Her Perfect Game (3 page)

Kraven was the least of her worries right now.

She clicked send, not too worried about how desperate she might sound. Win was a good friend, and this week, especially, she'd need a good friend.

Charlie logged off and sorted through her registration materials. She'd been so focused on the hackfest that she hadn't really looked at the panels she might want to attend. She scrolled through the schedule, but the bold date at the top of the page glared at her.

Three years ago today.

Why couldn't this con be any other week? Spring break landed all over for different schools. Why this week? It would take every ounce of effort to concentrate and forget about Sylvie.

But the damn date at the top of the page wouldn't let her go. She glanced at the clock. Three years ago, what had Sylvie been doing? Who had she been thinking of? Why didn't she call someone, anyone, but especially Charlie?

Instead, Sylvie jumped from the water tower in her small hometown and died alone.

Three years ago today.

A
t eight fifty, Jonah couldn't help but stare at the clock. The first challenge was set to start in less than ten minutes, but he hadn't seen Charlie since their run-in in the lobby. He worried that his presence might've scared her off. That hadn't been his intention. He'd just wanted to hear her voice. Plus, he didn't want the shock of seeing him to throw her off her game tonight.

Eight fifty-five. Most of the seats were filled. About fifty people sat in the stuffy room and he could count on one hand how many were female. Just as the moderator grabbed the door to shut it, Charlie squeezed past, flashing her invitation, and took the seat nearest the door.

She wore an oversized army jacket and a baseball cap low on her face. He had a sick feeling about her reasons for the semi-disguise. She quickly set up her laptop and pulled an energy drink from her bag. Most players had similar drinks at their stations. It was a staple of the community.

The directions were read for the first challenge. Jonah tuned them out. He didn't need to know what the goal was as much as he needed to watch how the players approached the task. They had one hour to meet the goal. The top thirty would move on to round two.

As soon as start was called, everyone began typing furiously at their keyboards. Except for a select few, Charlie being one of them. She was scrolling through code. While most players would barge through the front door to leave their mark, she was taking her time, searching for a loose basement window.
That's my girl.

The fleeting thought hit him hard. Charlie had listened to almost everything he'd said about hacking. She was smart, sometimes unfocused, but she had great intuition. He stopped by her table, snatched the energy drink, and replaced it with a bottle of water. She shot a glare at him but didn't speak.

No one else seemed to notice, so he moved on because he didn't want anyone to accuse him of favoritism. Even though he definitely had a soft spot for Charlie.

Twenty minutes in, the first five players were done and packing up. They knew they were a lock, so they didn't wait for judgment. Jonah waited at the door for them to exit and give them their pass to the next round. He waited anxiously as the stack of passes dwindled. He knew Charlie could do this. It was a simple hack. What was she doing?

As he had the thought, she shut her laptop with a quiet click and headed for the door. Handing him the bottle of water, she said, “Don't touch my stuff. I don't need you to take care of me.”

Her eyes told a slightly different story. She'd been crying. “We both know that when you drink that shit, you get all hopped up and then you might do something stupid.”

“Like you?” Her quip came as quickly as her smirk.

He probably had that coming, but he'd really been thinking about her bad habits from the past. She'd suck down energy drinks, and then when she couldn't sleep, she'd light a joint. She had no balance for anything in her life. But she seemed to be doing better. “How about that drink?”

“Sorry, I have a date.” And she slid through the door without a backward glance.

He continued to hand out the remaining passes and thought about what would make Charlie cry. Being at a con should make her happy. This was the kind of place where she would thrive. She liked crowds and conversation and the craziness of fans.

He checked his watch, and as his gaze slid over the date, he made the connection. Charlie had been crying over Sylvie. Now he really felt like shit for talking about her doing something stupid. Charlie wasn't immune to doing stupid things, but he shouldn't have joked with her if she was hurting.

The first challenge wrapped up with some people grumbling about the scores and the challenge itself. The moderator basically told them better luck next year.

Jonah headed out and thought about going to the convention main floor. Certainly there would be plenty to see and do, but he really didn't want to run into Charlie with her sad eyes and whatever guy she had on her arm, so he went back to his room.

In the elevator, his phone pinged letting him know that Charlie had logged on to
Resskaar
. Shit. Hadn't he told her to stay offline for a few days? Kraven had been furious when they'd run into each other. He'd been screaming, and nothing Jonah had said would calm him. They'd actually gotten into a fight.

The worry about Kraven faded and a new thought came to Jonah. Charlie had said she had a date. Why the hell was she online?

In his room, he logged in to the game and checked messages first.
Laura: I might sound desperate, but I just saw my ex. Complicated stuff. If you're here, I'll be less likely to do something stupid
. He laughed. So she was afraid of doing something stupid with him and she thought inviting Win would prevent that. No way could he come clean about his online identity now. Kraven still appeared as part of their guild, and Jonah saw he was also logged on.

Not good for Charlie. Jonah took off through the woods and into the village to find her. She had a habit of taking off and starting new missions without being in full health and hoping she'd get what she'd need on the way. He went to the house where she was supposed to be and called out to her, but didn't get an answer.

In the back room, he saw why. Kraven was pummeling her. As Win came through the door, Kraven held Charlie's avatar Laura by the throat. With one swipe of his hand, he tore away her clothes.

What the fuck? Nothing in the program would allow that.

Jonah rushed forward and slammed Win's little body into Kraven. Laura slumped to the floor, and Jonah used every keystroke and bit of health energy he had to send Kraven up in flames. As soon as Kraven was a pile of ash, Jonah watched his own avatar flop down.

Jonah logged off and grabbed his phone while he entered the back end of the game. Something was wrong with the code. When Tim answered, he was already searching.

