Killswitch Read Free

from the four WR VPads. A group assembled as he sat at a keypad to categorize the information. His mother joined them. Had she caught the way he’d avoided her? Her wink and half-smile said that she had and she wasn’t offended.
    “They can’t track me using traditional methods because of the exoself.” Chase leaned back and dropped his hands from the keys. “But I may have made a mistake.”
    “What mistake?” Amos asked.
    “I met up with my show’s producer in NYC. She found me there and I told her what I was doing—that I wanted to help the Underground Church. Not the smartest thing to say.”
    “You saw Kerstin?” Mel’s tone darkened. “Why would you tell her that? Why would you tell her anything?”
    “She was sick and I…” He hadn’t told these people, not even his mother, everything he could do. Of course, Mel knew. She was there when the scientists installed the device enabling him to detect illness simply by touching a person.
    “She needed a kidney, and I told her to go to Robert. Then I asked her to let me go. And she did.”
    Mel drew back from the crowd as she lowered her gaze to the floor. Was she angry with him for trying to save a life?
    “You told this woman you were coming here?” Amos didn’t overreact. The leader seemed like he could handle anything.
    “No. Just that I was going to try to find your group. She must have notified the Feds to look for anybody transporting believers. Your communication about moving goods and people is lacking security measures. But I can take care that.” Chase searched beyond the twenty or so people standing around him. Mel sat alone at a station, typing on a keypad. “If it’s not too late.”
    “How did they find Molly?” Mom asked.
    “A few questions in town led the deputies to a lady living in the outskirts who takes in strangers and frequents unregulated meetings. That made her a suspect to harboring believers.”
    Amos circled the group and poked a screen at another station. “She was one of only five believers in town who hadn’t joined us here. The ones up top are essential. The WR may have gotten all five. What a loss.” The man blinked his droopy blue eyes. “But…to die is gain.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Chase looked at Mel. “The incoming data doesn’t indicate anyone’s been killed.”
    But something was there in the communication between the agents and superiors. It wasn’t good. Chase kept his eyes on Mel until she looked at him.
    “What is it?” she asked.
    “They’re on their way to a detention camp. All five of them. Somebody get in touch with Switchblade. You can do that, can’t you?”
    Amos pulled a VPad from the pocket of his brown vest.
    “Tell him not to go near Molly’s,” Chase said. “It’s a trap.”
    The leader prompted the call. “Might be too late.”

3
    The hiders in Blue Sky Field had VPads. The church in Underground Atlanta had avoided them like snakes. Thanks to Mel, a techno-revolution was taking place in the underground. Authorities seeking to shut down the activities of the church could no longer track their use of electronics.
    Chase could process both sides of the conversation on any nearby VPad, and he listened in on the private call.
    Amos spoke first. “The upside believers are gone. Don’t go near Molly’s—they’re waiting for somebody to show up there.”
    “How do you know that?” Switchblade asked.
    “Chase says so. Get back here. That’s an order.”
    “That robot don’t know everything. I’ll just take a look. Nobody will know.”
    Chase grimaced. Robot ? Let the thug get caught.
    Mel grabbed the VPad from Amos. She eyed Chase as if she knew what he was thinking. Maybe she did. Maybe she hadn’t told him she could read his mind.
    “Switch, he picked up on communication from above. If he says they’re gone, they’re gone. Get out of there.”
    Switch? How long had Mel been using a pet name for this guy? Chase crossed his arms and took three