Countdown (18 page)

kill
him.”

I COULDN’T HAVE HEARD HIM RIGHT. “WHAT did you just say?”
His jaw tightened. “You heard me. Jonathan said it himself. My father begged for Jonathan to kill him when he had the chance. It’s the only way to put him out of his misery and to get rid of the virus once and for all. It’s evil, Kira. It has to be stopped before more people get hurt. It’s the only way.”
I’d sacrificed my chance at the shuttle to help Rogan with a rescue mission, not to be an accessory to murder. “There has to be another answer.”
He gave me a sidelong look as we hurried along the crowded sidewalk. “Oh? And please tell me what it is, being as you’re so technically savvy.”
“Sarcasm not terribly appreciated right now. I don’t know anything about computers or viruses or anything, but I can’t believe the only option is to kill him.”
He hissed out a breath. “Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”
“You’re not a murderer, Rogan.”
“I killed that kid in St. Augustine’s.”
“Only because you had to. But this is your own father.”
He glared at me again as if he couldn’t figure out why I was giving him such a hard time. “This is difficult, don’t think it isn’t. Why didn’t you stay on that shuttle? Then at least I’d know you were safe. Damn it, Kira. Why did you have to jump off?”
Because I think I’m falling in love with you.
But of course I didn’t say that out loud. The thought, which came out of nowhere, shocked even me, since I hadn’t realized the truth of it until this very moment. My throat tightened. “Because…because you need my help. I’m in this just as much as you are, you know. And even if I had made it to the Colony doesn’t mean that your father’s men would have stopped looking for me. Can you promise me that they won’t? That they won’t try to hunt me down wherever I am?”
His jaw tightened. “I can’t promise anything right now.”
I crossed my arms and kept walking. “Didn’t think so.”
My now implant-free brain was working overtime. Computers. Viruses. Artificial intelligence. Stuff that could have been pulled straight out of my parents’ collection of old scifi movies. I’d seen things while playing
Countdown
that I’d never seen before in my life—things I never dreamed possible. Holoscreens, cranium implants, a freaking talking evil robot that had shot me in the damn leg.
It was all way, way out of my league, and I knew it. Sure, I could pick a pocket or con somebody into buying me lunch on a good day, but apart from my Psi ability, which I was only starting to get a hang of, that was about where my talents ended.
I looked around the street. This area suddenly seemed familiar to me. “Where are we headed, again?” Rogan handed me the business card. I studied the logo that looked like an H. “I’ve seen this somewhere before, but I forget where.”
“Wherever it is, I need to talk to this Joe guy,” he said. “But Jonathan didn’t tell me how he might be able to help or what this place is.”
My eyes widened as it finally clicked for me. “Wait a minute. I do know what this is. And I know somebody who goes there all the time.”
“Who?”
“Oliver. The guy from the mall, remember? I’ve been friends with him for months. This place…I know it because he wears the logo on a T-shirt. It’s an underground gaming den. If he’s not at the mall, he’s there. He hangs out there for hours, sometimes days.”
Rogan stared at the business card, his brows drawing together. “This is a gaming den? You’re sure? How did Jonathan think some guy who can be found at a place like that’s supposed to help us?”
I shook my head. “No idea.”
“Maybe he gave me the wrong card to throw me off so I wouldn’t get in his way. For all I know, maybe he didn’t have a plan to stop my father in the first place.”
“He died to help us and to give you that card. Let’s make sure he didn’t die in vain, okay?” I touched his arm to stop him from walking. “We can check it out. Maybe Oliver will know who Joe is.”
He looked grim. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Considering that your other option at the moment is storming one of the biggest office buildings left in the city and trying to take out the CEO by force, I’d say this is something that we look into.”
“If I tried walking through the front doors of Ellis Enterprises right now, I have no doubt they’d shoot me on sight.”
I nodded firmly. “Then let’s go to this place and hope Oliver’s there. If anything seems off, then we’ll get out of there and look for him at the mall instead.”
He didn’t say anything for so long, I was sure he was going to argue with me some more. But he didn’t.
“Fine. I still think it was a bad move for you to jump off that shuttle, Kira. But…” His gaze locked with mine. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said as he drew closer to me. He leaned toward me, his attention shifting to my lips. I suddenly forgot how to breathe.
Then suddenly, somebody banged into us and totally ruined the moment.
“Watch where you’re walking,” an old man snapped as he gave us the evil eye. “Get off the sidewalk and get a room. Damn useless kids.”
The perfect moment for another kiss had been destroyed, but it was probably for the best, given the gravity of our situation. “We need to get going. The place isn’t far from here.”
Rogan tore his gaze away from me to study the sidewalk stretching out before us. “Then lead the way.”

