by Jillian Dodd
“Greed,” she said. “Until we get rid of that, there will always be wars.”
“I won’t claim to understand,” Burnes says, “but in layman’s terms, he used some combination of artificial intelligence and traditional computing to provide stability. It’s something we aren’t ready for the rest of the world to have. We understand we can’t stop them from showcasing the design at the Olympics, but we’d like them to at least keep how it’s run confidential.”
“Wait. How are they showcasing the design?”
“At the Olympics in Montrovia, the Olympic Village where all the athletes are housed is a TerraSphere.”
“That’s amazing,” I say, pretending to be awed when in fact I am furious. “I can’t wait to see it in person.”
“So, can I count on you?” Burnes asks. “To vote with your government’s best interests in mind?”
“What will I get in return?”
“I’m sure the contract for withholding the technology will be lucrative.”
“Probably not as lucrative as if it were sold publicly, but maybe it’s not just about the money.”
Burnes studies my face and legitimately seems to ponder my question. “You ever need my help personally, you’ll have it.”
“Have the contract sent directly to me then.”
“You surprise me, Huntley,” he says. “I didn’t think you would agree so easily.”
“I only agreed to review a new contract. To be honest, I don’t really trust you.”
“Good,” he says as he leaves. “You really shouldn’t trust anyone.”
“Why did he say you shouldn’t trust anyone?” Daniel’s mother asks me. She wandered back into the suite just as Mike Burnes was leaving.
“Sounds like owning a company worth a gazillion dollars can be tricky. Especially when the government is involved.”
“Does this all relate to what we talked about the other day?” she asks, referring to when I spilled my guts.
When I give her an affirmative nod, she takes my hand and tells her security detail that we’re going for a walk. Then she leads me out the door and down the hall.
“What did you learn?” she asks.
“Remember the whole it starts in Montrovia thing and how there was chatter regarding the word Terra? I just found out that one was built in Montrovia to house the Olympic athletes.”
Her eyes get huge. “Do you think there will be a terrorist attack at the Olympics?”
“No, I think there will be something worse. The Olympics are only a few weeks away. I don’t have much time to figure this all out.”
She wraps her arm around my shoulders. “You mean, we don’t have much time.”
I smile back at her, but my insides are seething. I specifically told Lorenzo’s group about the TerraSphere and the chatter regarding terra, and not once did he or Admiral Philipe Lamonte mention that they were building one in their own country.
Burnes was right. I shouldn’t trust anyone.
MISSION:DAY FOUR
Daniel won the two-hundred meter freestyle final yesterday and the two-hundred meter butterfly final today. Tonight, he feels like celebrating.
He orders a ton of food and then grabs a control and hands it to me. “Did you hear Battleground released a new update today?”
“No. I was busy watching you swim.”
“Have you not been on social media or anything in between heats?”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t need to be reminded of the upcoming royal wedding, thank you very much.”
“Montrovia is a little country. No one cares.”
“Except for us,” I sass. “And you’re going to be traveling there for the Olympics. They’ll probably have collector’s plates with Lizzie’s photo on them already.”
“Whatever. You should know that I brought in two separate consoles, so we can play side by side. Get logged in.”
I pause for a moment. I didn’t have to log-in when Daniel and I have played in the past. He logged in, and we played basic two-person games. Now I’m wondering if I should sign up for an account under Huntley or sign in with my original name. I know that the game started out as a teaching and training program for students at Blackwood Academy, but what I don’t know is if our logins were limited to our intranet or if we ever played against anyone out in the real world. I guess it’s time to find out.
When my profile comes up, Daniel’s eyes get huge. “What did you do? Did you just hack into X’s account?”
“What do you mean?”
“X is a legend, who slays at this game. Has the highest kill-to-death ratios and highest scores per minute … like ever. And that is you?”
“Um, yeah.”
“But how?”
“I played a lot,” I suggest, “when I was supposed to be studying.”
He leans over and tickles my sides. “Your rating with me just went up a notch.”
“Oh, gee, thanks,” I say, laughing. I stop mid-giggle though when I realize I haven’t really laughed since I was on the yacht with Lorenzo.
Daniel shakes his head at me, somehow knowing who I’m thinking about. “Let’s go into battle together, get some wins, up my stats, and forget about Montrovia. Deal?”
“Deal,” I say. “What’s in the update?”
“A new field of battle from what I’ve heard, but it has a treasure hunt aspect to it. You get dropped out of an airplane and land somewhere random.”
“Then what?”
“You search for weapons and items of value that you can trade at a mercantile area, which is a battle-free zone, for bigger and better weapons and other special effects.”
“That is different. Battleground has always been more of an assassin’s game and was always in an urban or military setting.”
“I watched some videos online in between heats today, and it looks really fun, more of a challenge. There’s a rumor that some enemies can only be killed in a specific way, and if you survive, you’ll receive a key that unlocks a super-secret level. Supposedly, only one player or team can win the key. Gamers are going crazy, trying to find it.” He gives me a smirk. “I was going to suggest playing against you, but now that I know you are the legendary X, I think we should be a team.”
