Killswitch (7 page)

Amos stood at the foot of his bed with his arms folded. “Come in, gentlemen.”

“It was my idea,” Chase said. “I needed to get some air. We picked up the food shipment and we came right back.”

“Look, robot, you can lie for the good of the people and all that, but I'm not lying to the man in charge to cover your butt,” Switchblade said. “Amos, it's like this: We talked to a crabby old French woman and we got spotted by an S-drone.
Then
we got the beans. But nothing bad came of it.”

“Sit down, both of you.”

Chase dropped to the desk chair. Switchblade took the recliner. His big arms covered the tan vinyl armrests. He reached to the side of the chair and flipped the lever and his long legs sprang up and out as the footrest extended.

Amos sighed and shook his head. “Don't get too relaxed, Switchblade.” He sat on the end of the bed. His breathing was labored, his eyes bloodshot. Amos was sick and Chase might be the only person who knew. He shouldn't have put the man through this.

“I did talk to a woman in a café, and we did see an S-drone,” Chase dropped his hands to his knees. Then he pointed at Switchblade. “The drone didn't see
me
, but
he
just stood there and whistled at it.” Chase leaned forward and locked his fingers together. “Look, nothing happened. I just needed to get out of here for a while. After the close call this morning, and then the whole thing with that machine
.
Bloodless. I needed to take a walk. That's all.”

Switchblade cleared his throat.

The guy wouldn't let Chase get away with anything. “And…I felt something in my systems. I thought somebody might have followed me and I wanted to look around. It was stupid. Nobody followed me.”

“Nothing else?” Amos asked.

Chase wouldn't tell the leader he was seeing things. No point in causing any more upsets today. He'd figure out the problem on his own, and then he'd fix it.

“Suppose the woman in the café realized after you left that she'd just had a conversation with the great Chase Sterling.” Amos glared at Switchblade. “And what if the computer system hooked to that drone picked up the fact that you are not a resident of Herouxville?” He paced across the room. “You don't leave here without permission. You may think you're invincible, but any number of things could happen. You could get caught or injured. You could lead the Feds right to us.”

“It won't happen again, sir,” Chase said.

Another smirk from Switchblade and Chase looked him in the eyes. “I said it won't happen again.”

“Hey, I'm in agreement with that. But like I said earlier, you didn't twist my arm.” Switchblade turned to Amos. “You know
I'm
not staying put. I'll be going up more now that we ain't got nobody working for us in town.”

Amos hovered over the big man in the recliner. “You take him up again, I'll find somebody else to wander the streets of Herouxville. Got it?”

“Got it.” Switchblade pushed the footrest down and rose from the chair. “I'll get those vegetables to the kitchen.

“You do that,” Amos said. “Chase, you still have to face your mother and Melody. I wasn't too hard on you. Can't make you any promises about those two.”

“Thank you, Amos. I'll go work on those security measures we need to put in place.” Chase hurried for the door.

Amos waved him off, and Chase closed the door behind him.

Mel waited in the hall. No sign of Mom. At least he could deal with them one at a time. “Not here,” he said. “Meet me in my room.”

She left without a word.

Chase went to the command center and found an empty work station. He'd give Mel a few minutes while he reviewed the security like he said he would. “No more lies today.” He pulled the logs of S-drone activity from earlier that day. No indication that the drone hovering in town had caught on to anything suspicious. He checked the local police files too. All clear.

The biggest security risk was Switchblade trotting around town. The Feds might not know him, but a big black guy with no local address was bound to catch somebody's eye.

A few prompts from the exoself showed Chase where to ring in some indiscreet coded communication going out from this headquarters to others around the world. Seemed like even the obvious errors weren't caught by the WR. The Feds weren't too bright, or they just didn't care about the activity of the underground.

Or somebody besides Chase was watching out for these people.

He got up and left the command center. Time to have a talk with Mel. How could he kiss a girl and make her so mad all in one day? Well, he'd done it plenty of times. He smiled.

