Dream Killing (12 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Back
at Drew’s apartment, they put their stuff away and then quickly went to work.
Max set out to find out as much as she could about Sr.’s wife while Drew did
some more searching for information Adam. It didn’t take long before Max stood
up, stretched and walked over to Drew at his desk.

“Well, it’s true. Lana Camille
Chauvin-Howard, wife of Adam Steven Howard, Sr. is living in France where she
is dying of a brain tumor.” Max announced this fact with a tone that resembled
relief. Drew assumed that she was hoping the mother had nothing to do with all
of the death involved.

Holding a printout, she continued, “Lana
was born and raised in France and then moved to the states when she turned 18.
She kind of fell off the map for some time and then resurfaced as Mrs. Howard.
When she left the states, she returned to France and her brain tumor was
detected about this time last year. She has a squeaky clean record and in fact,
she’s known for her fundraising and charities.”

“Okay, so, we can count her out as an
accomplice, at least for now.”

“For now. They are still trying to find
more information on her. I felt funny about the fact that she has a tendency to
fly under the radar and there are years at a time where they see nothing on her.”

“I’ve only been able to find little
tidbits of info. If this really is him doing all of this, he’s good. His
education doesn’t go past high school and the classes he did take until
graduation are only the basics and a few electives barely worth mentioning. He
has no computer certification. He actually has no certifications of any type.
He has a few accounts with some online gaming communities, but hasn’t logged on
recently. He is known for winning gaming competitions.” Drew’s news didn’t have
him excited.

They decided that, just in case Adam
logged onto one of his gaming sites, they would set up accounts and join the
games to see if they could keep an eye on him that way. If he logged on, they
would be able to alert the team back at the office who could then put a trace
on him. They spent the rest of the evening eating pizza they ordered while
creating their accounts. It wound up being quite fun for both of them. They got
to give themselves crazy user IDs and really enjoyed creating their characters.
Once they each had created two accounts, they decided it wouldn’t hurt to just
play for a while and get to see what kind of games these actually were.

Time got away from them and before they
knew it, it was already after midnight. Neither of them quite understood why
people get so into these games, but at the same time, it shed some light on
what Adam was interested in. They logged off of the games and shut everything
down for the night. After locking up and turning off lights, they made their
way to the bedroom. They set their alarm clocks and enjoyed some peace and
quiet in each other’s arms.

***

Surprisingly, when Drew opened his eyes,
he was sitting with his back against the wall separating the playground from
the lake. Looking around he could see that all five children were present but
Max wasn’t. He didn’t like not knowing where she was, but thought that he
should probably stick around for a while before he went looking for her. He
didn’t want to be out looking for her if she made it to the park.

For the first time in the game, the sky
was completely blue and the sun was shining brightly. Drew found himself
wondering if that was another aspect of the game being controlled from the
outside. Knowing that whatever he did his thoughts and actions were always going
to be known by the one controlling the game, he just set out to keep the number
on his watch steady.

Drew decided that he couldn’t sit there
any longer. He had to go find Max. He let the children know what he was doing,
feeling safe leaving them on the swings. As he made his way through the park,
he encountered a few people. He was able to shoot one, but the other two got
away. He neared the edge of the park and wasn’t sure which way he should go. As
he readied to turn out of the park and head into the city, he caught a movement
out of the corner of his eye.

Thankfully, it was Max. She had entered
the game first and was out looking for Drew. Together they returned to the
children and found that they were no longer on the swings. They looked in the
shed, but they weren’t there either. Before leaving the playground area, Drew
looked out over the water. He wanted to see if he could see anything out there
where the light shone each night. He couldn’t see anything out there. That left
Drew disappointed. They decided to move to the boat. There they were able to
see farther and would know when someone approached them. Hopefully, if the
children weren’t already there, they would eventually find their way.

It was a rough trip back through the
park and to the boat. They encountered not only more shooters, but as they
neared the end of the path they could see the robot. He was a couple of blocks
over and Drew was sure he had heard the gunfire. Max suggested they stay right
where they were and see where the robot goes. He didn’t seem to be moving at
all. In fact, the only movement he made was to turn his back to them. It was as
if the keeper of the game was allowing them to get to safety.

While Drew was anxious to get out of the
park, Max wasn’t as eager. There was something about the robot turning around
that she just didn’t trust. Knowing they couldn’t stay there forever, Max
relented and they made their move to the edge of the water. Instead of walking
the pier to get to the boat, they took the route that Drew had taken once
before. They climbed slowly into the water and swam silently to the boat.
Before climbing aboard, Drew looked around to make sure there was nobody who
could see them.

Once on the boat, Max went over to their
stash of guns. Luckily, they had the forethought to hide the water bags near
the playground, so the guns they carried were kept out of the water along with
their flashlights. Together, they took stock of their weapons and ammunition.