We get comfortable on the couch—him sprawled out with his legs up on the coffee table, me sitting cross-legged, back straight, elbows close to my sides to reduce arm fatigue.
“All right, here we go,” Daniel says, pressing a button that drops us out of the plane. “We should get loot of some kind just for landing.”
Our characters parachute into the sand in what appears to be a desert location. “There’s a city at three o’clock,” I say, “and a small tent city to our six.”
“Let’s go to the tents first. See what we can find,” Daniel replies as his avatar hits the ground and takes off running.
I do a quick three-sixty to check my surroundings. I pause briefly, realizing that though this setting has never been in Battleground before, it does remind me of a simulation training at Blackwood.
“Watch for land mines,” I call out just as Daniel sets one off.
His character is tossed up in the air and lands with a thud into the sand.
“How did you know there were going to be land mines?” he yells. “I haven’t seen that on any of the online videos. It’s like we’re in a completely new territory.” He presses a button that ends the current game. “Let’s restart. I want to record us playing.”
He jumps up and runs into his parents’ room. His mom flew to Chicago this afternoon for a fundraiser and won’t be back until later tonight, and his father won’t be here until Friday.
He returns with a video camera and tripod, working quickly to get it set up. While he’s testing it to make sure it’s perfectly positioned, our food is delivered by two Secret Service agents, getting ready to go off duty. Upon seeing that we have the game everyone is talking about on the screen, they decide to stay and watch.
We all eat dinner, Danie
l chowing down his massive caloric intake as fast as possible. He’s like a kid on Christmas morning, giddy with anticipation.
“Everyone will go nuts when they hear I’m playing with the infamous X,” he says.
“Like you’re going to play with him online?” one of the agents asks. “Is it some promotional thing?”
“Huntley is X,” Daniel says.
“No way. You’re too young. X was one of the first gamer tags,” the agent counters. “Is it like your dad’s login or something?”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been playing this game since I was fifteen,” I lie. Actually, I was twelve, but the game wasn’t released to the public until three years after I was sent to Blackwood. I had pretty much mastered it by then.
“I just assumed X was a dude. Sorry,” the agent says, looking down after getting a playful swat on the back of his head by a female agent who has also joined us.
She’s usually very serious, but I suppose she has to be as one of the only women assigned to the First Family.
Once we are through eating, I resume my spot on the sofa, the agents setting up a row of chairs directly behind us.
Daniel turns on the camera and says, “Hmm. You can see the back of your head. Do you want people to know who you are? I mean, it will dispel the legend.”
“I think I’d prefer not,” I say, although I’m not sure why. Mostly because being good at a game like this doesn’t fit with my Huntley cover. Or my life. Whichever it is. I get up, grab a ball cap out of Daniel’s bedroom, tuck my hair underneath, and throw on one of his long-sleeved athletic jerseys.
Once everything is set up, we start playing again and get dropped off at the same place. Daniel follows my character as I carefully avoid the mines, leading us to the tent city.
When we get to the city and enter a tent, we find it empty and take the loot inside.
“What the heck?” Daniel says. “All you got was a stupid Band-Aid, and all I got was a dumb glove.”
“Maybe one of us is going to get a cut,” I fire back. “I mean, who knows? It could save your life or something.”
“Doubtful,” one of the agents comments behind us.
“Okay, let’s see what else we can find,” I suggest, leading us into the next tent.
“Ah!” Daniel yells out and then curses as a man engages him in hand-to-hand combat.
I rush over to the center of the tent where I pick up a brick and a piece of wire from the ground. I have a flash of déjà vu but ignore it. It’s silly to think that this game could have anything to do with my past missions. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
I run over to Daniel, who is currently in a choke hold, and hit the guy in the back of the head with the brick. He crumples to the ground, and Daniel breaks free.
“Let’s go!” He rushes out of the tent, only to find a Jaguar pulling up. “Sweet,” he says. “Let’s take this car.”
But it doesn’t go down that way. The man driving the Jag rolls down his window and shoots Daniel’s avatar dead.
“Are you kidding me?” he yells out, frustrated that he can’t keep playing. “Let’s start over again.”
“No!” I yell back, knowing where this game is going. “Let me keep playing.”
He crosses his arms in protest and makes a little humph sound, but he doesn’t restart the game. Instead, he scoots closer to me and starts giving me advice. “Sneak around the car and throw the brick at him.”
Instead, I run to Daniel’s dead avatar, steal the glove, and do what I did when Intrepid pulled up next to me after Lorenzo and my brother were kidnapped.
I hop in the car.
“Why didn’t he kill you, too?” Daniel yells.
“I don’t know. Sometimes, it’s best not to engage maybe?”
“Whatever. This game is stupid,” he says but sticks by my side.
The man in the Jag drives me away from the tents and to a warehouse area. When he stops the car, I know what to do. I drive the heel of my palm into his jaw, causing his head to snap back and knocking him out cold.
“Sorry,” I whisper, just like I did back then as I take off running.
