Risky bargain, p.14
Risky Bargain, page 14
She couldn't imagine why he would have a worry. It sounded like an amazing life.
"But then one night, I woke up to someone putting a hand over my mouth. I smelled something awful. That's all I remember until I woke up in a small, dark space, which turned out to be a bathroom. There was a toilet and a sink, but the window was boarded up. Only a few specks of light came through it. They left me two bottles of water, a bag of chips, and some granola bars. I remember being freezing. I was in my pajamas, and I was barefoot. There was a blanket in the space, and I wrapped myself up in it. I cried until I ran out of tears. There were still hours to go."
Her stomach twisted. She wanted to say something, but she was afraid that any response would shut him down, and since he'd started talking, his breath didn't seem to be coming as fast.
"I was so scared," he continued. "I was too young to know what death meant, but I had this feeling that no one would ever find me. I screamed just like you did a few minutes ago, but no one came." He turned his head to look at her. "No one came for a long, long time. I was all alone."
She wrapped her arms around him, because she wanted to comfort him, to bring him back into this moment where he wasn't alone. At first, he resisted her embrace, as if he couldn't afford to let down his guard for even a second, but eventually his tension began to ease, and he put his arms around her as they clung together.
It was hard not to talk, not to say meaningless things that would just make her feel better and do nothing for him. She remembered all the people who had tried to comfort her with platitudes that just pissed her off. She didn't want to do the same to him.
Finally, he let go of her and blew out a breath. "Sorry."
"For what?"
"Being weak. I haven't been triggered like this in a long time."
"Well, the floor fell away, and we flew down a slide and landed in some enclosed space, so I think you can give yourself a break. But you don't do that, do you? You always have to hold it together."
"Because I didn't hold it together back then, when I was a kid. I was a mess. I sometimes heard noises outside the bathroom. Every time, I thought someone was coming in to hurt me, and I'd start crying all over again."
"You were nine. What happened? How did they find you?"
"There was a ransom demand. My parents were smart enough to bring in the FBI even though they were told not to. The agent in charge found me while the drop was being made. I remember when he came through the door. The light blinded me. I started to scream. I thought he was a bad guy when I saw the gun in his hand. Then he put it down, and he gave me a smile. He said I was safe. I remember he was big, or he just seemed that way to me. He swept me up in his arms and took me into another room and there were windows. There was light. Then we were outside, and I could breathe again. It was the best feeling." He paused. "I was lucky, Kat. Not just because I was found, but because no one hurt me. No one abused me. It was all about money."
"I hope the kidnapper went to jail."
"One of them did. The other was killed during the ransom delivery."
"Good. Will the other guy ever get out?"
"Eventually, but he has some years to go."
"Now I know why you wanted to become an FBI agent. You weren't just craving action. You wanted to find kids, the way you were found."
"I know what it's like to be taken, to be missing. It does motivate me. I don’t just feel for the kids; I feel for anyone who is abducted."
"That's why you were willing to help me look for Audrey. You're a very strong person, Lucas."
He uttered a short, harsh laugh. "After the last few minutes, I wouldn't say that. But you were right—talking about it helped." He took a breath. "You helped, too."
"I'm glad I was here. Although, I might be the reason we are here. It was my stupid idea to try to open the wall. Now we're stuck, and I've landed you in your worst nightmare."
"Maybe I needed to face it."
"I don't think you needed to relive it. And here I was bragging about being a survivor…" She shook her head. "You must have thought she has no idea what that means."
"I didn't think that. You've been through a lot, too, more than you've probably told me. We can both be survivors. But definitely not victims."
His smile felt like the sun breaking through the clouds after a terrible storm.
"Definitely not," she agreed, smiling back at him. "We're going to find a way out of here. We just need to think. There's always an exit."
"I don't see one. And I don't think crawling back up that slide is a good idea."
"No. I wonder if we're in the basement."
"We'd have to be. It felt like we slid a long way." He blew out a breath. "I'm an idiot."
"Why?"
He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. "I was too busy hyperventilating to use my brain."
"Can I say I was too busy worrying about you to think about my phone?" she asked, also feeling a little stupid.
"There's no signal, but the light works." He got to his feet and focused the light on the wall across from them.
She stood up as well, using her phone to light up the adjacent wall.
It was soon very clear that the room was about six-feet square. The opening from the slide was about three feet wide. Shining the light up on either side of the slide didn't reveal any options for escape. She moved around the room as Lucas did the same. As they came together, he ran his finger over what looked like the faint outline of a square. A flash of memory came into her head.
"Make an X on the square, two diagonals," she said.
"Be my guest," he told her, holding the light on the square.
"Okay. But get ready for anything." She put her phone into her bag, which she wore across her body, just in case the floor gave way once more.
"I'm ready." He put one hand on the small of her back as she moved forward.
She drew a diagonal line from each corner, and then the panel popped out, revealing a doorknob. She turned the knob to the right and the entire wall opened up onto a carpeted corridor leading to a doorway with an exit sign over it.
