do the next one without my input. The players will know the difference, and it may just flop hard enough to squelch the whole series.”
“Sending in tweaks and downloadable content from your laptop is one thing, but you can’t truly expect to be a part of a real design team without even being in the same city as everyone else. At best, you could have a say on some of the creative aspects, but none of the technical stuff. It’s too organic a process for any pivotal member to be so far out of reach. You know that, Cole.”
Settling back into his seat, Cole glanced up and down the sidewalk and then spotted Paige strolling along the low rock fence. His services as a getaway driver weren’t needed just yet, so he grudgingly said, “I know that, Jason. It doesn’t mean I like it.”
“Hey, I don’t like it either. I don’t want to start another Hammer without you. Whatever you’re doing…wherever you are…it’s gotta be good to keep you from refusing all the offers I’ve been making.”
“Not refusing. Just taking time to think them over.”
“Whatever you call it, it’s getting old. Did I mention that we love those monster renders you sent?”
“Huh?”
“The shading renders for those werewolf things,” Jason explained. “They’re a little too close to the stuff that’s floating around connected to those crazy stories coming out of Kansas City, but tweak those models a little bit more and we’ve got something. In fact, I’ll bet we could build a whole new game around it.”
Jason kept talking about the ideas that were sparked by what he’d seen, but Cole wasn’t listening. He was too busy trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Then it hit him. He must have accidentally sent Jason some of the in-between renders he’d worked on while touching up those Half Breed pictures.
Out of pure force of habit, he had treated those pictures as he would any others he might use for his game designs. He’d turned the pictures into crude models, repositioned them and then reworked the models so they wouldn’t hold up under close scrutiny. For video game character designs that weren’t supposed to pass for real creatures, those rough sketches must have looked damn good. When he thought about it a little more, he realized he’d labeled the Half Breed sketches “HBtestpics,” while his sketches for
“I’m a goddamn idiot,” he grumbled.
“Not at all,” Jason said. “You can fix that stuff next time.”
“What stuff?”
“Weren’t you listening to me?”
Since the truth wouldn’t earn him any points with his boss, regardless of how long he and Jason had known each other, Cole deflected that question with another one. “You really think we could get a whole new series going?”
“Hell yes!” Jason replied. “There’s tons of crap about zombies out there, plenty about vampires, and a few about werewolves, but we could do a hell of a game about whatever these things are.”
Cole’s brain swelled within his skull. Now, in addition to everything else that had been going on, he had a new project to worry about. He closed his eyes and rubbed them, struggling to come up with something to say. Before he could put any words together, he reminded himself to check the sidewalk for any suspicious people or rampaging monsters.
“Cole? You still there? Did that damn phone drop the call?”
“No, Jason. I’m still here.”
“Good. So will you think about coming back to Seattle to work on this?”
Letting out a relieved breath, he took the lifeline Jason had thrown him. “Yeah. I’ll think about it. Can I get back to you in a few days?”
“Take the week. This is a big decision.”
“A week would be great. Thanks so much.”
Shifting out of his executive voice and into friend mode, Jason said, “We’ve got a great thing going with this. It’s what we’ve been working for all these years and it wouldn’t be the same without you, Cole.”
“I know.”
Those two words seemed to be enough for Jason, because he accepted them and ended the call with a minimum of small talk. Cole didn’t have any intention of letting his friend down or trashing his career, but there were any number of things that could prevent him from getting his work done. One of those things was on her way back to the car. Judging by the look on her face, the only animal Paige had found was the little dog taking a leak on the stone fence surrounding the cemetery. She opened the door, dropped into the passenger seat and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Did you call MEG?” she asked.
“Not just yet.” As Cole drove away from the cemetery, he told her about his conversation with Jason. He steered away from the specifics, but the rest of the story was enough to hold her attention. That was pretty good, considering how she usually zoned out whenever the subject of programming was brought up.
“I thought you decided to stay with me,” she said. “Now you want to head back to Seattle?”
“What if you came with?”
She reacted to that question as if it had been posed by a talking pizza box. After a few confused blinks, she shook her head and asked, “Are you kidding me?”
“Why? There’s got to be Skinner stuff going on in Seattle!”
“We’re all set up in Chicago! Look, just forget about that. We’ve got real work to do. You wanna call MEG now to see about that idea of yours?”
Gripping his phone tightly, Cole grunted, “Sure. Right now, I’d rather talk to anyone but you.”
“Fine. Make the call, but don’t talk for too long or Stu might just convince you to move to Idaho or wherever the hell Branch 40 is!”
Cole hit the speed dial as if trying to crack the screen. When his call dropped three times in a row, he nearly chucked the damn phone into traffic. Finally, he drove into a reception sweet spot and managed to stay there long enough for Abby’s full greeting to be heard.
“Midwestern Ectological Group Branch 40, how may I help you?” she said.
“Hey, this is Cole Warnecki. You want my ID number?”
“No, that’s okay. What’s up?”
“Has anyone called in about Mongrel sightings? I’m looking for something as close to Kansas City as you can get, and I don’t just mean one Mongrel. I have to find a den or a burrow or whatever you call the places they live.”
Paige rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Ummmm…just give me a moment,” Abby said. From there, she launched into a whole lot of typing. The pecking of her fingers against the keys didn’t let up when she started talking again. “To be honest, I’ve never really dug into the files like this before. Usually we just log in names and locations, file a few accounts and that’s that. We’re real good at connecting calls, though,” she said.
“Is there anyone else I can speak to who might help?”
The tapping on the other end of the call stopped. “Actually, no. Is something wrong?”
Suddenly, Cole felt like an asshole for using such an annoyed tone with her when he was upset with Paige. What made him feel worse was the realization that neither of the women had done anything to deserve it. “Sorry, Abby. This is just really important.”
“I know,” she replied. “Whether it’s gangs, dogs, or a cult, it’s gotta be crazy out there.” When her typing resumed, her voice brightened. “Here we go! The last report we got about Mongrels is from someone named Rico. Do you know him?”
Cole covered the phone and asked Paige, “You know someone named Rico, don’t you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“He checked in about some Mongrels.”
“Great. Where?”
“Where?” Cole asked once he’d uncovered the phone.
Abby hummed a few off-key bars to herself and tapped on her keyboard some more. “Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska.”
Cole laughed and steered around some construction cones that had been set up to close off the left lane. “Out
