by K. T. Tomb
Peter was in shock. “Great, just great. We’re all going to die in a jet that shouldn’t be in the air, to begin with. Nice. What a perfect ending to a perfect day.”
Kadan moved over to Peter. His smile was wide and his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “Peter! Thalia has said some pretty crazy things about you! I’m Kadan Alexander, by the way.”
Peter ignored him and glared at Phoe. “Thalia?” he asked, referring to her first name—the name she once despised and refused to use. “When did that happen?”
“Not all changes are cosmetic, Peter.” she said nonchalantly.
Kadan grabbed Peter’s face and turned it toward him. “You’re part of the team now. Thalia said I can trust you, so I will let you live for now,” he added jokingly.
Peter looked questioningly at Phoe. “Is he for real? Should I be concerned?”
Phoe laughed. “He’s harmless. He’s been commissioned by Simon Kessler’s fiancée to upgrade the Beowulf computer.”
Kadan smirked, as he pulled an apple out of his blue jean jacket and took a big bite.
Peter stared at Phoe. “You’ve changed, Phoe. You’re more… something. You don’t even want to be called Phoe anymore?”
“That something you’re looking for is called confidence,” she said confidently. “You can still call me Phoe. I just decided to embrace the real me.”
His curiosity could no longer be contained. “Did you sell the Head of Olmec? Is that how you got… this? I knew it was worth a small mint, but I never imagined—”
“You’d be surprised how much something can be worth,” she replied, as her stare burned through him. “I made a few life changes. Nothing big.”
“A month, Phoe!” he bellowed. “You changed everything in one month?”
Kadan stood up. “Hey! I was almost assassinated over here! I deserve some conversation too!”
“Assassinated?” Peter queried. “You were attacked? By whom?”
Kadan chuckled. “By whom. Cool. Some people in black tried to off me in Sweden. It was awesome how Thalia came to my rescue though. It was like I was the damsel in distress.”
Peter was even more confused. “Wait a minute! The attempt on your life may have been because of your connection to the work you’re doing. Someone wants you out of the picture!”
Phoe looked unconvinced. “There are a couple of things wrong with this whole situation. Why would they commission a video game programmer to upgrade a major computer system like Beowulf?”
“Whoa!” Kadan interrupted. “How did you know about that?”
“There’s a thing called the internet,” Phoe replied, sarcastically. “Also, Kadan is a high-profile person right now. There’s no proof that just because they killed everyone—shit! We left a woman on the window ledge.” She shrugged. “I’m sure she found her way back in… it’s too late to go back now. Anyway, the hit was in broad daylight too. I think if you put all the facts together, plus everything that happened to me—”
“What happened to you?” Kadan asked, concerned.
She ignored him. “…I think that maybe Kadan is a scapegoat for something. Just like I was when I said the lair of Beowulf out loud at the ceremony.”
Kadan’s smile faded. “Did you say the lair of Beowulf?”
“Yes,” Phoe answered, with some trepidation. “You’ve heard of it?”
“Dude,” Kadan answered. “That’s the video game that I’ve been designing over the past four years. It’s a virtual reality game that’s designed… to….” Kadan froze with fear as he realized the game changer. “Peter. Thalia. Lair is a game that is required to be used with a pill. That’s why it hasn’t been approved yet. The FDA and a few other federal acronyms have shelved my project.”
Peter’s eyes widened. “What kind of game involves taking a pill?”
Kadan looked frustrated. “Video games have come a long way from Donkey Kong, Pete. The next evolution in gaming is obviously taking the gamer to a new and more exciting level of play. That means bringing the gamer into the game… literally.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Phoe said, panic evident in her voice. “No. Actually, I think I saw that in a movie once.”
Kadan continued, “The pill contains an organic nanotechnology that was recently developed by a friend of mine. It’s based on the similarities between the electronic impulses of the human brain and the way these same impulses are read by a really strong computer. My partner, Alex Griswold, helped me with that part. What the pills do—like I said—is release nanotechnology that puts the player into the game, by syncing the main computer to each player. The actual surroundings change to match the will of the main user, or the person at the mainframe. The more people taking the pill, the more memory is available and the bigger the game surroundings or locale. With one person, just that person is affected. They have the ability to change into anyone or anything they want. With more people, you can actually create a world of the main user’s choosing.”
Peter and Phoe looked at each other with intense surprise.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Phoe asked, not ready to believe the answer.
“Probably,” Kadan said nonchalantly, as he took another bite of his apple. “When we combine the game with a computer, like say, Beowulf, we have the power to alter the reality around us. It ends up no longer being a game, if you think about it.”
Peter moved closer to Kadan. “Are there any of these pills in existence?”
Kadan looked suspiciously at Peter. “Yeah. We made 120.”
“Where are they?” Phoe asked.
“We keep them in an old aspirin bottle,” Kadan responded. They’re with Alex in California.”
Chapter Ten
Phoe returned from the cockpit, where she had instructed her pilot, Sanchez, to head for Modesto, California. She’d just tried to make a call to Simon and was frustrated when it didn’t go through. “Damn it! Simon doesn’t have his phone on! He might be in trouble, because I’ve never known him to be anywhere with his phone off.”