“What's up, Jonah? No luck picking up chicks?”

“Shut up and listen. I need you to get into the system right now. Player named Kraven just tried to rape a woman in game. Find out who the fuck he is. Now!”

Tim began to mumble as if just coming to attention, but Jonah heard him clacking away on the keyboard. While Tim looked for Kraven's identity, Jonah searched for how the asshole modified the game.

Sexual activity was allowed in the game, and players had choices to hook up, but nowhere would he have allowed a rape to happen. There wasn't even nudity. They permitted some foreplay on screen and then it was pretty much fade to black. Jonah had no idea how much this guy fucked with the system in order to rip away Charlie's—Laura's—clothes. Jonah shook his head. It wasn't Charlie, not really. It had been her character, Laura.

He scrambled through lines of code, and allowing images of Laura stripped bare into his head caused another thought. He'd just abandoned Charlie.

Again.

His fingers froze and guilt smacked him. No, he couldn't think about Charlie now. She was a tough girl. Finding how Kraven had been able to do this was a priority.

Charlie stared at the screen. What the fuck just happened? She looked at her character lying on the dirty floor of the house. Her hand hovered over the keyboard, shaking. She didn't know what to do.

She didn't even know why she called to him. She'd watched him disappear almost as quickly as Kraven had. The burst of magic from Win had been surreal. She'd never witnessed anything like it, and she'd hung out with a lot of mages over the course of the last two years. None of them wielded that kind of power.

Rather than use her last bit of energy to return to her cave, she just logged off, leaving Laura's prone body on the floor. She'd deal with it tomorrow. All she'd wanted when she came back to her room was a little escape. Nearly getting raped was not on the agenda. The whole experience was bizarre. Nothing felt right in the game tonight.

She closed her laptop and changed her clothes. Her eyes landed on her Laura Nim costume and her stomach churned. It wasn't a fancy outfit like a lot of the cosplayers would have. It was a simple costume that matched her in-game persona. One that she'd just had ripped from her body.

A shudder ran through her. First, Jonah popped up, then memories of Sylvie, now this. There was no way her night could get worse. She grabbed her room key and some cash and headed down to the bar.

The hotel bar held an odd mix of people. Most were there from the con, but businessmen in their suits, ties barely loosened at the neck, also dotted the room. She saw their wary looks at the con-goers. Some were outright amused; others appeared concerned. She grabbed a beer and sat at a table by herself.

Being alone here was much better than being in her room. Here, at least, she was among her people, even if she chose not to interact. Jedis, superheroes, and Trekkies surrounded her. The movie people talked to comic book people and gamers. No rivalries, just pure enjoyment.

The first beer went down smoothly, and she waved a waitress over to order another. She couldn't really afford to drink here. Beer that would normally cost a little more than a buck a bottle from the store was priced more than four times that. It definitely wasn't in her budget. She scanned the room. Maybe she could start up a conversation with a guy who would buy the next round for her.

Charlie felt him before she saw Jonah. That weird feeling of being watched without it being creepy. He took the seat across from her without invitation. As the waitress walked by, he pointed to Charlie's bottle and held up two fingers. She wanted to be irritated by his presence, but she couldn't. She needed a friendly face. Jonah's was definitely friendly.

She smiled.
Look at that. I'm getting a beer, and I didn't have to do any phony flirting.

“Thought you had a date.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Didn't work out.”

He scanned her face, starting at her eyes, glancing down to her lips, and back up. His gaze held there, searching.

“What?” She barely kept the nervousness from her voice. When he looked at her like that, she felt like he was reaching all the way to her soul.

“How are you?”

“Fine.”

He reached out and laid a hand on her arm. “No, how are you really doing? I know this week is hard for you.”

Whoa. She hadn't expected that. She raised her bottle. “Today is the third anniversary of Sylvie's death.” She slugged back the last bit of beer. “I'm doing better than she is.”

Sylvie had been her roommate freshman year. After she broke up with her boyfriend, he posted revenge porn. Sylvie couldn't handle the repercussions, especially since she came from a small town and a religious family, so she committed suicide. When Charlie wanted to clear her name and erase the pics, it had been Jonah who taught her about hacking.

Jonah shook his head. “How's school?”

Charlie plucked at the label on the bottle. The alcohol was hitting her and she enjoyed the slight buzz. She debated whether she should be honest, and really what did it matter? Jonah already knew all the rest of her secrets. But then he'd look at her like a loser. Someone who didn't finish what she'd started. He'd know he'd been right to leave her, and she couldn't stomach that disappointment now, so she lied.

“Fine.”

She moved back in her chair. Jonah sitting close was doing uncomfortable things to her. The waitress came and set the bottles on the table. Jonah signed the purchase to his room. 614. Two floors above hers.

“That's good. Any ideas about what you plan to do after graduation?”

“Not really.” That's why she needed the hackfest. Showing her skills to the right people might lead somewhere.

“You should send your résumé to my company. We're looking to expand.” He drank from his bottle and then asked, “So what have you been doing? Besides playing barista.”

She squinted at him because she was pretty sure she hadn't mentioned her job.

“Relax. I'm not stalking you. You're wearing your apron in your Facebook photo.”

She hated that picture. “So you're not really stalking, just online stalking? Yet you're here, at my table in the bar.”

“I came to the bar to get a drink. You told me you had a date. And as far as online stalking goes, are you really going to tell me that you don't check on your exes from time to time?”

Charlie knew it was more than a vague question. He was trying to open the door on their relationship. She saw it for what it was. In truth, she didn't seek out information about other exes. Just him. He would always be the one who got away. “Sometimes.”