by Magus Tor
“How did you know what boat we were in?”
“I didn’t,” Drew started, “until I heard the water move around this one. We have to be careful.”
The seven of them sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of shooting and shouting that were coming from the city. The children were getting restless. They decided to head back to the playground. It seemed that, for some reason, the children were rarely bothered at the park. Was that part of Adam’s plan? Did he actually have enough heart to give the children a place of safety? Drew hoped the answer to those questions was yes, otherwise he would be endangering them by letting them play so freely.
*****
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The alarm clock startled Drew. He jumped out of bed and turned the buzzing off. Max was slowly rousing from sleep and turned her alarm off as well. They moved into the kitchen, deciding to forego The Bean and just make their own coffee. No sense in going to the coffee house if Adam wouldn’t be there.
After coffee and a small breakfast of cereal and toast, they began packing for their trip back to Silicon Valley. They had to go back to Max’s house and pick up some more appropriate clothing, knowing that her casual workout clothes wouldn’t be right for the task at hand. Once they returned to Drew’s place, they finished packing and gathered up their research and laptops. When everything was ready to go, they decided to shower and get ready to head to the airport.
Since they still had some time to kill after they showered, they decided to turn on the news and read that day’s paper. Judging by what they saw, it was apparent that the deaths were tapering off. They weren’t sure if that was a good thing or not. They had so many questions that were still left unanswered. Would the deaths pick back up here? Would people now start dying in Arizona and Kentucky? Would they get the information they need from Center-Tech?
Max received a text letting her know that the car was waiting downstairs. They grabbed their stuff and headed out. Again, a limo was waiting, the driver holding open the door. After the driver placed their belongings into the trunk, they headed to the airport.
One convenience of having the credentials provided by the CIA was not having to wait in the mile long line to check bags and go through security. Their bag was taken by security and they were ushered around the metal detectors. Once at the gate, they were brought right to their first class seats. The plane was fairly empty, allowing Drew and Max to not only get as comfortable as possible, but to talk freely without being overheard. All of the other passengers were flying coach, so they had first class all to themselves.
They talked about their plan for the meeting over dinner. Max was surprised at how delicious her meal was. Having never flown before these trips, she had only heard stories of how bad airline food was. This food was fantastic. They decided to pass on the wine and champagne the flight attendant offered. Knowing they would be picked up by someone at Center-Tech, they really didn’t think it would be a good idea having alcohol on their breath.
***
When Drew and Max walked into the same suite they stayed in the last time, they found a bottle of wine and a card. Inside the card the words read: I look forward to meeting with you. On the desk you will find a packet containing information on the nano technology you will be seeing tomorrow. It also contains our report on what it was supposed to be used for and the information that led to Mr. Howard’s employment termination. Enjoy the wine. Charles.
“Well, thank you, Charles, for the lovely bottle of wine and the information!” Drew was surprised that they were so willing to give out the information so freely. They obviously felt they were in the right. Drew also assumed that Center-Tech was cooperating with the two of them in hopes that the “three part series” they were supposedly writing would paint the corporation in a good light.
They read over the information and then enjoyed the bottle of wine. While the packet was filled with interesting facts, it didn’t include the whereabouts of the nano-bots that had been created. This was the main piece of information missing. Drew, up to this point, assumed that they were either destroyed or are being housed on the Center-Tech laboratory campus.
Max and Drew finished their wine, plugged in and set their alarm clocks and then decided to watch an old movie from the comfort of bed. When the ice cream sundaes they ordered from room service arrived, they hopped into bed, turned off the lights and enjoyed ice cream and a movie.
When the movie ended, they turned the TV off and went to bed. The excitement of knowing that by this time tomorrow they could have even more information that could end this game and all of the dying kept them up for quite some time. Eventually, though, they drifted off to sleep.
***
They both wound up back on the boat, children at their side. Knowing that just staying there was causing their lives to disappear one night at a time, they decided that it was best if they go. They had to kill in order to stay in the game. Obviously, T won the game and still died, so they knew they needed to stay in the game until they solved this mystery. The idea of encouraging the children to kill people made them both sick to their stomachs, but it had to be done to protect them.
Wanting to keep their new hiding spot as secret as possible, they decided to go back to the park. It was easy going until they reached the tree line. Once they stepped onto the path, bullets flew from all directions. They grabbed the children and ran for cover in a patch of bushes and plants. From there, they all fired in different directions. Every once in a while they would look at their watches to see if they had made a kill. In the process, they lost two children, but were able to get from the path to the playground. Once at the playground, the three remaining children took their spots on the swing set and Drew and Max went to the wall.
This time it was Max that first saw the light on the water. They tried to figure out what it was, but it was too far away to make out any shapes. It was the tiniest speck of light, but in an otherwise dark city, it stood out. Drew found himself wondering if that was the edge of the game; where the dream stopped and reality began.