"Unbelievable," Lucas muttered as he followed her out of the room, and they made their way down the hall.
When they moved through the exit door, they ended up outside. They appeared to be twenty feet from the back of the house and down a slight hill toward the garden area.
Lucas drew in several long breaths of air, while she did the same, happy to be outside in the sunshine once more.
"Good job," he said. "How did you figure out the X?"
"X's are used in a few places in the game."
He cleared his throat. "I want to apologize again about what happened back there."
"You have nothing to apologize for. What now? Do you want to go back inside?"
"God, no," he said with such vehemence that she almost laughed.
"Okay."
"After what happened, you've probably lost faith in my ability to keep you safe."
"I have not. In fact, I like you better now than I did before, because you seem more real. You were so controlled, so guarded and tightly wound, I couldn't figure out who you really were. Your house didn't even reveal any clues. You have a tight grip on everything around you, and I understand why now."
"I did become very obsessed with being safe, being able to protect myself. As I got older, I became very fit. No one was ever going to get the jump on me again. Now, I'm even more well-trained, thanks to the bureau."
"The top-of-the-line fitness room makes more sense. Have you ever felt that panic while you were on the job?"
"No. I have managed to stay out of small places. Although, I have to admit when I went into Cabot's bedroom after he was gone, I felt a sense of déjà vu. I grew up in a big house like that, where I should have been safe. Spike had all the money in the world to protect himself, and he wasn't protected."
She thought about that. "You said your kidnapping was an inside job. What did you mean?"
"One of the women on the cleaning staff was connected to one of the kidnappers. She gave him access to the house. I had always liked her, too. She used to give me candy, but she had no problem helping someone abduct me for a cut of the money."
"The betrayal makes everything worse."
"I suspect that Spike was betrayed by someone as well. Or the party just made the house more vulnerable."
"What do you want to do now?"
"I want to go to the hospital and talk to Henry Stodden. We can't figure out the game on our own. We need his help. Hopefully, he's well enough to speak to us."
Chapter Thirteen
It was almost four o'clock on Sunday afternoon when they arrived at the hospital. By then, Lucas had gotten it together. He was angry at himself for giving into the panic, for allowing the trigger to take hold. He couldn't believe he'd fallen apart the way he had, especially in front of Kat. But she'd been exactly what he needed. She might have judged him silently, but all he'd seen in her eyes had been compassion and understanding.
She was now one of only a few people who knew the details of his kidnapping. While it had been publicized years ago, the circumstances had never been revealed in the press. His parents had moved almost immediately after he'd been rescued. They'd taken up residence in a luxury villa in Laguna Beach, where he'd spent the rest of his childhood. His new friends hadn't known about his past, and he'd done everything he could to forget it ever happened.
Except he couldn’t forget. Now and then, it came rushing back. He didn't like that he'd let the fear get the best of him. He was better than that. He was stronger than that. It wasn't going to happen again.
After parking, he ushered Kat into the hospital and up to the third floor. As they approached Stodden's room, he could see Jason Meyer in the room, along with another man he didn't recognize. The man wore jeans and a plaid button-down shirt. He had glasses and longish brown hair. Lucas paused, glancing at Kat. "Do you know who that is with Meyer?"
"Malcolm Hodges. He's in engineering and works right under Henry."
"You need to wait out here, Kat. Both Stodden and Meyer were at the party. They might wonder why the server who spilled wine on the boss is with me."
"Good point. I hadn't thought of that."
"Was Malcolm at the party?"
"I don't think so. I don't remember seeing him, and the guest list was mostly influencers and marketing people. I'll be in the waiting room at the end of the hall."
He didn't really want to let her out of his sight, but he also didn't want any conversation with these three men to get derailed by questions about Kat. "I'll meet you there."
"Good luck."
As Kat left, he walked into the room, and the conversation between the men immediately stopped.
Meyers gave him a sharp look. "Is there news about Spike?"
"Unfortunately, no." His gaze moved to Malcolm. "I'm Special Agent Raines. We haven't met."
"Malcolm Hodges," the man replied. "You're the agent investigating the shooting?"
"I am." He turned to Henry Stodden. "How are you feeling Mr. Stodden?"
"Better." Henry was in his late forties, with pepper-gray hair and a heavy beard. His face was pale, his eyes weary.
"I'm glad to hear that. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Sure. I didn't see much, though. Two guys busted in with guns, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with pain shooting through my leg. When I got out of surgery, I heard Spike was missing. What the hell is going on? Is someone holding him for ransom?"
"There has been no contact yet." He shot a look in Jason's direction. "Unless…"
Jason shook his head. "We haven't heard a thing. And I'm including Paige in that statement. She's really upset. She won't go back to Spike's house until he's found, so she's temporarily staying with me. I don't understand what anyone is waiting for. Do you have any leads on Spike's whereabouts?"
"We're running down some leads," he said vaguely. "Are any of you aware of disgruntled employees or gamers who might have a grudge against Mr. Cabot?"
