by Kitty Cox
"Is that your plan?" she asked. "Try to catch us on both sides? Either you drive away the players by ruining the community, or you get even by suing us? Besides, what makes you think I'm doing anything more than just asking questions?"
"You said you'd fire us. Yesterday." He glared, looking more angry with every second. "I dare you to try it."
"Fine. You're fired. Braden will escort you to your desk, allow you to get only your personal belongings, and then your access to the building, the network, and every game Deviant has any interest in will be revoked." She looked at the clock on the wall. "You have three minutes to get out of my building."
It took a few seconds before he realized exactly what she'd just said. "You can't do that." He turned to Braden. "She's not the owner. Only Chance can fire me."
Braden shrugged. "She owns half. Little hint here, bud. Sucking up works pretty good with Dez. It's how I kept my job."
"But you can't fire me," he insisted, looking back to her. "I need this job."
"Shoulda thought about that before you decided to let your friends come play."
"They said I wouldn't get caught!" He slapped the table as he pushed to his feet. "I didn't authorize them all, and they said they wouldn't get caught!"
"They," Dez assured him, "have no idea what I can find. You authorized, checked, or altered every one of their accounts. Your access code is all over each and every one. Sue me, Chris, but you fucked this up. You and your little hater friends aren't half as smart as you think you are."
"But you can't fire me," he insisted. It was almost a beg, and she had a funny feeling it was as close as she was going to get.
"I can. I am. Chris, you're fired. I don't know what the hell you were thinking, but you broke at least three contracts and risked the company's reputation. I can't do anything else but fire you. Well, that's not true. I could always sue you." She looked right into his eyes. "That hasn't been taken off the table."
"But how I am going to pay my bills? I've got a wife and kid to support. You can't do this!"
"Not my problem."
Like a broken record, he repeated himself. "You can't do this."
Dez just closed her eyes. "Braden? Could you escort Chris off the property?"
"Let's go, bud." His chair squealed on the floor as he pushed it back.
But Chris wasn't ready to go so easily. "Fuck you," he snapped, shoving at the table. "This is what's wrong with the industry. Real developers like me are getting canned so guys like Chance can have some piece of ass around on command. You're not a damned dev. You're just some slut trying to impress the real gamers. Fuck you."
"Shut up," Braden growled, grabbing the guy's arm. "Think whatever you want if it saves your damned pride, but you're still out a job, and she's still a better coder."
That's when Chris snapped. He shoved, breaking out of Braden's grip, and twisted. Dez retreated. Her hip collided with the table in the corner, sending the lamp to the floor, but Chris was charging. In her mind, it all happened in slow motion. The rage on the guy's face was too much, too real. With each crash of her heart, she knew what he was going to do. This had all happened before.
He grabbed her arm and pulled, slinging her to the floor. Dez screamed. His hands were like ice, leaching through her skin like a knife. It hurt. The only way she could make it hurt less was to run, to hide. Without thinking, she scrambled away, using both her arms and legs to get as far from the psychopath as she could. Something hard and solid prevented her from truly escaping. She barely had the presence of mind to realize it was the wall.
"I need this job!" the man was screaming. "I have to have a job!"
Before the fool could touch her again, Braden was on him. Hard. He slammed Chris against the wall, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Do not touch her! Do not ever touch her. I will break you if you touch her."
"Braden!" Chance rushed into the room with the agents on his heels. Then he saw her. "Dez?"
She couldn't stop the scream, but she knew better. She knew she would be ok. Her guys were here, and they wouldn't let anyone hurt her. Desperate, she pressed both hands over her mouth, trying to hold it in, and somehow it worked.
Behind him, the agents were pulling Braden off Chris. The taller one had Chris under control. The smaller guy, Jason Raige, tried to yank Braden back, but he wasn't going to give up. Braden was in full protection mode, and he was as much of a monster as he'd claimed. He pushed, and Jason ducked away, then grabbed the big guy's arm, twisted, and shoved him face first against the wall.
