by J P Carver
"I'm just looking after a friend. I don't got anything to do with any of this." I finished the hotdog in four bites and crumpled up the napkin. "So what is CES doing to help all these people? You find anything yet?"
He grinned. "I'm not discussing a case with you—not that you need me to. I bet you're looking into this already if you aren't involved, which I'm not entirely convinced about. What did you find so far?"
I choked back a laugh. "Why the hell would I say anything to you?"
"That was you that just came out of that cyber café over yonder, wasn't it? Who's the kid you were with? Your boyfriend? Should probably pick him up and see what he's got to say about you."
I glanced at the café and swore under my breath. "I don't know him. We just happened to come out at the same time. What do you want from me, Dougherty?"
"What's causing this? We got our best tech heads on it, but I know you got an angle. All you cracker screwups do. I figure you wouldn't actually be stupid enough to be the one doing this, but you are stupid enough to go looking into it. You tell me what you know, and I walk away—we just had a nice lunch together. You keep putting up bullshit and… well, you remember. How's your finger, by the way?"
"Good. They all are, see?" I gave him the middle finger, and he chuckled. "All I know is that someone is trapping people in the game. I don't know who, and I don't know how."
"Yet you're trying to figure it out, right? That's what your kind does. Gotta stick together and all that crap. It seems to me like you're motivated to find out what's going on and"—he stood and pulled out a plastic card from his pocket—"I want you to contact me and let the CES handle it before you do anything stupid. Don't make me ruin your great escape from last time. Contact me, and stay out of this."
I took the offered card and stuffed it into the pocket of my pants. "If—and that's a big if, because I got nothing going on with this—if I find out anything, I'll let you know. Okay?"
"Don't make me regret not hauling you in, Miss Eisen. If you prove yourself useful, you may just earn yourself a bit of time off my radar." He gave a wave and walked off into the crowd.
I watched him go and took a long sip from my water bottle. Talking to him made me feel dirty, as if I needed an acid bath or something. It also pissed me off, because if he was coming to me, then CES was nowhere. I really was on my own, and that made the hotdog sit uneasily in my stomach.
"Who was the cop?" Marcus dropped into the empty seat beside me.
"You made him out as a cop? I'm a little impressed."
"Figured only a cop would make you antsy like that and get you to take off. You in trouble?"
"Not yet, but we got eyes on us now. I wanna see what Merigold dug up. You want to tag along?" I tossed my bottle and napkin into the trash beside me, surprised that I had asked him to come along. What I'd really needed him for was over, yet with Nina wrapped up with Winter, it felt good to have someone to bounce ideas off of.
He grinned, stood, and held out his hand to help me up. I gritted my teeth at the second twinge in my gut, this one different from before, and I recognized it from years ago even as I chalked it up to the hotdog. I walked past him and heard him laugh behind me.
"You think you're so damn cool, don't you?"
"Nah. Your hands were just all sweaty." I turned and waited for him at the crosswalk. He wiped his hands on his pants then jogged to catch up.
Back at the hospital, we found that Nina had never left Winter. I tried to force her to go, but she showed her stubborn side, and it wasn't worth making her go down to the café to get some food. Instead, I sent Marcus down.
She was really broken up, and for a fleeting moment, I thought about telling her all about what we'd found. I tossed the idea away when she looked up at me with huge, sad eyes that twisted my gut. She had enough to worry about just then.
"You have to eat. Otherwise, you're gonna fall over and not be of any use to us."
"I can't eat. I'm not hungry."
"You're worried. That doesn't mean you're not hungry or tired." I crossed the room to her, placed my hand to her face, and ran my thumb along her cheekbone. Dark blotches were starting to form under her eyes. I hated seeing them. "Take a nap—take twenty minutes, and I'll keep watch. If he even breathes funny, I'll wake you."
"No, I'm fine."
"Don't make me knock you out, Crow. You know I will."
"Raggy," she whined, and I pulled her to her feet and over to one of the chairs against the wall. She flopped down, and I took the blanket from the empty bed and placed it around her. She was obviously annoyed but didn't complain. She placed her head against the wall and closed her eyes.
Looking over at Winter made the worry come again. He hadn't changed at all since the morning. He was motionless, the helmet blocking off half his face and its data lights continuing to blink. A part of me wondered if he had been targeted, but nothing I'd uncovered so far led to that conclusion, because it would have meant they were after me first. Sadly, I didn't have the option to disregard anything yet. I went over to the chair beside his bed and sat down.
Merigold still hadn't got back to me, so I sent off another message. A moment later, Sera messaged back and told me Merigold was still in a meeting with the big heads of the hospital. Until I heard back, I'd just have to kill time. I laid my head back and stared at the ceiling, turning the problem over in my mind. This wasn't a system glitch—this was someone working toward an end, but I had no idea what that was.
An email notification popped up across my vision. Strangely, it was notifying me about guild mail I received in Autumn Sin. I checked the log-ons and saw that no one from the guild had been on since that morning. I logged into the mail server and found the message. It had no address, just a bunch of stars and symbols where the words should have been.
