughter between us, hardly a tense moment. We loved each other, pure and simple. There were no hidden motives, no agenda, just love. We had each suffered our own hardships since we were teenagers, and that only made us appreciate what we had, and cling on to it.

Tom nearly lost his life and
had changed because of that. I suppose that’s why he transformed from a sweet teenager I once knew to a very contemplative, intense soul, who realized that when a good thing came along, you couldn’t ignore it. We married so quickly but neither of us ever doubted what was between us. It was instantaneous, unquestionable chemistry, so strong that our beings were intrinsically connected. On our wedding day, my life became complete as he slipped that ring on my finger. I was so happy. We honeymooned in Antigua for two weeks and bared our souls to one another. It was a very passionate love between us, extremely so sometimes, and I became pregnant not long after we were married. I was shocked by the discovery at first, it was unexpected, but we prepared to become parents with such enthusiasm. Tom sold his bachelor pad and we used the money to renovate the flat above the shop, preparing it for our new arrival.

We could have b
ought ourselves a big house instead of that little flat, but we loved the romance of the Shambles. The beams, low ceilings, barn doors and stone walls. Tom’s love for me grew even more after I became pregnant and it was the greatest experience of my life. I bore a child in May, 2014, and we named her Imogen Samara Bradbury. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever set eyes on and I suddenly realized what life was really all about. I suffered terribly during the delivery, but Tom was such a wonderful support, and we got through it together. He was my rock.

Though I’d become a mother, I continued my work at the shop, and for some reason my busines
s thrived. People came from all over the world to have me make them their wedding dresses. I gained a sort of cult following and started to take on more staff to balance my work life with motherhood.

Tom was sure he had left the trauma of his illness behind, but in 2023 it caught up with him. When we heard Stephan had taken ill, Tom went to his house and nursed him, and I signed the death certificate as if my husband had died. It was easy. Amidst the chaos and panic,
Tom took his friend’s identity and went into hiding with our daughter. He needed to be dead, otherwise he knew he would never be able to escape Officium’s clutches. I reverted back to my maiden name to protect myself. The world collapsed and Officium took advantage of the situation to infiltrate every level of society. They not only took over shops and restaurants, but they gained a monopoly over a huge number of the world’s doctors and professors.

Now, on to the most difficult subject. Your father Hamish never told you, but he attended our
wedding with his parents. He was a young boy then. We saw him quite often because they visited me in York frequently. He turned out to be a very gifted physician, but Vivienne was just as talented, as I’m sure you well know. As a young woman, she was just like you – ferocious and feisty. She survived a tough upbringing only to gain herself a place at Leeds to study medicine. She was wild but Hamish tamed her, loving her possibly more than any man ever could. They just couldn’t risk you finding out the truth and they distanced themselves because of that. You gave them such joy, Seraph, but they felt such a responsibility to make this world a better place for you. They couldn’t risk your safety; they never wanted you to pursue your career for fear you might get hurt. They themselves had lived through some terrible times, the worst of times even. They spent their lives trying to protect you.

When we found out that Officium had set up their headquarters in
New York to further their business interests, your parents offered themselves up. They finished their medical training at Columbia and both excelled in cardiology. Their day job was a cover. They were in with Officium’s crowd and would leak information to me about the organization's members and activities, especially in medical circles. We tried to get evidence of the group’s culpability but it always seemed impossible. We knew that digging up bits of dirt on them wouldn’t be enough. We needed evidence of what really happened to cause 2023, but we could never get it. They were so secretive and their emissaries would stop at nothing to protect the truth. It’s the only thing they know to do. We never managed to get anywhere, but knew, we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing either. The world would only be free if we could get hard proof.

I used my contacts from the shop to build up a group of people who felt as we did,
that something needed to be done. It was agonizing not being able to live a proper family life with Tom, but we knew it had to be that way. The love we shared meant that we had to do whatever it took for him to survive.