Years ago, kids used to get together and play networked videogames in secret underground dens, staying for hours and hours working their way through the levels—fighting against each other or working in teams to accomplish their digitized goals.

Not that much had changed, really. Ever since the Great Plague, new technology offered to the general public was both rare and exorbitantly expensive, so the same sort of games being played twenty-five years ago were still popular today.

Oliver was one of these kids, bringing his ratty old laptop computer to his secret gaming headquarters to get plugged in. He had always bragged to me about how amazing he was and how nobody could beat him. He was “a god among gods” when it came to kicking ass and taking names in the digital jungle. At least, according to Oliver himself.

To me, playing games that earned you nothing but wasted time was, well, a waste of time. Therefore, I’d never paid too much attention to computers.

That was before a walking, talking computer put a bullet in my leg.
Now I was ready to take a stand and say that I wasn’t a big fan of them.
“Here.” I nodded when we got to the location on the business card around an hour after leaving the safe house—and saying goodbye to the Shuttle of My Dreams. The front door had no marking other than the H-symbol. I remembered now. According to Oliver—when I’d asked him about the logo on his T-shirt—it was the
Hagalaz,
a rune symbol that stood for “controlled chaos.”
Welcome to the Secret Society of Gamer Geeks
.
Rogan nodded, pushed the door open and we went inside.
I still had hope, but it was waning with every passing minute. How was somebody from this place supposed to help us? All I knew for sure was that I didn’t want Rogan to get killed by trying to assassinate his father, so any other option was better than that.
But I also knew the man had to be stopped. Some way and somehow. There was no other choice.
And the familiar geek playing the war-zone videogame in the corner of the dark basement at the bottom of a sketchy f light of stairs might be just the person to help us stop him.
The only light in the basement came from the f lickering screens of ten computers. All of the guys—and they were all guys, no girls—sat staring at their computer screens as if hypnotized.
Any socializing between them was being done on screen— and it looked as if there were a lot more people playing than the handful in this room. I knew those gamers could be anywhere on the planet if they had the cash or connections to get on a good network. Each screen showed a different piece of the digitized action. Each player was fitted with a visor that hooked into his computer. Oliver told me once that he owed a small fortune to the owner of this place for the extra equipment, but it made everything seem more real—as if he was really playing a game of life and death.
Having experienced the real deal, I had to say that playing for your life wasn’t nearly as much fun as he might think.
There was a stale smell of sweat in the basement, along with something sweet and a little sickening, and a very faint odor of urine.
Lovely.
I didn’t always stay in the nicest, cleanliest five-star resorts, but this was not up to even my low standards. In fact, I’d rather not see what might be crawling around in here if they ever turned on the overhead lights.
“Nice place,” Rogan whispered to me as he surveyed the room. “You come here often?”
“Oh, yeah,” I replied drily. “Every day. Can’t get enough.” “There’s your friend.” He nodded in the direction of Oliver, who was hunched over with his back to the stairwell.
“Wait here,” I said to him. “Or somebody might recognize the infamous Rogan Ellis.”
“Wouldn’t want that.”
The f loor was carpeted and seemed a little squishy under my boots.
Gross.
I glanced back at Rogan while I moved through the dark room—luckily not quite dark enough to trigger anything but a niggling sensation of my phobia. As long as I could see what was going on around me, I was fine. Mostly fine.
Oliver was completely focused on his computer screen. His hands, encased in cybergloves, gestured, pointed and waved as he worked his way through the game. Onscreen, his game avatar walked down a darkened hallway with dirty walls. The tip of a weapon was visible at the bottom of the screen—a big gun, maybe even a f lamethrower.
Despite my disinterest in the gaming world, I recognized the game
.
It had something to do with the bad guys trying to take over the world and the good guys trying to stop them.
The first thing you had to do was decide which side you were on.
“Oliver.” I reached forward and closed my hand over his shoulder.
He shot up from the seat and let out a hoarse scream. Onscreen, the door in front of the computer-Oliver burst open, and I could see the outline of a figure who immediately opened fire. Digital blood trickled down from the top of the game screen.
Words then appeared:

YOU’RE DEAD, LOSER! NUCLEARXXX KILLED YOUR SORRY ASS! EVIL REIGNS!

