by Dante Doom
Of course, the injury was a small price to pay for the plan of luring out some kind of a spy, if a spy even existed, but still, it would have be nice if Neil had held back a little. That man was incapable of restraint, she thought to herself again.
Tired of thinking about the scene, she eyed the clock, seeing that it was almost midnight. She hoped someone would show up soon.
As Sang sat and contemplated what she'd say to this mole, there was a knock on the door, followed by O'Hara gingerly opening the door.
"Hey," O'Hara said. "I heard Neil gave you what for."
"Yeah," Sang said, feeling her heart go into her throat.
"Well, I heard you were trying to bail, so you deserved it," O'Hara said as she shook her head. "This isn't some day job, Sang. We're on a mission and I don't care how stressed you are; you knew what this was when you committed to sticking around. If you try to escape this, I will track you down and you'll have more to worry about than a black eye. I'm talking, you won't ever be able to walk again."
"Yeah, of course," Sang said, breathing a sigh of relief. In a weird way, the savageness of the woman's words was comforting. It would have been a major shock to discover that O'Hara was some kind of a foreign operator.
"Good, so you should get some sleep," O'Hara replied as she slammed the door shut.
Sang sat in silence and wondered if maybe she should just go to sleep. Would anyone really come to meet with her? It was doubtful. She laid on her back and closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she tried to ignore the throbbing in her eye.
As she rested, though, there was a slight clank in the air vent above her. She opened one eye to see a woman's face looking at her through the grate. Sang recognized her as one of the operatives.
"Pssst," the operator whispered. "Sang?"
"What the hell are you doing in there?" Sang asked.
"Listen, we don't have much time. You want out, don't you? I couldn't help but overhear your argument with Neil. I also couldn't help seeing him assault you like that."
"We just had a disagreement, that's all," Sang said as she sat up and went to touch her eye again.
"A disagreement? That's not what I'd call it. But, hey, you're safe with me," the woman said. "My name's Kenza. I'm one of the operators."
"Nice to meet you, Kenza," Sang said. She had never really bothered talking with the operators, as they were usually too busy to talk to anyone. There was a lot of work they had to do to maintain the pods and stay plugged into the game system so that they could monitor Sang and Van's progress.
"They've posted a guard out in the front – that psycho, O'Hara," Kenza said. "So keep your voice down."
"Right, so how do you recommend we get out of here? Is that air vent big enough for two?" Sang asked.
Kenza shook her head. "I can't bust you out of here; this place is locked down hard. But there is a way you can escape in the game."
"What? In the game? I want to get out of here," Sang said.
"No. You want to survive, though, don't you? There's a way out; you just gotta trust me on this."
"I'm listening," Sang said.
"Draco's not as bad as you think. Really. They reward the people who follow them. I… I might have made contact with them a few hours ago, when you got walloped like that. They've agreed to grant you amnesty, but we need something from you first."
"What's that?"
"They can't figure out where you guys are in the game. They know you've switched characters, but without your tracking numbers, they have no chance of locating you," Kenza said. "If you give us the tracking numbers, they'll make sure you're spared in the raid. Then you just gotta wait it out a day. That's it. One day, Sang. And it'll all be over."
Sang stood to her feet and looked up at Kenza. "You mean it? But if you're the operator, why don't you have the tracking numbers?"
"The ones we were given don't work. We can follow Bidane and her people, but you, Van, Fredlin, Kylian, and Sahara, your numbers have been restricted."
Sang grinned. That had been a small precaution she had taken when they'd retrieved the new characters from those brothers. She'd given the CIA false tracking numbers in order to keep the other operators occupied. It had worked, apparently.
"Sounds like a plan," Sang said as she grabbed her chair and slid it underneath the air vent.
"What are you doing?" Kenza asked as Sang climbed atop the chair and reached up to the her.
"If I'm going to join you guys, I want to shake on it," Sang said with a chuckle. Kenza began to try to back away, but was too slow. Sang grabbed the air vent and pulled on it hard, breaking it open. She reached into the vent then and managed to grab Kenza by the hair.