“That’s his choice, Phoe,” Peter reassured her. “We have to pick up Alex and get those pills someplace safe, before anyone gets ahold of them.”
Kadan smiled. “Wait! You guys believe me?”
“Of course we do, Kadan,” Peter responded, as Phoe went into the bathroom to change clothes. “After you’ve seen what we’ve seen, it’s easy to believe your story.”
Kadan clapped his hands like a kid. “Well, let’s go get Alex before the bad guys do!”
***
The taxi pulled up to Alex’s house in Modesto. It was a single-story brown and white brick house with a two-car garage extending out at an angle. It was almost shaped like an ‘L’. The lawn and the surrounding shrubs were obviously taken care of. There was only one car parked on the street in front of the house. It was a familiar black limo.
Phoe paid the driver as Kadan and Peter exited the vehicle. She was dressed in black shorts with a comfortable beige top and sneakers. Kadan proceeded to walk up to the house.
“Hold on!” Phoe warned. “We know Simon’s here, but we don’t know who else is in there with him.”
“Hey, my bud’s in there too,” Kadan replied. “There’s only one way to find out what’s up and that’s by storming the castle.”
Kadan ran up to the front door and knocked loudly. “Alex! It’s Kadan!”
The door opened almost immediately to reveal an African-American male, about the same age as Kadan. He had his hair cut extremely short and was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt with a vest over it. He had on loose-fitting slacks with comfortable dress shoes. He wore thin black framed glasses. He was obviously excited to see his friend. “Kadan! I didn’t think I would see you for at least three more weeks!”
Kadan embraced Alex. “Nah, man! You know I can’t keep distance between us. We share the same brain! Ha-ha!”
Alex looked over Kadan’s shoulder and saw Phoe and Peter standing behind him. “Come in. Come in.
This house is getting pretty full with the other guests on top of you three!”
Alex showed the group into his house. They followed him into a spacious and meticulously clean living room.
Simon and Symone were seated on the sofa and Hamilton had one leg propped up on the arm of the chair that he sat in with had a bottle of beer in his hand. Jonathan stood restlessly near the doorway to the kitchen.
No one looked surprised to see Phoe and the others.
Simon stood up and smiled. “Hello, Phoe. I like the hair.”
Phoe gritted her teeth and stormed up to Simon. Without hesitation, she drew back and punched him square in the jaw. He fell backward onto the sofa as Symone jumped up. Hamilton laughed hysterically. “Hell yeah! That’s the way you say ‘Hello’ where I come from! Ha-ha!”
“What the hell was that all about?” Simon asked, in a tone that was out of character for the billionaire.
Alex looked distressed. “Please do not have any physical altercations in my house. Thank you.”
Phoe ignored Alex and got in Simon’s face again. “You know damn well what I’m talking about, asshole!”
Hamilton broke in. “Can I use your bathroom?”
Alex ignored him and put his head in his hands. “Oh, now the cursing. Friends of yours, Kadan?”
Kadan walked toward the hallway. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is, Hamilton.”
Phoe grabbed Simon’s shirt. “You got Charlotte shot and you’re technically responsible for Simple Treasures being burned down!”
The look of confusion on Simon’s face gave Phoe a cause to pause. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Phoe!” he replied hotly. “You seemed alright when you came to visit me after your store burned down. What changed?”
It was Phoe’s turn to be surprised. “What? You’re insane! Why would I visit you after you and Jonathan crashed my award ceremony?”
Jonathan’s eyes widened almost at the same time as Simon’s. “Phoe, my dad and I never showed up at any ceremony.”
Phoe got quiet as her head started to hurt. “I never visited you after Simple Treasures burned to the ground.” Kadan guided Phoe out of the living room and to the bathroom.
Hamilton laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. “Oh! This is rich! It’s the Case of Short-term Memory Loss! Ha-ha! You all should go on the road with this bit!”
Symone smiled and was abnormally calm. She stood and walked over to one of the windows as she said, “I’m afraid that I might be the culprit for both instances.”
“What?” Simon queried. He was just about out of patience for being surprised.
Kadan came back into the living room and focused on Alex, realizing that seemed to be acting strangely. “What’s up, Al?” Kadan said accusingly.
Alex was sweating. “I’m sorry, Kadan. I just… couldn’t help myself.”
Kadan swallowed hard and looked toward the kitchen. “Oh shit, dude. What did you do?”
Almost as if on cue, Symone Armette fell backward from the window and onto the floor. She had a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead and blood was trickling out of the wound.
“Symone!” cried Simon, rushing to her side and checking her for signs of life.
Phoe ran back into the room. She looked down at Symone and then looked at all of the front windows where a bullet could have entered. None of the glass was shattered and no one in the room had fired any weapon. “What the hell’s going on here?”
Kadan pushed Alex away from him, as he started to run toward the kitchen.
The front door was kicked in and several black-clad men entered the house with their handguns drawn. Kadan only just made the turn to go into the kitchen. He grabbed Jonathan and pulled him into the living room, when shots rang out filling the kitchen with gunfire. Some of the bullets made their way into the walls nearby, just missing them.
