Killswitch

by Cliff Hedley

  His afternoons, following a post-workout shower and lunch, were always spent with Carlton and Jane downstairs in their ground-floor lab. For the most part, they would plug him in and collect data, then discuss what challenges he’d had since his last visit, or ideas to improve the mechanics and practicality of the prosthetics. There was one thing he’d been eager to try.

  “Doc, I know not to get these wet but I’m really keen to try and brush my teeth — among other things.”

  Carlton beamed. “I know. I said I’d get you the rubberised option. Thank you for not getting them wet. The good news is that we’ve been working on a new pair of arms for you. They will have the rubberised fingers for grip and be waterproofed, so you can shower and brush your teeth in them. But,” he emphasised, “the reason for the delay is that we’ve incorporated some more of your ideas.”

  “You what? I was going to suggest trying to put dish gloves on to brush with!”

  “I think we can do better than that. I’ve got a new prototype to try, which has force-feedback sensors in the fingers and a laterally flexible wrist joint. It will also have silicone rubber protecting its key components, meaning you can brush your teeth without trying to put gloves on.”

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say. When will they be ready?”

  “Well, there will be a bit of a process to programming them but we’ll port across the data and machine learning that you’ve already generated. Aside from that, tomorrow afternoon OK for you?”

  “Hell yes!”

  “Great. Well, we’re done here for today. What do you both say to coffee at Dennis’s diner?”

  “I’m always up for it,” Chase responded.

  Jane sat back from her workstation and stretched her neck from side to side. “Me too. Some natural light and fresh air wouldn’t hurt us either.”

  They were soon out of the building and rounding the corner to the diner. Dennis gave them a cheery “Afternoon folks!” when they walked in, and set about making their usual order. They went to their regular table and Dennis brought a tray over.

  “How are the hands today?” he asked.

  Chase raised his right hand with a little mechanical whirr and gave a thumbs-up signal.

  “Nice work. You all make quite a team there.” Dennis hurried off back to the counter as more customers came in. Carlton raised his mug.

  “I’ll drink to that.”

  “Me too,” said Jane. She raised her mug to clink against Carlton’s.

  “Gimme a second here,” Chase said. Determined to challenge himself, he curled one finger through the delicate handle and rested the remainder on the outside of the mug, with his thumb supporting it from the other side. He slowly raised the mug and clinked it against the other two. They were patiently watching him, always glad to see what else the technology could achieve.

  “I thought it would be a little more classy than my usual ham-fisted approach,” Chase said.

  Jane smiled. “Yes, it was a bit of an improvement.”

  They were distracted when Dennis suddenly turned up the radio he kept behind the counter. It seemed an odd thing to do at first but Chase saw his expression change from concerned to jaw-dropping disbelief. Carlton and Jane whipped around to follow his gaze. Dennis was shaking his head and realised they were all looking at him.

  “There’s been an explosion,” he stammered. “In Central Park. Two dead, three more in hospital. Children on a school outing.”

  “Can you turn it up more?” Chase pushed out of his chair and headed to the counter.

  Dennis obliged and Chase caught the last couple of sentences as he walked over. It gave him a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach:

  “Authorities have declined to comment further on the incident at this time but there is some speculation that the act was deliberate. Police on the scene have been collecting debris from what may be the remnants of an improvised explosive device.”

  “Holy shit,” was all Chase could manage.

  “Let’s hope it’s not,” Jane said. “The media likes to sensationalise everything. It could just be a ruptured gas main.”

  “I’d like to get to a TV. I could tell more by looking at the footage,” Chase answered. “This must be all over the news. Do you have one, Dennis?”

  “Sorry, just the radio.”

  “Chase,” Carlton cut in, “there’s nothing you can do. The NYPD have their own Bomb Squad. Your work is done. I know you want to help but they will have this covered.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Chase muttered. He was used to being in the thick of it, on the front line and despite his replacement hands, he felt useless. He headed back to his seat.

  Dennis turned the radio down a bit but kept it louder than before. He was obviously listening for an update.

  “Are you OK, Dennis?” Chase asked.

  “Uh. I don’t know. My niece was on a field trip today. I don’t know if she was going to be anywhere near this but well, no news is good news right?”

  “Hell, sorry. That’s right. I’m sure she’s fine.”

  An atmosphere of discomfort settled over the diner as Dennis nervously went about his work while Chase, Carlton and Jane finished their coffees. Once they were done, they made their way back to the VA hospital, and parted ways at the side entrance. Carlton and Jane headed for the lab, while Chase went upstairs to his room.

  He rested his arms on the proximity chargers, determined to see if he could get a news channel on his TV. After flicking through a few of the available stations — operating the remote was another clumsy task he would mention to Carlton — he came across a bulletin showing Central Park and a whole lot of NYPD officers, tape cordons and the flashing lights of police vehicles. There was nothing he could see that would tell him anything more and obviously the news crew couldn’t get close enough to get any decent footage. He was sure that by now, the forensics team and Bomb Squad had checked over any remaining fragments and taken them into evidence. If in fact it was a bomb at all and not a gas-main explosion or some other incident as Jane had suggested. He could only hope for the best, and plan for the worst. Same as he always had.