"Ouch, stop, you nutjob!" Kenza shouted as she tried to wrestle her head away from Sang, but Sang wasn't about to let go.
"Help! Help!" Sang shouted. The door to her room burst open as O'Hara came in with her gun drawn.
"There's someone in the air vents!" Sang said as she fell to the ground, holding a clump of bright blonde hair.
O'Hara drew her gun and ran up to the vent, shoving her arm in, still holding the pistol.
"Oh, God, don't shoot!" Kenza squeaked.
"I'm counting to three," O'Hara yelled.
"I'm coming out – please don't kill me," Kenza begged. Sang chuckled as she rubbed her shoulder, which had smacked against the ground when she had fallen. After a few moments of banging around inside of the vent, Kenza slowly climbed down from the ceiling.
"Alright, so what's going on?" O'Hara asked as she crossed her arms. "Is there any reason you were in that vent?'
"She's a Draco spy," Sang said. "She was trying to recruit me."
"She's crazy," Kenza said. "She offered me a thousand bucks to help her escape from this place."
O'Hara looked at Kenza and then back at Sang. "Well, you both have interesting and plausible stories, so I guess I'll have to solve this the old-fashioned way."
"Cancel that," Neil said as he staggered into Sang's room, holding his stomach. "Sang and I laid out the perfect trap."
"What, and I wasn't invited?" O'Hara asked.
"I thought you might have been the mole," Neil replied.
"Neil, you ass!" O'Hara said. "If I were the mole, I would have smothered Van in his sleep, slit Sang's throat, and then pulled the plug on you when you were in that coma."
"Not if your dark masters told you not to," Neil shot back.
"Oh, yeah, because we both know I have a track record of doing exactly what my superiors tell me to do," O'Hara said as she shook her head.
"Oh… right. Well, the good news is that I've cleared you from the investigation."
"I swear to God, as soon as you aren't on the verge of dying, I’m gonna kill you," O'Hara said to Neil as she grabbed Kenza roughly by the arm.
"Let me go!" Kenza shouted as she tried to wrestle free of the grasp.
"Look, kid, you're in a ton of trouble here," Sang said as she sat down on the bed. "You're going to be charged with treason for what you've done."
"Unless you agree to help us out," Neil said as he walked up to her and slowly sat on the chair across from her.
"Draco's going to win this thing. You guys don't stand a chance!" Kenza said. "You have no idea what they're capable of."
"What were your orders?" O'Hara demanded.
Kenza sighed and stopped struggling. She looked around and shook her head. "I know there's no chance of me getting out of this thing okay. I know that you'll torture me until I talk. I didn't want to be like this, you know. They approached me. Told me that, if I didn't help, my family wouldn't be spared. I got two kids, man."
"Oh, dear, I am so heartbroken for you," Neil said.
"I'll get the violin," O'Hara replied.
Kenza growled. "What do you want from me?"
"Orders. What were they?'
"Locate Van. That was it. Locate and report his location within the game to Draco," Kenza said. "But it doesn't matter at this point. We all got the same orde
r yesterday morning. In roughly 24 hours, it's going to blow."
"What is?" Sang demanded.
"What do you think? Everything," Kenza answered. "If I'm not in a safehouse, I'm dead. Air's gonna be crazy toxic. Nuclear meltdowns, air strikes, automated drones set off. That guy who shot himself? He's not the only nutjob we've put effort into mobilizing."
"Why did you send him after us?" Sang asked.
Kenza shrugged. "I don't know. I just follow the orders I'm given. I was told to help him get into the base and then give him a gun. That was it."
"How did you falsify credentials like that?" Neil asked.
Kenza shook her head. "It wasn't hard, not with the state of chaos everyone has been in. Draco's got some deep pockets to fund these things."
"Are there any surprises waiting for us in the game?" Sang asked. Kenza opened her mouth for a moment, but said nothing.
"Ma'am, you've been so polite and easy to work with," Neil groaned as he wheezed a little. "I would really, really, hate for this conversation to turn into something ugly."
