by Natalie Grey
Everyone groaned and waved, and Jay and Sam walked to his office in silence.
When they got there, Sam sat in his chair and took a moment to choose his words while Jay mixed sugar into his coffee.
“How’s Gracie?” Sam asked finally.
“Fine.” Jay gave him a look.
“I was actually asking.” Sam raised an eyebrow. “It’s clear you care for her.” There was a question in those words.
Jay sighed and took a bite of his donut. “Yes,” he said finally. “We’re together. No, we’ve never met in person. No, I am not going to have a lecture on—”
“Did you really think I brought you back here to lecture you and threaten your girlfriend?” Sam asked him. “I think I’ve earned the benefit of the doubt from you.”
It was a good point. Sam had risked his job multiple times to create distractions for Red Squadron and hamstring the Demon Syndicate. Not only that, he’d been a good boss in general, always putting himself in the way of employee code changes or unwarranted discipline.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Jay frowned, frustrated. “But I don’t see how you can support them. You’ve watched what they’ve been doing.”
“Jay, just because I don’t think it’s right to have people buy their ranking in this game, that doesn’t mean I’m all right with having some sort of demigod queen.” Sam shook his head. “And I definitely don’t think it’s a good idea to have Harry’s programming still in the game. I’m sure she’s a wonderful person. I have nothing against her. But I want her to be a player. I want the game to be solid and secure and enduring.”
Jay could think of nothing to say to this.
“They haven’t said it,” Sam said, “but I think part of why Dan and Dhruv wanted you back is that you seem to have better luck than they do at finding the pieces Harry left behind. Jay, you seem to think this is all over because she got what he wanted. Have you actually paid attention to any of the stories about Harry? Because he won’t let it end here.”
Jay’s head came up. His chest felt cold and hollow. “You think he’s planning something more?”
“Of course, I think that.” Sam looked at him like he had two heads. “Don’t tell me Gracie doesn’t agree.”
“No, she…she said she expected a PvP battle.” Too late, he realized he shouldn’t be talking about this with Sam. The words were out of his mouth, though, and there was no coming back from it. “I just thought she might be wrong.”
“Jay, you’re a very good employee,” Sam said. “You’re smart, you’re capable…and sometimes you’re a complete moron.”
Jay spluttered through a sip of his coffee.
“Gracie is right,” Sam said grimly. “Dan and Dhruv know it; anyone who knows what’s going on knows it. You… I don’t know what’s going on with you.”
“He hasn’t been able to get into the game,” Jay said, annoyed. “She has his powers.”
“Like that’s really going to be the end of it for someone that vengeful?” Sam shook his head. “This is making me worry about your relationship. Look, a few quick tips: pay attention to the things your partner likes, so you can do something fun for her birthday. When in doubt about—”
“I’m fine on relationships,” Jay said, nettled. “Thank you.”
“Are you sure, man?” Sam shook his head. “Well, your funeral, I guess. Hit me up if you ever spectacularly biff a holiday.”
“I am not going to… You know what? I am not having this discussion with you.” Jay jabbed a finger at him. “I am totally aware of the situation; I just don’t think it’s dire.”
“Then prove it,” said a new voice. Dan was leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed. He nodded at Jay. “I don’t suppose there are any donuts left.”
“Probably,” Sam said. He didn’t seem worried at all.
“I’ll go get one in a moment, then.” Dan looked at Jay. “In the meantime, do know that no one would be happier than us if you were to find out there was no game-destroying kill switch. That’s what you’re going to be spending your time on. It could be anything. Lord only knows how he could have hidden it.”
Jay considered this silently. Gracie would want him to do this, he knew, but he still had some questions. When this was over…
“Find it before Harry destroys the game,” Dan told him seriously, “and we’ll let Gracie stay as whatever she is. That will be the end of it.”
Jay reached out to shake the man’s hand without hesitation. “Deal.”
Chapter Fifteen
"That was fucking weird," Kevin called from the living room.
