by Magus Tor
“You did a great job, Max. You looked and sounded like you were in your element.”
“I was scared to death he would figure out that we weren’t reporters.”
“He had no clue.”
“Did you hear what he said, Drew?”
“About Adam being into video games?”
“Yeah. It was really creepy. Do you think we are right about the game?”
“I think so now. What we have to figure out is how it’s linked to the deaths. When we get back to the hotel I will forward what we got to the office and have them send me any information they have on similar deaths in Africa. It looks like this could possibly be global.”
The thought terrified Max, but the high she was on after going on her first actual undercover assignment couldn’t be hampered. When they got back to the hotel, they decided to celebrate. Knowing they had a lot of work ahead of them, staying another day didn’t seem like a smart idea, especially considering the new information they got about Adam and his ability to just pick up and go. They decided that some champagne on the jet back to Illinois would be a nice way to relax.
While on the plane they enjoyed their champagne and a movie and treated it as if they were on a date. It was small, but today was a victory. It gave them more information than they already had and a direction to move in. They were almost sad to see the plane begin its descent.
***
When Drew and Max returned to the apartment, they found a package inside the front door. Once they got settled in, they decided to make themselves comfortable on the couch. There they opened the package and spread its contents out on the coffee table. Inside they found a list of mysterious deaths from a handful of other countries, an employment history for Adam, Jr., and a set of credentials. Max looked confused.
“Congratulations, Sweetie, for the time being, you are an official employee. You have all the clearance I have and will be issued your own computer, firearm and contact.”
“What? Oh, Drew, I don’t know.”
“It’s just for now. This has officially been made a case, and since I need you to continue helping me, they did a background check on you and issued you everything you will need. This doesn’t have to be permanent, but it will help us.”
“Huh. Really?” Max was almost speechless.
“Really.”
“Firearm? I don’t want a gun. I get enough gun action in the game.”
“It’s just a precaution.”
“Wow.”
Since they had traveled for the past 4 hours, they decided to go to bed; they had a lot to do and rest would be important. This time they set their alarm clocks. Now that they knew the game was an integral part of their investigation, they needed to continue. Surprisingly, sleep came easy for both and before long they were back in the game. This time they entered together.
***
Surprised by not having to search for one another, Drew and Max made their way to the park to see if the children were there. They had all decided together that the library was no longer safe, making a pact to meet at the shed near the playground. As they made their way in that direction, they were forced into a fire-fight with a small teenage gang. Drew was intrigued by Max’s newfound confidence and skill as she took down three of the five guys on her own.
“Nice going! I’m impressed.”
“It’s easier now that we have a goal. Before now, I was only going through the motions, not really having much of a choice.”
“Well, nice job. Now, let’s find those kids.”
Weaving their way through the trees alongside the path through the park, they finally caught sight of the swing set. There were only three swings occupied, which meant that two of the children were taken down. Drew found himself suddenly angry by the sight.
Max was the first to reach her perch on the wall facing the swings. The kids were happy to see them but didn’t say a word. It was dark, and since none of the buildings or streetlights were lit, looking up provided a view of the night sky not normally offered in the big city. The starts twinkled in the darkness, making it seem almost impossible that they were entangled in such a deadly dream game.
Drew looked out over the water and saw a faint light in the distance. It struck him as odd since nothing else in the game was ever lit at night.
“Do you see that?”
“See what?” Max questioned as she turned her head away from the park.
“There’s a light out there. See it?”
“Yeah. Weird.”
Figuring it was probably nothing, they looked back towards the children. Knowing that they couldn’t stay there long, they gathered up the kids and decided to head over to the zoo. Hopefully along the way they would meet up with the two missing little ones.
The night air was unusually warm, hot in fact, and that made for some tired and complaining children. As they reached the entrance to the zoo, they heard something that surprised them. For the first time in the game, the lions were roaring.
“I didn’t think there were any animals left here!” Max was louder than she thought, and quickly realized that they were not alone.
“Max, don’t move. Kids, stop.” Drew had never sounded more serious and that caused everyone to do exactly what he said.
Off to the right, Drew realized that the lion they had heard was in fact, on the loose. He slowly pulled his gun from the waistband of his pants and pointed it at the beast. The lion lunged toward the group and Drew fired as he dove out of the way. The lion landed with a thud, just inches away from the kids.
“Run!” Drew sounded frantic as he grabbed the hands of the two smallest children.
Max grabbed the third set of hands and the group ran for shelter. They entered the monkey house, careful to make sure they weren’t followed. As they went through a door, the realized how dark it was inside and one by one, flashlights started turning on. Looking around, they noticed that there were monkeys swinging in the trees and climbing on the ropes. The children giggled and pointed.
When they reached the end of the path through the building and went through the set of double doors, they were greeted with bullets.
