“How?” Patrick asked.
“Give me a chance to work through something, but I’ll let you know.”
“We need to draw Maxim out.” Tricky’s voice carried a bite to it. “We need to kill him.”
Blur took the empty chair next to his sister. “Maxim is a collector of all things unique and important. Warpers are no exception.”
“Before any decision is made, let’s do the research. We have a couple of aliases, but we’ll need to use these ancient machines. It will take work. Let’s see if it is even possible before we plan any further.”
“We’ll meet back here after dinner.” Patrick clicked the screen off, signaling the end of the meeting.
Ari remained seated for a minute, the images from the news report still flashing in her mind. Would it stop in India? From the reports, they tried to blame a sickness of some kind, something transmitted from person to person. Maybe they didn’t want to know the truth, that the disease was online. It would be a hard truth for humankind to believe. And if government leaders wouldn’t stand against people like Maxim, they really wouldn’t know.
“Are you okay?” Marco placed an arm on her shoulder.
She touched her cheek and realized she had been crying. Quickly wiping them away she stood. “No. I’m not okay, but nothing really is right now.”
The afternoon speed by seamlessly. Ari wasn’t sure if it was a sign, but she took it as one. Since the older models of VR machines were not in abundance, it narrowed their searched quickly. But with fewer options, they could focus on what they did have. Joe and Patrick led the research assigning countries to focus on. Most were poor, small without the resources to upgrade their machines. But that worked in their favor as well. The poor countries should be easier to sneak into.
Their biggest challenge will be working within the confines of the old tech to get new skins. Why would an important diplomat use a second-class machine in the middle of nowhere? Blur was writing a new program for that, using a closed circuit VR machine to speed up the process.
With the others working on the VR machines, Ari had time to follow through with her idea. If the governments were influenced by Maxim, then how could they distribute information to the people without the governments’ approval? The first person that came to mind was Tessa. With her father in the entertainment industry, and Tessa’s games having almost a million followers, they had access to the people.
She had sent Tessa a message. They didn’t dare chance meeting in the VR, but they had a chance to talk in an encrypted gaming room. Tessa was willing to help get a message out to her followers and gave Ari the name of some other influential gamers with access to other countries. Every country had regulations about gaming and information coming in. It took a while for Ari to understand the red tape, but soon it looked like her idea just might work.
Ari left her workstation to head down to the kitchen for a late afternoon snack. Marco met her in the hall, walking out of the VR room.
“I thought everyone gave up on working on the hardware?” She thought it peculiar that he was in there.
“Yeah.”
An uneasy feeling rolled around in her stomach. “Were you in a VR?”
He kept his aloof demeanor. “Yeah, had to make a quick trip with some connections back home. Nothing big.”
“Nothing big?” Ari didn’t mean for her voice to raise like it did. “There’s a program out there that kills people. It’s not safe.” Never mind the fact you’ve been a VR coma, making you more susceptible to them.
“Relax.”
She hated when he blew her off like that. “It’s really irresponsible for you to endanger yourself.”
He stopped and faced her with a smirk. “Irresponsible like heading to meet VisionTech to rescue Reed by yourself? I already have a mother, Ari. Please stop trying to be mine.”
As he turned to leave, Ari felt glued to her place in the hall. Her face warm with embarrassment. He was right, but it didn’t change how she felt. At the same time, he wasn’t cruel, just the same brother that always ignored the rules and her. Patrick came upon her, snapping her out of her stupor.
“What’s wrong?” Patrick placed a hand on her shoulder, a simple action that shouldn’t have felt so good. Especially not when she still had feelings for Reed. She may have left and tried to close the door on him, but her dreams and subconsciousness had other plans.
“Nothing. Just bickering with Marco like usual. Hey, did you know he was using the VRs?”
“Yeah.”
“What for? I don’t think he should risk—”
Patrick lifted a hand in the air. “I’m going to have to stop you. He asked me to keep it private and I’m respecting it.”
She started to protest again.
“Please don’t press it. You have your secrets, let him have his. If I thought he was in danger, I wouldn’t have allowed him access, I promise.”
“Okay.” She trusted Patrick, though she wasn’t giving up on what her brother was up to. Not yet.
“Great. Are you coming to the meeting?”
“Meeting?” She looked down at the HUB on her arm and realized she missed a message.
“Yes. Those lovely gathering everybody wants more of.” Sarcasm brought his mouth up in a grin.
“You know us so well,” she replied as they walked together.
A few others were already there, including her brother, who was already in deep conversation with Blur and Joe. Tricky stood by the drink station. She had just dumped one cup and began brewing another. No Sketchy this time. Ari sat next to Harini, who had her screen up, flipping through notes.
“Anything new?” Ari asked.
“Just flipping through the available VR ports and double checking the countries’ security.”
“Please say I’m going somewhere with a white beach?” Ari’s nervous energy came out in a joke.
Harini gave her a look and returned to her screen with a seriousness that unnerved Ari.
“Just joking.” Ari tried to ease the tension.