Kadan looked closer at the holes, noting that they weren’t bullets at all. He reached up and grabbed a thin, dart-like projectile which stuck out of the wall. His look of realization was all Jonathan needed to try to get back to the room that his father was in. “Dad!” Jonathan screamed.
Kadan put his hand over Jonathan’s mouth. “If you want to save your dad, you need to do everything I say. Now come with me! Now!” Kadan headed through the kitchen and into a hallway. Jonathan followed as they both barely missed being hit by more projectiles.
The two young men ran with their heads down toward a door. Kadan opened the door and locked it behind them once they were safely on the other side. Jonathan gave him a questioning look as he wondered why the lock was on the inside of the basement door, instead of the outside.
There were wooden stairs that led down to the basement. Kadan practically jumped down the stairs and ran toward a metal wall that ran down the middle of the basement separating it from whatever was on the other side.
There was a door in the middle of the wall with a numbered keypad on it and a red light. Kadan confidently put in a seven-digit code and stood back. The light was still red. He tried it again with the same result.
“Whatever you’re going to do, it needs to be soon!” Jonathan huffed. Both men heard the sound of someone hitting the basement door with something heavy to break through.
“Damn it!” Kadan yelled. “That shit changed the combination! Alex, you bastard!”
Jonathan pushed Kadan aside and examined the keypad. He started to push random numbers as the basement door started to splinter under the assault. Jonathan typed in more and more number combinations until the green light came on and the door popped open.
“Hell, yeah!” Kadan exclaimed. “Glad I brought you, bro!”
Kadan and Jonathan entered what appeared to be a panic room. Once inside, Kadan closed the door and entered a new number combination. He also activated three metal bar locks attached to the door, just in case anyone got past the keypad.
Jonathan immediately crossed his arms in front of him and started to shiver due to the low temperature in the room. Kadan grabbed a couple of parkas hanging on a nearby wall and handed Jonathan one before he put on the other one. There were also slim gloves in the pockets that Kadan put on as well.
Once Jonathan had his gloves on, Kadan smiled. “Welcome to the lair of Beowulf.”
Chapter Eleven
Jonathan had always been fascinated with computers, proving himself valuable to Phoe when she had sought out the Hammer of Thor. But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw in Alex’s basement. He was in a thirty-square foot room with built-in metal tables attached to the walls about four feet off the ground. There were two doorways; one leading to a fully-stocked kitchen and the other to a bathroom.
On the metal tables were several hard drives, modems, and video monitors, as well as two keyboards. There were several boxes of spare parts and extras of everything they could ever need under the tables. The video monitors showed what was going on in each room of the house as well as various other unrecognizable locations.
Kadan took pride just being in the room. “This is a little secret that Alex and I kept from… well… everyone. I kind of figured that when I was supposedly commissioned to update the original Beowulf computer, I was being set up somehow. I mean, dude! I’m a gamer, not a Beowulf updater! Anyway, I did manage to get the specs for Beowulf One and voila! Here’s Beowulf Two!”
Jonathan watched his breath in the cold air, as he exhaled. “Beowulf? Is it connected to a cluster?”
Kadan laughed. “Looks like I picked the right guy to bring in here. Yeah, the Beowulf Cluster, as you know, usually networks the same kind of computers from one area. We’ve taken that idea and expanded on it. With our own Beowulf computer, we plan to connect it to all of the other computers on the planet.”
“What?” Jonathan scoffed. “That’s impossible!”
“Oh, dude,” Kadan continued. “Watch the impossible. You can’t do it just because you want to. What’s the fastest way to spread data from one computer to another?”
Jonathan looked amazed and shocked. “A virus?”
Kadan high-fived Jonathan. “Ding! Ding! Ding! You are correct, sir! Hell yes, a virus! Picture this, Jon. We put the game into a device, like say, someone’s pacemaker. I love this part. If they work at a place with a high-powered security system where you have to scan your retina or your hand or something, then the virus from the pacemaker can actually go into the security system without anyone’s knowledge.
“Now picture that each time someone else uses the security system, the virus piggybacks on them. But it doesn’t just go through machinery; now it goes their body’s electrical system instead. All the while being totally unaware until something triggers the virus. Most viruses can lie dormant for a long time until activated.”
Jonathan’s look of horror told Kadan that they saw things differently. “Do you realize what you’re saying, Kadan? You’re talking about global cyber-terrorism!”
“No,” Kadan replied. “You don’t get it. We can activate the virus, which is really a game, any time we want from here. In no time at all, we could have the entire world… playing…” Kadan broke off. He realized what Jonathan was implying and felt the need to clarify himself immediately.
Jonathan’s heart raced. “You have limited sight to only want to put out your game on the internet or wherever, but there may be other people who see past the gaming platform.”
Kadan’s smile faded. “Like Alex?”
Jonathan looked at one of the multi-screen monitors. “What the hell is that?”
Kadan saw Phoe, Simon, Alex, and several of the black-clad assassins lying unconscious in a grassy field near what appeared to be an ocean.