"I wouldn't hate it at all," O'Hara piped in. "I'm waiting for you to stop cooperating."
"Fine!" Kenza said as she crossed her arms. "Yes, there is something to watch out for in there. They're keeping a close eye on Bidane. Really close. They'll know where she's moving at all times."
"You mentioned that earlier," Sang said. "What are you hiding?"
"Do I need my kit?" O'Hara asked.
"No!" Kenza yelped. "They have the old man, the cop… they sent him a message before he logged off to switch characters. Told him that if he doesn't sabotage the mission, they'll send a hit team to kill Capello in the real world."
"Crap!" Sang shouted as she slammed her hand down on the bed. "That lying bastard!"
"Not quite," Neil said. "He hasn't ratted you guys out yet."
"Why didn't he mention it?" Sang asked.
"No idea," Kenza said. "He never replied, but we registered that he did read the message."
"Any other surprises for us?" Sang asked with a long, heavy sigh.
"I don't know. They were communicating very steadily with me for a while, but lately I've just been getting short bursts of information from them," Kenza answered. Sang could see that tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.
"How long have you been working with them?" Neil asked.
"Long enough," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry you got caught," O'Hara said. "Not only are you a regular traitor, but you're also a race traitor. And not in the ethnic sense. You're a human race traitor."
"There will be some of us left," Kenza said. "And the wars will all be over. The fighting gone. Plagues, famine, suffering? All of it will be gone. How could I say no to that? Everyone dies eventually."
"They really got to you," Sang said as she shook her head. "How can you believe that?'
"It's not much different from what you did two weeks ago," Kenza said. "That's the real reason Draco's kept you alive so far."
"What are you talking about?" Sang asked as she felt her blood run cold.
"When you killed those players in the game? When you murdered a restrained man?" Kenza whispered. "You were trading the good of one person for the good of the collective. They liked that. It shows that you have hope of being like them."
"I didn't murder anyone," Sang replied as she shook her head. "That guy was gonna get free and kill me the moment he could. I'm not like Draco at all."
"So you say," Kenza said, "but at the end of the day, you'll do whatever it takes to protect the collective. The ends justify the means to you. How is that any different from us?"
"Shut up," Sang said as she stood up and walked away from Kenza. "Just shut the hell up."
"Those aren't my words," Kenza said. "It's the profile Draco sent us."
"Us?" Neil echoed.
"Crap!" Kenza exclaimed. Sheer panic came over her face for a moment, followed by an expression of inspiration. "I'll sell all of them out if it means I get out of this okay."
"Sang, you've got to get back into the field in the morning," O'Hara said as she wrenched Kenza off the bed and dragged her to the door. "Get some sleep. We'll take care of this."
"Nice work, Sang!" Neil said as he raised his hand, expecting a high five from her.
"You punched me in the eye and shoved a gun in my mouth," Sang said. "I'm not giving you a high five."
"I'm not asking for a high five for that; I'm asking for a high five because we cracked the case of the mysterious mole!" Neil said, his face shining with pure enthusiasm – and perhaps a touch of delirium.
"If I high five you, will you go back to the hospital?"
"Maybe."
Van opened his eyes and realized that he was standing in a large square room. There were hundreds of objects scattered all over the floor – pots, pans, swords, marbles, and even something that looked like a bicycle.
"Interesting," Van muttered as he inspected the room. He realized that there was some kind of pattern to the items, but he couldn't quite figure out what the pattern was.
"I'm here," Kylian said as he appeared in the room with Van. "I miss anything?"
"Nah, you're early," Van replied as he looked around some more. "I think this is the next part of the tournament."
"Gee, you should have been a detective with that kind of insight," Kylian said.
"Is there a reason you've gotten more grumpy lately?" Van asked.
Kylian shrugged. "I'm an old man, I can be as grumpy as I like. I worked hard to stay alive this long and that means I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor."
"You're gonna enjoy my boot up your –" Van's words were cut short as Sang, Sahara, and Fredlin all logged into the game at once.
