Killswitch (8 page)

When she'd finished eating she ate, Mel went into the kitchen. It was her day to help out. Chase would get himself on the rotation. If he was going to be part of the group, he'd do his share. If they wouldn't mind a heathen cleaning up after them.

He turned to Amos and lowered his voice. “What do these people think of me?”

A spark surged through the exoself and new information filtered in. Chase jumped to his feet.

Amos and everyone else at the table stopped eating and stared at him. “What is it?” Amos asked.

“We need to talk. In private,” Chase answered.

Amos followed Chase out of the dining hall. “What now?”

“The Feds took care of demolishing everything in Kirel's apartment.”

“Not a surprise after what they did to Molly's place.”

“Then they paid a visit to Finley's parents, and to the twins' grandparents.”

“They didn't—”

“They killed them, Amos. They're all dead.”

13

The girl, Finely, lifted her head from a minister's shoulder. “We are all in God's hands.”

Chase lowered his brow. That was it? The WR murdered her parents and that was all she said? With a quivering smile, she rose to leave. The blond boys followed her, their arms around each other's shoulders. So calm. It'd hit them later.

The three ministers who'd been summoned by Amos left with the teens. Chase scratched the back of head. He should have been able to prevent this.

The emergency meeting had dwindled down to Molly and Kirel—who'd been told about the destruction of their up-top homes—Chase, Amos, Switchblade, and Mel.

“We must look after the young ones,” Amos said. “Their faith is being tested.”

Chase stared at the floor. The exoself could not explain this latest comment from a Christian. The kids needed support—he got that much.

Amos cleared his throat. “Chase, tell us what you know about the day's activities.”

“The report indicates the residences were searched and burned, and that four people died in the raid,” Chase said. “It says the four fought to defend their homes and had to be killed. Makes no sense that they wouldn't cooperate with federal deputies. And why did the Feds come back here? I thought we had them fooled.”

“They might be stupid but they're not blind,” Switchblade said. “The five were supposed to attend to a meeting and then go home. They didn't
go
home. Somebody noticed. Feds must have double checked all those lies from yesterday.”

Chase ran a sweep of information related to the five and their alleged backgrounds. “The five are still listed as informants.” What he found next shocked him. He had to tell the others. “The deputies who returned during the night acted on an outside lead. An informant accused the ones who were killed of planning to bomb the detention center.”

Amos's face turned crimson. “That's ridiculous! Who would make up something like that?”

Chase studied the others. “It could have been anybody. Maybe there's somebody living up top who's trying to flush us out. Or maybe it's someone down here.”

“One of
us
?” Switchblade pushed out of the chair and barreled across the room. “Only person I know who can plant lies in the system is you.”

Chase gave him a cold stare. “Only person I know who goes up every time he feels like it is you.”

“Enough,” Molly said. “Loved ones are dead and someone is responsible. Chase, we're glad you're here to help us.” She took a breath. “Switch, he
is
one of us. God sent him to us.”

Her scolding eyes met Chase. “But if you're to live with us, then you must stand with us. No one here is capable of doing what you're suggesting. It had to have happened another way.”

“Yes, ma'am. I hope you're right,” Chase said. “I'm sorry. There has been a lot of misinformation passed back and forth, and it started with me. Maybe the Feds are playing the same game.”

“I'm going up to take a look around,” Switchblade said.

“No.
You
are staying put. Along with everyone else,” Amos said. “Until we know for certain that this didn't happen because we have a mole, no one will be given the opportunity to spill anything to the Feds.”

“You think I could do this thing?” Switchblade pointed at Chase. “The robot could shoot up any message he wants without ever getting out of his chair.” He pulled the door open and then slammed shut it behind him.

Molly, Kirel—who hadn't said a word—and even Mel looked at Chase.

“He's right,” Chase said. “You have no reason to believe me when I tell you I can't contact anyone working for the WR or any other organization outside the underground. I can only read whatever intel the Feds report. And they can't trace me.” The flash of a red dress in his room splintered his mind as he spit out yet another deception. “There is no way they could find me here.”

“I programmed Chase to connect those of us who live in the underground,” Mel said. “I didn't program him to
desire
to help us. I didn't program him to track federal agents, observe detention centers via satellite, or dissolve walls on a 3D image. I didn't do that.” Her eyes questioned Chase. “Do you have any idea who did?”

“I told you, Mel. I thought it was you.”

She held his gaze. “God has His hand on this man, and God won't allow him to be used against us. We can trust Chase. No matter what.”

Kirel, the silent man in the room, leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. He blinked his green eyes and pushed a strand of long brown hair behind his ear. “I'm new here. I don't know you, Melody. I don't know that big black guy very well either. But I know he goes up top more than anybody else and I'm not sure why. The only people I know are Molly and those three kids. We were our own little church in the real world. The rest of you, I don't know and I don't trust. Especially this gameshow host.” He said nothing else before he left the room.

Mel reached for Chase's hand.

“I'll talk to him,” Molly said.

Chase met Amos's pained eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I could use a vacation.” Amos slumped forward.

Molly let out a chuckle and Chase smiled. Then he stood and spread his arms wide. “Here's what I'm going to do for you,” he said. “You and a guest will travel on a Synvue globe jet to a private Jamaican resort where you will spend the next month being pampered in every way possible.”

Mel laughed. “Sit down, you fool. Nobody's winning anything today.”

Amos's round belly shook with a silent laugh. “Just a nap then.” He got up and opened the door. “I'll be in my room for a while.”

Chase laid his hand on the man's shoulder. The surge of energy from the exoself reminded him that Amos was sick. And growing sicker. “I'll see if I can find out anything else about what happened in town last night.”

