Smoke (Archer's Creek Book 5)

by Gemma Weir

  The office is open plan, with circular work pods dotted along one long glass wall, with a view that overlooks the city below. A few semi-private offices line the far wall, with two huge projection screens and several comfy looking leather recliners filling the remaining space.

  I feel my eyes widen as I take in what must be the most amazing place to work ever. The staff appear to all be young, early twenties to mid-thirties at most. A mix of men and women, their clothes range from casual to ridiculous, and I spot one girl in a unicorn onesie sat typing quickly on one of the work pods.

  My tribe, my inner voice croons, as Al leads me toward one of the offices in the far corner. He pauses to knock on the semi-open door, before nudging me to walk inside.

  “Sir, this is Riley Prince,” Al says, his voice respectful, and missing some of the warmth he’s been using when he’s spoken to me.

  “Thanks, Al, that’s great. You can head home. I’ll run Miss Prince back to her hotel later,” the man I’m assuming is Dan Winters says, his eyes not lifting from the laptop in front of him.

  “Yes, sir,” Al replies, before smiling briefly at me and turning to leave.

  I stand awkwardly in front of Dan’s desk, unsure if I’m expected to sit, or wait for him to invite me to sit. This here is why I work from home. I don’t have to worry about the social niceties of office etiquette.

  Eventually after what feels like an incredibly long couple of minutes, I decide to sit and lower myself into the cool leather seat directly in front of his desk, taking a moment to assess him while his attention is diverted.

  His body is partially hidden by the desk and laptop, but his arms are long, and a hint of defined muscle is visible through his white long-sleeve Henley. His blonde hair is disheveled, like he’s run his hands through it a hundred times already today, and given the deep furrow in his brow as he stares at his laptop, I think it’s possible he has.

  From what I can see of his face, his skin is pale and clear, his eyebrows are darker than his hair, and his black framed glasses give him a geek chic look that is sort of sexy. When he finally lifts his eyes from his laptop, they lock with mine and I swallow thickly. Dark blue depths stare back at me, confusion flashing through them, like he’s not entirely sure what I’m doing here. His lips are full and pink but turned down into a slight frown that makes him look adorably ruffled.

  “Hi,” I say, with a quick wave of my hand.

  “Oh crap,” he replies, quickly pushing back from his desk and reaching across the space, offering me his hand to shake. “I’m Dan. I’m sorry, I have this line of code that just won’t work and…” He stops himself, clears his throat and smiles. “Dan Winters.”

  I stand too, reaching out and taking his hand, squeezing lightly as we shake. “Riley Prince.”

  “Please sit,” Dan says gesturing to the seat I just rose from. He lowers himself back into his seat and carefully closes the lid of his laptop. “Riley. Is it okay if I call you Riley?” he asks.

  “Of course.”

  “Riley, thank you so much for agreeing to come and work for me. I am so excited to have you on board. What did Pierre tell you about what we’re doing here?”

  “Honestly, not a great deal. Pierre is a great recruiter, but he’s not that hot on the technical side of things. He told me you were a start-up working on your debut first-person game and that you wanted me to help oversee the coding,” I say, wanting to fidget under his intense gaze.

  “Let me give you some background,” Dan says. “About two years ago I stepped away from a lucrative career in my family’s business to chase a dream of creating my own video game. I’ve recruited the best, freshest young talent I can find, and we currently have a running prototype. It’s good; in fact, it’s going to be great. But even though my guys are extremely talented, they lack experience, and that’s where you come in.”

  “What exactly are you expecting me to do? I’m a coder,” I say, my fingers clenched tightly together in my lap. For a bit of a geek, Dan Winters is surprisingly intense and intimidating. His gaze never leaves my face and I feel like he’s probing at my mind.

  “How many games that are currently on the market have you worked on?” Dan asks, steepling his hands in front of him.

  “Twenty-eight,” I answer immediately.