"Get him out of here," Jason told his partner. Bradley didn't ask for clarification. He just hauled the former employee through the door. "Dez?" Jason called out.
She nodded, but her voice wasn't working yet.
"You ok over there?"
"She's fine," Chance said for her. "She's going to be fine."
She nodded again, hoping he understood that she was agreeing.
Slowly, moving as carefully as he could, Jason released Braden but kept his body tense as if expecting another round. "Nice and easy, big guy," he said, stepping back.
Braden groaned and let his head thump against the wall. "Sorry. I'm cool, man. Not you I got a beef with."
"Yeah, I know."
Both men turned to her. Dez had somehow managed to shut up, but now her voice had stopped working completely. Never mind that she wasn't quite ready to get up. All she could do was smile at them, well aware that it looked fake as fuck. She also was clinging to Chance's hand, even if she had no idea how that had happened.
"Breathe," Jason said softly. "That comes first. Just breathe, as fast or as slow as you need. So long as you keep breathing, Dez, everything else will turn out ok."
Her head bobbled on her neck. "I know," she managed, looking over to Chance. "I know."
"I love you, Sugar," he whispered. "Won't ever let anyone hurt you."
"Me either," Braden said, moving to squat at her side. "Besides, you're a bad-ass, the way you canned the fucker."
That earned a huff that was nearly a laugh, but it broke the cycle. Leaning her head back, she took a long breath, letting her eyes close and her muscles just turn to water. "I'm ok," she said, honestly believing it.
Jason cleared his throat. "You pressing charges?"
Rubbing at her eyes, Dez shook her head. "Can't. He didn't do anything." She waved that off. "He just touched me."
"Yeah. One of you want to show me what he's allowed to take, and we'll get him off the property for ya."
Braden groaned but hauled himself off the floor. "Sure, man. No hard feelings about the shoving."
"None. We're both here for the same job."
With a manly pat on the shoulder, Braden escorted the agent out and closed the door behind him. Dez caught the look he tossed back. Even now, Braden was taking care of her in his own way. So was Chance. He waited until the voices faded outside the conference room, then shifted closer.
"How ya doing, kid?"
"I'm ok," she promised, dropping her head onto his arm. "He just came at me too fast, and I don't know him."
"Yeah." He tilted his head to rest against hers. "I just keep waiting for things to go back to how they were. I'm so scared something's going to happen and you won't let me touch you ever again."
"Won't happen," she promised. "Chance, they've taken enough from me. Even if I'm scared shitless, I won't let them do that to me. I won't lose you."
"Oh, Sugar," he breathed. "I'm not going anywhere. Even if you won't touch me. I fell in love with you when the most we could do was share a sucker. Now?" He pulled back just enough to look in her face. "Now, I'll do anything for the chance to just hold your hand. I can't imagine doing this without you."
"You make it all better." Her fingers curled tighter on his hand. "And I'm not flirting with the FBI guy."
"He's flirting with you."
This time, her giggle was real. Weak, but still honest. "I don't think so. I think he's broken and faking it. I think Bradley expects him to, so
he does, but there's something about him..."
"Guy looks like he's stoned."
"No," she said, remembering his eyes. "He's not stoned. He's empty. Hollow."
"And that's who's supposed to fix this shit for us?" With a groan, Chance dropped his head back until the wall held it up. "Great."
"I'm going to fix this shit. He's just here to back us up in court. You trust me?"
"You, yes. Him? Not at all."
She leaned close enough to bump his shoulder. "Well, I promise I'm not going to touch him, how's that?"
Chance chuckled wryly. "It'll do. Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm going to see what this guy knows. With our system, his access? I think we might be able to stop them from screwing everything up. In other words, I'm going to get as much from this guy as I can to fuck them up so bad they won't ever touch Deviant again."
"That's my girl." He tossed her a brilliant smile, the same one she'd first seen on the Silk announcement so long ago.
"But it means I'm going to spend a bit of time with him alone."
The smile vanished. "I'm going to kick his fucking ass if he touches you."