  He surfed the channels for a while. A few news stations were covering the event, all reporting live from the scene but none had any useful angles or footage. Chase was about to give up when a reporter announced that they had exclusive footage coming up next that was taken from a smartphone camera moments after the explosion. That grabbed his attention.

  After a short ad break, the reporter returned and announced that the smartphone footage was about to play. It turned out to be about twenty seconds of people running and screaming, with a little puff of grey smoke in the background. The phone had been held upright, so there was only a sliver of video in the centre of the screen and it was shaking. It didn’t tell Chase much, so he sat back in his seat. One thing that concerned him was that only a small puff of smoke seemed to be showing. It was a lighter grey or even close to white, like the kind black powder produced. A small amount of smoke also indicated either a small slow-burning fire, or a more percussive explosion. There was no sign of the black billowing smoke that he would expect to see from any kind of petroleum product, so the gas explosion theory probably was out. If it was black powder, somebody had made their own bomb and planted it in the Park. The knot in his stomach twisted tighter.

  Then the reporter announced a second clip that had just come to hand was taken at the time of the explosion. It started right away and showed a pair of children playing in the foreground, a flash and boom in the background suddenly shattering their peaceful day at the park. The camera showed a smooth picture until the blast hit, when it shook violently. Whoever was holding the camera exclaimed, “Oh my God!” People ran in all directions, as a female voice shouted “Come on kids, let’s go!” Then the footage went black.

  This shot told Chase a little more. Not much but enough
to make him even more worried. The explosion itself didn’t look like a gas main going. There wasn’t much flame visible, so it didn’t seem like burning gas. There wasn’t the billow of black smoke he expected to see either, or an ongoing burn as gas continued to feed the fire; it was definitely a whiter or light grey smoke and no ongoing burn. This was definitely a percussive explosion. It was the kind of punchy blast that he had seen all too often and the smoke was not from a small fire. It was the kind of blast that sent a shock wave, which had reached as far as the camera operator, shaking her hands as it hit.

  The feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified. The footage wasn’t much to go on but his instincts and years of experience told him this was no accident.

  He was startled out of his train of thought by the ring of his room phone.

  “You see the news?” Frank got right to the point.

  “Yeah. I don’t like it. I don’t think it was an accident.”

  “I did wonder. Figured you’d know better. Is there anyone you can talk to?”

  “I can try but I’m sure there’s already plenty of eyes on it.”

  “Fair enough. You be careful all the same.”

  “You too.”

  His father clicked off and Chase flicked through the channels some more. The news feeds had nothing further to add. He hit the off button on his TV remote and turned his arms over so he could see the inside of his elbows. He had two green LEDs on both arms, indicating that they were charged. He hit the button to release his left arm with his right forefinger and it powered down and released the loops after the usual five-second pause. He put it on the table using his right hand, then held the button on his right elbow in with his now-exposed left forearm. His right arm shut down after a brief delay and he clumsily placed it on the table next to the left.

  He lay down on his bed. Evening had arrived as he had watched the news feeds but he couldn’t sleep. He stared at the ceiling and wondered if there was anything he could do, or anything he had missed. He replayed the footage he had seen over and over again in his head, exploring it from every angle. He was sure that the authorities had a bunch of good people doing the same thing but he wished he could do more.

  Once again, he felt helpless.

  Chapter 12

  Chase woke the next day with a start, around the usual time. He felt like crap, because he had been awake half the night worrying about what he was sure was an attack on Central Park. Experience told him that it could happen again, and that bothered him a whole lot more. He swung his feet on to the floor and went across to his side table, pushing into and activating his prosthetic arms. He made a mental note to suggest to Carlton that they come up with a cool name for them. He was sure that the doctor would go for that.

  He flicked on the TV after a brief fumble with the remote but there was no further news on the explosion. He flicked it off again, then quickly got dressed in his usual sweat pants and T-shirt then headed downstairs. Instead of going to the lab, he went out the side entrance and headed over to see Dennis. If he was going to feel like crap, he may as well have a decent coffee to pick him up a little.

  The little bell rang above the door as Chase pushed his way in and waited behind a young couple placing their order at the counter. Once he was done, Dennis gave Chase a smile. “Morning, Chase.”

  “Hey, Dennis. You look happier today. I take it you got word on your niece?”

  “Yeah. My sister called last night. Apparently it was chaos at the park but the teachers got all the kids back on the bus and home safe. Those kids that got hit were from another school. Who the hell would do that?”

  “I don’t know, man. It can be a shitty world sometimes. All you can do is try your best to make it better.”

  “Amen to that brother. Can I get you your usual?” Dennis knitted his eyebrows, as Chase seemed to be transfixed on something, staring off into space.