They could hear what sounded like the
largest gun battle so far in the game. Slightly lifting the curtains on the
window, they could see the robot on the street at the other end of the harbor.
He was surrounded by a large group of men. Max found herself wondering why so
many men would want to follow the robot. She also wondered why the robot was
the only thing in the game that never seemed to die.

As if reading Max’s mind again, Drew
spoke, “It’s him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The robot, it’s Adam. Remember how I
told you that one of the nights I played, I was running from the robot and his
men and one of the men was yelling, ‘A!’? I know it’s him.”

“How long have you know?”

“Since that night. Well, I didn’t
actually know for sure, but it just makes sense. It’s got to be him.”

“He’s controlling the game and playing
it?”

“Why wouldn’t he? He’s sick, Max.”

“Why would he not tell his men where we
are, or where our weapons are? Why would he turn his back to us and let us get
to the boat?”

“That I haven’t quite figured out yet.”

They continued to watch the battle on the
street. People were dropping left and right. Thankful that it wasn’t them, they
both secretly wondered when their luck would end. They spent a while just
watching, when all of a sudden a small group of men started running toward the
harbor. They both looked at each other and knew they had to do something.

Gathering the water bags, they put as
many of their weapons inside as possible. They grabbed their flashlights and
threw them in as well. Knowing it would be hard for Max to swim with such heavy
bags, he gave her the lightest one and threw the others on his back. As quietly
as they could, they went topside and dipped down into the water.

They stayed just outside the boat long
enough to see that the men were making their way along the road that led to the
harbor. A few of them dipped into the park when they reached the path and the
rest kept moving forward. Drew noticed that none of the men were looking in
their direction, so he figured it was now or never. Moving as quickly as they
could through the freezing water, they made it to the end of the pier and
ducked under the ledge so they wouldn’t be seen.

The men stepped out onto the pier. They
began knocking things into the water, but never said a word. Max and Drew could
hear the men shooting but couldn’t see which direction they were firing. Max
was absolutely freezing and Drew knew he had to get her out of the water.
Moving away from the ledge, Drew could see that the men were all the way at the
other end of the pier and seemed to be facing away from them.

Drew climbed out of the water first,
laid down the bags and reached down for Max’s hand. She grabbed it with both of
her hands and he began to pull her out of the water. Just as she was pulled
from the water, the men at the other end of the pier began firing. Pulling Max
away from the water and slinging her aside, he reached into one of the bags and
pulled out a weapon. Firing the gun as he stepped backwards, Drew saw Max lying
on the ground. He figured she had just fallen from the force of being thrown aside.
He took one more step back and realized she had been shot. He tried dragging
her and the bags to shelter, but it was too late. Max disappeared; it was as if
she was never there.

Angry, Drew lifted two guns at once and
started shooting at the men that were coming closer. When those two guns were
empty, he picked up two more. He kept at it until he was out of weapons to
fire. He attempted to reload, but the few men that were left had the advantage
and Drew knew it was his time. All three fired on him at the same time. Drew
felt his body jerk with each shot. He landed on the ground at Max’s side. As
the lights faded, he laid his hand on top of hers.

*****

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When
Drew opened his eyes, he realized his hand was still on top of Max’s. He turned
his head and saw her peacefully sleeping. Reaching over to his nightstand, he
turned off his alarm. He then walked over to Max’s side of the bed and turned
her alarm off. She was sleeping so peacefully, he really didn’t have the heart
to wake her after what she just went through in the game. He decided to let her
sleep a little longer.

Out in the kitchen, Drew made a pot of
coffee and decided to whip up a nice breakfast for them to enjoy. He decided he
would wake Max when the food was ready. As he prepared the bacon and eggs, Drew
thought about how much he had grown to hate the game. He remembered how he was
almost excited at the prospect of getting to play when he first entered, but
now it was just making him angrier and angrier.

With breakfast complete, he went back to
the bedroom to wake Max. He gently kissed her forehead and her eyes fluttered.
She let out a soft sigh and a sleepy smile spread across her face. Drew
realized at that moment that he could do this for the rest of his life. He had
never had a long term relationship, and to be honest, he never wanted one. Now,
however, he was realizing that he had been missing out.

He led Max down the hall to the kitchen
where he grabbed the large tray of food, orange juice and coffee. Nudging her
towards the door to the roof, he said, “Come on, I want you to see something.”

When they reached the roof, he set the
tray down and took her by the hand. At the east edge of the roof he said, “You
can’t really get a good view of the sunset from here, but the view of the
sunrise is incredible, don’t you think?”

“Oh, Drew! I never thought a sunrise in
this city could be so perfect!”

From the rooftop, they could see the sun
poking up over the lake. There were a handful of sailboats drifting across the
water. For a few moments both of them felt as though there was only good in the
world. Then they turned to eat breakfast and knew where the conversation would
go. As they ate, they planned out their day.

