Read Online Final Battle by Sigmund Brouwer - Free Book Online Page B

microscopic. It can amplify hearing and pick up sounds at higher and lower levels than human hearing.
    As I lowered the volume, the rumbling stopped, and the words began to make sense.
    â€œCan you untie my hands so I can go to the bathroom?” This was Ashley’s voice.
    â€œBathroom. Again?” said an annoyed voice.
    I immediately guessed she’d been trying to get away from them often to open the locket and see if I was operating the ant-bot yet. This time I’d be there.
    â€œI drank a lot of water. And like I keep telling you, it’s not like I can jump out the window. Airplane bathrooms don’t have windows. And you don’t see me wearing a parachute.”
    They were flying.
    Not good news. Every hour meant she could be another 500 or 600 miles farther away. In any direction.
    There was good news, however. Back on the Combat Force base, computer experts were attempting to locate the ant-bot by tracking its satellite signal to the computer receiver on base. They needed three different satellites to link up and triangulate in order to locate the ant-bot’s latitude and longitude and altitude. Because this triangulation wasn’t instant, I needed to stay connected to the ant-bot.
    â€œDon’t bother arguing with her,” another deeper voice said. “What’s the big deal?”
    â€œI don’t trust her,” the first voice answered. “Someone in her position should be more afraid. It’s like she knows something we don’t.”
    â€œWe’re untouchable,” the second voice said. “No one is going to find us. Relax. Untie her hands.”
    I felt more movement as Ashley rose from her seat. At least that was my guess. Stuck inside her locket, I didn’t have much to go on.
    A minute later light hit me, so bright that I nearly fell backward.
    â€œTyce?”
    Ashley’s gigantic face blocked much of the light. Her nose looked like a mountain to me.
    â€œAshley!” I shouted as loud as the ant-bot would permit. Once she’d visited me with the ant-bot. She’d crawled close to my ear and spoken in the middle of the night. This was before I knew the ant-bot existed, and I’d wondered if God was speaking out loud to me. Ashley had enjoyed scaring me with a voice from out of nowhere.
    â€œTyce?” She lifted the locket toward her ear.
    â€œAshley!” My voice sounded very tiny and tinny. I hoped she could hear me above the airplane noise. “Ashley!”
    â€œFinally,” she said. “I’ve tried a dozen times!”
    She held the locket so close to her ear that I could have reached up and grabbed one of her hairs. Only to me, controlling the ant-bot, it would have been like grabbing a thick, thick rope.
    â€œThey weren’t my parents,” she said. “They were actors.”
    â€œI know,” I answered. “And I found out the doctor who supplied the false DNA test has disappeared. This was a well-planned kidnapping.”
    â€œWell planned is right,” she added. “And planned right inside the military by World United Federation Combat Force soldiers. I’m on one of their jets right now. The sun is coming through the right-hand windows.”
    World United Federation Combat Force soldiers. So there were even more traitors in the military than I’d thought. And that meant …
    â€œGood-bye!” I shouted into Ashley’s ear. There was no time to explain.
    In my mind, I gave the “Stop!” command.
    And just like that, I ended robot control.
    Leaving Ashley all alone on an airplane headed away from safety at hundreds of miles per hour.

CHAPTER 13
    Fifteen minutes later I faced Cannon and Nate. Outside. Near the runway of the Combat Force base. With jets taking off and their engines howling.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Cannon said loudly. “I thought you said you could find Ashley with that miniature robot.” His last words ended with a