  His eyes widen, like he hadn’t expected my answer.

  “Which games?”

  I look up at the ceiling for a minute as I think, then turn my attention back to him and recite the names of the games I have coded in one capacity or another.

  Dan’s jaw slackens a little and I enjoy his moment of shock. This guy doesn’t seem like he has many shock and awe moments, so I catalogue the way he looks right now just in case I never see it again.

  “I knew you had an impressive resume, but I had no idea you worked on all of the games you mentioned.”

  I smile, “I don’t list some stuff on my credits, and some stuff was a while back, so honestly until now I hadn’t thought about it.”

  Dan shakes his head, then stares at me again. “I’m even happier you agreed to come and work for me now. What I need is for you oversee the coding that’s been done so far and train my guys how to polish it. The game is raw, but it has potential. I need you to help me transform my ugly duckling into a swan.”

  I smirk at his ridiculous ugly duckling metaphor.

  “I know, I’m sorry, that reference sounded so much better in my head,” he says, looking slightly chagrined.

  “Mr. Winters,” I say.

  “Dan,” he says interrupting me.

  “I’m only contracted for two months; I’m not sure how much good I can do in that time.”

  “Riley, I’ve been trying to recruit you for the last two years. This consultancy role was my last hope to get you here. I’ll take what I can get,” Dan says, his voice surprisingly strong and commanding.

  “You what?” I ask. “You’ve been trying to recruit me?”

  Dan’s brow furrows. “I’ve offered you a job once a month since I recruited my very first member of staff. Your reputation preceded you, and I have always wanted you on my team. You are one of the best coders out there. Surely, you know that?”

  “Wow,” I breathe almost silently. “I, err, I had no idea.”

  Dan’s lips purse slightly. “You had no idea about what?”

  “That you’d tried to recruit me.”

  His eyes narrow and his mouth twists into a straight, angry line. “Are you telling me that all the offers I’ve made you; you didn’t even know about?”

  I smile ruefully and shake my head. “I let Pierre deal with all that kind of stuff. He just sends me a list of stuff I might like and I pick the projects that interest me and that work with my schedule.”

  “Would you give me just one second?” he says, rising from his seat.

  “Of course,” I say, unsure what just happened, but glad of the reprieve for a second when he leaves the room. Exhaling loudly, I lean back in my seat and cross my legs. It’s a little weird to hear that he’s been trying to recruit me. I mean, I’ve had offers in the past, but those have come from the companies I’ve done freelance stuff for and I’ve always said no without really giving it any thought.

  Pulling my cell from my pocket, I click into my email and quickly check if anything interesting has come through, but there’s nothing that can’t wait until I get back to the hotel later. Clicking into my Facebook app, I see there’s a new message, but the door flies open and Dan stomps back in, his cell held in his outstretched arm and an angry scowl accompanying the slightly red tinge to his face.

  I click the button to turn off the screen on my cell and quickly slide it back into my purse as Dan turns to me and offers me his phone. “Pierre would like to talk to you,” he says, his voice lower and rougher than before, as though he’s fighting to keep his temper.

  Unsure what to do, I tentatively reach out and take the cell, lifting it to my ear. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Ry, you trying to get
me into trouble today, or what?” Pierre says.

  “I don’t really understand what’s going on,” I say quietly into the cell.

  “Back when I first contacted you about us working together, you told me that you had absolutely no interest in permanent jobs. In fact, as I remember, you said something about never ever wanting to work in the corporate soul-eating machine again, and that you swore you were actually shorter because they stole your self-esteem and robbed your eternal spirit or some shit. You swore at me a fucking lot and told me that if I ever suggested you take a permanent job, you’d fire me.”

  I chuckle, not remembering the exact conversation but knowing that it sounded like me. “Sounds like something I’d say. What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Yeah, well, I took you at your word. I’ve never suggested you take a permanent role. In fact, I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even send them to you because I know you’re not interested.”

