Dream Killing (10 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Figuring
that one more night not playing the game wouldn’t hurt anything, they decided
to not set their alarm clocks. Drew and Max enjoyed a game free night of sleep
and woke feeling refreshed and ready for today’s task. Keeping it casual, they
dressed for breakfast and went down to the restaurant. Afterwards, they went
for a walk around the pool and courtyard and prepared themselves mentally for
their upcoming interview.

When it was time for their meeting, they
summoned for their car and went to Adam Howard, Sr.’s house. When they got
there, they decided that “house” just wasn’t an appropriate word for the
sprawling mansion in front of them.

“Ready?” Drew’s question let Max know it
was now or never.

They were greeted at the door by Mr.
Howard himself. Drew had figured a butler would be letting them in.
Unexpectedly, Adam, Sr. looked younger than the picture they had seen and was
dressed much more casually than they would have imagined. They were led to the
patio and offered a seat between the pool and the garden.

“I must say, I was pretty surprised that
someone wanted to do a story about me. Ever since Center-Tech ended our
relationship, my life has been pretty quiet.”

“Well, Sir,” Drew began, “Our three part
series is actually about the advancement in technology over the past 20 years.
Your name kept popping up in our nano-technology research, so we figured it
would help us greatly to talk to you.”

“I’m a bit out of the loop as to what
advancements have been made, but I can tell you what I know about where the
technology was when I left.”

“Do you mind if we record our meeting,
Mr. Howard?” Max’s voice cracked a little bit out of nervousness, but she
covered well, taking a sip of water and excusing her dry throat.

“Not at all. As a matter of fact, once
we are done talking, I can send you off with a few of my books. They may be
able to shed a little more light on the subject.”

“That would be fantastic. Thank you,
Sir.”

“Please, call me Adam.”

Drew asked questions about the
technology Adam, Sr. was developing. As it turns out, Center-Tech had him
removed from the company citing that his research and development of a
nano-chip able to control people’s dreams was immoral. He explained to Drew and
Max that, in reality, it was supposed to be used for people who were suffering
with illnesses such as cancer. He was working with the medical field to develop
this technology so that patients could experience only positive dreams, helping
with their treatment and recovery. It would also be available to anyone who had
been subject to traumatic experiences, enabling them to not relive their trauma
through nightmares.

Adam, Sr. explained that Center-Tech
accused him of trying to play God and control people’s thoughts. Medical professionals
had tried to come to his defense, but the owner and CEO wouldn’t hear it. Mr.
Howard felt he was lucky that they didn’t have him locked up in a mental
institution; although it wasn’t from their lack of trying. There just simply
wasn’t enough evidence to have him committed.

“That was ten years ago. I never worked
again. It was really hard on my son, Adam, Jr. He was only 14 at the time, and
seeing me dragged through the mud day in and day out was more than any child
should have to witness.”

There it is! This is my chance to talk
about Adam!
That
was easier than Drew had figured it would be. “Is your son into science, too?”

“No. He never was interested in what I
did. He was all about skateboarding and video games. The only thing we had in
common was our love for boating.”

“Did he know what your project was
intended for?” Max asked.

“I told him as much as he would listen
to. Like I said, if it wasn’t a video game or a half pipe, he wasn’t all that
interested. He knew it could change people’s lives; improve their wellbeing,
but that was it.”

They talked for a while longer, and
after getting through all of the questions that Drew had for Adam, Sr., they
thanked him for his time. As promised, Mr. Howard sent them on their way with a
stack of books and gave them his direct contact information.

“Please, feel free to call me or email
if you have any other questions. It was really great talking to the two of you.
Have a safe trip back to…I don’t even know where you are based. Forgive me.”

“My apologies, I thought you were told.
We are here from Chicago.”

“What a coincidence! My son is actually
living in Chicago. This month, anyway.”

“He moves around a lot?” Max slipped her
question in.

“Yeah. One month he’s in Texas, the next
month he’s in some village in Africa, and then the next I hear from him he’s
back in the states. I never know where his travels will bring him next or how
long he’ll be there.”