”Eh?" Jamie stirred the pasta in the pot, then went back to the frying pan, where thick-cut bacon cut into small pieces was frying up. A small bowl of peas sat next to a heaping bowl of freshly shredded parmesan, a pinch bowl of red pepper flakes, a glass of white wine, and some egg yolks.
Kevin came around the door with his VR headset under his arm. He was still wearing the rest of the suit over a plain white t-shirt and workout pants. Jamie had come to learn that Kevin had no casual clothes.
They were going to fix that. Jamie believed strongly on a moral level that no gamer should go through life without a comfortable sweatshirt and a pair of flannel pants.
"PvP just takes some getting used to," Jamie told Kevin now. He checked the table to make sure he'd put out silverware. "Did you—"
"It wasn't the keep," Kevin said. He put the headset on the counter and began stripping off the rest of the suit, still frowning. "So, I finished, and I went over to the armory, right? I wanted to find some armor that might help with interrupts, and also healing modifiers.”
"Sure." Jamie tested the pasta, smiled, and used a measuring cup to scoop out some of the pasta water.
"What on earth are you doing?”
"You'll see." Jamie waved for him to continue and grabbed the potholders so he could drain the pasta. "Go on.”
"I wasn't paying a ton of attention in the battleground," Kevin said, "so he might have been there or something? But this guy was definitely following me in the armory. Like, I turned around, and he was just staring at me. I figured he was AFK or something, but every time I moved, there he was.”
Jamie set down the colander of pasta. He was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this. "Yaro," he said.
"Yes," Kevin said. His frown deepened. "How did you— Okay, well, who is this guy? Because he told me that Callista was a hack and said she'd drag everyone down with her and I should cut and run. Basically. But, like, super creepy?” He shuddered elaborately, which only served to show off the muscles over his whole torso.
Jamie was beginning to think that he might need to go to a gym one of these days. He'd always thought he was in pretty good shape, but Kevin looked like the sort of person who'd taken the time to figure out all of the really weird machines, and who probably talked about them casually like it was no big deal. After their PvP battles the night before, when Jamie had logged out, sweating and panting, Kevin had looked like he'd been out for an evening stroll.
It was just bad for the ego.
Jamie put the wine and red pepper into the frying pan, stirred it with the bacon, and added the pasta. He mixed it with the bacon, added some of the pasta water, added the egg yolks, and began to add the parmesan in increments. Kevin had put away his VR suit and was now watching carefully, taking note of each step. When Jamie nodded to the plates, Kevin held them out for a heaping portion of carbonara.
They brought their plates to the table in relative quiet, Kevin pouring wine, Jamie adding another spoonful of parmesan on top of each plate and putting out bread. He'd forgotten to get ingredients for a salad, he remembered now. Oops.
"So this is carbonara," Kevin said. He took an exploratory bite; his manners, as usual, were impeccable. His eyebrows shot up, however. "Damn. Damn.”
"Really good, right?" Jamie smiled. "The trick with Italian food is a light touch. It gets very heavy if you're not careful. Also, there's a lot more to Italia
n food than we generally think of. Anyway, what are we drinking?”
"Pinot Grigio," Kevin said. He took a sip and nodded. "It works well. I went Italian since this is Italian food, but the French equivalent would be a Pinot Gris, and the Spanish equivalent would be a Rueda. Pinot Grigio is one of the common ones, though. Easy to find. You want something crisp.”
"Yeah, I don't know what that means," Jamie said bluntly.
"Here's the deal." Kevin was grinning. "You go into the wine store. You ask them for the type of wine that pairs with the dish you're making. They tell you the type, and sometimes they tell you their favorite. Try that one if they do. If they don't, you go to that section and you look for one that has a little review tag written by a wine magazine. You try that one, and if you like it, you have your Pinot Grigio or whatever. If you don't, the next time you try a different one.”
"I like that," Jamie agreed slowly. "I can follow those instructions.