  “Okay,” I say, still not sure what’s happening here.

  “Well, sweetie. Please don’t fire me, but I get a lot of companies trying to recruit you full-time.”

  “You do?” I ask, shocked.

  “Fuck, yeah.”

  “How many?” I ask, glancing at Dan’s sullen posture and angry expression as he broods behind his desk; his fingers white-knuckled where he’s holding onto his chair so tightly.

  “At least one a week, sometimes more.”

  “And Winters Inc?” I ask, already knowing the answer before he even replies.

  “They have relentlessly tried to get you for a couple of years now. I always told them you weren’t interested, that you only do freelance work and that you had projects booked solid for a couple of years. Should I have said something different?” Pierre asks, his voice unusually unsure.

  “No. No, you did the right thing; it’s fine.”

  “You’re sure? Because I keep every offer you receive. I can provide you with a list of the ones with the most potential that I think would be a good fit for you.”

  “No,” I say, a little too loudly. “No, you know how I feel about that. I’m good with you handling things the way you have been.”

  “Are you sure, sweetie?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” I assure him. “Look, I need to go. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  “Okay, speak to you later, Ry.”

  I end the call and hold the cell out for Dan to take. He silently leans across his desk and takes the cell from my hand, his angry eyes assessing me.

  “Well?” He demands.

  “I’m sorry?” I ask.

  “Did that useless idiot tell you about the offers I’ve made?” Dan demands.

  I sit up straighter, rolling my shoulders back and attempting to look confident in the face of Dan’s anger.

  “Mr. Winters, conversations I have with my recruitment consultant are not any of your concern, but as you seen to be particularly invested, I will tell you this. Pierre has worked with me since I started out in the industry. He helped me get my first job within a very large and prestigious game design company. He then helped me source freelance work when I decided to take that route. He is aware of the types of contract I’ll consider and those I won’t. In the conversation you just instigated, he informed me that I receive on average one permanent job offer a week, but as he knows I won’t accept them and that I am incredibly busy on my freelance work, he doesn’t bother me with information that isn’t immediately relevant.”

  Dan swallows audibly, his arms tense and his shoulders rigid.

  “I agreed to take this consultancy role in time I had set aside for a vacation. If you would still like to contract me for the two months, then perhaps we should get started. If not, then I’ll start looking for flights to go visit my family like I’d planned.”

  Dan inhales, then exhales slowly, closing his eyes. I watch as he visibly relaxes and when he opens his eyes, the anger is gone from everywhere except his steely gaze. “I apologize, Riley. Please know I’m not normally a man prone to fits of melodramatic anger. I would still love for you to work with us, even if it is only for a couple of months. Perhaps I might even be able to persuade you to stay more permanently.”

  My face must show my annoyance at his comment as he sighs. “Perhaps we should start this meeting over? I don’t seem to be making a very good first impression.”

  I smile, but it’s thin and brittle. “Hi, Riley Prince,” I say offering him my hand to shake.

  Dan smiles then takes my hand. “Dan Winters. It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you, Riley. I’m really looking forward to working with you. Would you like to meet the rest of the team?”

  “I’d love that,” I say a little overly brightly as I pull my hand from his. Although our attempts to lighten the mood have alleviated some of the atmosphere, I’m still more than ready to get out of his office.

  He gestures for me to lead the way and I swallow a gulp of tension free air the moment I clear the doorjamb. When we reach the first circular work pod Dan pauses. “Okay, let me introduce you to Lee Chan,” he says pointing to a man with several piercings in his face, and a scowl. “Amelia Hutton,” he gestures to a tiny, redheaded girl, in a red pinafore dress, with a yellow shirt beneath it. “And Robert Juke,” he points to a good-looking, brown-haired guy wearing a blue button down and a friendly smile.

  “Hi, I’m Riley,” I offer, waving awkwardly.