Max and Drew also noticed that the children never played on any other of the playground equipment. They always went right for the swings, but then never really swung. The swings only moved slightly as they sat there. It looked more like the children were birds on their perches.
“Do you think he can read our thoughts?” Max asked almost too softly for Drew to hear.
“Who?”
“Adam, or whoever is doing this. While we are in the game, do you think he can hear what we are thinking?”
“I don’t know.” Drew sat for a second thinking and then said, “Let’s just make sure we don’t mention anything from the real world. If he controls this game, there’s no way around him knowing where we are, but we shouldn’t give him any hint about anything from the outside.”
“Yeah.” Max sounded and looked defeated for the first time since Drew met her. She turned her head and looked out over the water. There was no moon, there were no stars; the only thing out there was that one tiny light.
***
After waking, Drew and Max went downstairs and ate breakfast. They knew that the car would be there in an hour to take them to their meeting, so they had a little time to mentally prepare. They went over the questions they wanted to ask in order to keep up the appearance of being journalists. Deep down, they were both hoping that Center-Tech would be as forthcoming as Adam, Sr. was.
In the limo on the way over, neither spoke. They only watched the scenery that passed by. It took longer to get to Center-Tech than they thought it would, but when they arrived they were greeted by a very friendly woman.
“Hello, and welcome. My name is Sandra. I am Mr. Thompson’s assistant. He would like me to show you around the facility first and then he will meet you in the conference room. Please, follow me.”
“Thank you,” Drew said as they shook her hand.
The tour seemed to move at high speed, but since the facility was so large a
nd contained so many departments, it took two hours to complete. Luckily Max was able to record it with her button cam. They were guided to the room where Mr. Thompson was waiting.
“Good afternoon. I’m Charles Thompson, owner and CEO of Center-Tech. Please feel free to call me Charles.” He extended his hand to Max and then Drew. He was much larger than they expected, but seemed quite friendly.
After going over everything that Max and Drew learned in the packet last night, Charles asked if they had any further questions for him.
“As a matter of fact, we were both quite curious about something.” Max’s voice was strong and confident, and Drew had no idea of where she was about to go with her question.
“Ask away.”
“We were just wondering what happened to the technology that Mr. Howard developed. Did Center-Tech make improvements or continue to develop the technology to be more in line with the company’s moral standards?”
The woman is brilliant. Drew was amazed at how she was going about this.
“No, no. Heaven’s no. Once we found out what he was developing, we quickly determined that it was too dangerous to continue. Everything that he had created we stored in a secure area of the lab.”
“Do you still have it? I am so curious as to how small “nano” really is. Would it be possible to see one of the bots?” Max just kept going for it.
“We call them chips, not bots, and no, it wouldn’t be possible. You see, about three years ago, Mr. Howard’s son won access to the technology. We had to let it go.”
It was Drew that spoke this time, “Won access?”
“Yes, his lawyer presented us with documents making Adam Howard, Jr. his father’s power of attorney. In the documents, it awarded all of his father’s study material, notes and prototypes to him. We had no choice but to let the chips go. According to the paperwork, Adam, Sr. suffered a severe stroke and his son had taken over the estate.”
“I see. Well, that’s a shame. It would have been great to see the technology up close!” Max tried to hide the disappointment in her voice.
“If you have no further questions, I really do need to get to a meeting. Sandra can show you out.”
Again, Max and Drew said nothing on the ride back to the hotel. It was important that not even the driver could know what they were really doing. Once back in their suite, the two went into frantic mode. Max put in a call to her contact to see if there was any word on where Adam was. Drew contacted the office and had them do a search for the court documents awarding power of attorney, and the rights to the research, to Adam, Jr. It didn’t make sense to either of them. They had just spoken to Adam, Sr. and he seemed fine.
*****
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Rather than head back to Chicago right away, Drew decided that they should try to see Mr. Howard, Sr. one more time. While Drew worked that angle, Max checked in at headquarters to see if they had any news about where Adam, Jr. might be.
“Okay, Sr. can’t meet with us tomorrow, but he said if we give him about two hours he will be back home and we can give him a call then.” Drew announced.
“Nobody has been able to locate Jr., but he has not left the state of Illinois or the country as of yet. They also ran his father’s name and his A. H. Stevens alias and found no registered travel under either name.” Max was quick with her response. Drew found delight in watching her be part of something she never dreamed she’d do. He also realized that she was quite good at it. More and more, he found himself hoping that, when this is over, she will decide she loves this work enough to keep working with him.
While they waited to hear back from Sr. and the office, they decided to pack up and be ready to head home. Then they went down to the restaurant and had an early dinner. After they ate, they went for a walk, enjoying the cool breeze that the area had to offer, being careful not to go too far from the hotel. They needed to be ready to call Sr.