Oliver swore and whipped off his gloves. Then he took off his goggles and furiously spun around to face whoever had just made him lose his fake life.

His eyes widened when he saw it was me.
“Kira!” he squeaked. “What are you doing here?” I grimaced and nodded at the screen. Typed-in taunts were

coming in from other players. He wasn’t being mourned for his great on-screen sacrifice in his battle for good, that was for sure.

“Sorry about that,” I said.
He looked regretfully at the screen, where the latest mes

sage read:
LMAO UR A LOSER!!!!!!
“Yeah, well, whatever.” Then his gaze shot back to me.
“Kira, what are you doing here?”
I bit my bottom lip. “I need your help.”
His brows drew together. “Didn’t you ask me for help in
the mall before you went all psycho and took off? I thought
you were mad at me or something.”
Definitely
or something
. “No, I’m not mad. The psycho thing
might be debatable, though.” I’d wanted to keep from drawing him into this mess, but now that the game part was over
for me and Rogan, Oliver could be just the help we needed.
“I’ve been really distracted lately. I’m sorry if I seemed like a
bitch to you.”
“You told me to leave you alone.”
I forced a smile. “I was having a really bad day.” Fear slid behind his gaze. “You were with that guy—” He hadn’t seen Rogan yet, standing to the side of the room
cloaked in shadows. “Oliver, listen to me. I need your help.” “She needs help. Nice.” Another kid next to Oliver peeled
off his visor. “You need some time alone? Oliver, I didn’t
know you had a girlfriend. She’s hot, too.” His gaze raked
me from head to foot.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Oliver said very coldly. “She’d
rather be with guys who have police records. Sorry I’m not
up to par yet, Kira. Where’s your new friend?”
“Right here.” Rogan appeared at my side. “Is there a problem?”
I sighed. I didn’t think his presence would be very helpful when it came to getting Oliver to talk. Call it a hunch.
But too late now. “I thought I asked you to wait over there.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I guess I don’t take orders
very well. Sound familiar?”
I shot him a look. He was still pissed that I hadn’t gotten
on that shuttle.
Rogan looked at Oliver. “Now, I believe that Kira was
asking you for some help. Are you really saying no to her?” Oliver’s eyes widened. “I…I…don’t know. Um…” “Just chill,” I said to Rogan, getting worried now. “We
don’t need everybody in here freaking out right now.” The other kid took a step closer. “You’re Rogan Ellis.” He didn’t seem to be freaking out. Which was a good start. Rogan studied him for a moment. “That’s right.” “You can call me Snake.”
Rogan eyed him. “Snake?”
“It’s my screen name and I prefer it to my real one. Dude,
I can’t believe this. Rogan Ellis standing three feet away from
me.”
My mouth went dry. I didn’t want a confrontation right
here. Not now, there wasn’t time.
“Let me guess,” Rogan said drily. “You collect the signa
tures of convicted murderers like me.”
“Nope.” Snake shook his head. “You totally didn’t do it.” Rogan’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t?”
“No.” The kid frowned. “Why, are you saying that you
did?”
“No…it’s just—” Rogan closed his mouth for a moment,
and his gaze f licked to mine. “It’s just that everybody always
assumes I’m some kind of monster.”
The kid f licked his hand dismissively. “You were set up. It’s
obvious to anybody with half a brain. I have a website devoted
to proving the conspiracy that got you locked up.” I eyed Oliver. “Did you hear about this?”
Oliver nodded. “Yeah, but Snake’s theory is that it has to
do with aliens. I never took it too seriously.”
Snake glared at him. “Shut up, loser.”
Oliver didn’t even look at the kid; he stayed focused on
me. “I tried to show you one of those sites a few months ago
as a joke but you blew me off. Said you weren’t interested in
some dumbass rich kid. Guess you’re interested now, huh?” Rogan glanced at me for my response. “Dumbass rich kid?” I cleared my throat. “Well, um…right. Now that you mention it, I think I do remember.”
Hindsight sure had a strange sense of humor.
“Listen, Oliver,” I said, trying very hard to get us back on
track. “We’re looking for somebody you might know. Somebody named Joe. Do you know him?”
Another gamer had taken off his visor and gloves and stood
to the side watching our interaction silently. The remaining
