“Yeah, Cheek told me his name before his partner tried to kill mine. Any hint they might have been crooked?”
The cop shrugged. “Don’t know them well. But we’ll find out.”
Another helicopter arrived as McCoy was dealing with the procedure involved when an agent fires his weapon and splatters brains around. As it turned out, Clinton was also wearing a vest and had survived. He was cuffed to a medic’s gurney nearby and was being questioned. McCoy’s SAIC had arrived on site to take charge of his weapon and get his initial report. He’d also found out from the local police captain at the scene that Clinton and Cheek had taken money from their suspect to keep him informed of any hint that authorities were closing in.
“Apparently they’d heard the call on the radio and volunteered to be part of the net. They knew if he happened to be captured and questioned, he could and probably would give them up. Since they didn’t have any way to contact Matt to warn him, they did the next best thing by pulling up in front of the house and springing the trap before it was ready. Their genius plan was to plead an honest mistake afterward, thinking the house was half a block down.”
“Damn.” McCoy shook his head, sitting on the bumper of the ambulance they were using to check out his partner. “This kid’s either an evil mastermind or the luckiest idiot who ever lived. How many other officers or agents are on his payroll?”
The SAIC just shrugged. “They’ve had years to plan this. We’re playing catch-up for sure. But we’ll get him. We’re bringing in agents from two other offices and the state troopers and county sheriffs are in on the hunt.”
McCoy was left to himself as he waited for permission to leave. Forensics was scouring the house looking for any clue that would tell them where Matt might go next. He watched the coroner remove the mostly-headless Cheek from the car and place him in a body bag. “Screw that asshole.” McCoy didn’t feel the least bit guilty for killing the man.
*****
Matt was startled awake by the sound of someone pounding on the door. “Hey man! Your three hours are up! You need to go, or buy more time!!”
He looked at the crappy alarm clock, which was bathing the room in a sickly green glow. It hadn’t gone off when he’d set it to. Piece of shit. He got up and opened the door. “Your alarm clock doesn’t work for shit,” he said as he passed the desk clerk on his way out. He walked across the parking lot in the opposite direction from his truck. If the kid remembered him at all, he didn’t want him to be able to point the cops in the right direction.
Instead, he went to the strip club. The flashing sign out front said they had a 24-hour buffet. Normally he’d never eat the food in such a place, but it was late and he was hungry. And he fully expected to be dead or eating prison food after tomorrow.
Walking inside, he ignored the small herd of dancers at the bar near the door and went straight to a table in the darkest corner he could find. A scantily-clad blonde waitress came to take his order. “What’s your pleasure, sugar?”
“Captain and Coke. In a big boy glass. And the sign out front says you have a buffet?”
She snorted. “Used to. Health department shut it down cuz they never cleaned the trays. But the kitchen’s okay, and its open. What would you like?”
“How ‘bout a bacon cheeseburger? No lettuce. I hear that shit’s dangerous these days. Maybe some onion rings?”
“Comin’ right up, darlin’. And… if ya want some company after…” She winked at him and turned to give him a close-up view of her thong-clad assets before walking away with a little extra sway to her hips.
Matt shook his head. “Maybe I should take her up on it. Might be my last time…” He thought it over as he stared at his hands and waited for his food. The girl on stage was gyrating frantically, trying too hard. She didn’t do anything for him.
The club wasn’t busy, maybe half the tables occupied. It wasn’t long before his waitress returned with his drink. “Here you go, lover. My name’s Heather. What’s yours?” She took the seat next to his at the small table. Her knee rubbed up against his outer thigh as she leaned forward and presented him a view of her breasts in a push-up bra.
“I’m Matt.” He didn’t see any reason to make up a name at this point.
“Nice to meet you, Matt. Your food will be ready in a few. Are you in town for the convention?”
And there it was. Any possibility that she might have been interested in him for his looks faded to nothing as she uttered the universal code phrase. She’d be happy to spend time with him after her shift, as long as he was paying.
He shook his head. “Running from the cops. I figure they’d never think to look for me in here.”