“Well, thank you for your time Mr.
Howard. It was truly a pleasure,” Max said wholeheartedly as she extended her
hand.

Back in the limo, the Max and Drew
looked at each other. As they rounded the last curve of the long driveway they
sighed heavily and sat silently, soaking in the information they’d just
obtained.

“You did a great job, Max. You looked
and sounded like you were in your element.”

“I was scared to death he would figure
out that we weren’t reporters.”

“He had no clue.”

“Did you hear what he said, Drew?”

“About Adam being into video games?”

“Yeah. It was really creepy. Do you
think we are right about the game?”

“I think so now. What we have to figure
out is how it’s linked to the deaths. When we get back to the hotel I will
forward what we got to the office and have them send me any information they
have on similar deaths in Africa. It looks like this could possibly be global.”

The thought terrified Max, but the high
she was on after going on her first actual undercover assignment couldn’t be
hampered. When they got back to the hotel, they decided to celebrate. Knowing
they had a lot of work ahead of them, staying another day didn’t seem like a
smart idea, especially considering the new information they got about Adam and
his ability to just pick up and go. They decided that some champagne on the jet
back to Illinois would be a nice way to relax.

While on the plane they enjoyed their
champagne and a movie and treated it as if they were on a date. It was small,
but today was a victory. It gave them more information than they already had
and a direction to move in. They were almost sad to see the plane begin its descent.

***

When Drew and Max returned to the
apartment, they found a package inside the front door. Once they got settled
in, they decided to make themselves comfortable on the couch. There they opened
the package and spread its contents out on the coffee table. Inside they found
a list of mysterious deaths from a handful of other countries, an employment
history for Adam, Jr., and a set of credentials. Max looked confused.

“Congratulations, Sweetie, for the time
being, you are an official employee. You have all the clearance I have and will
be issued your own computer, firearm and contact.”

“What? Oh, Drew, I don’t know.”

“It’s just for now. This has officially
been made a case, and since I need you to continue helping me, they did a
background check on you and issued you everything you will need. This doesn’t
have to be permanent, but it will help us.”

“Huh. Really?” Max was almost
speechless.

“Really.”

“Firearm? I don’t want a gun. I get
enough gun action in the game.”

“It’s just a precaution.”

“Wow.”

Since they had traveled for the past 4
hours, they decided to go to bed; they had a lot to do and rest would be
important. This time they set their alarm clocks. Now that they knew the game
was an integral part of their investigation, they needed to continue. Surprisingly,
sleep came easy for both and before long they were back in the game. This time
they entered together.

***

Surprised by not having to search for
one another, Drew and Max made their way to the park to see if the children
were there. They had all decided together that the library was no longer safe,
making a pact to meet at the shed near the playground. As they made their way
in that direction, they were forced into a fire-fight with a small teenage
gang. Drew was intrigued by Max’s newfound confidence and skill as she took
down three of the five guys on her own.

“Nice going! I’m impressed.”

“It’s easier now that we have a goal.
Before now, I was only going through the motions, not really having much of a
choice.”

“Well, nice job. Now, let’s find those
kids.”

Weaving their way through the trees
alongside the path through the park, they finally caught sight of the swing
set. There were only three swings occupied, which meant that two of the
children were taken down. Drew found himself suddenly angry by the sight.

Max was the first to reach her perch on
the wall facing the swings. The kids were happy to see them but didn’t say a
word. It was dark, and since none of the buildings or streetlights were lit,
looking up provided a view of the night sky not normally offered in the big
city. The starts twinkled in the darkness, making it seem almost impossible
that they were entangled in such a deadly dream game.

Drew looked out over the water and saw a
faint light in the distance. It struck him as odd since nothing else in the
game was ever lit at night.

“Do you see that?”

“See what?” Max questioned as she turned
her head away from the park.

“There’s a light out there. See it?”

“Yeah. Weird.”