seven players continued on as if nothing existed outside of
their videogame.
“I’m Joe,” he said. His expression was anything but friendly.
“And you’re Rogan Ellis.”
Rogan eyed him. “Then you’re the one I’m looking for. I
was told you could be found here.”
“I’m always here. I own the place.” He scanned Rogan
slowly. “I’m glad to meet you.”
The owner of the place Jonathan had a business card for
was glad to meet Rogan. That had to mean something. Hopefully something good.
“Glad to meet you, too,” Rogan replied.
“A lot’s changed since the last time we saw each other.” Rogan now studied the guy suspiciously. “We’ve met before?”
“Not officially. I saw you in passing three years ago when I
came in to interview for a job at Ellis Enterprises.” Joe leaned
back against the table. “We shared an elevator.”
“Sorry.” Rogan shook his head. “I don’t remember.” “I’m sure you don’t. But I do.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“I was completely f loored to be sharing the same air as you.
For a kid barely fifteen, you were so…I don’t know. Impressive, I guess. Thought I’d take a moment and try to break the
ice, so I commented on your father’s secretary’s ass. She had a
very fine ass.” His lips thinned. “When we got off the elevator you told your father not to hire me. I heard you.” Rogan forehead creased as if he was trying to think back.
“I don’t remember that at all.”
Joe shrugged. “Hey, whatever. It’s been a long time. You’ve
been through hell since then, I know that. You’re out of juvie
already? Were you proven innocent of those crazy charges?” “Yeah. Something like that.”
I looked at Oliver. He was watching the conversation intently. The other kid, Snake, had gone back to playing his
game.
Oliver gave me a pinched look. “I can’t believe you’d want
to be with this guy.”
There was dark venom attached to those words—and more
than a little palpable jealousy.
If you asked me, the hairy eyeball he was giving Rogan
probably had less to do with the fact that Rogan was a wrongly
convicted murderer and former spoiled-rich-kid drug addict,
and more that he was a good-looking guy in my company. “Oliver—” I began.
He held up a finger. “I have to take a leak.”
He turned his back on me and left the room.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Never mind.”
“So, what are you doing here?” Joe asked.
Rogan reached into his pocket and pulled out the business
card. “A man named Jonathan gave this to me. He told me to
find you, that you might be able to help me. He worked for
Ellis Enterprises, too.”
Worked
. Past tense. I shivered.
Joe shook his head. “Sorry, I have no idea why he’d give
you that card. I don’t have anything to do with Ellis Enterprises. I mean, I don’t work there, do I?” He gave Rogan a
humorless grin. “No hard feelings, of course.”
Rogan studied him for a moment. “Have you ever heard
of something called
Countdown?
”
“Rogan…” My heart pounded. It felt almost like a magic
word; say it too loudly and the bad guys would bust in and
grab us or something.
I waited, but nobody busted in. I was embarrassed to real
ize how relieved that made me feel.
“Countdown,” Joe repeated slowly. “Now, you
could
be referring to a listing of the top pop songs of the week, or you
could be referring to a death game on a secret televised network. Given your expression, the second seems more likely.
Survive or die, right? Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Thought it was
just a rumor.”
“Just a rumor?” Rogan said. “Then why do you have a
folder on your desktop labeled
Countdown?
Just a crazy coincidence?”
Even in the half darkness I could see Joe blanch. He swore under his breath as Rogan grabbed his shirt and
threw him against the table. All the computers shook. The other gamers removed their goggles to see what the
disturbance was.
Rogan glared at them. “All of you, get out of here right
now.”
He said it with enough menace to clear the room immediately. They f led up the stairs and out of the building. Joe didn’t fight back against Rogan, but he looked a bit
more afraid now.
“Talk,” Rogan growled.
“Okay, okay. After I didn’t get that job, I was pissed. And
I wasn’t pissed at myself. I blamed you one hundred percent.
That was a wicked opportunity my father set up. He said it
was a sure thing and then some smart-ass rich kid had to blow
it for me. I hated your guts, and I admit I celebrated when