  “Uh, yeah,” Chase stammered as he snapped out of it. “Can I ask you something else?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you still have the details of those officers that were in here the day of the robbery?”

  “Sure. Why?”

  “I want to offer to help, if I can. They probably have a bunch of people on it already but maybe they could use me. I don’t know. I figure it’s worth a shot.”

  Dennis crouched under the counter and fished around in a bunch of papers. He came back up with a piece of paper, a receipt for the incident report the officers had created during the attempted robbery.

  “Here you go. Officer Hernandez. It has a phone number.”

  “Thank you. Mind if I use your phone?”

  “Be my guest. I’ll get your coffee started.”

  Chase headed over to the phone on the back wall. He dialled the number on the phone: his fingers seemed less clumsy than yesterday. Either the software was improving for him, or he was getting used to the arms. Or both.

  “New York Police Department, thirteenth precinct. How may I direct your call?”

  “Is Officer Hernandez available please?”

  “Let me check for you. May I ask who is calling?”

  “Will Chase. I’m hoping he may remember me from a few weeks ago. He attended an attempted robbery at a diner near the VA hospital. Tell him it’s the armless guy.”

  “Just a moment.”

  The line went on hold and the operator came back on. “You’re in luck, he’s just got back in. I’m putting you through now.”

  The line went back on hold for another minute or so, then a voice came on the line.

  “Hernandez.”

  “Good morning, Officer Hernandez. This is Will Chase.”

  “Master Sergeant, what can I do for you?”

  Chase hesitated, unsure of what he was going to say, so he got right to the point.

  “I’m a retired Explosive Ordinance Disposal technician, fresh back from Afghanistan. I’m sorry to bother you but I have no other contacts in the NYPD. The reason I’m calling is that I think the blast in Central Park yesterday looks like it was deliberate. Just from the news footage, it looks a lot like an IED blast. I’m sure the NYPD has some outstanding people in the Bomb Squad but I wanted to offer my help if it’s needed.”

  “Well, the Bomb Squad is based just over at the sixth precinct. I have a buddy over there and I can make a call for you but I’m pretty sure they’ll have this covered.”

  “Yeah, I figured as much but I just wanted to offer.”

  “Thanks. If I need to reach you, where can I find you?”

  “Just call the VA hospital and ask for me. I’m usually there, unless I’m at the diner.”

  “OK. Thank you, Master Sergeant.” With that, Hernandez clicked off the line and Chase began to feel a little foolish.

  Dennis put a coffee down in front of him. “How’d it go?”

  Chase sighed. “Hernandez humoured me but I’d be surprised if I hear back. It was worth a shot.”

  “Yeah, we can only do what we can do. Hell, I’ve seen you in action and I wouldn’t hesitate to let you take care of anything you damn well please. The police are probably pretty confident in their own people though. By the way, you just picked up your coffee without any effort. You barely even looked at the cup.”

  “Huh. You’re right. Wow. These things are starting to feel natural.”

  “And they look cool.”

  Chase laughed. “I have to admit, the look is growing on me.”

  Chapter 13

  The man with the scars had carefully selected his next target. He had spent a great deal of time monitoring the patterns of movement around it, both to avoid his own detection and as always, to inflict maximum damage. It wasn’t just a body count he was looking for. He wanted it personal. He wanted to put fear into the most vulnerable. Nobody would be safe. He wanted to make that very clear, so everybody would fear
him. Fear would be his greatest weapon. His worst enemy was a rational mind.

  He found the next setup to be almost too easy. He was ready to roll his camera to capture the inevitable chaos and his device was well concealed. It had required little effort to plant it and as usual, he was a safe distance away. Undetectable, yet in complete control of his objective.

  He could see everything as it came together. He was the conductor and this was his orchestra.

  Chapter 14

  Outside, the morning was brisk but the sun was starting to burn through the thin layer of fog and it was a nice day to be outside. Chase took a big gulp of fresh air and turned back towards the hospital. He still had a good half-hour or so before he would need to be in Carlton’s lab, so he decided to expand his horizon by walking a couple of extra blocks.

  He had been in New York for a while now and his world consisted of a two-block radius and essentially two buildings. It was time to branch out. He had reached a stage where the stares from passers-by bothered him less and his fears about being helpless had started to subside. Time to venture out a little further in public and explore the neighbourhood.

  His path took him past the usual things he expected to see — a convenience store, a little bar, a bus stop. He thought it was about time that he tried to get on the public transport and have a proper look around the city, so he would ask if his minders had any problem with that.

  He walked up a block and crossed the street, turning back towards the hospital but this time approaching it from the front side. It was good to get out. The gym was great for his exercise routine but the air conditioning couldn’t replace fresh morning air and a walk with new sights, sounds and smells to take in. He ambled his way back along the block and the front entrance of the hospital came into view. There was a driveway, where ambulances would often circle around to make drop-offs and a path that led alongside it and up to the front doors. He took one last look at the neighbourhood behind him before heading in. He would definitely expand his walk around the block again.