Unexpected Reality: Book 1: Gamer Girl

by L. Foster

  The police officer at the door dozed in his seat but the hotel was quiet. In the morning they took him to the breakfast bar with them and said they were going to the office to try again with the old tweets and comments.

  At the office everyone wanted to hear the tale of finding a hand amongst the logs. “Ughh.” Kassie shuddered. “I hope they catch this guy soon. It’s not nice to know he’s out there somewhere and free as a bird.” Karl had the television on in the corner and suddenly called out to them. “Listen guys.” He ran the footage back and there was Detective Jones giving a morning press conference. They heard him say that three bodies had been discovered at a wood yard and the murder investigation was ongoing and part of other cases that may be connected but evidence was still being collected. One reporter asked about the victims and he said. “The older two victims, a man and a woman, appeared to be the owners of the wood yard but it was still to be confirmed and the other body is a young woman who has still to be identified.” There were a few more general questions and the press conference ended.

  “Oh My God.” Claire breathed. “The owners were murdered and they were already investigating the murders of two young women. That makes four victims altogether.” Adam draped an arm around her shoulders. “You go nowhere alone- even to the bathroom.” She nodded her agreement.

  Chapter 8

  Claire flicked through her emails and tweets searching for any extra clues and then swivelled her chair to face Ray, the police officer. “What if.” She said. “I offered to take him on at an online game. Could the IT department track where he was?” Ray rang his boss and outlined the offer and Jones said he would check it with the tech people. He rang back fairly quickly and told them it might work and he would send his IT expert around to talk to Claire about setting it up.

  Adam asked. “Are you sure you want to do this?” To Ray he asked if it would be safe. Ray said he would wait for the IT man and Karl said “She’ll be here with us and he’ll be on a computer somewhere else so it should be okay.”

  “It’s a good idea.” Kassie said. “How would you set it up and Claire said she would resume her blog and tweets and insult him. He won’t be able to resist the chance to beat me.” Adam was still a bit doubtful and really wanted to leave everything to the police. “You cannot let yourself be a target.” He said. “This guy has murdered four people that we know of.”

  Kassie left a sheaf of notes on the table and said to Ray. “When you see Detective Inspector Jones will you give him these? I found another address for the parents’. Apparently they had a holiday cottage. There are a few other bits and pieces I found as well. He probably doesn’t need them but you never know what comes in handy.” Ray nodded and took the sheaf of papers. Then for want of something else to do, he typed them onto his tablet and sent them off. The names of the parents were Maggie and Jim McGinty and the son was called Malcolm. “Bit of a difference from his online name of Razor.” He thought.

  The tech man arrived and Ray did the introductions. The man looked about as far from a police officer as you could get because he wore red trousers and a lime green shirt, finished off with purple running shoes and a pigtail. He held out a hand to the people there. ”My name is Jez. Let’s hear this idea.” Claire outlined her plan and had already started to resurrect the blog and tweets. With hash tag fembloggirl and hash tag tropehater along with a few other things she knew would catch his eye, she boasted that she had changed her mind, no mindless moron would stop her blogging and she was the best gamer around. Jez laughed.

  “You’ve got that right. He won’t be able to resist showing what a big man he is. Let’s do it. I’ve brought the software with me if you can give me a computer station.” Karl did the honours and told him to ask for anything he needed and Jez rang Jones and said they were setting it up. “I’ll keep streaming the results to the tech department and you can take it from there. Might take a few hours but Karl here can spell me if I need it. Claire has set up the tweets and blog already so we will wait and see if he bites.” The boss gave the go ahead and Adam said he would go and buy food. Kassie offered to go as well and he took her safe in the knowledge that the place was locked and Claire had protection.

  Karl, Claire and Jez fell into talking about technology as all of these enthusiasts do and as Adam and Kassie came back with supplies, Claire shouted. “He’s taken the bait.” They all crowded around as she thought what to say in reply to the sneering insult. ”Oh I would like to punch his face.” Karl uttered and Jez ran to his own machine to try and pinpoint the location and stream the results to the tech department. Claire said he was a moron and she could kick his ass on the screen or in real life. He came back with an unprintable insult and she answered “Any game. Your choice. Let’s get it on.” There was a pause and he came back with a war game that as she knew he would. Lots of explosions, looting, rape and pillage. She took the challenge and set herself ready to play. The game was well known and widely used and could be played alone or as a multiplayer. The characters were in place and Claire chose to fight as a man.