"Pretty sure that won't work. He just put Braden into a wall. I think you might be outclassed."
"Not if he touches you, Dez. Nothing stops a man who's protecting his girl." Slowly, he pushed himself up, dusted off his pants, then offered her a hand. "Nothing. And I am going to protect you, Sugar. I swear."
She reached up and clasped his hand. A few months ago, that simple gesture would have been impossible, but not now. Not when she trusted him so completely.
"I know. I really do know that, and it's why I love you."
"Say it again?"
She laughed as he tugged her to her feet. "I love you, Chance Hunter."
"That's my girl. C'mon, let's go fuck these people up."
Chapter 38
That evening, Dez got Agent Raige set up with complete access to their network. She also put him on one of the best computers in the building. Naturally, she had it placed right next to hers. Every time she looked up, Jason was right there, his eyes locked on his monitor, his hands flying on the keyboard. She wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but she could see that he was intense.
Jason wasn't much of a talker, but Dez was starting to like him. What he did have to say was always about code, networks, permissions, or such. In other words, exactly what she enjoyed the most. When the building began to empty at the end of the day, he didn't seem to notice. A tiny little smile played on his face, and his eyes danced through the lines of text. He was completely enraptured. As the clock worked its way closer to midnight, Agent Matthews had to pry the guy away.
He beat her back to the office the next morning. This time, Jason wasn't in a suit. He'd traded down for loose jeans and a Halo t-shirt. It made him fit right in. So did the massive cup of coffee sitting on the corner of his desk. Dez placed hers to match, but she wasn't quite ready to dive in.
"Gonna get a smoke. Anything you need, Agent Raige?"
"Jason," he corrected, looking up with those bleached-out eyes. "You mind company? Hadn't figured out where the smoking section was yet."
She cocked her head to the back door. "Nope. Besides, they hate it when I go anywhere alone."
He chuckled, but it sounded dry. "Wonder why. Deviant would crash and burn if anything happened to you."
Grabbing a pack of smokes from his laptop bag, he trailed her to the loading dock. Dez naturally claimed her bench, scooting over to the side. Jason ignored the invitation, moving toward the edge of the concrete. His eyes flicked across the grass, scanning the area.
"I'll share," she offered.
He didn't bother to look back, just kept searching. "I'm good."
"It's my good side, and a lot more comfortable than standing."
Finally, he turned back. "I don't do so well that close to people. Makes me twitchy." He sighed, then looked back to the empty grass behind the building. "I promise it's not anything against you."
"Figured it was more like my boyfriend." She cocked her head and lit her smoke, sucking loudly to make the point.
"Maybe a bit," he admitted, tossing a half-smile her way. "I used to be like that. Like Chance, I mean. Thought I was tough enough to scare away all the threats, but I was wrong."
"Bad breakup?"
"Nope." His voice was stoic. "Wasn't one of the guys hitting on her that stole her from me. It was the explosion. I'm getting better, but the doc says PTSD ain't so easy to get over. Brad helps, even if he is a dick. Master Chief helps more."
"Halo?"
He grinned, dragging his eyes back to her. "My dog. Love the game, so named my therapy dog after it. Thought the whole crap about a damned dog making me better would be shit, but it ain't. You ever think of getting one?"
"A dog?"
"A certified PTSD dog. Figure that's kinda what you got, the way you can't touch people. Wasn't sure if you hated touching animals as much."
Dez thought about that. She actually tried to remember the last time she'd been able to pet an animal. "I dunno. It's been a long-ass time. I like stuffed animals, though, but not really the same."
"Nope. There something about the way he looks at me that makes it a bit better. If you want, I have a link to the place I got mine. FBI paid for him, and they aren't cheap, but it helps." He took a deep breath. "Dez, it really does help. Doesn't fix it. Doesn't make the nightmares stop, but it helps."
"I live in the shop. There's no way I can have a dog. Don't even have a backyard."
Jason just shrugged. "I bet Chance would make it happen."
"Probably." She decided to bring the conversation back to what she really wanted to know. "So you think you're going to catch these asshats?"