“Kids, get down!” Drew instinctively shouted and once again pulled his weapon.
Max and Drew both fired back. The shots seemed to go on forever, and when Max glanced over her shoulder, she realized that the children were gone. She turned her attention to Drew and realized that she was alone. Fear took over and she fired her last three rounds into the darkness. Everything went silent. Max took a couple of steps forward and the darkness took over.
*****
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Drew couldn’t figure out why the sun was shining in his face, it had been so dark just a moment before. He opened his eyes and saw Max beside the bed turning off his alarm clock. Thankful to see her, he reached out and grabbed her hand. In one swift motion, he pulled her onto the bed and she let out a laugh. Despite all that was going on, they were still much happier than they had been for a long time.
Within an hour Drew and Max were walking into The Bean to get some coffee. Surprisingly, Adam wasn’t working. At the same time, they were both relieved that they didn’t have to talk to him today. It was becoming harder and harder for them to face him.
“Good morning, guys! What can I get for you?” The barista was very pleasant.
“Two coffees, black and a couple of blueberry muffins please,” Max said to the new girl behind the counter.
“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Drew was curious as to why Adam wasn’t there. It seemed that he was always working.
“Yes I am. I just started today.”
“Nice to meet you. We were sort of surprised. Adam never seems to miss a day, did he finally decide to take a day off?”
“Adam? No, he’s the one who quit.”
“We’ll take that to go,” Drew said quickly.
When they got back to Drew’s place, they went into panic mode. If he was no longer working there, they would have n
o way to keep an eye on him. Drew and Max both got onto their phones and called their contacts. Oddly, while it was known where Adam had worked, the only address they had for him was a P.O. Box. Drew called the office and put in a request for more information.
“What are we gonna do now?” Max’s question was met with silence.
Drew and Max put out warnings to the appropriate people. If Adam tried to leave the state, or the country for that matter, they would be alerted. It’s not an easy task when local law enforcement isn’t brought in on things, but until they were sure he was involved in the deaths, they couldn’t risk causing a panic.
Now, they had to try and figure out how the deaths and the game were linked. Adam, Sr. said that Adam, Jr. was very into video games, but how would he get the thought control technology without his father?
“We have got to get into Center-Tech.” Max’s voice sounded low and determined.
“What are you hoping to get from them?”
“Well, if we can find out where all the nano-bots are that were created during the development phase, we may be able to find Adam, Jr.”
“Nice thinking.”
Drew made a few calls and then it was time to play the waiting game. About an hour later, Drew got a text letting him know everything was in place and that more information would be sent in an encrypted email. With that out of the way, they figured they may want to find out if any of the other victims had alarm clocks like the ones that they had. If T died and it had to do with the game, then that means that there must be a ton of clocks out there.
“Run and get your alarm clock from the bedroom, please.” Drew tried not to sound like he was barking orders, he didn’t want this relationship to turn into a “work only” thing.
Max brought him the clock and they looked over it very closely. They found, in raised letters at the bottom of the clock, the name of the manufacturing company. With one call, they found out that 200,000 clocks were made. They were also told that the order was placed in the name of A. H. Stephens.
“A. H. Stephens? Why does that sound so familiar?” Max looked confused. She went over to the table that held the pads of paper she had been using to take notes. She feverishly flipped through page after page. When she got about halfway through the second pad of paper she suddenly stopped.
“Drew!”
“What did you find?”
“A. H. Stephens.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“You will feel silly when I say it.”
“Just say it.”
“Adam Stephen Howard.” When Max said it, Drew just stared at her. “A is for Adam, H is for…”
“I know. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because it’s almost stupid how simple it is. I wrote it on the paper, that’s the only reason it stuck out to me.”
Now they knew that he was directly linked to the game. All they have to do now is figure out how the game is linked to the deaths. They got the manufacturing company to send over a list of how many clocks were sent where and when they were sent. While they waited for the list to come, they started going through the books that Adam, Sr. wrote hoping to find something that would stick out to them. They obviously couldn’t count Sr. out as an accomplice, but at least they knew where he lived.
***
After hours of researching the technology Adam, Sr. developed, an email came in. It was the list of where and when the alarm clocks were sent. As expected, California, Texas, New York, and Florida were on the list. However, Illinois was not listed. There were a few countries outside of the United States listed, but they already had information showing deaths occurring in those areas. The most recent shipments were made last month, and those were showing as Kentucky and Arizona. Drew instantly checked into deaths in the Phoenix area as well as the Louisville area. It luckily turned out that no mysterious deaths had occurred in those areas…yet.
