Title: The Coterie-Declaration
ISBN: 978-1-62420-310-7
Author: Richard C. McClain
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level: 2
TAGLINE
Dakarai Holt, sixteen, is sentenced to a rehabilitation
facility. He unearths a conspiracy imposing mind control with ramifications
affecting the U.S and the greater world.
BLURB
Arrested for hacking,
socially awkward and speech-impaired sixteen-year-old Dakarai Holt is sentenced
to two years at Sheffield Academy, an exclusive juvenile rehabilitation
facility. Within the first two hours, Dak is subjected to mandatory
brainwashing. The academy’s enforcers, the R.A.T. SQUADS, patrol Sheffield to
ensure each student's full compliance. Gacheru, Dak’s roommate, pressures him
to drink a tonic that conspicuously counteracts Sheffield’s indoctrination.
This places Dak in the middle of many adversarial and explosive situations.
Additionally, Dak becomes knotted in a clandestine plot involving the Secretary
of State and a mysterious group who goes by the name, The Coterie. While at
Sheffield, Dak must find a way to survive the R.A.T. SQUADS’ terror, the
annexation of a remote island, and battle his own inner demons.
EXCERPT
It is 04:22:31 on Saturday morning and I'm
having trouble sleeping. I sit up and turn the light on to give life to the
dark room. Instead of celebrating Gacheru's absences, allowing me space to live
on my own and nurture my promise to abort ideas of relationships, worrying
about him is all I seem to be doing.
A sound at the door steals my attention. I wait
for Gacheru to enter but nothing happens. On the floor underneath the door, an
envelope sticks halfway into the room. I pick it up and work my fingers
underneath the sealed flap and run my fingers the entire length.
The note reads,
Please put the twenty-five billion back.
I sit on the bed as the weight of the words hits
me. Nothing in the words themselves denotes any kind of emotion. Except for
maybe the "please." Still, a cursory reading initiates a panic attack
in my body. A brown bag sits on the floor. I roll off the bed, hitting the
floor hard. I pull the bag to my face, scrunch my body to the fetal position,
and rock and breathe…
Who sent me the note? I ask an hour later. As
far as I know, the man who accosted me in the computer room and his superiors
are the only ones aware of what they think is a hacking mistake. To apprise me
of this kind of critical information now when I'm not under the influence would
violate Sheffield's environment of covertness.
Revealing such knowledge to me makes no sense.
I read the letter again. The word
"please" continues to stand out. Sheffield has not proved themselves
friendly on the administrative, teacher, or security levels. Why now would they
want me to "please" put the money back? They're the type that would
hang me up by my thumbs and torture me to get the information. I exaggerate of
course.
This message couldn't have come from them. Which
begs the question, who sent me this note?
I sift through short list of names. Gacheru's is
the only name on it. Somehow he found out I took it and wants me to return the
money. He's the only one I know who's been able to bypass Sheffield's mind
control and for whatever reasons considered it important that I not succumb to
their brainwashing. Would Gacheru send a note? He could speak to me any time.
It's not Gacheru. That leaves nobody.
I walk to the window. Darkness still pervades
the night, fighting to maintain control. Daylight is hours away. Since the note
can't be from Sheffield or Gacheru, I decide to get rid of the evidence. I rip
the area of the paper around the sentence and then stick it in my mouth, chew
it till it's soggy, and swallow it.
I lie back in bed when I remember the drinks in
the closet. It takes a second to pry the board loose. There is nothing in the
crevice apart from a thick envelope and three cans. On closer inspection, all
are empty. I put the hollow cans back inside and replace the board. The
contents of the envelope are none of my business. I'm not a spy. Gacheru helped
me for a reason. To betray him this way reeks of self-interest, the worst kind
of egotism.
Lightning strikes my mind. Three cans could only
mean one thing. A third person has ingested the liquid and like Gacheru and me,
this person is resistant to Sheffield's mind control.
Who?
Since Sheffield wouldn't ask me to put the money
back except under mind control, and Gacheru could talk to me any time, the
person who sent the letter has to be the person who drank the third drink.
Why should I put the money back, especially if
we're seemingly on the same side? Wouldn't we have a better chance of stopping
whatever it is they're doing and going to do by hitting them in the wallet?
It seems cut-and-dry to me.
While back on the bed sheet I rack my mind,
wondering who this third person is. If Gacheru trusts this person, would he
approve of the letter? He could have asked this person to send it to me. So why
not introduce me? What's the reason for keeping this person's identity secret?
As always, my mind considers the worst. If this is a ploy by Sheffield to test
whether or not I am still subject to their mind control, seeking out this third
person could be nothing more than a trap.
I know three cans means three people are outside
the boundaries of brainwashing. I know the third can was unopened more than a
week ago. I'm making an assumption here. If Gacheru kept all three cans, this
third person ingested the drink after I consumed mine. He would not need to
wait till I arrived to give the drink to this person, which means this third
person is likely one of the seven people who traveled with me in the van. I'm
sure I can nail it down even more. I know this person is aware of the
twenty-five billion dollars I stole. By process of elimination it can only be
one of three people, and two of them I'm responsible for bringing to Sheffield.
Shipley and Jayden. Tasi is the only other person in the room with us when the
hunt for the twenty-five-billion-dollar search took place. I can constrict it
more. Since I'm in the men's dorm building, it can only be Shipley or Jayden.
The doorknob twists. My heart is catapulted into
my throat. Is it the R.A.T. SQUADS coming to drag me away so I can be tortured?
Is it Shipley or Jayden?
I hold my breath.
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