  Despite the fact that she knew she was playing against a murderer and that it was only to be kept going to pinpoint the location, Claire could not help but get into the spirit of the game. In truth, even though it was not a game she liked, any game could hook her in and make her competitive. After an hour they were even stevens and she decided to ease off and let him have the advantage. Jez had streamed a general location to the tech boys back at the precinct and signalled he was very close to knowing exactly where the man was. Claire kept on playing but let him have the advantage and he went on a killing spree in video form. Jez, Karl and Claire were intent on what was going on and Kassie had a phone call. “What’s wrong?” Adam asked her and she said her Mom had been taken to hospital. “I’ll have to go.” She said. “Tell Claire later. Don’t distract her now.” Adam looked at the three IT experts engrossed in their tasks and said he would run Kassie to the hospital. “That would be wonderful.” She said and grabbed her jacket and purse. Adam kissed the back of Claire’s neck and told her he would be back soon. She nodded but went on with the game. He shook his head. He liked a bit of gaming himself but this lot were nuts about it. Jez jumped up and said “Keep playing, Claire. I’m going to the precinct to join the hunt. Karl will keep streaming.” She nodded again but did not stop the game. Karl took over the other station and Ray sat back in a seat and closed his eyes. This guard duty was starting to be a bit of a drag.

  “We’ve pinpointed it.” Karl said. “The police can go and close in on him now. Play another ten minutes to give them time and then concede. I’m just going to the bathroom.” He left the machine running and went into the next room. Claire concentrated and let others do whatever they had to do and when she heard the door open assumed it was Adam back from the hospital. “Hi.” She said without turning round. “I’m going to concede this game now.”

  “You can concede in person.” A male voice said from inside the room and she turned to see a tall man in combats and a leather jacket standing with a nasty looking gun in his hand. Claire gasped and was frozen on the spot as the intruder shot Ray, her police officer, point blank in the chest and he slipped to the floor before ever really gaining his feet. There had been just a thud because the gun had a silencer Claire stared in disbelief at the security man bleeding out on the floor and apparently already dead. He was motionless. The man in the combats grinned without the smile reaching any other part of his face. He was extraordinarily calm and had a mop of dark, unkempt hair and surprisingly blue eyes. “Right Claire Costas. It’s just you and me now so move towards the door and we’ll not have any heroics. I can shoot you and walk away if I have to so don’t think I won’t.”

  There was a noise from the next room and Karl Jenkins walked into the room. “Whoa.” He said and put up his hands as he saw the gun. The intruder simply moved the gun towards him and shot him without a moment’s hesitation. Claire screamed and ran without thinking over to Karl who was clutching h
is chest and blood was squeezing through his fingers. He was deathly pale and sinking to the ground. She tried to catch him but was forcibly grabbed from behind and the gun dug into her back. “You can be next or we can walk to the car.” She let Karl slide to the ground. A loop of rope suddenly pinned her arms to her sides and was pulled tight Her arms were pulled behind her and a plastic tie slotted together and it was all done so fast and with a jolt she realised he had done this before. She let herself be propelled to the door. Maybe there would be a chance to make a run for it outside.

  Outside there was a dark van and she was unceremoniously thrust inside and thudded onto the van floor. Her head banged against the floor and there was no way she could save herself. He pushed her feet inside and shut the door. The driver’s door slammed and the engine revved. The van moved away and she was tossed around in the back of the vehicle with no idea where they were going or what would happen next.

  Adam came back to the office and let himself in. He wondered vaguely why the door was unlocked and then stepped inside to see the police officer obviously dead and Karl on the floor bleeding. He rushed across to Karl and found a pulse whilst he pulled his phone out and pushed the number for Detective Inspector Jones. As he was talking to Jones in a garbled way, he rushed from room to room looking for Claire and realised with a dreadful horror that she was not there. The murderer had taken her away.

  “Jones said “We are on the way to the wood yard to pick up the gamer so will be there very quickly. I’ll send my partner over to you and let me send the ambulance because it will get there more quickly.” Adam rang off and rushed back to Karl to try and stem the blood flow. He found some towels and propped up the man to try and slow the blood loss down and had no option but to sit there until the ambulance and Rossi, Jones’ partner, arrived at the building. It felt like hours but was actually about ten minutes and in that time the panic about Claire threatened to make him sick. He fought the feeling and tears actually ran down his face.

  The ambulance was first and the medics swooped into action. Adam could only stand back and let them do their work. They looked at Ray and found no pulse so concentrated on Karl. Rossi arrived as they were working and sent for another ambulance for the police officer. He called in to Jones and brought him up to date and then secured the crime scene before coming to see to Adam. The man was a shaking wreck by this time and Rossi tried to calm him down by asking him for exactly what he had discovered and tried to get a timeline on the events. Adam related what he had done but in actual fact had seen nothing of what had happened. He had arrived to find Claire gone and Karl wounded. “I’m pretty sure Ray was dead when I got here.”

  “We’ll get her back. We know she’s been grabbed and we knew very quickly.” Adam tried her phone and it rang in her purse in the next room so there was no way of tracking anything. He slumped into a chair with panic thudding in his chest and a sickening feeling of despair and horror welling up inside of him. The police team worked around him. His hand rested on a pile of papers on the desk and someone brought him a glass of water. He tried to drink but couldn’t swallow. Panic about Claire was the only thing in his head.