However
after your parents died, he couldn’t hold back his anger. He traveled to New York to meet with members of UNITY there, but paid with his life. For so many years I’d known it was coming, but nothing could have prepared me for the loss. I hadn’t been able to say goodbye to him properly because it would have meant risking my identity. The only thing I knew to do was to carry on. He was 72, but for me, he had still always been that same teenager I fell in love with all those years ago, and it tore my heart to bits. It was then that I really started to make headway in making my organization as strong as it could be. I really needed to make our intelligence work after that and we began reinforcing our surveillance teams across the world. Camille was there for me throughout, and without her, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have. She made so many contacts during her travels. She had the skills, the tenacity and the strength our cause needed. She was the key to making UNITY work.

Mara is not so dissimilar to you, Seraph. But she grew up in the wake of 2023 and she is incredibly tough because of it. She w
as always her father’s daughter and we knew from a very early age she would pursue some sort of scientific career. Her husband Richard, Lucius’s father, was killed by Officium. He was a fellow virologist who stepped on the toes of the wrong people. She was only 35 when she lost him. I hope that once this is all over, Mara will find herself a quiet place to hide away and finally find some peace.

I’m so sorry that we did, but we kept the truth from you because it was your protection. We couldn’t risk you, my darling. We all felt that if you knew nothing from an early age, you would never need
to be burdened by it all. None of us expected you to go chasing after the truth in the manner you have done, and I took it upon myself to protect you after your parents died. It was I who fed you information on all the power players of New York City and a lot of people paid with their lives to get you that information. There are only a few of us strong enough and dedicated enough in this world to fight for justice. We’ve suffered some terrible losses, but we must have faith.

We amassed thousands
of members all over the world and to aid our cause, our group purchased grand hotels for our meetings. The Plaza, Ritz, George V, Lido, etc. They would have gone to wrack and ruin, or been transformed into Mercy Inns, if we had not taken them on. All the people who run those places belong to UNITY, all working and gathering information, using their jobs as the perfect guise, as have I over the years. We all knew the risks, the danger, the severity of our situations if we were discovered, and yet we stayed true to the cause, knowing we were acting for good, for the restoration of this world back to something akin to normality. Tom and I also bought up half the Shambles as the
For Sale
signs went up, knowing the entire street would have been knocked down otherwise.

In recent years, Camille would travel as my bodyguard
‒ if I was forced to travel. She was the perfect companion, never attracting attention, but ready to demonstrate her skills if necessary. If there is one person in this world you can rely on without a shadow of a doubt, it is Camille. I’m sure she has plenty of stories to tell you. I foresee you and she forging a lasting, lifelong friendship.

Many of my clients at the
shop were members of UNITY who met their partners at our meetings, or working with Mara. I was simply someone who brought people together, and it is the people who believed in me that made me the
Operator
. They pushed me to be great, to act for them in their stead, and utilize my resources to the best of my abilities. I simply became what I did because of situation and circumstance. At the end of everything, I’m still only a woman who loved a man and lost him. He was never the same after 2023.

Mara and her family are sufficiently provided for from her father’s will, don’t worry about that, so I’ve chosen you to take
the majority of my estate. I want you to continue my legacy, which I will now explain.

I
had many people on the inside, all risking themselves. One person in particular risked themselves to get me important codes, technology and the most classified information. It is for their safety and yours that I do not reveal their identity. Suffice it to say, this contact got me information recently that suggests 2023’s secrets are hidden in one particular lab ‒ in Brooklyn, where I believe they have those vaccines they’ve always denied knowledge of. You need to get in and bring them to justice, once and for all. I need you to do it for me, and Tom. Use that money and do whatever it takes to end this once and for all. Afterwards, start a new life, be happy and help the world rebuild itself.

You know I love you. You will find what you’re looking for, I’m sure, if you haven’t already. When this is all over, my girl, seek some sort of happiness for yourself. In the next life we will see each other again.

All my love, ever yours, Auntie Eve x