When the Chips Are Down (11 page)

Clang…Clang... Clang! 
Zane awoke with a start as he sat straight up.  He had fallen asleep on a church doorstep, and its loud bells were vibrating his eardrums.  It was morning now and raining.  The streets were full of people with umbrellas.  He was relieved that none of them appeared to be carrying guns.  He quickly checked to make sure his laptop was still there and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was.  He had tried to sleep on top of it, but it was too uncomfortable.  His neck and back ached from sleeping on the hard concrete.  He glanced at his watch. “Dammit!” he exclaimed.  It was already seven thirty! The news would be on in half an hour. 

He threw on his jacket, grabbed his laptop, and took off running to the downtown library, pushing through the crowd in the street. “Excuse me! Coming through!” he shouted as he charged past them. 
I’ve really got to start working out
, he thought, panting.  He ran up the stairs into the library, soaking wet, sat down at a table in the corner, and started his computer.  He took a deep breath as he remembered Rachelle’s words: 
You have four minutes tops. 

His first order of business was to access the government’s mainframe using the password he obtained from one of Rachelle’s contacts in the Secret Service.  “Come on…come on,” he muttered to himself as he feverishly typed.  The ICS website finally appeared on his screen.  ICS now controlled the microchip mainframe, since they were the ones designing and testing the chips. 

The words “Enter your ICS ID” came across his screen.  He knew the agent’s name was Sean Mullin so he typed “SMullin” into the field.  The next page said “Enter your password.” “The moment of truth,” Zane declared.  The password advanced him to the page that said “Security question:  What is your favorite color?” 
Don’t freak out.  Think!
Zane thought.  He recalled the e-mail exchanges he’d read between Rachelle and Sean, but couldn’t remember anything useful. 
I can’t fail now because of a stupid color!
He thought frantically. 

“Wait!  That’s it!” he cried as several people in the library stared at him.  “Sorry,” he said.  He remembered an e-mail Rachelle had sent to Sean about Helena State’s plans to remodel.  She talked about the new designs and color schemes.  Sean’s only response was to say that it didn’t matter to him because he was color blind.  Zane typed “none” as the answer to Sean’s security question.  It worked!  He was inside the mainframe system.  Now all he had to do was deactivate the chips. 
YES! Got it!
He said to himself. 

Zane inserted his flash drive into his computer.  On it was the program he had written in the basement of the farmhouse when he first found about his brothers joining the army.  The virus would invade the mainframe and disable the microchips.  He tapped his fingers impatiently on the table as he waited for the virus to attach itself to a file and begin running. 

He glanced at his watch nervously. 
This is taking too long,
he thought.  He was overjoyed when the word ‘Deactivated’ lit up in red letters on the screen.  The chips were turned off!  He had done it!  He wanted to jump up and shout and dance, but thought better of it. 
This is it! Now it’s time for phase two
, he said to himself. 

He hoped he could use the same method for hacking into the Helena news station’s system as his recent internet research led him to believe that the government was controlling and monitoring many aspects of the media.  He accessed the Channel 9 Helena News mainframe and entered the Secret Service Agent’s password.  The words “Access Granted” lit up across the screen. “Holy hell!  I’ve hit the jackpot!” Zane whispered to himself. 

The eight o’clock news was about to come on, which would be the perfect time to stream the video he had recorded the day before.  He inserted a different flash drive into his computer and began streaming the video.  In a matter of seconds it would be shown to everyone in Helena who was watching the Chanel 9 News.  As the video began to play, he gathered his things and calmly walked out the back door of the library.

Jesse’s Bar in downtown Helena was open and busy at eight A.M.  Workers from the factory nearby stopped in after their shift to order breakfast and chat among themselves before going home.  This morning was much livelier than usual.  The men sat at the tables, talking loudly while their breakfast was being prepared.  Earnest sat at the bar, quietly sipping a beer.

“What are you doing drinking this early in the morning?” Zachary, the youngest member of their group, called across the bar. 

“It’s five
o’clock somewhere,” Earnest replied. 

“Now for the Helena eight
o’clock news,” the TV above the bar said.  Instead of seeing the usual reporters, there was an image of an unkempt man with long hair and a full beard seated in front of a computer in what looked like an abandoned building.

Earnest raised his eyebrows in shock.  “Turn it up,” he told the waitress.  “SHHHHHHHHH!” he hissed to the loud men across the bar.  Everyone stopped speaking and turned to face the TV. 

“Hi,
I’m Zane Marsh,” the man said. “As most of you already know, I’m on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.  They’d like you to believe that I am a terrorist.  They’d like you to believe anything but the truth.  I’m running for my life because of what I know, and I’m about to share it with you.  When the government passed the bill requiring everyone to have a microchip implanted in their arm, there’s something they neglected to tell the general public.  I have deactivated your chips so you can fully understand what I’m about to show you.  The following is a video documenting the studies of Dr. Raymond Eldridge, a former Brain and Cognitive Sciences professor at MIT.  This may be the most important video you will ever watch.”

Zane disappeared from the screen.  The video of Eldridge’s research, experiments, and hypothesis followed.  Zane had edited it for time.  Everyone watched in silence until it was over.  Channel 9 News announced that it was having technical difficulties and asked everyone to please stand by.  A color bar followed accompanied by an obnoxious beeping sound. 

“This is bull,” Earnest exclaimed, breaking the silence, “I spent ten years serving my country and now they’ve put a chip in my arm that tells me what to think?!  What will they do next?” 