  Lee nods at me without taking his eyes off his computer screen; Amelia waves and grins so brightly that she almost looks like an anime cartoon; and Robert salutes with two fingers, his eyes running over me as his grin widens.

  “These guys are my artists. They’ve created every character, every set. They are our world builders.” Dan informs me.

  I’d love to sit and chat, get a feeling for how the game will look, but Dan guides me away with a hand at the base of my spine, toward the next work station.

  “Over here we have Arjun Tomar, Chad Adelburg, and Millicent Williams,” Dan says pointing to a cute and incredibly young guy, a typical gamer geek in a Star Trek hoodie, and a pretty girl with red streaks running through her white blonde hair and the most flawless face of makeup I think I’ve ever seen.

  “Hi, I’m Riley,” I say, smiling warmly at them.

  “Shit, Dan, is this her?” the young guy asks, jumping up from his chair excitedly.

  “These guys are some of our coders and developers, and yes, this is Riley Prince. I know her reputation proceeds her.” Dan says proudly.

  I blush a little under his praise. I’m good at what I do and I’m never short of offers of work, but I’m starting to wonder if there’s another Riley Prince out there who’s some genius or something and he’s gotten us mixed up.

  “Oh my god,” the guy squeals, rushing around the table, then stopping and bouncing excitably in front of me. “I absolutely loved Long Dead, and Arcanian Depths is one of my all-time favorite games.”

  “Oh,” I say a little shell-shocked.

  “Is it true that you wrote the very first line of code for both?”

  “Err, for Arcanian, yes. I worked that project from the very start. I’m not so sure about Long Dead, but I mean I might have.” I say, cringing slightly.

  “Wow,” the guy, Arjun I think, says, his mouth forming an ‘O’ shape.

  “Okay, let’s move on,” Dan says, his hand touching my back again as he guides me to the large projector screens where another four guys are sitting, controllers in hand, running through short test scenes of a basic looking game.

  “Guys,” Dan calls and one by one, they all lower their controllers and turn to look at us. “This is Riley Prince,” he says gesturing to me. “And these guys are Mike Summers, Luke Miller, Charlie Huang, and Antonio Martinez.”

  “Riley,” One of the guys says and my attention is drawn to a familiar face.

  “Tony,” I cry happily, moving around the seats until I reach Tony’s arms and he hauls me into the air.

  “Jesus, woman, it
’s been far too long. When Dan said he’d got Riley Prince, I never even considered he meant you,” Tony says, lowering me to the ground and smiling widely down at me.

  “You know each other?” Dan asks.

  “Tony and I went to college together,” I explain.

  Dan narrows his eyes at Tony. “I’ve been trying to recruit Riley since the very start and you went to college with her?”

  Tony just shrugs. “Last I heard she was going to work at Maniscope. How was I supposed to know we were even talking about the same person?”

  “How are you, Antonio?” I say sing-songing his name.

  “Hey, it sounds more professional than Tony,” he says, nudging me with his shoulder.

  “Okay, now everyone has been introduced, let’s get started,” Dan says, and we spend the rest of the afternoon going over the game concept, the usability, and the other basics that I’ll need to know to be able to really help.

  The atmosphere in the Winters Inc offices are nothing like my previous experience of an office environment. The people and place are relaxed and informal, and I instantly feel comfortable and at home. I claim a space on one of the round work pods and soon my laptop is open and I’m reading lines of code.

  The work is good, the style efficient and robust, but Dan was right. Though the basics are there, there’s no finesse or polish. It can take three to five years to fully develop an RPG ready to take it to market and from what I’ve seen so far, this game is a long way off finished.

  For the second time today, I wonder how much use I can be in the two months that I’m contracted for. I can attempt to show Dan’s team of coders how to polish some of the stuff they have, but I’m not a teacher.

  Since I took a chance and started as a freelance coder, I’ve worked on quite a few games and at many different stages of development, but I usually commit to a minimum of six months and focus on one particular area of the game.