Figuring it was probably nothing, they
looked back towards the children. Knowing that they couldn’t stay there long,
they gathered up the kids and decided to head over to the zoo. Hopefully along
the way they would meet up with the two missing little ones.

The night air was unusually warm, hot in
fact, and that made for some tired and complaining children. As they reached
the entrance to the zoo, they heard something that surprised them. For the
first time in the game, the lions were roaring.

“I didn’t think there were any animals
left here!” Max was louder than she thought, and quickly realized that they
were not alone.

“Max, don’t move. Kids, stop.” Drew had
never sounded more serious and that caused everyone to do exactly what he said.

Off to the right, Drew realized that the
lion they had heard was in fact, on the loose. He slowly pulled his gun from
the waistband of his pants and pointed it at the beast. The lion lunged toward
the group and Drew fired as he dove out of the way. The lion landed with a
thud, just inches away from the kids.

“Run!” Drew sounded frantic as he
grabbed the hands of the two smallest children.

Max grabbed the third set of hands and
the group ran for shelter. They entered the monkey house, careful to make sure
they weren’t followed. As they went through a door, the realized how dark it
was inside and one by one, flashlights started turning on. Looking around, they
noticed that there were monkeys swinging in the trees and climbing on the
ropes. The children giggled and pointed.

When they reached the end of the path
through the building and went through the set of double doors, they were
greeted with bullets.

“Kids, get down!” Drew instinctively
shouted and once again pulled his weapon.

Max and Drew both fired back. The shots
seemed to go on forever, and when Max glanced over her shoulder, she realized
that the children were gone. She turned her attention to Drew and realized that
she was alone. Fear took over and she fired her last three rounds into the
darkness. Everything went silent. Max took a couple of steps forward and the
darkness took over.

*****

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Drew
couldn’t figure out why the sun was shining in his face, it had been so dark
just a moment before. He opened his eyes and saw Max beside the bed turning off
his alarm clock. Thankful to see her, he reached out and grabbed her hand. In
one swift motion, he pulled her onto the bed and she let out a laugh. Despite
all that was going on, they were still much happier than they had been for a
long time.

Within an hour Drew and Max were walking
into The Bean to get some coffee. Surprisingly, Adam wasn’t working. At the
same time, they were both relieved that they didn’t have to talk to him today.
It was becoming harder and harder for them to face him.

“Good morning, guys! What can I get for
you?” The barista was very pleasant.

“Two coffees, black and a couple of
blueberry muffins please,” Max said to the new girl behind the counter.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Drew was
curious as to why Adam wasn’t there. It seemed that he was always working.

“Yes I am. I just started today.”

“Nice to meet you. We were sort of
surprised. Adam never seems to miss a day, did he finally decide to take a day
off?”

“Adam? No, he’s the one who quit.”

“We’ll take that to go,” Drew said
quickly.

When they got back to Drew’s place, they
went into panic mode. If he was no longer working there, they would have no way
to keep an eye on him. Drew and Max both got onto their phones and called their
contacts. Oddly, while it was known where Adam had worked, the only address
they had for him was a P.O. Box. Drew called the office and put in a request
for more information.

“What are we gonna do now?” Max’s
question was met with silence.

Drew and Max put out warnings to the
appropriate people. If Adam tried to leave the state, or the country for that
matter, they would be alerted. It’s not an easy task when local law enforcement
isn’t brought in on things, but until they were sure he was involved in the
deaths, they couldn’t risk causing a panic.

Now, they had to try and figure out how
the deaths and the game were linked. Adam, Sr. said that Adam, Jr. was very
into video games, but how would he get the thought control technology without
his father?

“We have got to get into Center-Tech.”
Max’s voice sounded low and determined.

“What are you hoping to get from them?”

“Well, if we can find out where all the
nano-bots are that were created during the development phase, we may be able to
find Adam, Jr.”

“Nice thinking.”