First order of business was a trip over
to see Sr. and go over, in depth, all of the information they have gathered to
this point. They were hoping that a new set of eyes would be able to find
something they hadn’t thought of.

Adam, Sr. was in a fairly pleasant mood
when they arrived, but as they poured over the information, Max sensed that
what was sadness yesterday was growing into disappointment and anger. Sr. kept
asking how his son could do something like this and neither of them had an
answer.

After a few hours, Sr. asked them about
the dream game. He wanted them to tell him exactly how they got involved and
what the game is like. He was hoping that by hearing about it he would be able
to figure out how his son was able to do it. The technology was nowhere near
being complete when he left Center-Tech, and without total knowledge of
computer programming, he didn’t know how his son would be able to complete such
a project.

The next hour or so was spent giving Sr.
the condensed version of how the game works and how they think they got
involved. What Drew and Max were having a hard time understanding was how the
chips would get inside of them. That, Sr. explained, was the easy part. He told
them that the chips were only about as small as a coarse grain of salt and that
the easiest way for them to get into the body is through the mouth. They then
work their way to the electrical impulses in the brain. Once there, they can be
controlled through computer to function, all they need is a source for the
signal to work through. In this case, it was the alarm clocks.

About the time they were wrapping things
up with Sr., the delivery of food came and Drew and Max slipped out while he
was putting his groceries away. They couldn’t help but feel like Adam couldn’t
be working alone. Drew also knew that he had made a mistake in the game when he
told Max that Adam was the robot. Now Adam would know they were onto him.
He
can’t possibly keep track of hundreds of people’s thoughts all at the same
time; that would literally be impossible.
Drew really hoped his thoughts
were right.

When they returned to Drew’s apartment,
they were having trouble focusing on what to do next. It was all such a mess.
So much had gone on, and they felt like they hit a wall as far as new
information coming in. Rather than drive themselves crazy going over the same
stuff again, they decided to wait to hear from their contacts about any new
information. Taking an evening off could do them good. They ordered Chinese
again and took it up to the roof. The sun would be going down soon and it was a
pleasant evening.

As they sat watching the sun dip down
behind the buildings as far to the West as they could see, they leaned back in
their chairs and let the breeze blow across their faces. Late spring in Chicago
is absolutely beautiful. As soon as the sun was gone and the darkness
surrounded them, they walked over to the east side of the roof and looked
toward the lake. Max found it amazing how just this morning she was watching
the sun rise over the water and now it was so dark. Aside from the moon, the
stars and the glimmers of light on the water, there was nothing.

As if nature was out to get them, Drew
and Max noticed a storm rolling in behind them. It was odd, because there were
barely any clouds in the sky only moments before. The clouds moved fast and
before long, they had swallowed the moon and stars. Thunder roared above them
and lightning went wild in the sky. Just as they were about to turn to go
inside, Drew saw the little light appear in the distance, moving up and down in
the wavy water.

Max grabbed the bag of trash from dinner
and Drew grabbed their drinks and they ran downstairs and into the apartment
before the rain hit. When everything was put away, she tossed a fortune cookie
at Drew and they plopped on the couch to see what their fortunes would be.

Drew’s read: Not all is as it seems.

Max’s read: Others will dictate your
future.

“What the hell kind of fortunes are
those?” Max sounded frustrated.

“I know. It’s almost creepy. It’s like
they are talking to us specifically.”

“Well, according to yours, we are seeing
something wrong, or there’s more to what we have found. It’s obvious what mine
means. But, why would we get these now? This coincidence is just too strong. I
don’t like it.” Max sounded worried.

“It will all be fine. We will figure
things out tomorrow. Wan to watch a movie in the dark while the storm rages
outside?”

“Sure.”

They put on a cheesy disaster movie,
turned the lights off and enjoyed a bowl of popcorn and some sodas as they
watched. They were no more than twenty minutes into the movie when the thunder
crashed so loudly that it rattled the windows. After both of them jumped they
both laughed. Then the lightning lit up the sky and when the flash was gone, so
was the power.

Since they couldn’t finish the movie,
they decided to take their down time into the bedroom. They cracked the windows
open just enough to hear the rain beat on the windowsills and then jumped into
bed. That’s when Max noticed the alarm clocks.

“Drew, if we don’t have power, how are
the alarm clocks still on?”

“Hehehe, I put batteries in them. I
wanted to make sure we got up early tomorrow. I wanted to watch another sunrise
with you.”

“Whew! I was about to be really freaked
out!”

The rest of the night was spent enjoying
each other while lightning lit up the sky and thunder crashed. It was exciting
and scary all at the same time for both of them. More than an hour later, they
were both sleeping through the thunderstorm. 

*****