After a quick bite to eat, Drew and Max decided to take a walk down to the lake to clear their heads. They sat on their usual bench, looking out over the water. In the darkness, Max pointed out a lone light, shining in the distance. It wasn’t out of place for a boat to be out on the lake at night, in fact, it was very common. What struck Drew as odd was that it was so far from all of the other boats on the water, and that it reminded him of the light in the distance he remembered seeing in the game. Not saying anything just yet, Drew held Max’s hand and enjoyed the almost silent evening air.
Once back in the apartment, they decided to go back over all of the notes they had been keeping on the pads of paper knowing that sometimes things don’t seem extremely relevant at the time, but later can make a huge difference. As they searched through the pages, Drew’s phone let him know he had an email. After reading it, he stacked up all of the pads of paper.
“Okay. Tomorrow evening we have a flight out of O’hare. We have an appointment to meet with the head of Center-Tech.” Drew’s voice sounded excited.
“So, back to Silicon Valley we go!”
“Yep, and we will be picked up from the airport by the company limo, so we will definitely be flying by regular airline.”
“We’d better pack.”
“We have time to do that tomorrow. Let’s just put our stuff in the other room and relax. We need to rest our minds so we can be sharp tomorrow.”
They decided it was best to get to sleep and begin preparing for their second trip to California that week when they got up in the morning. As they walked around the apartment, locking doors and windows and turning off the lights, they were both lost in their own worlds. Max was anxiously planning in her mind how the meeting with Center-Tech would go, and Drew was thinking about the light he saw in the water during his dream and also during their walk. He wasn’t really sure why it was weighing on his mind the way it was. They set their alarm clocks and were both asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
***
Drew opened his eyes and looked around, not recognizing anything he saw. Now where am I, he thought as he stood up and tried to get a better look. The room was completely dark and when Drew took a step forward, he bumped into a wall. He turned and had the same result. Finally, after feeling around in the darkness, he found a doorknob and turned it. When the door opened he realized he was in a closet.
Drew made his way down a long hallway that opened up into an office at one end. The office was much like the one he worked in for the alarm company, only this one was dark and empty. It looked as though it had been abandoned many years ago.
Not knowing exactly where in the game he was, he found the exit to the building and reached the street. He hoped he would be able to find his way to the park. He made a few turns in the low light of the city. He couldn’t tell if it was early morning or early evening. If he had a compass, he would know approximately what time it was, but he didn’t, so he had to find a landmark he was familiar with. It was the only way he’d know what direction he was traveling.
As he made turn after turn, he encountered shooters. Luckily his senses were heightened and he was able to react quickly and save himself. He finally made it to the library. Knowing it wasn’t safe or smart to go inside, he could at least make his way to the playground from the library, so he moved on.
Once at the playground, he made his way over to the wall. From there he could tell that it was indeed evening. The light was quickly fading and he could see the lone light in the distance on the water. He waited for a few moments, hoping to see Max or the children approach, but when that didn’t happen, he decided to check the shed. He stayed close to the wall as he moved. The shed was empty. Not wanting to shut himself in the shed, he went back to his perch on the wall, periodically checking the light on the water to see if it had moved.
For Drew, the game was getting old. Knowing what he now knows, the game has lost its excitement. Drew would rather be home, in bed, where at least he knew Max was safe. He sat there thinking back to all of the days in the game. Suddenly something stuck out to
him. One of the days he was trying to escape the robot and its men, he remembered hearing one of them yelling, “A!” Could “A” be Adam?
Drew realized that it all made perfect sense. If Adam, Jr. is trying to control people’s dreams, and he is a big gamer, why wouldn’t he throw himself into the game as a huge robot that can’t die? He controls everything. He had to find Max. He had to keep her safe until they could end this game.
Drew moved through the park, careful to watch for shooters. He wasn’t exactly sure where she was. Without knowing where to look, he figured he would try the harbor. As he worked his way through the park, it became darker and darker. He looked through a break in the trees and saw that clouds were moving in. This helped him as he stepped out into the open at the other end of the park. With the light of the moon obstructed, it would be harder for people to see him edge his way toward the boats.
Remembering how badly the boat that he and Max had hid in was damaged, he decided to check the boats halfway down the pier. It was quiet, except for the sounds of shooting in the distance. Drew crouched low as he made his way down the pier, hoping that the boats would be enough shield. He thought he heard a noise, so he stopped. He could hear water softly slosh around a boat. He moved slowly to the boat he heard the noise from and climbed aboard. Gun drawn, he worked his way to the stairs. As he crept down the steps he thought he heard whispering.
Drew was aware of the fact that someone other than himself was on the boat. If he knew they were there, it was likely that they knew he was there. Ready to fire, he flashed his light three times and braced for a gun battle. Instead of shots, he saw three flashes of light come from the back of the boat. Moving quickly, Drew entered the aft cabin and saw Max with all five children.
“Great minds think alike,” Max whispered.
“After not finding you at the playground or the shed, I didn’t know where else to look. I figured I’d try here.”