Confused, I opened the guild mail and was redirected to a video of an avatar from the game. She was a slender woman, almost bone thin, but all elven avatars were. She wore a black dress that clung to her torso and showed far too much of her chest. On her head was a wide-brimmed hat, and I was reminded of a Halloween witch decoration my dad used to put on the front door. The woman grinned at me and cocked her head to the side.
"Ragdoll? Nice name, I guess. Does it suit you in person?"
"Who are you?"
"Don't you know? I thought you were looking for me earlier today."
"Was I?" I started a trace on the video but didn't hold out any real hope for it. If she was contacting me, then she would make sure to stay well hidden.
"Seemed that way since you were banging around my place. Do I by any chance have a friend of yours?" She smiled and closed her eyes for a moment in a look of innocence. "I'm sorry, but you do belong to one of the top guilds, and top means exposure. But I'd be willing to give that up in return for something I lost."
It took a moment to process what she'd said. "You want to trade? What do you want?"
"I lost something. A stupid computer glitch caused me to leave a very important item behind. I went to go get it, but someone else beat me to it—you. I want the book, and if you give it to me, I'll let your friend go. Simple."
A laugh escaped me, and I stood so I could start to pace the room. The woman narrowed her eyes. It was obviously not the reaction she was expecting.
"You threatened to kill everyone you have. Why would I give you anything? I already know you have a deadline."
She lifted a brow. "Oh? Guess you saw the message. The game is very tight in how it wants its quests created. I didn't think anyone would take it seriously, but that's of no real concern. I was going to release that information to the media in about an hour." She turned, and the world behind her spun in a blur before showing a grove of trees. "But if you don't give me the book, I'll kill everyone right now."
"You need the book to carry out your plan." I paused, hoping I was right. If she wanted it back, that meant she needed it for something. I felt some pleasure as the smugness on her face slipped. "Without the book, yo
u can't do much of anything, can you?"
"You're right. I can't do things the way I want without the book. I don't need it to just cut the server connection to everyone."
"So you have access to the server, huh?"
"Sly, but no, not physical access. You won't find me in time, and after I'm finished, I'll turn myself in anyway. I think it's a pretty good deal—your friend free for an item that is useless to you. Otherwise, they all die."
"You can't do that…"
"Can't I? You actually believe I have no fail-safes in place? I'm a bit insulted."
I stopped pacing and left the room because I couldn't be sure I'd keep my voice down. Out in the hall, I stole into an empty room while saying, "Why? Why do all of this?"
"Because people need to understand the dangers of this so-called harmless entertainment. They need to know that it can ruin lives. I'm going to show them just how it can do that."
"By killing people who were playing?" I closed the door behind me. "That doesn't show anything other than you being a damn psycho."
"Think what you want." She started to walk, the camera shaking, and the scene behind her turned into what looked like a dark wood wall lit by a torch. "I'm giving you a chance to save your friend. The book for his life. You have until nine tonight to decide." The screen went blank.
I kicked at a chair in the room, and it went tumbling into two others. There was no way she could have the book… but if it could save Winter, could I really not give it up? If there wasn't a way to stop her, and if Nina found out about the book, I didn't think she would understand or want to. It was the life of a friend in exchange for the lives of many others.
I left the room and started to walk until I found a little alcove a few doors away from Winter's room. Outside, the sky had turned a deep purple, and the moon was glowing behind a host of grayish-blue clouds. It felt so dark. Nine o'clock was only two hours away.
"You hiding, girl?" Ziller said from behind me. I looked at the glass and found his reflection there, watching me. He was on the heavier side with dark skin and long black hair that he meticulously took care of. He grinned at the glass with brilliant-white teeth. "What's got you all worked up?"
"I ain't worked up," I said as he took a seat on the bench I was kneeling on. "What are you doing here, anyway? Thought you hated public places."
"Come on. Crow's boy is in the hospital, and you think I'd stay away? Besides, was worried about all of ya. More and more are coming in with the same symptoms. What you got so far?"
"Just had a major development, but you can't tell anyone else yet." I explained the exchange I'd had with the woman. "Now I don't know what to do. I've got nothing but this damn book, and I don't even know what it’s used for. How can I risk Winter's life on the chance that I'll figure this out in time to stop her?"
"First of all, this isn't all on you. We're a group, so stop trying to step in the line of fire by yourself. Second, how can we risk everyone else's lives to save him? There's no proof she can do what she says without the book." He spoke calmly because he knew I was already considering all of those points. "Look, there isn't a good answer here. The woman wants the book and is willing to give you someone for it. In my experience, people don't negotiate unless they've absolutely got to."
"But I don't know if she's bluffing or not."
He chuckled and leaned back against the glass. "I need to get you playing poker. But yeah, there is no real way to know. I can't make this decision for you."
"Great."
"Best advice I can give you is: what would Ragdoll do if she had no horse in this race?"
I let out a breath and shook my head. "I'd call her bluff. I'd start to look into the book and try to find other options."
"Then what are we doing wasting our time?" He stood. "Keep your head, girl. Don't let other things interfere with your judgment. Just remember, you don't gotta shoulder it all alone."
"Yeah… okay. Thanks."