Kevin lifted his glass with a smile. "Wine is not as complicated as people think. The dirty little secret is to drink whatever the hell you want.”
"I'm not sure you know what dirty little secrets are, but okay." Jamie grinned back. "I think this turned out well.”
"Ridiculously well," Kevin agreed. "All right. Not to ruin the food with shop talk, but I'm still unnerved. Who the hell is Yaro?”
"Oh." Jamie blew out a breath. "He was following Gracie the other day. I don't actually know who he is. He was being just an incredible jerk to her. You know, getting on her case about being a nobody, being the sort of person who escapes into an online world because everyone in her real life knows she's a piece of shit…"
"People who live in glass houses," Kevin murmured.
"Right?" Jamie laughed, but he rubbed his forehead. "I thought he was just a troll, but if he's following you, too, it sounds like he has a grudge.”
"Delightful." Kevin tugged his lip, then dipped a piece of bread in olive oil and chewed, considering. "Do you think it might be someone from your old guild? Or another guild?”
"That could easily be it," Jamie admitted. "It could be…"
Kevin raised an eyebrow as he took a bite of spaghetti. He gestured for Jamie to finish the thought.
Jamie shrugged helplessly. "It could be Thad," he said quietly. "I honestly don't know. I really don't. It might be him, or it might not.”
"I don't know much about him," Kevin said. "I know he had a temper, and he must not have been a very good friend, or you wouldn't be here.”
Jamie felt a pang of guilt. "He was a good friend."
"Was he?" Kevin looked doubtful.
"He taught me the game," Jamie said.
"Yeah, anyone can do that. Gracie and Jay helped me and Alan at the start. We helped them. Alan taught her some of the terminology. That's just called not being an ass."
"Good point." Jamie shrugged. "You know how some people need to be in charge? Thad's one of those. I told Gracie that. He needs to make every decision. He always chose what we ran, who was on the run, and how everyone trained. If you didn't like it, you could leave. But it's not unusual for that to happen on a competitive team," he added out of a sense of fairness. "There are a lot of strong personalities.”
"Weak personalities," Kevin corrected. "That's weak, not strong. Was he the one who suggested sending you to sabotage us?”
Jamie laughed bitterly and ended up taking a much bigger swallow of wine than he had meant to. He got it down and took a bite of bread. "No. No, he wanted to be the one doing the infiltrating. Gracie would have spotted him in a hot minute. He's not very good at...being subtle.”
Kevin snorted, then smiled. "Ahhhh. Someone else chose you.”
"Yep." Jamie shrugged. "The execs at Brightstar have always liked me.”
"You don't say," Kevin murmured.
Jamie frowned at him.
Kevin gave a slightly secretive smile as he took a sip of wine. "Well, for one thing, let's just say that between you and a control-freak with an oversized ego, I know who I'd want to spend time with.”
Jamie flushed slightly. "Er. Thanks." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, yeah, they had me do the infiltrating, Thad didn't like that much, and then, well...I had a lot more fun playing with you guys than I had ever had before. It's a super cool game, don't get me wrong, but playing it was always stressful because we were trying to beat bosses and every move was measured. We'd get called out after for a time we'd gone left instead of right, or…"
Kevin looked deeply unimpressed.
"It worked," Jamie said. "We were the top guild for a while.”
"And then you stopped being the top guild," Kevin said. "Because Thad was so damned unpleasant to be around that your literal enemies were more fun to hang out with.”
Jamie was surprised into a laugh. He hesitated, then admitted the truth. "I didn't want to like you guys.”
Kevin looked amused as he took another bite.
"Alan was a big part of it," Jamie said. He'd been curious about Alan since he got here. He knew that Alan and Kevin lived in the same city, and someone had said they were brothers, but Jamie would never have guessed that. "Could I...meet him?”
"Oh! I meant to tell you. He was going to come over this weekend." Kevin waved a hand. "Sorry, totally blanked. He's been slammed at work, what with the semester ending and everything, but he says he does want to meet you.”
"He's nice.”