Amos patted Chase's hand. “You do that, son.” He headed down the hallway.

Chase addressed Mel and Molly. “Can I talk to the two of you a little longer?” He watched the leader of the underground walk to his private quarters. “I need to tell you something.”

14

Chase closed the door and returned to his seat beside Mel.

“What is it?” Molly asked. “Do you know something you didn't want to share with Amos?”

“Yes. I'll have to tell him,” Chase said. “I just don't want to do it by myself.” He studied Mel's concerned expression. “You know about the Wilberton device.”

“Amos is sick?” Her eyes grew wide as she leaned forward. “Judging by the look on your face it's bad.”

“You two will have to fill me in,” Molly said. “Amos is sick because of some device?”

Chase turned to her. “No. The Wilberton is inside me. It's part of the exoself and it allows me to diagnose illness. All I have to do is to touch a person and I know.”

“I watched the live show where you touched a woman in the audience. I'd forgotten.” Molly pulled her arms close and inched away from Chase. “Melody, you knew about this. You should have told us.”

“I didn't want everyone running up to him to find out whether or not anything was wrong with them.” Mel took Molly's hand in hers. “Chase and I haven't even had a chance to discuss it. Besides, there's nothing he can do to help anyone recover. Not down here.”

“She's right,” Chase said. “Why tell these people what's wrong with them if we can't cure them?”

Molly nodded. “Is it organ failure?”

“No. I can tell that he hasn't even had the cancer vaccine, so organ failure is not the problem.”

“Wait a minute,” Mel said. “What are saying? The vaccine
causes
organ failure?”

“Yes, the reason organ failure is so common now is due to the vaccine that we've all had. Well, almost all. Some who've been involved in covert groups haven't had the vaccine.”

“Amos has been what you'd call covert for the last twenty years,” Molly said. “So then, it must be cancer.”

“Leukemia. Beyond curing. He's had it for a long time.” Chase moved close and put his arm around her shoulder. “I'm sorry.”

“He must know. He must feel bad, don't you think?” Mel asked.

“Molly, you've known him the longest,” Chase said. “Have you noticed a difference lately?”

“The man relies on the strength of the Lord. He may know he's sick, but he wouldn't burden us with it. He'll stand strong as long as possible. Son, is there nothing you can do for him?”

“I can't do anything but make a diagnosis. Even if he went up top, traditional medicine wouldn't help. Techno-meds, perhaps. Advances are being made by the minute—no telling how far they've come even in the short time since I left the Helgen. But no one is going to allow that kind of treatment for a leader of the underground. They'd take him straight to jail. Or they'd speed up his death.”

“We have to tell him,” Mel said.

“After dinner tonight,” Chase told her. “Will the two of you come with me?”

The women nodded. “We'll be there,” Mel said. “But it'll be hard to be near him all day and not say anything.”

Chase looked into Molly's eyes. “A few minutes ago, you moved away from me when you found out what I can do.” He took her hand. “You are in perfect health.”

She smiled. “I am as the Lord wills. Tomorrow may bring a change. If it does, and you know, don't tell me. All right?”

He nodded and lifted his hand to touch her wrinkled face. Then he turned to Mel. “Can I ask you something? About the information trails you put in me?”

“You can ask me anything.”

“I had to get into the underground in Atlanta to find cryptic messages written on the walls before I could dig your code out of the Psalms. Why not just put a Bible in my head and direct me to the code?”

“The scientists and governing officials in charge of your transformation didn't allow it. If I'd tried it, they'd probably have caught on to what I was doing and had me arrested. I know it sounds odd that they would give you access to everything ever entered into a database except for one topic, but they're working to get all religion, even if it's just for reference purposes, out of the cyber world.”

“I've found some literature referring to Bible stories. And some historical information about other religions. No history of the Christian church though. It's like it never happened.”

Molly shook her head. “We're being erased from history.”

“They can't do that,” Mel said. “Not as long as we're still here.” Her eyes met Chase's. “Do you want a Bible? I can get you a paperback.”

“No need, I guess. I only wondered why I couldn't access it through the exoself.”

“When I get a chance I'll see if I can get it in through my own programs.”

“I can access general information about church music,” Chase said.

“You mean, like hymns? You can learn a lot from those old songs,” Molly said.

Mel lifted her brow. “Eliminating religion from the cyber world is a work in progress. Maybe it was an oversight. But Molly's right. There's a lot of church history in the old songs too.”

The three left the small meeting room and joined dozens in the command center. Chase brushed by his mother and squeezed her shoulder. She appeared to be working on a new room arrangement. The added residents meant a few would have to share a room. Beds were being moved to accommodate, and those with larger rooms were asked to give up their space for the sake of those who'd be living with roommates. Of course, no one complained. How long could these people live like this before somebody started to gripe?

“Chase,” Mom said. “Switch ran by here mumbling about how ‘that robot' wasn't going to accuse him of…something. The two of you having a problem?”

The battle might start sooner rather than later. Chase sat beside her. “We think there might be someone down here, or up top, feeding information to the Feds. Some bad stuff happened last night. I'm sure Amos will fill in the whole group sometime later today.”

“What's that got to do with Switchblade ranting about you? Does he think you had something to do with it?”

“He might have suggested it, and I might have suggested the same about him.”

“Well, I don't believe it,” she said. “Not about either of you.”

“We both got a little hot under the collar. Somebody is responsible for what happened last night.”

“What was it?”

Chase peered over his shoulder and then leaned in close. “The families of those kids who came under were killed.”

Tears filled her eyes and her hand covered her mouth.

“Mom, don't say anything.”

“Where are those poor babies?”

“In their quarters with the ministers.”