Chase sighed. “Okay. If you say so.”
“I’m not going to play with her until she makes up for her behavior somehow.”
“Okay. I get it. So how exactly we’re going to start looking for Striker? Any suggestions?”
“I don’t know yet. Let me think for a minute.”
“After they killed us during the Private Military Plane heist, we’ve been trying to trace his cell phone for several days but failed to detect it, remember?” Chase said. “Which meant that he wasn’t in the game.”
He pulled his cell phone out of a pocket and said, “I’m going to try to track his cell phone right now.”
After a few seconds, he shook his head and showed the screen to McDermott. “See? Nothing. His cell phone’s deactivated right now. Which meant that Striker offline at the moment.
I smirked. Chase was trying to detect my previous character. Since I was using a new character and had a new nickname, as well as a new phone number, he wouldn’t be able to detect me by using the tracking app on his cell phone.
“He’s been offline for several days,” Chase continued. “So probably he no longer plays this game. Wasn’t it your goal to begin with? To make him leave this game?”
“He’s playing this game,” McDermott stated assuredly.
“How do you know?”
“Dunno. I just have a gut feeling that he still plays this game.”
Chase continued trying to reason with McDermott.
“Even if he’d bought another cell phone and changed his number, we would’ve been able to detect him,” he said. “But we can’t detect him. So he’s not in the game.”
I wasn’t smiling anymore. I was trying to figure out what he was talking about. Chase had just said that he could detect the location of my previous character even if I used another phone number. In other words, to locate me, he needed to know only the name of my character. How could this be possible? Was he a hacker, or what?
“Maybe the developers got aware of this bug we’re using and fixed it,” McDermott said. “It would explain why we can’t detect Striker.”
“I don’t think so,” Chase replied. “The Scanner app’s still working. We can still use it to see a player’s nicknames and the numbers of their cell phones even if they wear masks. Remember the last time we robbed some heisters? When we got close to them, the Scanner app detected their nicknames and the phone numbers. When I opened this app on my cell phone, it had all this information. Moreover, since the Scanner automatically saved those players’ nicknames and phone numbers, we could see the players’ location on the map if they were close to us. So this means that the Scanner app’s still working.”
McDermott nodded grimly.
“Yeah, you’ve got a point,” he said.
“Besides,” Chase continued, “if the developers had gotten aware that someone could still use the Scanner app, they would’ve deleted it. Yet we can still use it, so they don’t know about it.”
“I think you’re right.”
After that, they went silent for some time, trying to think of a way of finding me. I was thinking as well. Looked like I had the answers to all the questions that had been preying on my mind. I now knew everything about these players I needed to know.
“I’ve got an idea,” McDermott said.
“What idea?” Chase asked.
“Striker must be max level by now, right?”
“So?”
“Since he’s level 20 now, I think he’s playing only legendary heists. So it greatly narrows down search areas. Let’s pick one of the most interesting legendary heists–– Private Military Plane Heist, for instance––and wait for Striker to show up at the private military base to hijack the plane.”
It was obvious that Chase didn’t like the idea.
“Look,” he said, “we don’t even know whether or not Striker still plays this game. If he doesn’t, we’ll end up waiting for him to appear at the military base forever. We have to think of a way to find out if he still plays this game.”
“He does,” McDermott stated.
“How come we can’t detect him then?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he started a new game as a new character to try out one of the other classes.”
Chase didn’t say anything for some time. Then he finally spoke, “I think you’re right, dude. Geez, it is so obvious. I have no idea why I didn’t think of it myself. I think you’re right. He must be using a new character with a new nickname, which is why the Scanner app can’t detect him.”
“Yeah. My thoughts exactly.”
My heart pounded in my chest. These guys had just realized that I was using a new character. If they continued with this train of thought, they might eventually figure out that I no longer played as a heister.
“Still, we can wait for a very long time before he picks the Private Military Plane Heist,” Chase said. “We don’t even know whether his new character reached max level or not. He might not be playing legendary heists yet.”
“I got another idea. He might no longer play this game. But what about his two teammates, Allison and, whatshisname, Flynn? Guess at least one of them has to be still playing this game. We can use it in our advantage.”
“You’re full of good ideas today, dude,” Chase complimented his friend. “How come you didn’t come up with these ideas earlier on?”
“Dunno. These ideas just dawned on me all of a sudden.”
These guys were going to look for one of my teammates. They wouldn’t be able to find Flynn since he was playing as a cop now using a new nickname, just like me. But Allison still played as a heister. Sure, she changed the number of her cell phone, but those British guys knew her nickname, so they could find her by using the Scanner app. I had to warn her.
I grabbed my cell phone and dialed Allison’s number. After a few rings, the call went to the voice mail. She wasn’t in the game right now. I decided to leave a message for her.
