Countdown

guess. Thought I'd take a moment and try to break the ice, so I commented on your secretary's ass. She had a very fine ass.' His lips thinned. 'When we got off the elevator you told the interviewer not to hire me. I heard you.'

Rogan's expression didn't change. 'I don't remember that at all.'

Joe shrugged. 'Hey, whatever. It's been years. You've been through hell since then; I know that. You're out of jail already? Did your lawyers prove you innocent?'

'Something like that.'

I looked at Colin. He watched Joe and Rogan's conversation intently. The other kid, Snake, had obviously grown bored with the whole situation and had gone back to playing the game.

Colin shook his head. 'I can't believe you'd want to be with that guy.'

There was a dark venom attached to those words. I knew Colin had a crush on me. It was obvious, and I wasn't just being vain by thinking so. There were computer programs in which you could use a real person's appearance on a computer model and then have virtual sex with it. The thought made me feel a bit sick, especially since I'd caught a glimpse of a character on Colin's computer that looked a bit too much like me for comfort. That had been a few weeks ago. Ever since then I'd been trying to keep some distance between us, hoping that he'd get over it.

Not that Colin had never acted on his feelings. He'd never even mentioned them to me. I didn't feel threatened by him at all. But there was still a level of discomfort there. I also didn't want to encourage him, since I didn't feel anything but friendship for him in return.

I was really hoping he would move on to another object of affection very soon. However, even after the little scene in the mall the other day, I'd just seen over his shoulder that his desktop wallpaper was a picture of me.

Terrific.

Therefore, and in my opinion, the hairy eyeballs he was giving Rogan probably had very little to do with the fact that he was a wrongly convicted rapist and murderer, and much more to do with the fact that he was in my company.

'Colin-' I began.

He held up a finger. 'I have to take a leak.'

He turned his back on me and left the room.

'Okay,' I said slowly.

'So what are you doing here?' Joe asked.

Rogan reached into his pocket and pulled out the business card. 'Somebody gave this to me.'

Joe shrugged. 'I appreciate the word-of-mouth advertising. I like to keep things small here. Don't want this place to get too overpopulated.'

'Do you know somebody named Jonathan?' I asked. 'He works for Ellis Enterprises, too.'

Joe shook his head. 'Sorry, no. I don't know anything to do with that place. Don't really care, either, since I'm not working there.' He grinned. 'But no hard feelings, of course.'

Why did I think he was lying? It wasn't a terribly friendly grin he was giving Rogan.

Rogan studied him for a moment. 'Have you ever heard of something called The Countdown?'

'Rogan!' I grabbed his arm. It felt almost like a magic word that shouldn't be invoked. Say it too loudly and the bad guys might swing in and grab us.

I waited. Nobody swung in.

'The Countdown,' Joe repeated slowly. 'Now, that could be a listing of popular songs this week, or you might be referring to a secret death game. Survive or die, right? Yeah, I've heard of it. Thought it was just a rumor.'

'Just a rumor?' Rogan said. 'Then why do you have a folder on your desktop labeled 'Ellis- Countdown'?'

Joe blanched. Even in the half darkness I could see that.

'Dammit,' he managed before Rogan grabbed his shirt and threw him up against the table. All the computers shook.

The other gamers removed their goggles to see what the disturbance was.

Rogan glared at them. 'Get the hell out of here right now.'

He said it with enough menace to clear the room immediately. That is, after they all carefully disconnected their computers so as not to damage the intricate circuitry.

Then they fled up the stairs and out of the building.

Joe didn't fight back against Rogan, but he looked scared to death.

'Talk,' Rogan growled.

'Okay, okay. After I didn't get that job I was pissed. And okay, I wasn't just pissed at myself. I blamed you. That was a wicked opportunity my father set up. He said it was a sure thing, and you had to blow it for me. I even met your brother, Gareth. He was awesome and bought me lunch. But one word from you screwed my life.'

Rogan didn't let go of him. 'So you hated me. What then?'

'I went home and sank into a mega depression. I worked for a year on a little present for Ellis Enterprises to get back at you. I was bitter, yeah. Sure I was. And, hey, I had a hell of a lot of time on my hands, being unemployed. At the time I lived with my father, and he had loads of money, too-that's how he knew Gareth to get me the interview. Same circles and all that. I heard a rumor about your new game, The Countdown, and that's where I wanted to be. I wanted to help develop something for real that I normally just played online. It would have been so sweet.'

'What was the present you're talking about?' I asked.

He eyed me. 'Well, first I had to hack the Ellis mainframe before I could do anything. Took me a year to do that until I finally got in.'

There was silence in the room.

'And when you got in, what did you do?' Rogan asked quietly.

'I uploaded a virus. A nice, juicy one I'd made especially for you. One that would know its way around and sink into everything and start eating all of your company's precious data. I uploaded it and waited to hear news of the system going down. Of everything you'd worked for going up in flames. Other than the blackout later that night there was nothing. However, the next day you got your ass arrested and thrown in jail. I figured my virus was a failure, but karma kicked in and worked its special magic anyhow.'

My eyes had widened with every word he said. The virus. The virus that had seeped into the artificial intelligence program and uploaded itself into Gareth's implant during the power surge.

The thing that had ruined Rogan's life.

All because of a job opportunity lost for a throwaway sexist remark.

A flap of a butterfly's wing turning into the proverbial hurricane.

Rogan laughed then, and it sounded just this side of insane.

'What is it?' I managed. 'What's so damn funny?'

He let Joe go finally, and wiped tears from his eyes as he tried to bring his laughter under control. 'My … my secretary. I don't even remember what her name was.'

Joe shook his head. 'She had a great ass.'

I couldn't believe this. Jonathan must have known. He'd known that Joe was the one responsible for the original virus. That was why he had the address to this place.

Rest in peace, Jonathan.

But why? Why would he care anymore who created the virus? What difference would it make now?

Unless…

I moved closer to stand at Rogan's side. I looked at Joe, whose chest heaved with each breath he took. He didn't look guilty for what he'd done; he looked annoyed that he'd been caught after all this time.

'Is there an antivirus?' I asked.

Rogan looked at me. 'Of course. That must be what Jonathan was after.'

Joe raised his eyebrows. 'An antivirus? After all these years? Why would you even care anymore?'

With a deep breath, Rogan launched into the story. He made it quick. It wasn't long before Joe was blinking rapidly, and a drop of sweat slid down his temple.

'Oh, shit,' he said.