"He's very nice." There was no irony in Kevin's voice. "Best big brother I could ask for, although we weren't close when we were little." He saw Jamie's questioning look. "I was the favorite. It was awkward. Our parents did a pretty good job of driving a wedge between us, even though I don't think they were specifically going for that." He swirled the wine in his glass and gave a theatrical shrug. "We got a lot closer once we were both disappointments.”
Jamie laughed. He was clearly meant to.
“But tell me about Thad." Kevin leaned forward. "Because Gracie is clearly worried something is coming, and I don't think she's focusing enough on him. This Yaro guy just unsettles me.”
"It doesn't seem like the sort of thing Thad would do," Jamie said after considering it. "Like I said, he's not subtle. If he confronted her, it would be a screaming match. He wouldn't be able to keep his cool and be creepy or anything. Although..." He took another bite as he thought. He was hoping Kevin would interject, but the other man said nothing, so Jamie sighed. "I honestly don't know what Thad might do right now. I've never seen him in a situation like this.”
"Like what?" Kevin raised an eyebrow.
"He...constitutionally doesn't seem to think he can lose," Jamie said. "Like, he just... Some people can't even process that possibility, right? He's one of them. He's always worried what people think of him, and he has to be the smartest one in the room, the one in control, but he also just assumes it's all going to work out.”
Kevin said nothing, just leaned back in his chair, still swirling the wine in his glass.
"So what happens when he realizes he's lost?" Jamie asked. "What would he do if he thought someone had won the game so completely that he could never climb back up the rankings?”
"Lose his cool," Kevin said as if it were self-explanatory. "Have a screaming match, lose a few more guildmates—“
"I don't think that's what we should worry about," Jamie said bluntly. "I really don’t."
Kevin frowned at him. He had long since finished his pasta, and now he pushed his plate aside and leaned on his forearms. "Talk to me. If you were a Sim, you'd have a little thundercloud over your head or something.”
That made Jamie laugh. "Okay, here's the thing. Thad's really conscious of his reputation. If he hasn't got that, he hasn't got anything, right?”
"Right." Kevin nodded.
"So if he's lost his reputation, he has nothing else to lose," Jamie stated bluntly.
Kevin's face grew solemn. He was beginning to understand, Jamie thought.
"So you're worried that...what exactly are you worried abo
ut? What do you think he'd do?" He sounded urgent now.
"I don't know." Jamie clenched his fingers instinctively, then hastily put down his wineglass before he cracked the stem. "That's the thing. I don't think he has it in him to do something like Yaro is doing—play a long game and creep people out, chip away at them, all of that. Thad's style is more...explosive. More kamikaze.”
"So you think he's going to dive-bomb Red Squadron somehow," Kevin said.
"Yeah." Jamie swallowed. "I think if he finds a way to get back at Gracie, he's going to do it—no matter what the cost to him."
Chapter Sixteen
Jay stared at the database and wanted to beat his head against the desk.
When they had started this a few weeks back, he'd been filled with inspiration. He had been doing something he wasn't supposed to do: fighting against a common enemy and trying to help Gracie finish the quest he earnestly believed she was meant to finish. He'd been searching through the database, following the clues in each encounter…
And now he couldn't even think of where to start.
If he were Harry, how would he hamstring the game? Where would he put the bomb? Jay had no earthly idea.
The urge to beat his head on the desk got stronger.
He rolled his chair over to the whiteboard at the side of the room, took a marker down, and stared at the shiny surface.
Nope, that wasn't working either.
He looked around his office. This place was soulless—that was part of it. He had been in a cubicle before, but now he had an office with white walls and a plain desk and absolutely nothing to make it look like it was his. No desk toys. No pictures. Not even a pen.
That gave him an idea, though. Jay considered, then brought up the global rankings screen. It took a few clicks for him to get to where he needed to go, and he was smiling as he made some adjustments on his screen. He wasn't a graphics genius by any stretch of the imagination, but he could do basic things.