"Yes, let's do this!" Sahara said as she began to spin around. "What is all of this crap?"
"Looks like some kind of puzzle," Sang said.
"I could not sleep well last night," Fredlin said. "If I stop responding, it's because I OD'd on Cwake."
"I'm pretty sure that's the case with all of us," Van replied.
"The hell is Cwake?" Sahara asked.
"One of those new fangled stimulants; they're called drugs," Van said. "They're really popular with the kids these days."
"I've forgotten more about drugs than you'll ever know," Kylian shot back.
"Did we miss the rundown?" Sang asked as she walked over to one of the tables and inspected it.
"Nah, we're still waiting on someone to give us instructions," Van replied.
"Well, I wish they'd hurry up – I'm getting bored," Sahara said as she kicked one of the cups on the ground. As soon as she kicked at it, though, the floor began to rumble and groan.
"Great, what did you do?" Fredlin asked.
"I didn't do anything!" Sahara protested as the ground continued to rumble.
"You have one job," an ethereal voice within the room said. "To escape!"
"That's not much of an instruction set," Van said. "How long do we have?"
There was no reply, but the rumbling sound grew a little more intense.
"Well, I don't know if we have time to ask for repeat information," Kylian said. "Let's figure out how to get out of this damn room."
The room itself was nothing special – it looked like a standard dungeon interior with hard stone walls. There were eight torches on the walls, but no doors.
"Well, maybe there's a secret room," Sang said as she began to feel along the walls with her hands.
"Doubtful," Fredlin said. "These items all correspond in some way. It's gotta be a puzzle."
"Holy crap, I found a note in this pan!" Sahara said as she held up a scrap of paper that was tightly bound. She ripped it open and read aloud. "If you wish to escape, you must find that which has a heart but no other organs."
"That some kind of a riddle?" Kylian asked. "Alright, I'm gonna figure this one out."
"What has a heart but no other organs?" Sang asked as she looked at all of the clutter.
"Does a plank of wood count?" Fredlin asked. "Wood has hearts, right?" He picked up a piece of wood and waved it around for a moment, but nothing happened. He shrugged and went back to searching. "I freaking hate puzzles."
"Aha!" Van said as he pointed to a deck of cards sitting on one of the tables. "A deck has hearts!"
"Brilliant," Sang said as she walked over and grabbed the pack. She opened the card deck and looked inside. "It's empty."
"Tear it open," Kylian said as he grabbed it from her. "Watch." He gingerly ripped it open and turned it inside out. Sure enough, there were more words on the inside of the card deck's box.
The clock ticks and the beast awakens, it read. To escape this room, you must find that which has a head, but not a body, and a tail, but no eyes.
"Any idea what this would be?" Van asked.
Sang began to sift through some of the items on the tables, mumbling to herself. "I know I heard this one before. I just can't remember from where."
"Probably grade school," Fredlin said. "I had all sorts of riddles that they made me solve when I was in grade school."
"Got it!" Kylian said as he pointed to a large, golden medallion sitting on the ground. "It's gotta be a coin." He picked up the coin, causing a loud click to emanate from one of the walls. There was a grinding noise as the wall slowly began to swivel, revealing a secret mirror.
"Aha!" Sahara said, pointing at the mirror. Then she reflected, "This… this does nothing for us."
"Maybe we should smash it?" Sang asked. "The secret passage has got to be behind that thing."
"We need to think like a developer," Fredlin said. "Any game designer would know that the first thing any player would do when trying to solve a puzzle is to smash stuff. So that can't be the answer."
"Good thinking," Van said as he leaned forward to investigate the mirror. As he looked at his own character's reflection, though, he realized that there was something different about the wall behind him. The torches in the reflection were flickering, turning off and on rapidly. Yet, he spun around to see that the actual torches were quietly sitting, perpetually burning.
"Interesting," Van said as he looked back at the mirror to watch the torches continue to flicker. They were going in a certain pattern. "Sang, look at this," he said as he pointed to the torches.