"I believe there are some gamers who have been talking shit about Spike online," Jason said. "But nothing raised any red flags as to being particularly serious." His jaw tightened. "Robert Hartley would have known the answer to that question." Jason blew out a breath. "Blake Richey might also know. He handled some of Spike's security concerns."
"I've spoken to him about it. What about employees?"
Jason shook his head. "Spike pays very well. Spy Maker Games is considered an excellent company to work for."
"He's right," Henry interjected. "We have a very high employee retention rate."
"Maybe it was a personal attack," Malcolm suggested. "Spike could have made enemies while he was in the CIA."
"True." He paused, knowing that he'd get more if he could speak to them individually, and he wanted to start with Henry. "I'd like to speak to Mr. Stodden in private, if that's possible."
"Sure," Malcolm said. "I was heading out, anyway. I'll touch base with you tomorrow, Henry. Don't worry about a thing. I've got your back at work."
"Thanks, Malcolm," Henry said.
"Feel better," Jason told Henry, his words not holding nearly as much warmth as Malcolm's.
After they left, Lucas closed the door, then moved next to the bed. "I want to talk to you about the game, Mr. Stodden. I've heard that something is going on inside the game that's causing problems."
Henry frowned. "Spike said something about that, too, but I didn't know what he was talking about then, and I don't know what you're talking about now. There's nothing wrong with the game."
"I've heard there might be a game within the game that only a few people know about, a secret level."
"That's just an urban legend. I know that game inside and out, and there's no secret level for superstars."
Henry seemed very certain in his position, but that didn't mean he was right. "When is the last time you examined the game in detail?"
"I'm on top of my job. There's nothing going on in the game. Some gamers just made up a story, and it spread."
"When did you speak to Mr. Cabot about it?"
"We met Thursday for a drink after work. He said one of my engineers, Sean Gillespie, had told him about a secret game, but Sean never came to me about it, and, frankly, Sean was a conspiracy theorist. He always thought weird shit was going on. Unfortunately, Sean had passed away just a day earlier of a heart attack, so I couldn't talk to him about it. I also don't know why he would go to Spike over me or Malcolm."
"Malcolm is your right-hand man?"
"Yes. I talked to him about this, too, and he was as surprised as me that this fantasy was becoming real to people. It's crazy."
Either Stodden was a great liar, or he really believed what he was saying. "What about the new edition of the game? I understand it's going to include missions in real time."
"Yes, to add more flavor to the game, we're using augmented reality. We're using specific locations for missions to play out in the real world."
"How does that work? Do the locations know they're being used in the game?"
"Absolutely. We've signed contracts with dozens of sites. It will not only be financially lucrative, but they'll also get the added publicity of being a part of the number-one video game in the world."
"Is it possible that someone has gotten their hands on that next edition, that the augmented reality is actually happening now?"
"It's not possible. Everything is locked up tight."
"Are you aware that the men who shot you were wearing camo pants and ski masks, like several of the characters in the game?"
Henry looked taken aback. "I wasn't aware of that, but a lot of our players do cos play. They get into the game and the characters. Are you saying the men who shot me were players?"
"I'm not saying anything; I'm asking what you think."
"I don't know how anyone got into Spike's house. We had security."
"All three are dead."
"I heard." Grief filled his gaze. "Robert Hartley was a great guy. He always had Spike's back. He was intensely loyal. I can't believe he's gone and I somehow survived. When those men came in, I thought I was done. Caroline thought the same thing. I saw her earlier. She was able to go home this morning. She's still afraid, though. She never imagined anyone would want to kill her. I never did, either. We create games of violence—but they're not real."
Henry seemed stubbornly convinced of that fact.
"I went to the Casa de Magic earlier. I fell through a trapdoor, went down a slide, and ended up in a basement room. The only way I could get out was to draw an X on a square in the panel. That comes right out of the game, doesn't it?"
Henry looked at him in astonishment. "That's part of the next edition of the game. Why would you go there? It's not ready yet."
"I got a tip. Tell me more about the locations that will be used in the new game and what happens at those locations."
"That information is secret."
"Your boss's life could be on the line. I think he'd want you to talk."
Henry stared back at him, conflict running through his gaze. "I suppose he would, but I'm telling you, you're wasting your time. I don't believe that attack has anything to do with the game. I think it's what Malcolm said—Spike has enemies from his past, and two of them showed up Friday night."
"Why would they show up now?"
"Spike is a rich man with a lot of powerful friends and connections. Maybe they wanted to use him in some way."
"That's something to consider, but let's get back to the game."
Kat hid behind a tall Ficus plant in the small waiting room at the end of the hall. Malcolm Hodges had left several minutes earlier, but Jason had stayed behind. He was now standing against a wall, texting someone on his phone. Lucas must have kicked them both out so he could speak to Henry in private. She needed Jason to leave. If he came into the waiting room, he'd see her, and he might recognize her. That would make everything more complicated.
