Free Apocalypse Cult (Gray Spear Society) by Alex Siegel Page B

the mission, the more lives will be saved in the end. But if you still need to be convinced, I'll make it simpler. Follow my orders, or suffer the consequences of insubordination."
    Aaron could tell he wouldn't win the argument. Maybe if he came up with a better plan before tomorrow, Ethel would listen.
    "That's all," Ethel said. "Aaron, stay with me. You still need a new phone."
    She led Aaron through more gray hallways.
    "Hang on," he said, "shouldn't I have an initiation ceremony or something? I thought secret societies always had those."
    "We'll do it after the mission is over. Hopefully, tomorrow night. If this drags on...." She grimaced.
    They entered a room containing shelves packed with computers, electronic gadgets, and spools of wire. Edward held a screwdriver as he leaned over a complex piece of equipment on a table under a bright light. Small, oddly shaped components lay all around.
    He was a black man with short wiry hair and wire-rim glasses. His blue jeans had patches on the knees and tiny burn marks on one thigh, perhaps from bits of hot metal. His green T-shirt had the words "technology: not for wimps" printed on the front.
    "Edward," Ethel said, "do you have a spare phone?"
    He grabbed a cell phone off of a shelf and handed it to Aaron.
    "Hefty," Aaron said.
    The phone was about twice as thick as the one he normally carried, and it felt as solid as a brick. The gray metal surface had the rainbow sheen of brushed titanium.
    "Shockproof and waterproof," Edward said, "with a super long battery life. The special high gain antenna will pick up a signal almost anywhere, and you can use it all over the world."
    "Who pays for the service?"
    Edward gave Aaron a funny look. "Don't worry about that, sir. There are lots of special features. The most important is the panic button. If you get into trouble, hold the five down for a few seconds. We'll immediately send a rescue team."
    "How will they find me?" Aaron said.
    "The phone has three kinds of position tracking, including GPS. Another important feature is encryption. If you call another member of the Society, the connection will be secure. There is no way anybody can tap into your conversation." Edward gave Aaron a paper pamphlet. "Read these instructions and then burn them."
    "That phone is your lifeline," Ethel said. "Always keep it with you. Eat with it, sleep with it, and take it into the shower. A legionnaire wouldn't be caught dead without his phone. Let's go."
    "Wait," Aaron said. "What about my wallet? My credit cards?"
    "Paid off and cancelled," Edward said. "I'm already in the process of destroying your real identity. Nothing in that wallet is useful to you now. Your old life is gone."
    "But how am I going to live?" They had no right to erase his life without even bothering to tell him first.
    "You'll get a new identity with new credit cards tomorrow, sir. If you want some cash in the meantime, Jack will give you as much as you need."
    "What about my apartment?" Aaron said.
    "We'll make new living arrangements for you under a fake name. Use your existing apartment for a few more days."
    "I have friends, parents."
    "You'll never see them again," Ethel said. "It's safer for everybody that way. Trust me."
    "But you can't...."
    "We can and we did. Deal with it."
    Aaron was speechless. Ethel nudged him, and they left the room. She took him back to the garage.
    As he entered, he discovered his car was gone. Then he saw it on the service lift, and Nancy was working underneath.
    "What are you doing to my car?"
    "It desperately needed a complete tune-up, sir," she said. "I'll lube the chassis while I'm at it. This is a classic car, and you should take better care of it."
    Nancy had a thick body but she didn't look fat. Frizzy brown hair stuck out from her head in odd ways. She wore blue jean coveralls with grease stains on the front. Her big lips were curved in a pleasant smile.
    Aaron couldn't complain about getting his car fixed for free, even though he wished she