"Yep."
Dez groaned in frustration. "And how are you going to do that, smartass?"
"Figure they're gonna try to DDOS you next, so got a redirect set up last night to help with that. Won't stop it, but will prevent them from completely shutting down the Silk release. Put a few spiders in place to make it easier to find IP addresses of the people pinging us. Means we'll be able to have their provider flash their connection and stop it."
"Us?" She gestured to the area. "You planning to become a part of the team?"
Jason's entire body twitched, and his eyes narrowed as if he'd been caught in a lie. For a moment, he said nothing, then took another drag, making a production of letting it out. Dez refused to let him out of the question that easily, especially since his reaction looked like she'd just hit the nail right on the head.
"So, I'm working this case," he said. "Domestic terrorism thing. There's a hate group that's trying to brutalize women. Looks like they target them online, right?"
Her throat felt a little too tight. His words made her skin tingle. It was too close to what she'd been through, but they'd just wanted her to stay out of games, right?
Jason rubbed his mouth, refusing to meet her eyes again. "The leader is trying to make it into a men's rights issue. Been recruiting pretty much anyone that works online, but has a strong interest in games. The first victim we can be sure of..." He flicked the butt of his smoke toward the grass. "Is you."
"Why?"
"Cuz they're crazy? I dunno, babe. What I do know is that I'm gonna stop them. It's all over 4chan. This idiot is trying to make it out to be some conspiracy. Saying you ladies aren't into games because you like them, you're just here to take our jobs, remove anything we like from our lives, and try to control us with sexual discrimination. They don't even care how they do it. Rape seems to be a favorite." He glanced over. "Sorry."
"Because it destroys us."
When he replied, his voice was soft. "I know. Dez, I want to stop this, but they're a step ahead of me."
"I'll help."
"You can't." He took a long breath. "Not like you wanna. See, the problem is that we can't get in. We can't get close enough to the guy to figure out who he is. He's buried himself online and mak
es sure to drop his flunkies on us, so we always have a few people to take the fall."
She sucked down the last of her own smoke. "Then how are you going to stop him?"
"I dunno. First, I gotta find him. After that, I can make sure he never does this again. Until then, we're just chasing off his army." He gestured for her to put out the smoldering butt. "And it's an army, Dez. A big one. The first step is just to prove to them that it's too risky to do more than bitch about ya."
"Me?"
"Girl gamers, mostly. Back when I first got online, this was a boy's hobby. Girls played with Barbies, we played Doom. Now, there's as many women behind the screen as there are men, and the games are changing to bring in the money. Seems to be his biggest complaint."
"Wait." Dez glanced back to the door, making sure they were still alone. "You know who he is?"
"Nah. I know where he is. I know he likes first-person shooters. I know he's smart and knows games inside and out, but I can't track him or I would have that asshole arrested already."
"But you have an idea." She could hear it in his voice.
Jason nodded slowly. "Guy named Void. He's been playing in the Professional League of Gamers for a long time. He's from the right area. Asshole is so cocky and full of himself that he'll let us see his face online, but will never reveal his true name. Even refuses the prize money so he can keep his little secret. That's some fuckin' arrogance, right there. Like he's taunting me."
"So you think he knows you're after him?"
He smiled. "Nope. I don't think they even know I exist, and I plan to keep it like that." Then he gestured to the door. "Break's over, babe."
Dez groaned but peeled herself out of the bench. "Like having my own secret service agent, but not as nice."
"They aren't real nice either," he promised, holding the door for her. "Know a few. Twice as dick as me."
"Right."
Back inside, she claimed her chair again, took a sip of coffee, and logged into her computer. While the icon spun, showing the operating system was loading, she thought. Jason had an idea who this guy was. He said he was going to stop him. For the first time in her life, Dez was right where she wanted to be. She also had something he needed. She had computers. She had software. She had the funds – or would in a few days – to make Jason's life a little easier. She might not be able to fuck up the people who did this to her, not on her own, but she could help.
