out before it was too late. He removed my implant and told
me to run. I did. That was Jonathan.”
“What happened then?” I asked.
“I’ve been in hiding ever since. I know Countdown is a big
secret. I knew I’d learned too much for my own good. My
father died in a car crash a week later.” Pain shadowed his expression. “I know Gareth Ellis arranged for his death, but I
don’t have any proof. That’s what this folder is. It’s research.
I know about the game, the levels, how they select competitors. I know about the implant linking.” He shook his head.
“You don’t know what the show’s like now. It’s hell.” “We do know,” Rogan said. “We’ve been playing it for
three days against our will.”
Joe’s mouth fell open, and then he swore under his breath.
“If that’s true, then how did you get here?”
A f lash of everything we’d endured went through my mind,
and I shivered. “We escaped.”
Joe’s eyes widened. “You escaped?”
“Yeah. So, if you have an antivirus,” Rogan said and there
was a sharp edge of strain in his voice, “then we need it. It
could be the only way to stop the virus.”
A door clicked shut as Oliver returned to the room. “What
are you guys talking about now?”
I approached him cautiously. “Oliver, I know you’re pissed
at me. I can understand that. But if you trust me at all, I need
you to leave here. Go somewhere safe.”
His brows drew together. “What?”
“Just take off. Come back here tomorrow or something.” “If you say so.” He tried to smile, but his cheeks twitched
too much to allow it. And just like Joe, Oliver was now sweating buckets, even though it wasn’t hot in here. “Sure. Okay.
I’ll go. Um…I’ll leave right now.”
Why did he sound so nervous? Was it just being around
Rogan? Or…was it something else?
I got a really bad feeling it was something else. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked him.
“Nothing. I’m fine. Never better.”
I didn’t know if it was my Psi ability kicking in without
skin-to-skin contact or if it was simply my gut telling me that
something was desperately wrong here.
“I’ll see you soon, okay?” he said, turning toward the
staircase.
“Yeah, sure. Oliver?”
When he turned back to me, his gaze guarded and fearful,
I gave him a tight hug. He stiffened, as if not expecting the
physical contact, before he relaxed against me.
Then I slid my fingers into Oliver’s hair at the back of his
head hoping very hard I wouldn’t find what I was looking for. But there it was.
Oliver had a freshly installed implant.
He took a step back from me. “I’m sorry, Kira.” My throat felt thick. “Why are you sorry?”
The boy was literally trembling now. “I had no idea you had
anything to do with the game. They hired me on last week—
thought my computer skills made me an asset to the team. I
wanted to tell you my great news, but you’ve been avoiding
me lately. They fitted me with an implant so I could watch.”
His expression tensed. “And they stationed me in the mall to
see if you’d try to get me to help you. But you didn’t. You
ran away. With him.”
Rogan now stood beside me, his gaze filled with fury.
“Where did you just go, Oliver? Did you make a call? Did
you let them know we’re here?”
He wouldn’t make eye contact with either of us. Then he
nodded once. “They’ll be here any minute.”
My chest tightened—a familiar sensation of fight or f light
I recognized very well by now.
I was voting for “f light.”
Another countdown commences.
“I’m sorry,” Oliver whispered.
I opened my mouth to say something to him—to scream at him for selling us out—but Rogan took a step toward him first. That was all it took. Oliver staggered back from him and tripped on a wire. He fell and hit his head against the side of
the computer table, managing to knock himself unconscious. I grabbed Rogan’s tense arm. “What are we supposed to
do now?”
“We hope Oliver’s wrong about our time line.” Joe’s eyes had grown very large. “They’re coming here?
Somebody go up the stairs and lock the damn door.” I didn’t need any more prompting. I thundered up the stairs
as fast as I could, still favoring my sore ankle, and turned the
dead bolt.
When I got back downstairs, Rogan was staring straight at
Joe. “We need the antivirus and we need it now.” I was certain Joe was ready to run. I was equally certain
that Rogan wouldn’t let him, but we didn’t have time for a
physical confrontation. Not here. Not now.
To my surprise, Joe nodded sharply. He turned and sat
down heavily in front of his computer and put his fingers on
the keyboard. “I know it’s around here somewhere. It’s been
a while, man. I hope I didn’t trash it.”
“But will an antivirus actually work?” I asked. “I don’t
know much about computers, but wouldn’t the virus have
progressed too far for that by now? Besides, it’s not in a computer anymore, it’s in a person.”
Joe shrugged with one shoulder as he whipped through
folder after folder, which appeared and disappeared in f lashes
of light and color. “That’s entirely possible. But the virus isn’t
really in a person, it’s in an implant inside a person. And that
implant is directly connected to Ellis Enterprise’s artificial
intelligence server. If you can get to that server, shove in the antivirus disc, and launch it, then I think you’ll be able to do
some serious damage.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “We have to put the disc in the
server itself? We can’t do this remotely—like from here, if you
can hack into their network?”