Drew made a few calls and then it was
time to play the waiting game. About an hour later, Drew got a text letting him
know everything was in place and that more information would be sent in an
encrypted email. With that out of the way, they figured they may want to find
out if any of the other victims had alarm clocks like the ones that they had.
If T died and it had to do with the game, then that means that there must be a
ton of clocks out there.

“Run and get your alarm clock from the
bedroom, please.” Drew tried not to sound like he was barking orders, he didn’t
want this relationship to turn into a “work only” thing.

Max brought him the clock and they
looked over it very closely. They found, in raised letters at the bottom of the
clock, the name of the manufacturing company. With one call, they found out
that 200,000 clocks were made. They were also told that the order was placed in
the name of A. H. Stephens.

“A. H. Stephens? Why does that sound so
familiar?” Max looked confused. She went over to the table that held the pads
of paper she had been using to take notes. She feverishly flipped through page
after page. When she got about halfway through the second pad of paper she
suddenly stopped.

“Drew!”

“What did you find?”

“A. H. Stephens.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“You will feel silly when I say it.”

“Just say it.”

“Adam Stephen Howard.” When Max said it,
Drew just stared at her. “A is for Adam, H is for…”

“I know. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because it’s almost stupid how simple
it is. I wrote it on the paper, that’s the only reason it stuck out to me.”

Now they knew that he was directly
linked to the game. All they have to do now is figure out how the game is
linked to the deaths. They got the manufacturing company to send over a list of
how many clocks were sent where and when they were sent. While they waited for
the list to come, they started going through the books that Adam, Sr. wrote
hoping to find something that would stick out to them. They obviously couldn’t
count Sr. out as an accomplice, but at least they knew where he lived.

***

After hours of researching the
technology Adam, Sr. developed, an email came in. It was the list of where and
when the alarm clocks were sent. As expected, California, Texas, New York, and
Florida were on the list. However, Illinois was not listed. There were a few
countries outside of the United States listed, but they already had information
showing deaths occurring in those areas. The most recent shipments were made
last month, and those were showing as Kentucky and Arizona. Drew instantly
checked into deaths in the Phoenix area as well as the Louisville area. It
luckily turned out that no mysterious deaths had occurred in those areas…yet.

After a quick bite to eat, Drew and Max
decided to take a walk down to the lake to clear their heads. They sat on their
usual bench, looking out over the water. In the darkness, Max pointed out a
lone light, shining in the distance. It wasn’t out of place for a boat to be
out on the lake at night, in fact, it was very common. What struck Drew as odd
was that it was so far from all of the other boats on the water, and that it reminded
him of the light in the distance he remembered seeing in the game. Not saying
anything just yet, Drew held Max’s hand and enjoyed the almost silent evening
air.

Once back in the apartment, they decided
to go back over all of the notes they had been keeping on the pads of paper
knowing that sometimes things don’t seem extremely relevant at the time, but
later can make a huge difference. As they searched through the pages, Drew’s
phone let him know he had an email. After reading it, he stacked up all of the
pads of paper.

“Okay. Tomorrow evening we have a flight
out of O’hare. We have an appointment to meet with the head of Center-Tech.”
Drew’s voice sounded excited.

“So, back to Silicon Valley we go!”

“Yep, and we will be picked up from the
airport by the company limo, so we will definitely be flying by regular
airline.”

“We’d better pack.”

“We have time to do that tomorrow. Let’s
just put our stuff in the other room and relax. We need to rest our minds so we
can be sharp tomorrow.”

They decided it was best to get to sleep
and begin preparing for their second trip to California that week when they got
up in the morning. As they walked around the apartment, locking doors and
windows and turning off the lights, they were both lost in their own worlds.
Max was anxiously planning in her mind how the meeting with Center-Tech would
go, and Drew was thinking about the light he saw in the water during his dream
and also during their walk. He wasn’t really sure why it was weighing on his
mind the way it was. They set their alarm clocks and were both asleep almost as
soon as their heads hit their pillows.

