by David Petrie
Each image showed a page from the book in question. There were dates and times as well as names and locations all written in the same handwriting. At the top of each entry was a number four, while a page number sat at the bottom. Another photo showed the book’s cover, which contained an ornate four in gold leaf.
Seth thought about it but reserved to hear more before making a guess.
Delgado handed them another few photos. “These are from a second book that was found under similar circumstances.” This time, each entry showed a six at the top, and as expected, the photo of the cover had a gold number six on it.
“So you think the books you found are mirroring the contents of another?” Seth surmised.
“Yes. We think they’re part of a set of ledgers and that he must have a master copy that has the contents of all the others. He probably just writes which volume he wants the page to appear in at the top of each entry, and it shows up in it no matter where the book is in Noctem. The thing that’s really interesting is that only a few minutes after we found each volume, they suddenly turned blank from cover to cover. So he must also have a way to erase them when one becomes compromised.”
“He probably just tears out the pages,” suggested Wyatt.
“That’s what we think too. Obviously, you can see why this master ledger might be important.”
Dawson leaned in. “It’s basically an untraceable means of communication that gives him the ability to coordinate his business from anywhere in the world. As far as why a game would create an item like that and give it to a guy who would use it to run a criminal organization, that’s beyond me. And Checkpoint has not been very forthcoming about it either. They’ve refused to give us information on the contract system.”
Wyatt looked to Seth knowingly but didn’t say anything. It was obvious to them why Checkpoint wasn’t helping. The contract system was broken. Checkpoint couldn’t help even if they wanted to. Berwyn’s contracts would have been created by his subconscious. The content of them was probably stored in his brain as well, according to what they had learned last year. That would mean the books could only be read while he was online.
“And that is why I went in as Luka to try and find it. We know that it’s too big for him to carry on his person based on the other books we found, so he must be storing it somewhere.”
“But you got caught looking through his study.” Wyatt leaned back in his chair.
“Yes and blew a four-month op in the process. Fortunately, he just assumed I was working for another city in the game and not the Bureau. I had time to search the study thoroughly, so I know it’s not there. So that just leaves one place.”
“The vault.” Wyatt slapped his hand on the table as he realized it.
Dawson nodded. “Yes, and hypothetically, if there was a team with the intent to break into said vault, then they might be so kind as to grab the book in question while they’re in there.”
Wyatt sat quietly for a moment before speaking, “I guess, hypothetically, that might be a possibility.”
“Great, because we’ve already gone through the trouble of beefing up your team’s cover IDs as well as concealed your finances so that Berwyn won’t find anything if he decides to look into you,” Dawson explained as if it was that simple.
“Wait, what?” Wyatt froze in his chair.
“It was a necessary precaution. This way, you’re protected by another layer of anonymity. It wasn’t hard for us to figure out your real-world identities, so it would have been just as easy for Cline to do the same if he got suspicious. And if he finds out that Kirabell is played by you, Seth, then that might ruin your chances, considering he’s almost certainly trying to sleep with you.”
“Don’t remind me.” Seth dropped his face to his hand. “How much danger could we be in if we get caught by him?”
Dawson looked hesitant. “If things go badly, we may have to relocate you.”
“Like, witness protection, relocate?” Wyatt lurched forward.
“Yes”
“Well, crap.” Seth sunk into his seat.
Wyatt’s face fell, suddenly looking more serious than Seth was used to. “We’ll have to discuss things with the rest of our party. Can you meet up with us online? I think it would be best if you explained the situation. We can take a vote after that.”
“That’s fair.” Delgado took back some of the photos.
“Okay, we’ll be at the Hanging Frederick in Valain at nine tonight,” Wyatt said, taking charge of the situation.
Dawson frowned but agreed anyway, “We’ll be there.” He stood, signaling that the meeting was over. “It will be good to meet the rest of your team.”
Seth and Wyatt got up as well, the two agents offering their hands to shake, as if sealing their unlikely alliance.
“Oh, one more thing.” Dawson continued to shake Wyatt’s hand longer than necessary. “It should go without saying that nothing that has been said here should be shared with anyone that we have not approved. Currently, the only people that know about this operation are in this room. I expect that it stays that way. Understand?”
Wyatt nodded slowly before Dawson finally released him.
“Good, I’m glad we see eye to eye.”
With everything settled, Seth followed Wyatt as he got the hell out of there. The interrogation room had started to feel a little too small for comfort.
Delgado waited until the pair of gamers were safely out of the room before speaking again, “We should have told them everything.”
Dawson picked up the folders and shoved them back in his bag. “Yeah, but they’re civilians. I’d prefer not to involve them at all.”
Delgado nodded. “True. I don’t like using them either. But they're good at what they do, and we don’t have the time to find anyone else. There’s too much at stake.”
Chapter Forty-One
The orange shell of a teleport spell dissipated, dropping the team back in their room at the palace as if they had never left.
“I swear, I better not get relocated to Florida because of all this.” Ginger didn’t skip a beat. “That’s the last place I want to raise kids.”