“Unfortunately, no. They’ve totally upgraded their security. If you can’t physically get to the server itself, this has no
chance of working.”
Rogan gripped the back of Joe’s chair as the scrolling files
appeared on screen. “I wish I knew where the A.I. server is
now. It used to be on the second f loor.”
“It’s in the sub-basement now,” Joe said. “I walked past it
during my orientation tour and I’m betting the guy leading
the tour told me way more than Mr. Ellis would have wanted
him to on an intro tour of the facilities.”
“Do you know any more details? Like what room it’s in?”
I asked.
“Damn, why can’t I find it?” The files scrolled down the
screen faster than I could read them. “Where did I put it?” “Joe, which room is it? Do you remember?” I said it louder
this time. By my estimation, we had less than a minute left
to get out of here.
“Yeah, I remember. It’s marked as Mr. Ellis’s office, even
though I know his real office is on the top f loor. The room has
a computerized lock that only certain employees can access.
The only people who were able to get in have a red clearance
tag, if that helps. I remember that because those tags made
me think of blood. My blood. And I didn’t want to spill any
of
it either then or now.”
Just then I heard a bang, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. At the top of the stairs somebody was pounding on the
outer door.
They were here.
“It’s a strong door.” Joe’s voice trembled. “Trust me, paranoia will take you places. Especially dark, well-locked places.
We have another minute before they can get in.”
Rogan’s expression was bleak as he met my gaze. Jonathan
had been certain that if they ever found us, we were dead. “I’ll
hold them back for as long as I can,” he said. “And you try to
escape. Maybe I can talk some sense into them.”
Was he crazy? “I don’t think they’ll be too interested in
talking. They’ll just kill you.”
“Don’t be so sure. I have a hunch that my father—or the
thing possessing him—will want to see me personally one last
time. He’ll want to find out how we beat the system. I’ll be
questioned before they kill me.”
My throat constricted at the thought. “Rogan—” “I found it!” Joe shouted, sounding very relieved. “I just
need to get it on a disc for you.”
He opened a drawer next to him and fumbled through its
contents. He closed his fingers around a small, blue plastic disc
about the size of a quarter, pushed it into the slot on the side
of the computer, and clicked a few keys. After another moment he pulled it out and handed it to Rogan.
“If you can get into that room—and I don’t have any idea
If it’s going to work, it’ll work.”
Rogan studied the disc with a frown. “How will I know
if it worked?”
Joe hesitated. “That’s a good question. I figure if it works…
you’ll still be alive.”
“Great,” Rogan said drily. He eyed me, and looked at Joe
again. “Is there another way out of here?”
Joe swallowed hard. “Unfortunately, no. But now that I
think of it, that would have been a really good idea. Escape
routes, and all that.”
Crap.
The pounding on the front door increased. We were cornered with only one way out.
Rogan looked at the small disc. Then he eyed me. “Can
you do me a favor?”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Hide this for me until later?”
He handed me the disc and I looked at it. “Where should
I hide it?”
“Put it in your bra,” Joe suggested, and then blanched at
a look from Rogan. “I mean, I can think of a couple other
places, but, uh, a bra’s probably your best bet.”
I didn’t hesitate. I tucked it into my bra, glad I’d decided
to keep wearing the one that had gone with my Countdown
costume.
“I’ll want that back.” Rogan’s gaze met mine. “Soon.” “Ask me nicely and it’s all yours.”
The edge of a smile appeared on his lips. “I just thought of
something hilarious.”
“Oh, do share. I could use a laugh right about now.” “Before—I had no idea how I was going to break into Ellis
Enterprises without getting caught. Security’s tight.” “And now?”
“I think we’re about to have an in.”
“Great. Just try not to die first.”
“I’m going to try real hard.”
Rogan took my hand in his and squeezed it.
Then several sets of feet pounded down the staircase as Gareth Ellis’s men came for us.
ELLIS ENTERPRISES WAS A FIFTY-STORY BUILDing made of silver and glass that sat in an otherwise empty section of the city like a cold, sparkling gem under the over
cast skies.
Rogan was seated next to me in the back of the SUV. Both
of our hands were bound behind our backs. He was currently
unconscious. He’d put up a pretty good fight against the five
men in white lab coats who’d come for us. They’d easily disarmed him of his gun and then knocked him out. Frankly, I
was surprised they hadn’t killed us on the spot.
I was sure it was only a matter of time.
