33

“The exoself,” he whispered. “Hey, old friend.” He picked up the laptop and carried it back to Mel and Switchblade. “It’s here. It’s been right here the whole time.”

“Chase, what are you talking about?” Mel asked.

“Your computer sparked the protection code. It blew up the drone. Like I did in Atlanta.”

“Sparked?” Switchblade asked. “You mean to tell me you think Sparky is holed up in Melody’s computer?”

Chase flipped the screen around and showed them the number. “It left its signature. How else could you explain what just happened?”

“How come it took so long for the Feds to track you? You’ve been close to that computer since we found you in the truck.” Switchblade circled him, staring at the small laptop.

Mel took the device from Chase and hit a few keys. “I think it was my fault they found us.” She glanced up. “After we left Gagnon, I started trying codes to figure out how the killswitch got activated. I must have inadvertently disabled whatever the computer—the exoself—was doing to hide us. Well, to hide you, Chase.”

Switchblade crossed his arms and then ran his hand across his face. “You’re buying this? You really think the exoself is in your computer?”

“It makes sense,” Mel answered. “The whole time I was running code I was getting updates from different branches of the underground. Information I wasn’t requesting. It just kept coming. Whatever I did to open us up to being tracked must have corrected itself when the drone got near.”

“I don’t know, Mel.” Chase took the laptop from her, pushed the screen shut, and held it to his chest. “Maybe you didn’t interrupt the code. People are still looking for me. Maybe they got into the system long enough to catch my location.”

“It’s possible,” Mel said.

“Then they know where we are,” Switchblade said. “And the drone probably sent an image of the car.”

“You’re right about the car, but I’m willing to bet the exoself scrambled the coordinates and they’ve lost our location. That must be what happened when the truck crashed. The exoself put me somewhere else.”

“No, man, that’s crazy. They knew you was in the truck,” Switchblade said. “Been nagging on me for two days. Why didn’t they pick you up when they had the chance?”

“What if one of the men from the truck was chipped?” Mel eyes were wide with realization as she stared at the drone. “Either Kirel or the one of the other two that didn’t die in the crash. The exoself could have moved the tracker to him. They thought they had you when they got them. I mean, you could’ve altered your appearance. Or the guy could have been bloodied and unconscious and they only thought it was you. Until they delivered the wrong guy.”

Chase could see the possibility. But it was all so bizarre. Not likely one of the men involved in his kidnapping had been chipped. They were dissenters. But there was a chance. “It makes sense, I guess,” he said. “In a way.”

“No way this makes sense,” Switchblade yelled. “Only thing we know for sure is there are Feds on our trail. We have got to ditch the car and destroy that computer.” He pulled a gun from the backside of his waistband.

“Where did you get that?” Mel asked.

“Pilot lady gave it to me before she kicked me off her plane.”

Chase pulled the laptop closer. “No, Switchblade. I have to get the exoself back. And right now it’s inside here.” He rapped his hand against the bottom of the computer. “You are not putting bullets in it.”

“It’s the only way, Charlie.” He stretched out his arm and pointed the gun. “Chase,” he said, “I gotta do this. Or they’ll track us all the way to Blue Sky Field. That little computer is fighting hard to throw them off, but they’re gonna find us.”

“Chase, baby, listen to him. He’s right.” Mel put her arm around him and took hold of her laptop.

“You don’t understand, Mel. It’s a part of me.”

“No, it’s not. It’s a bunch of code. It’s not alive, Chase. You can’t kill it. If it managed to find a hiding place then we can only hope it’ll do it again.”

“If it’s not alive, then how did it hide itself?”

“I don’t know.” She leaned close. “Please. Give it to me.”

“Enough of this coddling,” Switchblade said. He shoved Chase against a slab of black rock. Then he jerked the laptop from Chase’s grip and threw it to the ground.

Mel grabbed onto Chase and held him as Switchblade raised the pistol and put three bullets in the computer. It bounced off the ground with each assault until a gaping hole showed the cold ground under it. Like the hole blasted through Chase when the WR took his life. When they made him a transhuman.

Now there was truly nothing left of him. Except for the artificial organs that would keep him alive much longer than he cared to live.

He pulled free from Mel and shuffled back into the cave.

“Let him go,” he heard her say. “Give him a minute. And power down your VPad.”

Did she think the exoself would find refuge in a VPad? That was ridiculous. Chase dropped to the hard ground and rested his head on knees. They could just leave him here. He didn’t want to go on.

But soon his minute alone was over. They both lowered themselves to the ground, Switchblade to his left, Mel to his right.

“Man, I’m sorry,” Switchblade said. “I didn’t see no other way. Amos sort of appointed me your bodyguard, and I’m gonna do what I have to do to protect you. Like Sparky would.”

“Don’t talk to me,” Chase said. “Either one of you.”

Mel put her hand on his arm but he pushed her away.

“Chase, we’ve got to get out of here,” she said. “That car out there, hopefully, is the only link they have to you right now. They’ll be looking for it and we have to get moving.”

“This is my own personal branch of the underground now. Let them find me. But you two go on. It’ll be dark soon. Stay in the woods until you get close to town. Good luck.”

What was left of daylight lit the cave well enough for Chase to see the tears streaming down Mel’s cheeks. Her shoulders shook. A sob rose from her throat. Then she wiped her face and took a breath.

“Fine,” she said. “Stay here.” She stood and stepped a few feet away, then faced him. “You are the most self-centered man I’ve ever known. And you’re a coward. I don’t know why they picked you for their idiotic transhuman experiment. You can’t program bravery into a man. Or dedication. The exoself didn’t do anything to make you understand that you are not the center of the universe. You’re still the same old Chase Sterling. The most influential man in the Western Republic. Well, I don’t need that kind of influence in my life.”

She rushed out of the cave.

The two men sat in silence. “Girl has got a temper,” Switchblade said a last. “Kind of makes me glad I didn’t end up with her.”

“You heard what she said. She’s through with me, so give it a shot. And I’m through with you. Get out of here.”

He cocked the gun. “Don’t think so, Charlie. Gotta get you back home tonight. Remember?”

“You’re not going to shoot me. Anyway, you already killed me.”

“Man, I didn’t kill nobody. You heard what Melody said—the exoself is probably already hiding in some other computer. We got a whole command center of machines at Blue Sky Field. Sparky could be there waiting for you.”

“And what if that’s true? The Feds will show up the next time there’s a glitch in the system. Go shut the whole blasted place down. This is over.”

“No, it ain’t over. It’s just messed up. And you’re the only one who can fix it. You gotta come back and figure this thing out. You know the exoself. You’re the only one it’ll listen to.”

“It’s too hard. I’m just a gameshow host and I don’t like this game. I’m afraid of what will happen if I fail.” He smirked. “I’ve already failed.”

“Get. Over. Yourself. And don’t be afraid,” Switchblade told him. “Don’t be afraid.”