“Allison, call me as soon as you’re online. This is very important. I found those British guys and learned that they are going to hunt you down. So be very careful. When you call me, I’ll fill you in on the details.”
I then ended the call and opened the live feed from the quadcopter’s camera again. The two guys still were in the backyard. Chase had his cell phone in his right hand.
“Both Flynn and Allison are offline now,” he said.
“But it doesn’t necessarily mean that they no longer play this game.”
“Right. So what are we gonna do now?”
“Like I suggested, let’s get to the military base and just wait for Striker or one of his teammates to show up.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“We’ll just wait until either Striker comes to the military base or one of his stupid teammates pops up on the Scanner. If Striker comes to the military base, we’ll kill him. If either Flynn or Allison goes online, we’ll go after him or her.”
Chase thought about it for a moment and said, “Suppose we grab one of Striker’s teammates, what are we going to do with him or her? Guess their teammates won’t tell us anything about Striker. How we’ll make our would-be prisoner talk?”
“We’ll do to him or her the same thing Striker did to me,” McDermott said grimly. “We’ll grab him or her, tie our hostage, and throw him or her in some dirty basement. We’ll be keeping him or her in there until our hostage tells us everything we want to know.”
Chase nodded. “Okay. Good plan.”
“Let’s get cracking then. Can’t wait to finally get even with Striker.”
The two players turned around and started walking toward the sports car. I grabbed my cell phone and called Allison again. Yet she was still offline. I left another message for her to warn her about the British players’ plans.
I then opened the app on my cell phone again to watch the feed from the quadcopter, which still hovered above the backyard. The two sports cars rolled onto th
e street and raced away. I didn’t try to pursue them. I had already learned everything I wanted to.
So these guys had been using some bug nobody knew about in their advantage. They had been robbing heisters and raiding their safe houses. Lots of people had suffered from their repeated attacks. By using the bug the British players violated the game rules. If the developers learned about it, they would punish them.
I decided to inform on them to the developers.
I left the game and got in touch with one of the game moderators via the official forum. His name was Michael McMillian and he was a Senior Moderator. I had a conversation with him and then returned to the game.
Once I was online, my cell phone chirped, telling me I had a new voice mail message waiting. It was from Flynn.
“Hey Striker. Thought you would be in the game. Anyway, I’m online now. Call me.”
I returned the call. We decided on a rendezvous point and fifteen minutes later, I pulled in a parking lot. I saw Flynn standing beside his Ford Explorer and pulled next to his big vehicle.
When I got out of my car, my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen. It was Allison. I answered the call.
“Hey Striker,” she said. “I received two messages from you. So what’s the fuss about?”
I told her where we were. Then I said, “Get over here ASAP.”
I ended the call and saw Flynn watching me.
“What’s going on, Striker?” He asked.
“I found out something interesting,” I said. “But let’s wait for Allison to get here first.”
I deployed the quadcopter and had it hover well above the parking lot. I watched the video feed on my cell phone. Five minutes later, I saw a small yellow sports car racing through the streets toward this place. I recognized the vehicle. It was Allison.
The small sports car pulled in the parking lot. Allison climbed out of the vehicle and walked up to us. I checked the live feed again to make sure the British players weren’t converging on the place. They were nowhere to be seen. Probably they didn’t get aware that Allison was online yet.
I filled my friends in on what I had learned.
“So they’re using some mobile app,” Allison said.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s called Scanner.”
“This explains everything,” Flynn said. “The Scanner app was available for cops during the beta test period. Then the developers must have decided it was overpowered and deleted it from the final version of the game.”
“But those British guys found some bug that allowed them to use the Scanner app during the main game,” I said. “This is how they learn players’ nicknames and phone numbers even if they wear masks.”
“But why have they been robbing other players?” Allison asked. “I still don’t get it. They can’t use stolen money, right? So why rob other players and then just burn the money? What do they accomplish by doing it?”
“I think they just got bored,” I said.
“What do you mean by that?”
I looked at Flynn and asked, “For how long did the beta test last?”
“About two months.”
I nodded, shifted my gaze at Allison, and said, “So I think they’ve been playing this game since the very first day of the beta test period. They know everything about it. They’ve been playing this game for so long there was nothing interesting for them to do. They learned everything about the game during the beta test period. When the main game was released, they started to play it, but it couldn’t offer them something that they hadn’t tried already. So I guess they just were bored. Which is why after they found the bug that allowed them to use the Scanner app, they decided to have fun by robbing other players.”
“What about masks?” Allison asked. “They play as cops, right? But when they wear masks, their nicknames get invisible like heisters’. Why is that?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you are a cop or a heister,” Flynn said to her. “When you wear a mask, your nickname becomes invisible for other players even if you play as a cop.”
Allison nodded.
“So what did that Senior Moderator, whatshisname, tell you?” Flynn asked.
