Killswitch by Victoria Buck Page A

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