She laughed, thinking he was joking. “Oh, so you’re a bad boy, then. Let me guess, bank robber? Maybe a hit man?” She reached forward and squeezed his knee. “I like bad boys.”
“I’m on the Ten Most Wanted list. I’m a bad, bad man. You can’t hear them in here, but there are helicopters above us circling around trying to find me.” He winked at her. It felt good to open up, even if she didn’t believe him.
Her eyes narrowed and she looked sideways at him. “You don’t look like a badass to me. I mean, you’re cute enough. Look like you used to play ball. But you don’t have the look of a killer.”
He shook his head. “I’m just a misunderstood boy far from home who misses his mama.”
Sure he was joking this time, she let go of his knee and playfully slapped his shoulder. “I’ll go check on your food, hon. Don’t go anywhere.”
She got up slowly, displaying herself as best she could as she turned and headed to the bar. Matt watched with a little more interest this time. Maybe another hour at the motel wouldn’t hurt. When she returned with his food, she set it down, then sat herself down in her previous spot. “Hope you like it.” She smiled as she stole an onion ring from his plate.
He checked the burger to make sure there was no lettuce, then took a bite. It actually tasted quite good. He chewed slowly, then swallowed. “So… what time does your shift end, Heather?”
She beamed at him, a reward for remembering her name. “’Bout thirty minutes. But I don’t have a lot of time. Gotta go to my other job. Workin’ girl’s gotta hustle if she wants to make the rent and tuition payments…”
Matt shook his head. “C’mon. There’s no need for all that.” He took another bite of the tasty burger and looked into her eyes as he chewed. He could see her calculating the odds of him being a cop. He swallowed and took a drink. “I’m not a cop.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding. “Two hundred for an hour. And trust me, I’m worth it!” She twirled her hair as she smiled at him, then placed her hand back on his knee and squeezed.
“I believe you are.” He picked up an onion ring and popped it into his mouth. It had been a while since he’d had food that wasn’t microwaveable or some kind of cold-cut sandwich. He was starting to enjoy himself and relax a little. She abandoned him for a while when another of her tables became occupied by a couple of obvious business travelers. But she looked over and winked at him as she took their orders.
Matt finished his burger and a few more of the onion rings. His drink was badly watered down and didn’t taste right. He waved at Heather as she passed by with a couple plates and mouthed the word ‘water’ as he made a drinking motion. She nodded and winked at him again.
He picked at another onion ring, but they were starting to get cold. She brought him a glass of water on her way over to another table, running her fingers through his hair as she passed behind him. He felt a little tingle of pleasure at that.
That tingle turned into a sinking feeling as he noticed a cop walking in the door. He turned his back and pretended to be interested in the girl onstage as his heart began to race. His grip tightened on the water glass until he had to focus on loosening it before it shattered. Heather returned and, seeing the look on his face, frowned.
“Somethin’ wrong with the burger, darlin’?” She caugh
t his furtive sideways glance toward the bar, where the cop was talking to the bartender. Sitting down next to him again, she whispered, “Holy shit, you were serious when you said you were hiding from the cops!”
He hissed at her, “Hush!”
She giggled, then covered her mouth. “That’s just Jake. He comes in here every week to collect for the policeman’s retirement fund, or whatever they call it. He’ll pick a girl and go in the back for a free lap dance in a minute. Guy’s all clumsy hands and drool.” She made a disgusted face and shook her head slightly.
Matt kept his head down, pretending to focus on his meal. Sure enough, a minute later the cop passed by him, his gaze focused on the redhead who was spinning around the pole just then. Heather put her hand over his. “Relax, sweetie. Soon as he goes in the back, we can leave. Just let me give my last table over there the check and cash out.”
Matt gripped her hand to keep her seated. “I’m sorry, Heather. I would have enjoyed spending some time with you. But I think its best I move on.” He pulled out two hundred dollars plus another twenty for the burger. “How ‘bout you just forget you ever saw me?”
