Kill Switch: Chapter 47
A Room of Smooth Surfaces
We scurry up the hill, blasters clicking against our belts.
At the top, I turn around and survey headquarters. The laser-proof dome is still lowered. The bots are still motionless. A cloud of security guards scamper around a warehouse, running in the opposite direction of the mansion. I can’t see the center from here, so I have no idea if the guards who chased us returned to the elevator or not. My eyes search for any signs of X, but he’s nowhere to be found. That’s a good thing, I think. It means he might be at the rendezvous.
We run past the stairs leading into the mansion, turn a corner, and find ourselves on the edge of headquarters, at the lip of the laserproof dome. I take a deep breath and step over the protrusion.
The rendezvous is less than one hundred yards away, in a small valley full of tall boulders.
“It’s a great spot to hide a hovercraft,” Cosmo said. “Behind the boulders.”
As we approach the valley, my stomach turns. This is too easy. I was expecting a shootout. But as it stands, we’ve been able to waltz out of headquarters with no resistance whatsoever. I glance back. No sign of security. Headquarters is still killswitched. I shrug off my apprehension. After all, I’m due for a little good luck after all the shit that’s happened the past week.
I grab Yide’s hand and walk with her down the slope of the valley.
My other hand rests on my blaster.
The slope levels out, the ground turning to sand.
We approach the boulders.
The backside of the hovercraft juts out of a rock, the red metal fin gleaming in the sunlight.
Our sandals crunch in the sand.
We round the boulder, and that’s when I see it: the hovercraft is unmanned.
Where is Cosmo? Where is X?
I glance around. Nobody in sight.
I let go of Yide’s hand.
“This isn’t right,” I say. “Something is off.”
The barrel of a blaster jams itself between my shoulder blades.
“End of the line,” a voice says.
I recognize the voice, but I can’t place it.
“Drop the gun or the girl gets it.”
I do as I’m told, the gun hitting the sand with an anticlimactic fizzle.
“Alright, now hands up,” the voice says.
Again, I do as I’m told, my eyes locked on the hovercraft, so close and yet so far away. Where is Cosmo?
I turn.
The first thing I see is the blaster. My eyes follow the barrel up to the scope.
Cad Man takes a step back. “Cuff ‘em,” he says, “and then take them to the mansion. Senior would like a word.”
Cosmo steps out of the glare of the sun. His expression is hangdog. He won’t even make eye contact with me.
“Are you fucking serious,” I say.
Cosmo clamps on the handcuffs. “I’m sorry, Vonn. I really am. It’s nothing personal, believe me.”
The handcuffs click into place.
I look at Yide, who’s already been cuffed. She’s standing there, doused in sunlight, motionless, almost like she’s braindead or something.
Something buzzes overhead.
I see a UFO surface over the horizon and hover above headquarters before descending.
“The eagle has landed,” Cad Man says with a grin.
The dome groans out of the ground and consumes headquarters like a whale biting down on a boat.
“You handle the girl,” Cad Man says to Cosmo, “and I’ll get the guy.” He grabs my arm and shoves me forward.
Sunlight batters the glass surface of the laserproof dome like so many useless bullets.
It’s only a matter of time, I think, before The Withiners storm headquarters. If I can just survive the next few hours…
My mind keeps drifting to useless shit. The amount of unread emails in my inbox. The fact that I probably don’t have a job anymore because I told my supervisor to go fuck himself. My empty wallet…
Which reminds me…
“You owe me money,” I say to Cad Man.
Cad Man grunts. “I don’t owe you shit, simul.”
“A thousand coins,” I say. “That’s how much you owe me. Because that’s how much I invested in your stupid little ponzi scheme.”
Cad Man laughs. “I don’t think you’re going to have much use for coins where you’re going.”
“And where is that?”
“The deathbeam,” Cad Man says.
We walk in silence for another hundred yards or so.
“And what about you,” I say to Cosmo. “What’s your story, you traitor fuck? Has this been your plan along?”
Cosmo keeps his eyes to the ground, as if something down there is controlling him.
I kick a rock at him. It bounces off his leg. He turns, looks at my feet.
“I told you, Vonn, it’s not personal.”
“And what about Claudette?” I ask. “I take it she’s part of your scheme too? What is your scheme, by the way?”
“This has nothing to do with Claudette,” Cosmo says.
“Which one is Claudette?” Cad Man asks. “The sniper?”
Nobody answers.
We reach the mansion. A spiral staircase juts out of a concrete slab, twisting its way to the top of a narrow backdeck. The sun is setting, casting long, sharp bars of shadow across the flat, angular surfaces. Two security guards appear behind a tall, sliding glass door. They open the door and stand aside.
“Mr. Vonn Senior is in his office,” one of the guards says.
Cad Man nods. “This way,” he says to Cosmo, pointing him in the direction of a sloping hallway with marble flooring.
A motor whirrs, the rushing sound growing louder as we slant down the hallway. Yide has still yet to say a word since we were captured. I want to reach out and touch her, to tell her everything is alright, even if I don’t believe it. I think about X and Claudette. Were they in on the scheme? Then my mind turns to an even more disturbing question: is Yide a traitor too?
We come to a tall oak door.
Cad Man pushes it open.
We step inside a room of smooth surfaces. Marble, glass, steel. Water shadows dance across the floor. The whirring noise is coming from the corner. A silhouetted figure is running in place. A beep sounds. The figure stops and turns. Cad Man shoves me forward. The figure steps off what I now see to be a treadmill. It’s Mr. Vonn Senior. He wipes his face with a towel and takes a step forward. He holds out his arms.
“My son,” he says. “We meet at last.”