“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 closed his fist and downloaded the access code, creating a simple icon in the form of a red agate marble. “Find me quick,” he said. “Or you’ll find me dead.”
“Trust me,” Mark said. “I won’t let you down.”
Gaspar tossed the marble across. Mark caught it, then tossed a glowing blue pyramid back. “The trace utility?” Gaspar asked.
“Yes.” Mark reached forward and a control panel appeared in the air before him. He punched a button and the alarm shut off. “Get moving before they get suspicious.”
Gaspar tried to think of something to say but couldn’t. He leaped back onto the Net and returned to his workspace.
“What was it?” Heavener demanded.
“One of the gamers,” Gaspar replied. “He got deep into the system, but it rejected him.” Please let Gridley be as good as I’ve heard he is.
“Where’s the girl?”
Gaspar searched the screens. Suddenly crosshairs flared into crimson life on one of the convention monitors. They bracketed Maj Green as she passed through the early morning convention crowd waiting for Realm of the Bright Waters to go online.
Hesitation locked Gaspar up. How long will it take for Net Force to find me? How long before Gridley breaks into the mainframe supporting the online game? If he didn’t tell Heavener where Maj was, she’d know something was up. And he’d die. It was that simple. “She’s in the convention center,” he said. “I’ve got her onscreen.”
The buttoncam view on Heavener’s screen shifted abruptly as the woman and her team changed directions. As they raced through the hotel hallways, other cameras picked them up.
Gaspar tracked the collision course as if hypnotized. “God help us,” he whispered.
22
Maj looked around the packed convention center. A lot of the people around her hadn’t left the room at all, but most of them had returned over an hour ago. The Realm of the Bright Waters game was due to go online in less than twenty-four minutes. Excitement was building.
“Man, if I’d known this was going to be this big,” one of the guys next to her grumbled, “I’d have reserved a room with an implant chair. I’ve called every cyber café in the city and they’re booked.”
“I know,” the guy next to him said. “If you don’t have access to your own system, you’re not going to get on for a little while. At least we’re not alone, and we’ll get to see what it’s like.”
“Yeah, but it’s not the same as being there.”
Maj listened and felt edgy. Too much stress and not enough sleep was a bad combination. But there was no way around it. Sleep was out of the question. Even knowing the Net Force team lurked in the shadows wasn’t as helpful as it might have been for the her stress levels. Once the game was launched, Eisenhower Productions and D’Arnot Industries didn’t need Peter Griffen alive. That realization left her feeling cold.
Her foilpack buzzed, and she answered it.
Matt’s bruised face appeared on the small screen. “Mark’s inside the system. He made contact with your guy. A Net Force team is already en route to his location. If anything’s going to happen, it’s going to happen quickly.”
“I know. I’ll stay in touch.” Maj closed the foilpack. Matt and Catie were handling the comm-loop for their end of the operation, patching the Net Force teams in through the pass-through communications ports Mark had created in the Net. Leif and Megan were on the move through the hotel, watching for Heavener.