His mother stepped in front of him. “Again with the silly grin.” She smiled back. “Heard you got into trouble. Did you get a note to take home to your mom?”

“No, but I did get a good talking to.”

“And now you're off to make up with Melody?”

“Something like that. You don't miss anything, do you?”

“I know when my son has his sights set on a girl.”

“Mom, whatever happens with Mel is going to take a long time. This world is too messed up for me to get caught up in a relationship.”

“The world is never too messed up for love, Chase. Don't lose sight of what matters.”

“I won't.” He kissed her on the cheek. “But after what I did, Mel might just beat me up and toss me out of here.”

“She might. Go on,” Mom said. She smacked him on the backside.

On the way to his quarters, Chase went over his last communication with Robert. It was the final one allowed. He'd used the device in his ear to get a message to an old laptop belonging to Robert. He knew the code—twelve, two. Sparking the twelfth processor, he pulled two lines of code. He wasn't supposed to do this again. It wouldn't work this time. He sent the message through the exoself anyway.

Robert, if you get this, find a way to get into the system. I need your help. I'm seeing things.

He arrived at his door and pushed it open. Mel sat on the edge of the bed. Hopefully she'd calmed down.

“Amos was going to let you go, Chase. You didn't need to sneak out.”

“He was? Because I just got an ear load from Amos about what I'm
not
allowed to do. And I'm
not
allowed to go up.”

She stood. “Well, maybe he doesn't trust you
now
. Do you know how important it is for that man to trust you? You have to work together.”

“I know. I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I can say that.”

“Why did you go up without waiting just a few minutes for permission? Do you know how stupid that was?”

“Look, Mel, I'm not one of you. I'm not some dedicated believer ready to lay down my life for the cause. I'm just a man who got some ridiculous stuff put in him that you people seem to think you need to survive. And by the way, thank you for doing that to me.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought you wanted to be here.”

“I don't know what I want.” He pushed his hair back and turned away from her. “That's not true.” He faced her. “I don't want to be here. I don't want to deal with whatever crap is floating around in the exoself.” He lifted his hand to her cheek and wiped her tears. “But that's who I am now. I'm a transhuman. And I want to do something good with it.” He bent to kiss away another tear. “And I never want to be apart from you again.”

She put her arms around him and hid her face on his chest. “Is there anything else bothering you, Chase? I'm the one who got you into this and I'm here to help you.”

“Nothing's wrong, Melody.” He held her tight. From the corner of the little room, a flash of code appeared. And just a hint of the curve of a red dress. “Everything is going to be all right.”

12

Chase sat straight in the bed, a white coverlet over his legs. The room was dark, but he could see every inch of it. The exoself informed him that the time was half past two.

The light in the hall had gone out at midnight. Like the compound in Atlanta, the underground here pulled from excess power generated by the town's solar panels. Mel had gotten it started. The exoself had made the deal permanent—two computers worked out the details for the illegal harnessing of electricity.

These people didn't like to lie, but they didn't mind a little stealing. Not that it mattered to Chase. Right now he was less concerned with what the believers did to keep themselves lit up, and more concerned with the image that kept lighting up in front of him.

Kerstin hadn't shown herself again. It wasn't her—it was just an image. She hadn't spoken to him—it was all in his head. But why did it happen?

He scooted down in the bed and pulled the coverlet up to his chin. He had to at least try to sleep. He closed his eyes.

Ciel Bleu Domaine
. The painting filled his dreams. Open land, hills on each side. The bluest sky he'd ever seen. Mel and Mom were packing boxes with food. Others loaded the boxes onto a truck. But they were all out in the open, not in a cavern under the old museum.

His father stood with him. “Remember where they go, son.”

“What do you mean?”

The sky filled with S-drones and they began firing on the people.

“Dad, we have to do something!”