Once Tricky found a seat next to her brother, Patrick pulled up a chair at the head of the table. “Let’s get started. Joe, do you want to go over the schematics of the program?”
Joe opened the program he created and explained the basics. Everyone would need to upload the new firmware into the VR machine they used. Most of the older machines weren’t geared to access the well-known realms.
“How are we going to get Joe’s program installed?” Harini asked. “It’s not like owners will allow random programs inserted in their machines.”
Joe turned to Harini. “Hopefully with how old these systems are, they will have less security. But yes, that will add another layer to this mission. I recommend we go in pairs to make it easier.”
“I was thinking of pairs as well.” Patrick added and turned to Blur. “Do you have the requested skins?”
Blur pushed back his blond hair, which looked stringy and unwashed. “Yes. Some of them are pretty flimsy, but considering this is a quick attack, I figured they would be okay.”
“That should be fine. Send them out after this. Harini, what are our choices of machines?” Patrick asked.
She flipped her screen up onto the projector, the lights dimming to adjust. “I tried to find countries with easy access, where people would blend, and where there were limited warrants out for us.”
“With this group, that sounds near impossible.” Tricky played with a pen, spinning it in between her fingers.
“Nothing is impossible,” Harini said, with more optimism in her voice. “I have six countries to choose from. They are poor, so flying in directly may draw more attention. But they are near big cities, so we should be able to get there quick enough.”
Patrick studied the list along with everyone else.
“I’ll take Taiwan,” Joe said. “I’ll blend in there.”
“You’ve been before?” Patrick asked, worry in his voice.
“Not since I was a child. No o
ne would recognize me.”
“Good,” Patrick agreed. “You take Marco with you since it’s the farthest away.”
Ari bit her lip, worried about her brother. He’s an adult though, and she needed to trust him to make his own decisions. And during their last mission, Marco proved he knew how to handle himself. He was an asset to this team.
Patrick continued to make assignments. Ari and Blur were assigned to a Spanish country not far from where she had her run in with VisionTech. Tricky was going to stay home. She was obviously not happy about it but didn’t look surprised either. Patrick probably talked to her outside the meeting. That left Patrick and Harini going together to India. It looked the sketchiest of all the locations. Patrick wasn’t the type of leader to send others to do the dangerous jobs.
“Now that the assignments are set, let’s talk about the mission. Even though the politicians have proved to be unreliable, I still want to get the information out to them.” Before anyone could interrupt, Patrick lifted a hand. “In addition, Ari has figured away to get the information out to the people, going around the government. Do you want to share how to distribute the information?”
Ari straightened as everyone turned to her. “I’ve been working with my friend Tessa. Using her gaming channels, we can release the information in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. It’s not everyone, but hopefully is starts a big enough push among the people that even Maxim can’t shut down.”
“Great. I’ll get you the message to send out today. Harini, could you help with that as well?”
“Of course,” Harini said with a smile.
Patrick clicked a button on his HUB and a projection of various men and women from different countries appeared. “Now, these are the heads of the UN. They are not on the Board but are powerful figures that seem to have no connection with Maxim. They are currently preparing for the upcoming voting session and have been spending overtime inside VLEX and other UN approved political realms.”
The screen rotated, assigning each team one or two politicians. “We won’t be able to get to close by using our abilities. If they know we’re warpers, they will pull out immediately and alert security. But we need to get this file about Maxim and the Board’s activities to them.
“We have enough proof to show Maxim’s involvement in the murder of the VP of Asia and the creation of the virus.”
Ari leaned forward studying the screen. “You think it will be enough for them?”
“I don’t.” Tricky threw her pen at the women in the navy blazer. “I think she’s in bed with Maxim. Not literally, though that wouldn’t surprise me either.”
“We’re letting the people and the leaders we trust know. It’s all we can do at this point.” Patrick gave a tight smile.
“Not all,” Tricky mumbled, everyone knew her desire to personally take Maxim out.
Patrick ignored her comment. “Anything else we need to cover?” Patrick glanced around the room, but everyone remained silent. “We’ll head out in thirty-six hours. Harini will send you the exact travel assignments. Rest while you can.”
Chapter 31
Ari never had spent a lot of time alone with Blur. Not for any particular reason other than their work never seemed to overlap much. For the trip, he cleaned up but wore a hat to cover his blonde hair. Even then he attracted the attention of other travelers, especially women. He and his twin were stunning, almost exotic with their features. More than once as they boarded the plane, she wondered why Patrick assigned Blur to this country. His pale skin and blonde hair would stick out.
At least their plane landed after nightfall. He shouldn’t be as conspicuous as they made their way through the city. Most people thought they traveled together, so while many travelers appreciated his looks, they didn’t appreciate his companion.
They flew in silence most of the way. Only one passenger sat by them, wearing earbuds and watching a movie on his screen. Ari’s stomach tied in knots, not just about the mission ahead of them, but about Blur and Tricky.
“Hey.” She slightly tapped Blur’s shoulder.
He turned off his own ear buds and turned to her.
