Technosis: The Kensington Virus by Morgan Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

Here he had to know the living from the dead. The infected from the simply irritable. This entire mission was on him.
    ∞
    Sam scanned the crowd for anyone he might know. His mother hadn’t committed to buying anything, but she hadn’t said, “No,” either. The trick was to get her into the store, get her to buy the game and get out. This was because he didn’t want to be seen with his mom buying a game at the mall.
    Most of the kids in his school didn’t go to the mall. Their parents had credit and could get everything direct over the networks and the web. Right now Sam was having trouble getting his mom and her creepy boyfriend to do anything. They were just standing in front of the store sending messages on their panels. Sam was going to elbow his mom in the ribs when something caught his attention. He looked over to see two men dressed like characters from one of his games walking through the mall. Sam had seen the HDMP officers at the mall; these guys weren’t HDMP. Sam could tell, because they looked like they knew what they were doing and they weren’t swaggering around with a shock wand on their hip and a machine gun slung over their shoulder. These guys were serious; you could tell by how they were dressed, how they were walking and their weapons.
    “Mom,” Sam whispered.
    His mom ignored him.
    “Mom,” he spoke more urgently, and pulled at her elbow.
    “Hey, little man, let the grownups do what they need to do,” the creepy guy spat out, pulling Sam away from his mother.
    Sam glared up at him and thought a hundred hateful thoughts. It would have comforted Sam tremendously to know that many, if not all, of his hateful thoughts about this creepy guy would come to pass and soon. But, even if Sam had known what was to happen to the creepy guy and his mom, he wouldn’t get to enjoy it for very long.
    ∞
    Jamie motioned to Rosen; they had entered the mall near the F.Y.E and Game Stop. This was prime hunting ground. There were at least fourteen people on phones messaging and texting in the shops and walking along the concourse. “Next two in,” Rosen said into his com. “Be advised this area is definitely hot.”
    Jamie put on his glasses. The heat signatures for the first four people he looked at were normal. Then he saw a figure who was just slightly less bright in their heat signature.
    Jamie walked up to the woman in her late forties who was texting furiously on her phone.
    “Children are unappreciative,” Jamie observed.
    “You have no idea, my children never appreciate what a bastard their father is,” she agreed, not looking up from the text messages she was sending.
    “No matter how much you apologize they won’t listen,” Jamie commiserated.
    “I said I was sorry if I did anything wrong, but it was all their father’s fault. If he hadn’t been such a bastard I never would have had to do any of this.” She continued to text.
    Jamie patted her on the back, placing a tracking chip on her coat. Then he walked back to Rosen.
    “She’s been dead about twelve hours and has turned,” Jamie said.
    “You sure?” Rosen asked.
    “Dead sure. She failed the field screen. I’ve tagged her. Have them take her out in the parking lot,” Jamie replied, and then resumed the hunt for KVs.
    Twenty minutes later Jamie was up on the second level.
    “Are we clear?” he called in on the com.
    “Everyone you tagged has been acquired and processed,” a soldier responded.
    “What’s the count?” Jamie asked.
    “I believe thirty.”
    “You believe or you know?” Jamie demanded.
    “I’ll get you a confirmation count.”
    “You do that.”
    Jamie went over to the far side of the food court where he saw Sergeant Rosen talking to a woman in her late fifties. Jamie put on his glasses. The heat signature was off. He saw Rosen reach for the panel in his pocket. Jamie ran, yelling, “Don’t answer that!”
    “Sir, the count is 29. I repeat the count is 29,” the soldier at the other end of the com