“His name is Michael McMillian,” I said. “He told me that he’s gonna monitor the British players from now on. If he detects them using the Scanner app, he’ll ban them.”
“Good,” Allison said.
“However, I don’t want to just sit on my ass and wait for this to happen,” I said. “So I came up with some idea.”
“What idea?” Flynn asked.
I looked at Allison and asked, “Who do you play with now that Flynn and I play as cops?”
“With two girls,” she replied. “They ain’t as good as you guys, but they are still decent players.”
“Have they ever done the Private Military Plane Heist?” I asked.
“No,” Allison replied. “But they want to. They are both level 20 now, so we were going to do this heist soon.”
“Are they online now?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Like I said, I want to make sure that those guys get banned. But I need your help.”
“Sure,” she said. “What’s your plan?”
“You and your friends go to the military base to hijack the plane. Those two British guys should be somewhere near the military base, waiting for you to show up. Once they notice you, they’ll pop up and Flynn and I will attack them.”
“So you want to use me as a bait.”
“Well, yeah. But don’t worry. Flynn and I won’t let them take you hostage as they want.”
“I don’t worry about that, duh,” Allison said. “If those Brits think it’ll be easy to defeat me, they’re dead wrong. So yeah, I’ll go along with your plan. I’m gonna call my friends right now.”
Allison took put her cell phone and stepped aside.
Flynn looked at me and asked, “I don’t get it, Striker. If you know for sure that those Brits are at the military base now, why do we have to use Allison’s team as a bait? Why don’t we just drive there by ourselves and deal with them Brits?”
I checked the feed from the quadcopter, which still hovered above the parking lot. There was no sign of the British players nearby.
“I can’t tell for sure where they are now,” I said. “I have no means to spy on them. I know their nicknames but don’t know the numbers of their cell phones, so I can’t trace their phones. If those guys haven’t realized that Allison’s online yet, then they should be at the military base right now. But sooner or later, they’ll find out that she’s online. When that happens, they’ll go away from the military base to get her. However, if they see her driving for the military base on the map, they’ll presume she’s gonna do the legendary heist, so they’ll stay at the base to wait for her to appear.”
“Okay. I get it now. But what are we gonna when we encounter them at the military base?”
“We’ll engage them.”
“And then what?” Flynn asked. “How are we gonna make sure that they get banned by that Senior Moderator guy?”
“I don’t know yet. Guess we’ll just go with the flow. We’ll put masks on, so those guys won’t be able to see our faces or nicknames. They’ll be guessing who the heck we are and what the heck we want. The Scanner app Chase uses will scan us and save our nicknames and phone numbers on his cell phone. Also, once this app has this info saved on his phone, Chase will be able to see our location on the map. So sooner or later, he’ll check the app to learn our nicknames or to see our whereabouts if he loses us somehow. Once this happens, Michal McMillian will get the proof that they use the Scanner app and ban them.”
Flynn just nodded. Although he didn’t say anything, he clearly didn’t think that everything would work out the way I hoped.
“Look,” I said, “I know, it ain’t much of a plan, but if you have any other suggestions, I’m all ears.”
“No, I don’t,” he said. “I’m not sure
if your plan will work, but I’ll go along with it.”
A few minutes later, Allison drove to meet her friends. Flynn and I drove in the opposite direction. We were headed for a weapon store to buy some guns.
I acquired a couple of powerful firearms.
> Name: Kriss Vector
> Place of origin: United States
> Class: Submachine Gun
> Damage: 15
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Rate of Fire: 950 RPM
> Magazine Size: 35+1
> Firing Mode(s): Automatic
It was the best submachine gun in the game. It had a high fire rate, so the whole mag could be dumped in a matter of seconds. One needed to be a crack shot to be able to use this SMG efficiently. But if you were good at aiming, this weapon could be very dangerous in your hands.
The second weapon I bought was a shotgun.
> Name: Mossberg 500
> Place of origin: United States
> Class: Shotgun
> Damage: 45
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Magazine Size: 5+1
> Firing Mode(s): Pump-action
I was a perfect weapon for close quarters combat.
I also had the favorite pistol of mine, a Sig Sauer.
> Name: Sig Sauer P226 MK25
> Place of origin: Switzerland
> Class: Handgun
> Damage: 35
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Magazine Size: 15+1
> Firing Mode(s): Semi-automatic
It rode in a holster on my right hip.
I also bought a tactical vest, shotgun shells, extra mags for the Vector and the Sig Sauer, and a few fragmentation grenades.
Flynn also bought a couple of weapons of his choice.
Then we set off for the military base.
As we drove through the streets, we called Allison every now and then to check on her. However, the British players never showed up, which meant that they were waiting somewhere near the military base.
Finally, we reached the place. Flynn pulled next to a small rise and we climbed out of the vehicle. It was the same hill that we had been lying on when we were playing the Private Military Plane heist.
Heist Online Page 34