Realizing that it was just about time to make the call, they hurried back to their suite. Max set up the recorder while Drew prepared himself for whatever he may hear. He then dialed the phone and put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“Hi Mr. Howard, this is Drew. I have Max with me and we just had a couple of questions to follow up on.”
“Hey! Sure, go ahead.”
“We had a meeting with Center-Tech to get more of an understanding about the technology you developed and what happened between them and you. We were told that your nano-chips were released to somebody.”
“What?” Mr. Howard certainly didn’t sound as if he knew what was going on. “Who did they give my chips to?”
“Your son, Mr. Howard.”
“Why the hell would they give the chips to Adam?”
“We were told that Adam had court papers saying he was your Power of Attorney and that he was awarded the rights to your research.”
“My Power of Attorney? Why would he say that?”
“According to Center-Tech, the paperwork showed that you had a severe stroke. It showed that he had Power of Attorney and that he had the rights to your chips and research.”
“I never had a stroke. How could he get this paperwork without my knowledge?”
“I’m not sure sir. Can we meet? There’s something you should know.”
“Absolutely.”
“Great, can you meet us at the Four Seasons?”
“Yeah, give me about half an hour.”
“Perfect. Talk to you soon.”
The only way to learn more about Adam, Jr. was to fill his father in on what was happening. They would have to expose who they really are, but there would be precautions made. Drew then contacted the agency and arranged for Adam, Sr. to come to Chicago with them. He would have an agent with him 24 hours a day until the case was solved.
“This is getting more surprising as the days pass!” Max couldn’t believe what was going on.
“We have to get a hold of the courts and see if the paperwork was ever issued. I know the papers were fakes,” Drew said with certainty.
“Do you think Sr. has anything to do with this, Drew?”
“He sure did seem shocked at what we just told him. I can’t rule out his knowing, but I get the feeling he isn’t involved.”
After doing some digging around, they found out that the papers were in fact fakes. They, however, didn’t tell Center-Tech what they had found. It was better for the investigation if they didn’t have them digging around also. With only moments until Mr. Howard would be there, they straightened up the room and laid everything out on the table so that they could show him what they had found.
Once Mr. Howard arrived they asked him if he would like anything before they got started. Not surprisingly, all he wanted was answers. Max handed him a bottle of water and they got started. Drew explained who they were.
“Why would the CIA be interested in me or my son? What is going on?”
Drew explained about the deaths and about the game. It wasn’t as hard for him to understand how the chips come into play as far as the game was concerned, but he did have some confusion about something else.
“The only way that the chips can be controlled is through a very sophisticated computer software program. I don’t understand how my son could control the game. Sure, he was a gamer, but not computer games. He hated computers. He barely knew how to use one except to go on the internet.”
“Running a program on a computer isn’t all that hard, especially for a gamer, Sir.” Drew sounded as though he decided to take on the role of “Bad Cop”. Max had never heard him sound so stern.
“You don’t understand. The program to run the chips is very complex. You have to program each chip and then modify each profile in the system to do exactly what you want it to. If he was using it to control people in a dream game, that would take extreme skill, not to mention the fact that it is more than difficult to control one person let alone thousands. Besides, I have the program. That was the one thing I took from Center-Tech when I le
ft. If they don’t have the program, they can’t proceed with developing the chip. They would have to start over. Anyone would have to start over.”
“Where do you have the program?” Max asked, hoping her softer voice would make him feel more comfortable.
“It’s in the safe in my office at home.”
“Do you think that Adam could have taken the program without you knowing?” Drew spoke this time.
“I don’t see how. It is a safe that nobody knew about in the floor. I am the only one with the combination.”
“We need you to check and see if it is still there, right away. I’ll go with you. Max can stay here and see if the office has any news about Adam’s whereabouts.”
“Yeah, sure.” Mr. Howard was slowly sounding more defeated. The look on his face told Drew and Max that he hadn’t known about what was going on.
While they went back to Mr. Howard’s house, Max made a call to her contact. There still were no travel arrangements made in the names they had checked earlier. Max ordered a check on any internet service accounts listed in any of the names as well as any cell service accounts. She sat back in the chair and glanced over the wealth of information in front of her. There had to be something they were missing. After about twenty minutes, she thought of one thing they hadn’t asked Mr. Howard about.
After about an hour and a half, Drew and Sr. arrived back at the suite. Max let them know that there was no news about where Adam was. She also let Drew know that she had her contact looking into cell and internet accounts. Then she turned to Mr. Howard.
“Sir, I was wondering about Adam’s mother. You never talk about her. Is she in the picture?”
“No. She left me when Adam was about two. She wanted to travel the world, and a child just hampered that. She would send postcards, but that’s about it. The last time I heard from her she was in Ireland. She’s dying.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. What does she have?”