Mel and Mom were gone. People he recognized lay dead on the ground. Others seemed to dive straight into the hillside, as though it were water and not earth. The truck vanished through the hillside.

In the middle of the green field, Kerstin, wearing the same red dress, seemed to float. “Darling, it's only a matter of time.”

Chase jumped from the bed. The coverlet fell to the floor. Sweat poured from him. He turned a circle. No one was there. Six thirty—he'd slept four hours. He dropped to the floor and sat with his head on his knees.

For twenty minutes his mind wandered through the open green field. But he was alone. No believers. No Mel.

No Kerstin.

He rose from the cold floor and grabbed a clean shirt and towel. He'd been supplied with a few necessities. A razor and other items waited in a small box. He pulled the razor out, along with a toothbrush, and left his dark room to walk the quiet hallway to the dormitory-style bathroom. Seemed no one was up. Although the day's assigned kitchen workers must be preparing a sparse breakfast. The lights hadn't come on anywhere in this area.

He didn't bother turning on the bathroom light—no need to use up the power when it was just him. Standing before a cracked mirror, he wet his face and rubbed on a little soap. The water, cool and in no hurry to fill the metal sink, was the bonus of an abandoned building with its own well. No luxury of a modern laser blade or a container of prep gel. He took the razor and shaved his face clean.

The trickle of a tepid shower did little to revive him. But the exoself was up and running. The morning report gave no indication that the teens now safe in the underground had been reported missing by their families. Odd that no one was searching for them.

No message from Robert after Chase sent out the cry for help. “No surprise.” Kerstin had not been slinking through his processors either. “Maybe it's over. Whatever it was.”

He put on the same jeans he'd taken off, pulled the clean shirt over his head, and brushed his teeth.

The hallway was lit and a couple of men entered the bathroom. Chase nodded a greeting. They both smiled a bit, but said nothing. He returned his personal items to his room and then headed to the command center.

Amos sat alone at a station.

Chase joined him. “Nobody reported anything about those kids, Amos. What do you think that means?”

“Maybe the cops told them to wait a day or two before filing.”

“Yeah, I guess that's standard.”

“Why'd you shave off the beard?” Amos asked. “I thought that was part of your disguise.”

“I don't need a disguise. Everybody here knows who I am.”

Amos smiled. “Is this your way of telling me that you're not going up again?”

“Take it how you want, Amos.” Chase smiled back. “I'm not going up again. Unless you tell me to, of course.”

Chase tensed as that familiar surge of information flowed into him. He moved to the station where he could get a 3D image.

“What is it, Chase?” Amos asked.

He brought up the image of Molly's house and raised it from the flat screen. Crumbled walls smoldered. No need for the exoself to dissolve the exterior. The place had been gutted and burned.

“Why would they do it?” Amos asked.

“They found her basement. Did you know the staircase going into it was undetectable behind a mirrored wall?”

“Yes, I was there a few times before I came under. I don't know why they had to destroy it.”

“Should we tell her?” asked Chase.

“It was just a house. Not her real home. But we'll just keep it quiet for now. The Feds are back and the others will have to know, but not today. Let's try to have a little less stress than yesterday.”

“Fine with me,” Chase said.

Mel joined them. She smiled as she rubbed Chase's chin. “You got rid of that awful excuse for a beard, huh?”

“You didn't like my beard? Molly liked it.”

“Well, Molly didn't have to—”

“Watch out, missy,” Amos said “You know what'll happen.”

“I haven't told
him
what'll happen.” She giggled. “Don't worry, Amos. We're not breaking any rules.”

“Tell me what?” Chase asked.

“Breakfast is ready,” she said.

The three of them entered the dining hall and sat at one of the long tables. Breakfast was another chunk of dried meat, another orange, and another slice of bread. At least last night's supper had consisted of something different—beans and cornbread.

He peeled the orange and divided the sections. How many of these were left? Chase would use Mel's code a little later to find out what was available.