“Those lying
, no good, government pigs!” Zachary shouted, rising to his feet. “This is a violation of our rights!  They shouldn’t be able to get away with this.”  He left more alive than he had in a long time.  Finally it all made sense to him now.  He had always been a vibrant and enthusiastic person.  He hadn’t understood why he didn’t care about anything after his chip was implanted. 

“Yeah,
this is totally screwed up and wrong,” Zachary’s friends, Tommy and Davie agreed. 

“I don’t know.  This all sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me,” James said from another table.

“Nonsense?  It makes perfect sense
! Didn’t you listen to a thing that doctor said?” Zachary retorted.

“Why would the government do that to us?” James wanted to know. 

“So they can control us and get us to do whatever they want.  They bugged our phones and invaded people’s houses without warrants in lieu of the American Act.  Why wouldn’t they do something like this as well?” Zachary said.

“What if this is all a hoax?” James replied.

“Haven’t you felt different since they put that chip inside you, like you’re sleeping walking all the time?  Don’t you feel different right now since that Zane guy said he turned our chips off?  We need to let them know we aren’t going to take this. There needs to be a revolution. We need to lead a rebellion!”  Zachary cried.

“Yeah
!” Tommy and Davie cheered.

“You’re going to start a rebellion?” Earnest said, as if it was the single dumbest thing he’d ever heard.

“Are you going to
sit back and let them control your thoughts?” Zachary said. 

“If you riot, you’ll go to jail, and you
won’t solve anything,” Earnest replied. 

“You’re forgetting that there’s strength in numbers.  If enough of us
rebel against the Powers That Be, they won’t be able to stop us because they’ll be outnumbered,” Zachary proclaimed.

“What if you’re not outnumbered?” Earnest said, knowing how Zachary tended to act before he thought things through.  Zachary was opinionated and strong in his convictions but also a little naïve and impulsive. 

“
You know damn well that our so called leaders are thinking of how to do damage control right now.  They’re going to come up with some lies to tell the public because they don’t want chaos.  If we act now, we’ll have the element of surprise.  There must be hundreds of thousands of people across the country who are thinking the same thing.  There are more of us than
them. 
He turned his gaze from Earnest to his friends.  Come on.  Who’s with me?” Zachary cried.  Fists rose as cheers and shouts came from Zachary’s table.  Tommy and Davie were not the brightest people and tended to follow anyone like a herd of lost sheep.

“I don’t think we’ll be outnumbered,” Zachary declared. “Come on, guys.  Let’s take back our rights!”  His friends rose from the table and ran out of the bar shouting “Freedom!”  Only Earnest and James remained in the bar. 

“Those
idiots are going to jail,” Earnest said, turning back towards the bar.

Zane pulled his hood over his head once again as he continued down the alley way behind the library. 
Now that everyone knows the truth, what will they do?
he thought.  His thoughts quickly shifted to Trent and Brooklyn.  He was determined to get them out of jail.  There had to be a way to create a diversion so he could sneak into the Helena Police Station and free them, but how could he do it?  How could one of the most wanted men in the country walk into a police station and not get captured?

“Zane Marsh, FREEZE!” a man’s voice shouted.  His thoughts scattered like thieves as he looked up to see a police officer standing ten feet in front of him with his gun drawn and pointed at him.  A wave of panic swept over him.  He stood frozen in terror.  “Put your hands where I can see them,” the officer ordered, inching closer to him. 

Zane whirled around and lurched forward in a full-on sprint.  He had only made it several feet when a blinding pain tore through his back.  It was as if he had been struck by lightning.  He could feel currents of electrical impulses coursing throughout his body.  That was when he realized he had been hit with a Taser gun.  He let out a cry as he fell to the ground on his stomach. 

He lay writhing and twitching as the officer cuffed his wrists.  “Get up!” he demanded.  Zane only continued to twitch.  The officer grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.  He picked up Zane’s laptop case from the ground and threw it over his shoulder.  “Come on,” he said, dragging him along.  Zane wobbled and stumbled down the alley, throwing the officer’s gait off balance.

The Taser had left him confused and disoriented. 
This can’t be happening,
he thought.  The officer led Zane around a corner and down another street.  He could see the police station about fifty yards away.  The officer radioed for backup, but did not receive a response.

As they approached the police station, Zane saw an armored van parked behind it.  Two heavily armed soldiers were each escorting a prisoner to the van.  Zane strained his eyes to see them.  “Trent! Brooklyn!” he shouted.  Trent and Brooklyn did not hear him.  Their hands were cuffed behind their backs, and their heads hung down.  He had never seen them look so broken and defeated.  Zane struggled to break free of the officer’s grasp. 

“Stop resisting,” the officer said, grabbing him harder.  The soldiers ushered Trent and Brooklyn into the van, closed the door, climbed into the front of the vehicle, and quickly drove away.  Zane watched the van until it was out of sight.  His hopes of rescuing his friends vanished with it.  Zane pulled harder against the officer.  “Where are they taking them?” he demanded.

“Shut up,” the officer snapped.

“I want to know where they’re taking my friends,” Zane shouted.  The officer
dropped Zane’s laptop and grabbed his night club from his belt. 

“Would you like me to crack your skull
, Marsh?” he said. 

“Leave him alone!” a voice shouted.  Before the
policeman could turn to see who was behind them, he was met with a Louisville Slugger baseball bat to the top of his head.  He dropped to the ground hard, causing Zane to fall as well.  The officer lay on his side with blood trickling down his face. 

“He’s out cold,” Tommy said, standing over him.