  Inspector Jones and his team of armed officers drove to the wood yard where the signal from the gamer was still live. The people at his tech department were telling him that the game was still underway and the signal was definitely at that place. They parked a short way from the drive and approached in silence. Hand signals to the team and the men and women involved deployed around the building. A light was shining in one window and a quick glance inside showed the man still at the games console. There was no one else to be seen. On the signal from the boss, they shouted a warning and broke into the building. Guns in hand and fully dressed in battle gear the incoming officers were a fearsome sight and the man at the machine simply sat with mouth open and gibbered as the police appeared in the room. The rest of them searched the house with great efficiency. The gamer was restrained, arrested and read his rights. He gave his name in a shaky voice and told them he was playing the game for a friend. He paid me to sit and game. I love gaming so I thought it was easy money.”

  “Who paid you?” Jones asked and the man said he thought the gamer was called Razor. “Real name.” Jones barked but it was obvious the man did not what that was. He sent the gamer back to the precinct under arrest and started a search of the house. “He must have brought the lad we found here.” Jones argued but there was no sign of anything other than the games console. It was a dead end and they had been duped. Jones furious as well as worried about Claire and desperately sad that he had lost an officer. Ray had been confirmed dead at the hospital but Karl was holding on and would probably pull through. The police forces always felt the loss of a fellow officer very deeply and everyone was on full alert.

  Chapter 9

  Jones talked to the commander who had searched the place and there was nothing to be found. “We’ve been fooled.” He said. “He knew we would track the game and set it up.” He photographed the gamer’s fingerprints and sent them to the precinct. They came back quite quickly with the name of Carter Malone and Jones realised he had the wrong man. This man was on record for a series of petty crimes but had no connection to the wood yard or the murders they were investigating. In fact he was not the sharpest knife in the box and they took him off to the precinct. Jones sent the armed team back to the station and set off for the gaming office to meet up with Rossi. He found the place secured and forensics working hard to find any clues but it was a bit of an impasse.

  “We’ll find her.” He assured Adam but in fact wondered which way to turn next. He asked Adam to follow them to the precinct and they would go over what had happened. “We can decide which way to go next. He and Rossi left the crime scene people working and left. Adam was left in the office feeling desperate and at a loss. He paced back and forth a little bit, unwilling to leave the last place Claire had been and wondering if there was just something that might help. The officers worked around him and one man encouraged him to move out and go to the precinct. He still could not make the move to leave. Adam vaguely wondered how Kassie and her Mom were getting on and shuffled the papers that she had left on the desk before she left. He picked them up and idly flicked through them. Then he went back a page and looked again. The man from the wood yard had another address. His heart did a flip. He read out the address and looked at Kassie’s notes. She had written that they had a holiday cottage. He was not going back to the wood yard so the next obvious place would be the holiday home. He grabbed the paper and left at a run for his car. It took a few minutes to put the address into his sat nav and it told him that it was thirty miles away. Adam gunned the car and set off under the directions from the disembodied voice in the GPS. After a few miles, when he had time for his heartbeat to settle to normal and rational thought to enter his brain, he rang Jones and told him that he was following the address of the holiday cottage and would come in to the precinct later.

  Claire and her captor had arrived at their destination and he opened the rear door, reached in and hauled her roughly to her feet. “Home.” He said. “Welcome to my little hideaway. I’m sure we can get to know each other really well.” He slammed the van door shut and propelled her towards the house. It was more a wooden cabin than a house and was in a lonely spot at the coast. In front of the cabin the beach stretched away to the sea and she could hear the sound of the waves on the shingle. It could have been a pleasant spot under the right circumstances. The place was a bit unkempt and had obviously not been cared for properly for a long time. The fence was broken down and weeds ran over the path from what had once been a garden. He opened the door and pushed her inside. When the light was switched, the room in front of her had once been a cozy home from home for the family but now was a jumble of clothes and empty food boxes. Drinks cans and other debris were everywhere and on the table duct tape, rope and a selection of knives. He saw her spot the things on the table and grinned. “You’ve seen my knives and impleme
nts.” He sneered and pushed her across the room to a sofa. “Sit.” He said. “I need a drink and something to eat. It’s been a long day.”

  Claire was trying so hard to control the shaking that was threatening to take over. She could see no way out of the situation and had realised that nobody knew where he was likely to take her. She had to try and save herself but it looked pretty unlikely. When he came back in carrying a sandwich and a coffee she asked him his name. “You mean you haven’t found it from the net?” He answered. “Levi. Levi Saunders.” He told her through the sandwich. “You can get to know me really well after I finish this snack.” The man used a false name even to himself. The wood yard people were called McGinty.

  “Where is this place?” She asked hoping to keep him talking and he told her it was his parents’ holiday house. “We used to come here a lot when I was little but they never used it as they got older.”