Joe hadn’t gotten off so lucky. He’d tried to run, to push
past the men as they swarmed into the room. He’d gotten a
bullet in his back for the effort.
They hadn’t killed Oliver. He didn’t accompany us in the
car, so I had no idea what had happened to him. Frankly, I
didn’t care anymore. Maybe he’d get a reward. I guess everyone was out for himself. Not that this was news to me. I tried not to relive the experience at Joe’s gaming den and instead focused my attention on the shiny building—which, let’s be honest here, was the place I would likely die today, or tomorrow…definitely sometime soon. I didn’t have much hope of getting out of this in one piece. Things had gone way
too far for that.
I tried to imagine a younger Rogan, high on whatever drug
he’d just taken, showing up to his job at this building—the
son of the billionaire CEO. The Rogan Ellis I knew wasn’t a
spoiled rich kid with a huge allowance to spend on frivolous
things to relieve his boredom. I didn’t think I would have
liked the old Rogan.
In fact, I’m quite sure I would have hated him. Then again, the old Rogan probably wouldn’t have looked
twice at a girl like me. At the end of the day, I was just a street
thief who happened to steal the wrong guy’s wallet. Even back
when my father worked for the university, I’d never even been
inside a building as fancy as this one.
But that’s exactly where they were taking us.
I tried to concentrate on the sound of my breathing. Anything to keep myself from thinking about how bad this could
all go. As Rogan said, he hadn’t been sure how we were going
to get inside the building in the first place. The security was
tight. Super tight. We had to go through two checkpoints and
a manned security station before coming within fifty feet of
The car rolled to a stop next to a black side door. A man in
a white coat sprayed something in Rogan’s face, and he woke
with a jerk. Every muscle in his body seemed to tense until
he saw me, and our gazes met and held.
“Are you okay?” were his first gruff words. I should have
been asking him the same question.
“No. Actually, we’re both royally screwed.”
He smirked. “I think you’re probably right.”
“Shut up,” a White Coat snapped.
I glared at him but stopped myself from telling him to screw
off. We were in enough hot water as it was. Wouldn’t want
to throw more wood on the fire beneath us.
The back door of the car opened, and both of us were
yanked out of our seats. All the White Coats, whom I had
originally assumed were scientists of some sort, were carrying
weapons. Scientists didn’t pack heat. These were hired thugs
with a strict uniform policy.
“Move,” they instructed us.
We moved. Through the door and into the cool interior
of the building.
“We’re in,” Rogan said. “Should we celebrate now? Or
wait until later?”
I gave him a look. How could he joke at a time like this? But
the mild humor in his voice didn’t reach his serious expression. “Shut up.” One of the men jammed the butt
of his gun into
Rogan’s back as we walked down a long bare hallway. The
white-tiled f loor squeaked against my boots. “Don’t make
me tell you again.”
My steps slowed as I saw who was waiting for us at the end
of the hallway.
It was Gareth Ellis. He stood there next to an open elevator with his feet spread, his arms folded across the front of his
expensive, black business suit. His blue-green eyes narrowed
at our approach.
“Welcome back, son,” he said as Rogan was shoved into
the elevator in front of me so hard that he hit the wall with
his shoulder.
“Son?” Rogan repeated through clenched teeth. “Is that
what I am to you? Are you sure about that?”
“I am.” Gareth’s mouth twisted into a strange smile, and
he glanced at me. “Why? Have you heard differently from
someone?”
A shove at my back made me stagger into the elevator, as
well. Four men in white coats pressed into the elevator with us,
and then Gareth stepped inside and the doors closed. Claustrophobia hadn’t been one of my fears in the past, but I strongly
considered letting it join the growing list.
We’d entered on the ground level, but the elevator took us
down even farther.
Joe had told us that the room with the artificial intelligence
server was in the sub-basement. These bastards had no idea
they were taking us closer to where we needed to be. The elevator lurched to a stop, and the doors opened on a
whole lot of white.
Gareth soundlessly stepped off the lift, and I felt a firm grip
circle my upper arm, crushing enough to bruise. One of the
men pulled me along another hallway.
All white. Everything was white and smelled of lemonscented antiseptic.
Never had pristine cleanliness looked more like death to me. “Where are you taking us?” Rogan demanded. The White Coat whacked his gun against the back of Rogan’s head. Not hard enough to knock him out, but definitely
hard enough to hurt.
Rogan turned a glare of uncensored fury on the man. “Do
that again and I’ll shove that gun up your ass and pull the
trigger.”
The man laughed, obviously unthreatened. “Yeah, sure you
will. Keep walking.”
Joe had said that he hadn’t wanted to work here. Despite
the perks, of which I was sure there were many, he couldn’t
stomach the sadistic nature of being controlled by a walking,