Gameprey

All the Explorers agreed.

“However, if any of you want to leave, you’re free to do so.”

No one took Winters up on the offer.

“I think we’re safe here, sir,” Maj said. “Besides, you may have a Net Force team on-site, but they can’t move until you prove a crime has been committed by D’Arnot Industries.”

“Heavener has a record under two other aliases,” Roarke said. “D’Arnot must not have known that.”

“Or they chose to ignore it,” Winters agreed. “A female agent is overlooked a lot in this field.” The captain paused for a moment. “She is their weak link. We’ve got six hours and thirty-seven minutes till Eisenhower Productions goes online with Realm of the Bright Waters.”

“If we find Heavener before that time,” Roarke said, “we can bring her in, sweat her, and see if she’ll give anything up to make a deal. No one’s going to look after her interests, and she knows it.”

Maj looked at the neutral expression on Roarke’s face and knew the man was talking from personal experience.

“Agreed,” Winters replied. “Net Force Explorers, make the most of these remaining hours. Keep your eyes and ears open, and stay in contact with each other. If the slightest thing feels off, get out and call me at once.”

Gaspar Latke sat in his veeyar workspace, for the first time in his life feeling crowded in by everything around him. He watched the monitors.

The central monitor showed the hallway outside Maj Green’s hotel room. The image was broadcast by a buttoncam worn by one of the three men Heavener had with her.

“Shut down the alarms,” Heavener ordered over the comm-line.

Gaspar’s breath was tight in his chest, and the back of his throat felt raw. He knew those were physical sensations seeping over from the flesh-and-blood world. He drew a circle in the air with his forefinger, and a blue knob appeared, linking him with the virus he had in place to circumvent the hotel’s security system. He pressed it, sending it on its way. For the next twenty-two minutes and nineteen seconds, the hotel wouldn’t know the room existed.

“Done,” he hissed, feeling like a traitor. Forgive me. I thought maybe we could help each other. Only he’d put her in danger by meeting with her.

One of Heavener’s people moved forward and took a short crowbar from his jacket sleeve. They all wore street clothes and wouldn’t draw a second glance from the gamers still wandering the halls. The man fit the crowbar into place and popped the lock, shouldering the door open.

Heavener and the next man stepped through the doorway. Gaspar’s main monitor view was now through Heavener’s sights. Ruby laser beams tracked through the darkness filling the room.

For a moment Gaspar thought Maj was in bed. But as Heavener got closer, he saw that it was only the twisted bedclothes.

“She’s not here,” Heavener said irritably. “Find her. Find her now!” She waved the men from the room and closed the door behind her.

Gaspar’s relief drained from him as he started to scan the hotel vidcams he’d hacked into. “Searching.”

“In twenty minutes and thirty-four seconds,” Heavener said, “that little mojo you’ve used on this room is going to elapse and the alarm will sound. If we haven’t found that girl by then, she’s going to run, and Net Force may take a big interest too soon.”

“Give me a minute.” Gaspar searched through the hallways and banquet areas, using a computer search engine working with Maj’s image as well. The convention center was open, and he thought she might be there.

“Very soon,” Heavener went on, “the game goes online. I don’t have time to wait.”

An alarm buzzed.

Gaspar looked up, panicking.

“Eisenhower’s online site just registered a hacker,” Heavener said.

“I’ll check it out,” Gaspar said. Hackers trying to get into the system weren’t anything new. Ever since the gamepacks for Realm of the Bright Waters had been released, gamers had been trying to break into Eisenhower’s site. None of them had succeeded, but they’d kept him busy. Eisenhower’s regular security staff was good, but not as good as people Gaspar ran with, diehard hackers who lived for the crack.

Gaspar leaped onto the Net and sped to Eisenhower’s site. The building stood tall and prestigious against the cybernetic background. He passed into the secure files where the game programming was kept. The room representing the archived files was huge, filled with library stacks representing the various programs.

Gargoyles sat by the stacks, myth-shapen monsters with bat wings, long talons, and horrid faces. They’d dealt with intruders skilled enough to avoid the regular security system, casting them out of the Net nastily.

Suddenly one of the gargoyles turned to look at him. “Is it you?” it asked in a creaking voice.

Suspicion filled Gaspar and he almost lifted off-site. “Who are you?”

The gargoyle shimmered as it stepped off its pedestal. By the time its foot touched the carpet, it was Mark Gridley.

“You became part of the security network?” Gaspar asked. No one had ever done that before.

Mark shrugged. “It took hours, so don’t be too overwhelmed. I’ve been trying to get into the stacks, but they’re all encrypted. At least, the ones that I’ve been able to access are.”

Gaspar took a step back. “You tripped the alarm on purpose.”

“Yeah. I hoped you’d be the one to answer it.”

“Why?”

Mark waved at the stacks. “Because we’re running out of time. We know about Griffen’s game and the bleed-overs.”

“How much do you know?” Gaspar asked.

“Pretty much all of it,” Mark replied. “We know about D’Arnot Industries, too.”

“They’ll kill me.”

“When Maj told us she’d been contacted by someone wearing Matt’s proxy last night,” Mark said, “I guessed it was you. And the only reason you’d do that is if you wanted out.”

“I do.”

Mark nodded, his young face serious. “Then you’re going to have to play ball with us. I could break into this system given enough time — I’m that good — but I’m all out of time. Realm of the Bright Waters is going online, and by then it will be too late.”

“Get me away from them,” Gaspar said. “If you don’t, they’re going to kill me.”

“You think they’re going to kill you,” Mark said. “That’s why you contacted Maj.”

Gaspar didn’t say anything, feeling all his leverage drain away. “I need help.”

“And I need an access code,” Mark said.

“You can’t leave me to them,” Gaspar pleaded. “It would be the same as killing me yourself.”

Mark didn’t appear convinced. “Where are Peter Griffen and Oscar Raitt?”

“Heavener has them.”

“Where?”

“At the hotel. She’s going to kill them, set it up so it looks like Raitt killed Griffen after faking his own kidnapping.”

“When?”

Gaspar lied desperately. “I don’t know.”

Mark glanced around the room, but he never looked desperate. “It’s your call. Give me a code so I can get into the system and let me trace your signal back.”

“How can I trust you?”

Mark returned his gaze full measure. “How can you not? There’s a Net Force team in the city that’s ready to move. They just need a location.”

“I don’t know where I am.”

“We’ll find you.”

Heavener buzzed for attention, using the comm-channel Gaspar had left open for her and her team. Gaspar felt torn, knowing he was gambling everything when there was nothing left to lose, but feeling scared anyway. He