“What’s wrong with Florida? Kira and I grew up there, and we turned out fine,” Max defended the state of his birth.
She leveled a blank stare at him as if his statement had just proved her point.
Farn dropped on to the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table while the two continued to bicker.
Kira sunk into the cushions beside her with a lengthy sigh. It had been a stressful evening so far, and she felt like having a good slouch was the right thing to do.
It had only been moments before that they had sat in the back of the Hanging Frederick with Luka and a bland-looking avatar named Rando404. Rando had turned out to be agent Dawson’s online persona. Luka had explained that she had made his avatar for him and had assigned him the name when he had told her that he didn’t care what she chose.
Rando’s unremarkable appearance was also by design since his only request was that she make him something that wouldn’t stand out. Apparently, he wasn’t much of a gamer.
After a very long conversation filled with plenty of questions, everyone was still on board with the heist. They had also voted to help the two agents take down Berwyn.
Ginger wavered a bit when they brought up the possible consequences, but as everyone raised their hands in agreement, she’d given in. Her response had been a simple, “Fine, but I hate all of you.”
Kira could sympathize. She didn’t want to back out, not with everything that was on the line. Still, the thought of playing the honey pot now made her skin crawl. Before she knew who Berwyn was, she could fool herself into thinking his intentions weren’t so sinister.
“Well, look at it this way. Even if we ended up being relocated to somewhere crappy, at least we’ll be rich.” Max grinned at Ginger as he appealed to her more practical temptations.
“Yeah, well, I still hate you,” the Coin poute
d. Though, Kira suspected that it was just for show.
He shrugged as if he was fine with it.
After waiting enough time for Corvin, Kegan, and Piper to get into position outside, Farn stood. “I suppose I should probably help the guys sneak back in.” She tugged on the strand of Shift Beads on her wrist as she raised her house ring to her mouth. “You guys ready?”
“Sneaking through the bushes as we speak,” Piper’s voice reported back in response.
“Okay, hold on to each other.” Farn touched her bracelet with two fingers, vanishing in an instant. In her place stood Piper holding hands awkwardly with Corvin and Kegan.
“Wow.” Piper’s eyes went wide at the sight of the lavish interior of the room as she let go of their hands. “This place is amazin–”
Suddenly, Farn reappeared in her place as if she never left.
“Oh, come on, guys. You could at least let me stay for, like, a minute,” Piper complained over the house line.
Ginger raised her ring. “Sorry, dear, I said you could help, not that you’d get to have fun.”
Piper scoffed over the line without saying anything else.
“Now I kind of feel bad.” Farn stared at the Shift Beads on her wrist as if debating on swapping out again.
“Don’t.” Ginger shook her head. “Keeping her out of this is best. I already regret letting her get involved this much. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “It would be my fault.”
Kira’s stomach rolled as the reality of the situation sunk in. She had thought she had come to terms with it. Nothing had really changed. The plan was still the same. Helping take down Berwyn wasn’t much more than a convenient detour. Still, they weren’t playing a game anymore. She touched the pendant that clung to her throat, feeling a little like she had the year before. Things had gotten a little too real.
Back together with everyone, Max went over the plan so far. “Okay, there are still another two nights before Checkpoint refills the vault’s hard. So we’re in a holding pattern till then.”
Corvin leaned on the sofa. “We could make a run on the vault anyway. Get the book early and forget about the money.”
“No,” Ginger said without hesitation, getting a number of accusing looks in response. “Oh, I get it. I’m greedy.”
“You are a Coin.” Farn smirked.
“Ha ha. And no, it’s not because I want the money. That’s just a bonus.” She leaned on the table. “If we do this now, he will almost certainly link the theft to us. And if the Feds don’t get him, we’re all going straight in witness protection. Plus, if we wait until the vault is full, Berwyn will be distracted with continuing his conquest. That makes everything safer for us.”
Max tapped his fingers on the back of her chair. “So we have to steal the hard to cover the theft of the book. It will slow his reaction time.”
“So what do we do tonight then?” Kira hoped that she might not have to entertain their host.
“Beach?” Ginger shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind swimming. You’ll probably have to have that drink with Berwyn, though.”
“But we can keep an eye on you,” Farn added.
Kira sighed and began awkwardly pulling her gear up over her head. Her belt got stuck halfway, wrapped around her chest. She felt like a child having trouble putting on her winter jacket.
“Little help?”
Max begrudgingly assisted, but as soon as she got the dress off, there was a knock on the door.
Everyone fell silent.
“Were we expecting anyone?” Farn pointed at the door.
Kira gasped and immediately started trying to put on her gear back on again. Ginger hopped up and snatched it away before pushing her to the door.
“It’s probably Berwyn, and we want him distracted.” The Coin then turned to Kegan and Corvin who were still standing in the room as if they weren’t trespassing on the palace grounds.
It was a fact that they quickly remembered as they dove behind a chair. Kira snickered as Kegan’s butt stuck out from the side and Corvin’s ears poked up from the top.