She gave him a momentary pouty face, then took the money. “I’d have done that for free, hun. I’m no big fan of the cops myself. But thank you for this. And good luck.” She got up and went directly over to talk to Jake the cop. Matt was about to make a run for it when she walked around to Jake’s other side and took hold of his arm, turning him so that his back was to Matt. She motioned to the redhead on stage, then shook her head and said something that made Jake laugh.
Then, with a wink in Matt’s direction, she took Jake’s hand and led him behind the curtain into the VIP room.
With a sigh of relief, Matt casually got up from his table and headed for the door. He dropped a ten dollar bill on the bar in front of the bartender and thanked her on his way past. The moment he was out the door, he moved around to the back of the building and got into his truck. Thirty seconds later, he was back on the road, headed in the direction of the mountains and Olympus.
Chapter 18
Endings and Beginnings
Alexander and Jules attended the brief memorial for the NPCs lost in the raid and the celebration that came after. Jules was celebrated by several of the players for her badass takedown of the troll and her unexpected start of the boss fight. A few of them seemed quite smitten with her. But she discouraged them by clinging to Alexander’s arm all evening.
Fibble and Lugs were a huge hit as usual, the two of them being handed drink after drink. Lugs sported his robot dance moves again, to the howling approval of everyone. A few of the players and one of the dwarves began to try to copy the moves, and Fibble played along as he perched on Lugs’ shoulder. Even the normally-reserved dragons couldn’t resist the cuteness, chuckling at the little goblin’s antics.
When Alexander and Jules said their goodbyes and retired for the night, they found Richard’s avatar waiting for them in their sitting room.
“Something happen, Dad?” Alexander was half drunk, but still sober enough to know that his father wouldn’t visit without a serious reason.
“Matt had a mole at Olympus. We caught her earlier today and questioned her. They had more bombs stashed in the compound, and she had orders to destroy the tower and kill as many people as possible.”
Jules gasped and sat down on a sofa. Alexander joined her, taking her hand in his and squeezing. “Anybody hurt?”
“Everyone is fine. She eventually cooperated. We used her phone to track Matt. The FBI was closing in on him, but some cops on his payroll managed to interfere and he got away seconds before they’d have nailed him.”
“Dammit! I’m sick of this. Why is he so willing to kill innocent people?” Alexander thumped his fist on a coffee table. “Is Talbott sure that there aren’t more bombs already set?”
“No. But he’s got people checking right now. They’re sweeping every inch of every building. If there’s anything, they’ll find it. I had them start with all the labs with pods in them. You and the others are safe.”
Alexander nodded and took a few deep breaths. He couldn’t do anything to help apprehend Matt out there in the real world. He needed to just accept that fact and move on.
“While you’re here… just a couple things. We maybe need to discuss dialing down the realism for immersion players. It’s getting a little… intense.”
Richard nodded. “Your sync levels, you and Jules, are the highest of any of our testers. Others may reach your levels eventually, but we think its unlikely. The system was designed around your brain, Alexander, so it makes sense you’d sync so well. And Jules has spent more time in the game than anyone, ever. She literally lived in the game nonstop for months. So, two pretty unique cases. But yes, we can discuss some kind of restriction.”
Alexander asked, “And what’s the deal with the world event all of a sudden? I hadn’t heard anything about that.”
Richard grinned at him. “We think it’s your fault. You got into this war with the Dark One and Odin sped up the event. It wasn’t going to launch until next year.”
Jules patted his leg. “That’s my guy. Dragging a few million people into his own little private war.” She smiled at him.
“I… it wasn’t me…” Alexander stammered for a moment before realizing she was teasing. Richard tried to ease his burden.
“Howard and Matt targeted us years ago. This was all planned out and executed before we were even aware of a problem. There was nothing you could have done to avoid being in Matt’s crosshairs eventually. I think you actually forced their hand ahead of schedule by picking a fight with PWP when you did. Things might have been much worse.”