your life took a nosedive.”
Rogan didn’t let go of him. “So you hated me. Join the
club, it’s a big one. What then?”
“I went home and sank into a mega depression. I worked
hard on a little present for Ellis Enterprises to get back at you—
and everyone else. I was bitter, of course. And, hey, I had a lot
of time on my hands being unemployed. At the time I lived
with my father—him and Mr. Ellis went to college together.
That’s how he knew your father well enough to get me the
interview. Same circles and all that. I’d heard a rumor about
Countdown,
and that’s where I wanted to be. I wanted to be a
part of something for real that I normally just played online.
It would have been so sweet.”
“What was the present you’re talking about?” I asked. He eyed me. “Well, first I had to hack the Ellis mainframe
before I could do anything. Took me a while to do that until
I finally got in.”
There was silence in the room.
“And when you got in, what did you do?” Rogan asked
quietly.
“I uploaded a virus. A nice juicy one I’d made specially
for you. One that would know its way around and sink into
everything and start eating all of Ellis Enterprise’s precious
data. I uploaded it and waited to hear news of the system going
down. Of your future fortune going up in f lames. But other
than the blackout that night, there was nothing. However, the
next day you got your ass arrested for those murders. I figured my virus was a failure, but karma had worked its special
magic, anyway.”
My eyes had widened with every word he’d said. The virus.
The virus that had seeped into the artificial intelligence program and uploaded itself into Gareth Ellis’s implant during
the power surge.
The thing that had ruined Rogan’s life.
All because of a job opportunity lost for a throwaway sex
ist remark.
A f lap of a butterf ly’s wing turning into the proverbial
hurricane.
Rogan laughed then, and it sounded just this side of insane. “What is it?” I managed. “What’s so funny?”
Rogan finally let go of Joe. “My father’s secretary—she was
really nice to me whenever I came to the office. Now I don’t
even remember her name.”
Joe shook his head. “She had a great ass.”
I couldn’t believe this. Jonathan must have known. He’d
known that Joe was the one responsible for the original virus.
That’s why he’d told us to come here.
But why? Why would he care who created the virus? What
difference would it make now? And, if it could make a difference, why hadn’t Jonathan come to Joe himself?
Maybe this was his last resort if he couldn’t find another
solution. And maybe Jonathan was being watched too carefully. I mean, one wrong step today had gotten him killed. I moved closer to stand at Rogan’s side. Joe was pale and
breathing hard, but he didn’t look guilty for what he’d done;
he looked annoyed that he’d been caught after all this time. He didn’t know what had happened. He honestly thought
his virus hadn’t worked.
“Is there an antivirus?” Rogan asked.
Of course! An antivirus. That had to have been what Jonathan was after.
Joe raised his eyebrows. “An antivirus? After all this time?
Why would you even care anymore?”
He had asked; so Rogan told him. Rogan told him all of it—about the virus, the blackout, the corruption of his fa
ther’s implant.
It wasn’t long before sweat slid down Joe’s forehead. “You’re
serious, aren’t you?”
“Trust me,” Rogan said. “I wouldn’t joke about this.” “Ever since my virus failed…” Joe paced back and forth in
the small, dark space. “Or since I
thought
it failed, I’ve been
obsessed with all things Ellis, especially anything to do with
Countdown
. I even reapplied for a job there a few months ago.
Your father interviewed me personally, which surprised me
since he’s, you know, Gareth Ellis, the freaking all-powerful
billionaire. Anyway, he offered me the job. Then he told me
about the implants. Still sounded cool, so I got fitted with one
while I made my decision on the job offer. I got to actually
watch a few levels of
Countdown
. Man, I was so stoked.” He
rubbed his hand vigorously over his forehead. “But then I saw
somebody get eliminated. They killed him right on camera.
Mr. Ellis laughed it off like it was nothing. Told me that this
was the future and I should get used to it. He showed me the
contract. He pretty much wanted me to sign in blood. Then
somebody approached me. He told me that he’d help me get
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