“What’s wrong with you two? Get in the bedroom and close the door,” Max whispered in a tone that gave the impression of yelling.
They poked their heads up and glanced at the bedroom door as realization washed over their faces, leaving them both with expressions that said, 'duh'.
Once the two intruders were hidden away, Kira turned to the door. Before she could open it, Farn ran over to straighten her hair, which was still a mess from when she had taken off her gear. Then she ran back to the sofa with the others to act natural.
Kira turned the knob and pulled.
An excited smile shined on Berwyn’s face as soon as he saw her. For a moment, she couldn’t help but picture the aging man in the photo she’d seen earlier that day, the man that had killed at least a dozen people to settle business disputes. Every muscle in her body tightened. She had been worried about talking to him since the moment she’d found out. At least now, she didn’t feel bad about deceiving.
Kira swallowed her fear and shoved it down, returning his smile with one of her own. It was almost painful.
An equally excited Nix stood behind him. She waved silently as if they were already good friends, her tail wagging as she did. Apparently, Berwyn had decided not to bring Ripper to her door after the events of the previous night.
“Hi,” Kira chirped in a tone that she hoped would come across as being happy to see them.
He glanced at her swimsuit. “Oh, were you going to the beach?”
“We were thinking about it.” She pretended that he had not just blatantly checked her out. “Why, did you have something in mind?” She assumed he did. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come by.
“I was thinking of going down to the Catacombs later tonight, and I wanted to ask if you and Lady Ginger would like join me.”
Kira wasn’t sure of what he was asking. She didn’t know what the Catacombs were. It sounded like a dungeon. She answered regardless, “Sure.” Then she turned back to Ginger as if to ask if it was okay.
Ginger rested one arm on the back of the couch. “We’d love to.”
He placed his hands together as if signaling that he had gotten what he’d come for. “Great, how’s two o’clock sound?”
“That works,” Kira chirped.
“Fantastic, we’ll meet you at the gates out front then.”
“Oh, did you want to come to the beach with us before we go?” Kira asked before he had the chance to leave. She’d only asked to seem interested since she was pretty sure he couldn’t. He had spent much of his early nights meeting with people that she now realized must real-world business contacts. Probably just as guilty as he was.
“Definitely,” he answered without hesitation. Then he glanced at Nix and sighed. “But unfortunately, we still have things to do before I get to have fun.”
Kira forced her warmest smile. “That’s okay. There’ll be time eventually, and the beach isn’t going anywhere.”
He laughed. “True. I’ll see you later, though.”
“Okay.” She tried to sound disappointed.
He smiled and headed off down the hall with Nix in tow.
Kira closed the door and immediately turned to Ginger. “What the hell are the Catacombs?”
Down the hall, Nix followed Berwyn like a loyal mercenary or, at least, a well paid one. Granted, she didn’t exactly look like she was ready to defend him at a moment’s notice, mostly because she had her hands shoved in her pockets and was staring at the carved stonework of the ceiling as she walked.
“So what’s so special about Kira anyway?” she asked, sounding a little more familiar with her boss than she should.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I get it. I wouldn’t kick her out of bed, and I pretty much just sleep with guys. But seriously, you have an empire. You could have a different woman every night and put in way less effort.” She d
idn’t mince words, leaving no room for vague answers.
He paused before answering, “Let me ask you, Nix, have you ever been intimate with a fairy before?”
She snorted. “Gonna go with no on that.”
He laughed. “Obviously, you know that they’re more graceful than other races in Noctem.”
“Yeah. Something to do with them weighing so little.”
“Well, let’s just say that the same effortless grace translates into other activities.”
Nix nodded. “Right, right, so you’re just looking to bang her then?”
“That’s putting it a bit too simply.”
“Really? I can’t imagine that you’re in love with her or anything.”
He laughed again. “Oh, god no, but even you must be able to tell she’s not very experienced. It’s written all over her body language.”
“Ahh, so you’re all about the deflowering then.” Nix mouthed the word, gross, without saying it out loud.
“I’m not that immature,” he said as if accusing her for suggesting it, “but someone like Kira isn’t going to just jump into bed with anyone. No, it’s about the negotiation. Someone like her needs to be convinced. She needs to be treated well and guided until she thinks it’s her idea. Then she’ll just give herself away. Not to anyone, but to you. That’s when you know you’ve won her.”
Nix grimaced. “And what happens after that?”
“Does it matter?” he answered her question with a question.
“Kind of. If you dump her immediately, you’re not gonna keep her house on your side. They might even vow to take revenge, and I’ll be honest, Ginger doesn’t seem like someone I want to piss off. Not to mention Farn and Max are pretty protective of her. It actually warms my cold, mercenary heart to see how much the care 'bout each other.”
The Lord of Serpents simply shrugged. “Eh, what are they going to do to me?” He tapped his crown to remind her that he was essentially immortal. “Besides, I have plenty of people. I don’t need Lockheart's loyalty. They would be helpful on our side but not necessary.”