Jules squeezed his hand. “None of this is your fault. Don’t take the blame for the actions of disturbed assholes. They put all this in motion. All the people who followed them? They made that choice for themselves.” She paused, squeezing his hand tighter. “When my ex started to get abusive… I thought it was my fault. I thought maybe if I behaved differently, or tried harder to make him happy, things would get better. But the harder I tried, the worse it got. I mean, I know it wasn’t my fault. But in the moment… it was easy to convince myself it was. Don’t go down that road.”
Alexander put an arm around her and hugged her close. “I’m sorry all that happened to you. But he’s gone, and I’m here now. And even when…” He looked at his father and changed his phrasing. “Even if the time comes when I’m not here anymore, Pop and Lainey and Sasha will look out for you. You’ll never suffer like that again.”
Richard nodded and smiled at Jules as tears rolled down her cheeks. Then he cleared his throat. “Well, I think I’ve taken enough of your time. Congrats on the raid, and the tasty, tasty loot you haven’t even bothered to look at yet!” He gave them a small wave and disappeared.
The two of them sat there on the sofa for a while, just holding each other. Eventually, Jules got to her feet and pulled him into the bedroom.
*****
The next morning, Alexander and Jules were up well before dawn. When they went downstairs, they found the dining area was littered with hungover or still-drunken citizens. Only the immersion players were present, and most of them didn’t look well. Lugs was curled up in front of the auction house, his immense bulk blocking the door. Fibble, Beatrix, and Bacon were leaned up against him, and all of them were snoring.
Helga was passed out on top of a table, a smiling dwarf asleep under her arm. His black eye and swollen nose suggested she’d resisted his advances, at least at first. Grumpy and Brick were in the smithy, drinking coffee and talking quietly as apprentices bustled about slowly.
Alexander, curious how his allies were faring, walked over to the portal. First, he tried Stormforge, and the portal opened. He stepped through quickly, Taylor and his squad magically right behind him. Taylor didn’t ask why they were there, just quietly followed Alexander to the Redmond’s home. The sun still wasn’t up and Alexander could see lamps lit insid
e. He tried the shop door and found it open.
Stepping inside, he called out, “Lydia?”
She stepped out of the back room and rushed to gather Alexander into a hug. “Oh, Alexander! It’s so good to see you!”
He stiffened as her voice wavered. “I see you defeated the drow’s army. Was it bad?”
Lydia released him and stepped back. There were tears in her eyes. “Yes, we held. But we lost… many.” She looked down at the floor as she began to weep.
Alexander opened guild chat. “Sasha, get your ass to Lydia’s. She needs a friend.”
Sasha answered immediately. “I’ll be there in five. Silverbeard, can you please open the portal?”
Alexander patted Lydia on the shoulder and led her to the back room where they could take a seat. “The captain?”
“He’s fine. He was badly wounded more than once as they defended the walls. But I was there to heal him. I healed as many as I could. We passed out potions and bandages… but there were just so many wounded…” She trailed off, her eyes unfocused as she relived the battle.
Alexander felt guilty. “We tried to come to your aid, but the gods prevented it.”
She nodded her head. “I know. My husband told me. And I saw the message that you took the fight to the enemy and killed one of the wizards.” She smiled and patted his leg. “I’m proud of you. That could not have been easy.”
They spoke quietly for a few more minutes until Sasha, Lainey, and Jules arrived. Alexander quietly took his leave. Jules followed him out and walked hand in hand with him to the palace. They found Captain Redmond in the inner courtyard.
“Alexander! Good to see you. And good morning, Lady Jules.” The captain’s smile was forced, but friendly.
“Good morning, Captain. We just spoke to Lydia. She said it was rough here yesterday.”
“We were fighting until very early this morning. Most of my men haven’t slept yet.” The captain rubbed his face with both hands. He took a water flask from his bag and poured some over his head. “Ahhh. That helps a bit.” He led them into the palace and to the great room where they took a seat at one of the long tables. The room was a mess, with bandages and bloody clothes scattered around. The captain grimaced. “My apologies. We used this as our hospital. I’m afraid everyone was too tired to clean up.”
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