***

Drew opened his eyes and looked around,
not recognizing anything he saw.
Now where am I,
he thought as he stood
up and tried to get a better look. The room was completely dark and when Drew
took a step forward, he bumped into a wall. He turned and had the same result.
Finally, after feeling around in the darkness, he found a doorknob and turned
it. When the door opened he realized he was in a closet.

Drew made his way down a long hallway
that opened up into an office at one end. The office was much like the one he
worked in for the alarm company, only this one was dark and empty. It looked as
though it had been abandoned many years ago.

Not knowing exactly where in the game he
was, he found the exit to the building and reached the street. He hoped he
would be able to find his way to the park. He made a few turns in the low light
of the city. He couldn’t tell if it was early morning or early evening. If he
had a compass, he would know approximately what time it was, but he didn’t, so
he had to find a landmark he was familiar with. It was the only way he’d know
what direction he was traveling.

As he made turn after turn, he
encountered shooters. Luckily his senses were heightened and he was able to
react quickly and save himself. He finally made it to the library. Knowing it
wasn’t safe or smart to go inside, he could at least make his way to the
playground from the library, so he moved on.

Once at the playground, he made his way
over to the wall. From there he could tell that it was indeed evening. The
light was quickly fading and he could see the lone light in the distance on the
water. He waited for a few moments, hoping to see Max or the children approach,
but when that didn’t happen, he decided to check the shed. He stayed close to
the wall as he moved. The shed was empty. Not wanting to shut himself in the
shed, he went back to his perch on the wall, periodically checking the light on
the water to see if it had moved.

For Drew, the game was getting old.
Knowing what he now knows, the game has lost its excitement. Drew would rather
be home, in bed, where at least he knew Max was safe. He sat there thinking
back to all of the days in the game. Suddenly something stuck out to him. One
of the days he was trying to escape the robot and its men, he remembered
hearing one of them yelling, “A!” Could “A” be Adam?

Drew realized that it all made perfect
sense. If Adam, Jr. is trying to control people’s dreams, and he is a big
gamer, why wouldn’t he throw himself into the game as a huge robot that can’t
die? He controls everything. He had to find Max. He had to keep her safe until
they could end this game.

Drew moved through the park, careful to
watch for shooters. He wasn’t exactly sure where she was. Without knowing where
to look, he figured he would try the harbor. As he worked his way through the
park, it became darker and darker. He looked through a break in the trees and
saw that clouds were moving in. This helped him as he stepped out into the open
at the other end of the park. With the light of the moon obstructed, it would
be harder for people to see him edge his way toward the boats.

Remembering how badly the boat that he
and Max had hid in was damaged, he decided to check the boats halfway down the
pier. It was quiet, except for the sounds of shooting in the distance. Drew
crouched low as he made his way down the pier, hoping that the boats would be
enough shield. He thought he heard a noise, so he stopped. He could hear water
softly slosh around a boat. He moved slowly to the boat he heard the noise from
and climbed aboard. Gun drawn, he worked his way to the stairs. As he crept
down the steps he thought he heard whispering.

Drew was aware of the fact that someone
other than himself was on the boat. If he knew they were there, it was likely
that they knew he was there. Ready to fire, he flashed his light three times
and braced for a gun battle. Instead of shots, he saw three flashes of light
come from the back of the boat. Moving quickly, Drew entered the aft cabin and
saw Max with all five children.

“Great minds think alike,” Max
whispered.

“After not finding you at the playground
or the shed, I didn’t know where else to look. I figured I’d try here.”

“How did you know what boat we were in?”

“I didn’t,” Drew started, “until I heard
the water move around this one. We have to be careful.”

The seven of them sat in silence for a
while, listening to the sounds of shooting and shouting that were coming from
the city. The children were getting restless. They decided to head back to the
playground. It seemed that, for some reason, the children were rarely bothered
at the park.
Was that part of Adam’s plan? Did he actually have enough heart
to give the children a place of safety?
Drew hoped the answer to those
questions was yes, otherwise he would be endangering them by letting them play
so freely.

*****