"Crow in with Winter still?" he asked, and I nodded. "Cool, I'm gonna go visit, then. You get your ass in gear and grab Plot. He'd follow you anywhere and do just about anything."
"He's like a freaking puppy."
"He's also an extra pair of hands, and if you need more, you know where to call." He turned on a heel and started down the hall with a hand raised in goodbye.
Marcus and Merigold met me in a break room off the same hall as Winter's room. I was pacing when they walked in. Merigold looked like she was about to fall over and went for the coffee without even looking at me. "This better be good. I was about to take a nap."
"You were hitting on a nurse when I saw you." Marcus dropped into a chair at the table.
Merigold held the mug up to her lips and shrugged. "Wanted some company since Sera had to head back to her normal work." She took a large gulp and smiled. "What did you two figure out?"
"Tell us what you found first. I've been waiting for a while," I said.
"That's because I didn't find much of anything yet. I've gone through all types of employees for the Autumn Sin dev, but they haven't fired anyone in six months. No one has left lately either, and I had Ziller dig into their personal emails. There is nothing that would point to this. They're as shocked as everyone else, and it's chaos over there. This isn't some inside job."
I nodded. "Maybe not, but someone has access. I was just contacted by a woman who wants the book Plot and I found."
Marcus sat up, the chair hitting the table. "When? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was ten minutes ago, and I'm telling you now. Get off my case." I picked up the Omni computer tablet from the table and played the recorded video I'd made. When it finished, I sat down and stretched as I watched Merigold, waiting for her reaction. "I can save Winter."
"And kill everyone else," Marcus said.
"Yeah, I got that, but I don't know what else to do. We're nowhere, and according to my neural, we've got less than two hours before they are all trash data at nine. We can at least save our friend."
"You know she won't keep her end." Merigold dumped the rest of her coffee into the sink. She stood there, staring at the wall. "Nah. She wants you to hand it over, and then she'll take you too."
"Then what do we do? I'm out of ideas."
The entire thing had quickly spun out of my grasp. It made me sick. Tears burned at the edges of my eyes, and I fought against them. Nina would never forgive me. If it came down to it, I was going to give the woman the book if it would save Winter.
"Why don't we pass on the video to CES?" Marcus said. "I'm not saying we give them everything, but we give them something. Extra eyes and extra hands, you know? You met that detective guy today. Send the stuff to him."
"Wait? Detective? What did I miss?" Merigold asked. I handed her the card Dougherty had given me. She looked it over, narrowing her eyes. "Shit, wasn't this the guy…?"
"Yup, same asshole that Ziller had something over, and the one that broke my fingers."
"And you want to give him everything we found out?" She looked at each of us.
"I mean, I've thought about it, but do either of you think the CES is gonna do anything more than we already have?" To give CES anything meant that the turning-over-the-book option was gone. "They'd probably haul us down and interrogate us, wasting time we don't have."
"We can't just give up, though." Marcus stood. If I'd learned one thing about him during all of this, it was that he was optimistic to a fault. The fact that he could still have hope pissed me off, as mine was fleeting at best.
I rounded on him, and he tensed, backing away. "Giving this over to the CES shuts us out. So what else do you want us to do? Huh? We go in after her, and she captures us. We're done." I shoved him back a step, knowing it was too far but unable to stop myself. "We go looking for her, and she pulls the plug, and they're all gone anyway. We try to crack the system, and she notices—same result. What brilliant idea are you keeping from the class, Marcus? Tell me what we should do."
"Ragan…" Merigold rea
ched for me, and I shoved her arm back.
"No. He seems to think he can do better. I want to hear his great plan."
She pushed forward, grabbed me by my arm, and pulled me away from Marcus. Then she placed herself between us and stared down at me like a disapproving parent.
"Let me go, Merigold."
"You need to cool down right now." Merigold had only yelled at me once before, and seeing her so angry knocked me back to my senses. "Plot is right. We aren't giving up here. This bitch could be God herself, and it wouldn't matter, because we aren't leaving the rest to die."
"I—no, you're right. We can't. I just…" I didn't have a way to explain how scared I was, and I wasn't sure I needed to, at least not to Merigold. I looked past her to Marcus. "Plot… I lost it. I'm sorry."
"No worries, Doll. We're good." Even as he said the words, I could tell going off on him had hurt, and I felt even worse than before. I'd have to try to patch it up later. "We need a plan if we're going to do anything."
"I had hoped one of you two had one," Merigold said with a smirk. "The only out I see is cracking into the system, but like you said, she'll probably notice. So… we need a distraction."
"I get captured." The words left my mouth before the idea was fully formed, but by the time my friends reacted, I had it. I just needed to convince them.
"What?" they said together.
"Now, just wait. Before you jump all over me, I need to look into a couple of things. The biggest is that book… but I think if I'm bait, it may work out. If I give her the book, she'll take me, like you said, Merigold, so why don't we use that?"
"Plot, you hold her while I beat some sense into that broken brain of hers." Merigold grabbed my arms and tried to push me toward a surprised Marcus.
"Get off. Seriously, you think that won't be enough of a distraction? There is something in that book that can get to her. We figure that out, and we can end this. That book has to be our way into her setup."