I’m a little freaked out by this. Not many people know all this, which means Black X is either testing me or this key will tell me something they want me to know. But why go through all the trouble? Why not just tell me?
Maybe because I quit?
I get out of the car, now at a warehouse by the water. Two men are guarding the perimeter, each only armed with a pistol. I double-check the roof and, like before, see no signs of activity.
Dim light filters from a window. It flickers as figures pass by. More than happened in real life.
I inhale slowly then put the glove on my avatar and take the wire out of my cache. I find a guard on the corner of the building and quickly throw the wire over his head.
The guard twists and struggles for breath, but I hold tight, and soon, he crumples into a heap—dead. I steal his loot, which is just a pistol.
I run around the corner of the building, grabbing the brick, and hurl my character through the air to take the other guard out. It’s quick and easy. Much easier in the game than it was in real life. He also has a gun. Although, in this game, you can typically have only one weapon at a time, I am able to put a gun in each hand.
“How did you do that?” Daniels yells. “You can have only one gun at a time!”
“I know, but I thought I would just try,” I explain. “Somehow, it worked.”
“You are not following the rules,” one of the agents behind us adds. “It’s probably why you’re the best.”
I ignore his comment and focus on the task at hand—entering the warehouse. I peek around a corner and see a man wearing a crown, tied to a chair.
“Um, is that supposed to be a prince?” Daniel blurts out while I’m thinking, WTF?
“Probably a king, but since he’s royal and clearly in trouble, maybe that means, if I save him, I’ll get some major loot. Hush now. Let me play.”
There are two men guarding the captive.
I push the barrel of the gun around the doorjamb and fire a single shot that takes down one of the guards. I quickly fire again, killing the second.
A guard comes out of a room, sees me, and fires. I make an evasive maneuver, dodging behind a stack of pallets and causing him to miss. I take aim, but he runs behind the captive for cover and is preparing to fire again. Since I’ve been there and done that, I take off, running up the captive and catapulting myself into the guard, knocking him down and then finishing him with a round to the head.
Two more men come out of the room, and a shot rings out as one shoots his pistol toward the ceiling and says, “Stop where you are.”
Okay, this is really getting weird.
Daniel echoes my thoughts. “What is going on with this game? They never tell you to stop. What, are you going to dance the Macarena and become best friends?”
“Maybe I’ll braid his hair,” I tease back, causing Daniel to grin at me as he hops off the couch, races into the kitchen, and grabs a couple of beers out of the fridge.
“Get me one,” one of the agents says and then quickly adds, “I’m officially off duty.”
In the game, when the guard’s shot doesn’t have the desired effect, only causing ceiling tiles to rain down on him and his partner, just like it did in real life, I wonder how Black X knows all these details. I suppose Intrepid must have put how he killed the men in his report. But then why did it work to knock him out? I suppose my brother could have told them that.
Daniel comes back to the couch and sets an open beer on the coffee table in front of me while I duck down behind the captive, grip one pistol in each hand, and then somersault out, twisting and firing a gun at each of the two next targets.
Bang. Bang.
“Oh! Sweet move!” the off-duty agent behind us yells out. “I didn’t know you could tuck and roll like that!”
“Cheers,” Daniel says, clinking his beer against
mine.
“You’re underage,” an agent says from behind us, probably because Daniel is recording this.
“Only for a couple of more days,” he replies.
“When’s your birthday?” I ask, taking a pull off the beer as a guy appears in the game, pulling a gun from his jacket and pressing it against the royal’s temple.
“Drop your weapons, or I’ll kill him now,” the game says.
“July fourth,” Daniel replies.
“How very patriotic of you,” I tease, turning to look him in the eyes. And I don’t know why I do it, but I take the hat off, let my long blonde hair out of the hat, lean over, and give him a quick kiss. “Happy early birthday.”
“Thank you,” he says with a grin. “Are you gonna shoot that guy or what?”
“I don’t think I can,” I reply. “If I shoot, he’ll shoot the king. He could have the special key.”
“Which you can take off him when he’s dead. I’d just kill them both,” the agent suggests.
“Remind me never to have you guard me again,” Daniel quips, causing all the agents who have been gathering behind up to laugh while I place the guns on the floor in front of me and hold up my hands.
“I’m not sure if I like this new update,” Daniel says. “Although, since you now have no weapons, you’re going to die soon, so that means we can start over together.”
“Shut up,” I tease, shoving my shoulder into his as I pull up my loot.
“I doubt the Band-Aid will heal you after you get shot,” the agent says.
It doesn’t take me long to realize the Band-Aid in the game is actually an exploding pore strip. I make my avatar leap forward, first knocking the bad guy’s gun to the ground and then slapping the pore strip on his forehead, wondering why this person is male and not female when she should have represented Ophelia.
“What the heck is that going to do?” Daniel and one of the agents shout in unison.
I don’t reply. I make my character jump up to the ceiling, grab the exposed metal pipe above, and swing. My avatar connects, kicking the bad guy across the room as the strip explodes and blows him back into the nearby window.
When the dust settles, I check my position and walk over to the dead body to collect his loot, which is strangely a new skin.