“You have a second to talk?”
Glancing around, he noticed the other guy as well. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to apologize about your sister.” The words were way overdue, and she hurried to get them out. “I shouldn’t have been distracted. The day that she… got sick.” Even though everyone looked engaged, she worried about people overhearing her. “If I had been more observant, it wouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry.”
He paused for a moment, glancing around. Emotion fought behind those beautiful ice-blue eyes. Then as if settling on a thought, he finally lifted his gaze. “She’s alive. She’s back. Let’s not dredge up what happened or could have happened.”
Ari knew Blur felt deeper than he’d ever admit and cared for his twin more than the world. “Okay. I just wanted you to know.”
Nodding, he flipped his music back on, the base leaking through just enough for Ari to hear. She faced forward, wishing that made her feel better than it did. Not that she was looking for absolution.
The rest of the trip went smoothly, and they found their way to the hotel. They had to wait the night and were scheduled to go into the program at ten the following morning. Between the time zone change and her anxiousness about the job ahead, Ari struggled to sleep. Blur must have had the same problem, as she found him up at three in the morning watching a movie.
“Wanna watch?” he offered, and flipped the screen so they both could see.
Ari couldn’t have remembered what the movie was about, some old sci-fi flick. The movie helped pass the time, though. Soon the sun rose on the foreign town and they started getting ready.
She messaged Tessa again. The announcement Patrick gave Ari would be going out soon, and Ari wanted to make sure everything and everyone was still on track. Tessa didn’t reply right away, but that wasn’t uncommon. After a couple cups of coffee, Ari and Blur headed to the address that Harini gave them.
“How do you want to play it? Want me to insert it while you distract the owner or make a diversion?” Blur wore dark glasses and he scanned the crowd around them as they walked to the shop.
“I think it would be easier the other way.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, especially if the worker is female. You’ve caught quite a few glances from women.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t been out in a while.”
“You forget you’re good-looking?”
He gave a dry chuckle. “No, I just don’t care. It helped me to get away with a lot growing up, but now it just seems… stupid. Anyone can go inside and be as beautiful as they want.”
“I get it, but let’s use that face today.”
“And if the person doesn’t lean my way?”
“Then I’ll swap you for it. The art of manipulation isn’t my best quality, but I can distract and annoy people with the best of them.” Ari didn’t think it would be too hard with an old VR joint.
“Deal.”
As they approached the store, a message beeped on Ari’s HUB. Encrypted. “One second,” she told Blur, then added in a whisper, “It’s probably from Tessa.”
Ari was right about Tessa but wasn’t prepared for the message.
Abort mission. I’ll release to my players but can’t ask anyone else. I’m going dark, and upping security. It’s worse than we thought. One gamer sent out the message early and here is the result.
There was a link to a video from a small country in Europe. A cold chill set every nerve on end. She showed the message to Blur. “Can I watch this safely?”
“Let’s watch it on mine. I have extra precautions in place.” He typed in the video’s address and they muted the sound.
The video was only twenty seconds long. A lone female gamer with teal hair sat at her desk, tear-stained eyes pleading with the screen in front of her. A man’s body appeared behind her. His head remained o
ut of the shot. The gun didn’t.
In a flash it was over and the woman lay dead on her desk.
Blur swore.
Ari trembled as the icy realization of what she just saw struck her. “What did I do?” Looking around, she thought she was going to be sick.
Another beat passed, then Blur reached for Ari’s hands forcing her to look at him. “You didn’t do anything. He pulled the trigger, not you. If anything, we need to do this more than ever.”
“What if Tessa…” Ari couldn’t finish that sentence.
“She has the means to take care of herself. And the best way to make her safe is to take out Maxim. The best way to make all of us safe is to take him out.”
Biting her lip, she nodded.
“The store isn’t far. Can you do this?” His face was kind, but strong.
She drew from that strength. “Yeah.”
Blur notified the others of what happened. Now getting their intelligence to the few allies they hoped to find in VLEX became even more important.
When they arrived at the store, Ari double checked it was the correct address. It looked more like a thrift store than a VR joint. There was a feminine touch to the store, with bright colors that mocked Ari. How can things be so bright, when the world was going to hell?
The door slid open and they walked into the cluttered store. An older woman stood behind the counter, her long dark braid hung over her shoulder, and she wore a floral dress with puffy sleeves. The way she looked at Blue, they both knew he was up to bat. Ari couldn’t have flirted right now even if she wanted to. While he leaned forward and spoke to the women through his translator, Ari turned to take in the shop.
Old tech lined the front, everything from electronic cooking gear to hard drives. Any extra space on the wall was covered by electronic pictures of cute animals that Ari found disturbing. Continuing further into the store, Ari found the VR area. It wasn’t even a room, just four machines tucked into a space behind racks of used goods.
An older man was plugged into one of the machines, unconscious, though his eyes fluttered. While Blur chatted away with the woman, Ari turned to the computers. Two of them flashed welcoming messages. The woman must have turned them on while she talked to Blur.
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