Page 8 of The Dauntless (Spy Girl 5)
“Greed,” she said. “Until we get rid of that, there will always be wars.”
“I won’t claim to understand,” Burnes says, “but in layman’s terms, he used some combination of artificial intelligence and traditional computing to provide stability. It’s something we aren’t ready for the rest of the world to have. We understand we can’t stop them from showcasing the design at the Olympics, but we’d like them to at least keep how it’s run confidential.”
“Wait. How are they showcasing the design?”
“At the Olympics in Montrovia, the Olympic Village where all the athletes are housed is a TerraSphere.”
“That’s amazing,” I say, pretending to be awed when in fact I am furious. “I can’t wait to see it in person.”
“So, can I count on you?” Burnes asks. “To vote with your government’s best interests in mind?”
“What will I get in return?”
“I’m sure the contract for withholding the technology will be lucrative.”
“Probably not as lucrative as if it were sold publicly, but maybe it’s not just about the money.”
Burnes studies my face and legitimately seems to ponder my question. “You ever need my help personally, you’ll have it.”
“Have the contract sent directly to me then.”
“You surprise me, Huntley,” he says. “I didn’t think you would agree so easily.”
“I only agreed to review a new contract. To be honest, I don’t really trust you.”
“Good,” he says as he leaves. “You really shouldn’t trust anyone.”
“Why did he say you shouldn’t trust anyone?” Daniel’s mother asks me. She wandered back into the suite just as Mike Burnes was leaving.
“Sounds like owning a company worth a gazillion dollars can be tricky. Especially when the government is involved.”
“Does this all relate to what we talked about the other day?” she asks, referring to when I spilled my guts.
When I give her an affirmative nod, she takes my hand and tells her security detail that we’re going for a walk. Then she leads me out the door and down the hall.
“What did you learn?” she asks.
“Remember the whole it starts in Montrovia thing and how there was chatter regarding the word Terra? I just found out that one was built in Montrovia to house the Olympic athletes.”
Her eyes get huge. “Do you think there will be a terrorist attack at the Olympics?”
“No, I think there will be something worse. The Olympics are only a few weeks away. I don’t have much time to figure this all out.”
She wraps her arm around my shoulders. “You mean, we don’t have much time.”
I smile back at her, but my insides are seething. I specifically told Lorenzo’s group about the TerraSphere and the chatter regarding terra, and not once did he or Admiral Philipe Lamonte mention that they were building one in their own country.
Burnes was right. I shouldn’t trust anyone.
MISSION:DAY FOUR
Daniel won the two-hundred meter freestyle final yesterday and the two-hundred meter butterfly final today. Tonight, he feels like celebrating.
He orders a ton of food and then grabs a control and hands it to me. “Did you hear Battleground released a new update today?”
“No. I was busy watching you swim.”
“Have you not been on social media or anything in between heats?”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t need to be reminded of the upcoming royal wedding, thank you very much.”
“Montrovia is a little country. No one cares.”
“Except for us,” I sass. “And you’re going to be traveling there for the Olympics. They’ll probably have collector’s plates with Lizzie’s photo on them already.”
“Whatever. You should know that I brought in two separate consoles, so we can play side by side. Get logged in.”
I pause for a moment. I didn’t have to log-in when Daniel and I have played in the past. He logged in, and we played basic two-person games. Now I’m wondering if I should sign up for an account under Huntley or sign in with my original name. I know that the game started out as a teaching and training program for students at Blackwood Academy, but what I don’t know is if our logins were limited to our intranet or if we ever played against anyone out in the real world. I guess it’s time to find out.
When my profile comes up, Daniel’s eyes get huge. “What did you do? Did you just hack into X’s account?”
“What do you mean?”
“X is a legend, who slays at this game. Has the highest kill-to-death ratios and highest scores per minute … like ever. And that is you?”
“Um, yeah.”
“But how?”
“I played a lot,” I suggest, “when I was supposed to be studying.”
He leans over and tickles my sides. “Your rating with me just went up a notch.”
“Oh, gee, thanks,” I say, laughing. I stop mid-giggle though when I realize I haven’t really laughed since I was on the yacht with Lorenzo.
Daniel shakes his head at me, somehow knowing who I’m thinking about. “Let’s go into battle together, get some wins, up my stats, and forget about Montrovia. Deal?”
“Deal,” I say. “What’s in the update?”
“A new field of battle from what I’ve heard, but it has a treasure hunt aspect to it. You get dropped out of an airplane and land somewhere random.”
“Then what?”
“You search for weapons and items of value that you can trade at a mercantile area, which is a battle-free zone, for bigger and better weapons and other special effects.”
“That is different. Battleground has always been more of an assassin’s game and was always in an urban or military setting.”
“I watched some videos online in between heats today, and it looks really fun, more of a challenge. There’s a rumor that some enemies can only be killed in a specific way, and if you survive, you’ll receive a key that unlocks a super-secret level. Supposedly, only one player or team can win the key. Gamers are going crazy, trying to find it.” He gives me a smirk. “I was going to suggest playing against you, but now that I know you are the legendary X, I think we should be a team.”
We get comfortable on the couch—him sprawled out with his legs up on the coffee table, me sitting cross-legged, back straight, elbows close to my sides to reduce arm fatigue.
“All right, here we go,” Daniel says, pressing a button that drops us out of the plane. “We should get loot of some kind just for landing.”
Our characters parachute into the sand in what appears to be a desert location. “There’s a city at three o’clock,” I say, “and a small tent city to our six.”
“Let’s go to the tents first. See what we can find,” Daniel replies as his avatar hits the ground and takes off running.
I do a quick three-sixty to check my surroundings. I pause briefly, realizing that though this setting has never been in Battleground before, it does remind me of a simulation training at Blackwood.
“Watch for land mines,” I call out just as Daniel sets one off.
His character is tossed up in the air and lands with a thud into the sand.
“How did you know there were going to be land mines?” he yells. “I haven’t seen that on any of the online videos. It’s like we’re in a completely new territory.” He presses a button that ends the current game. “Let’s restart. I want to record us playing.”
He jumps up and runs into his parents’ room. His mom flew to Chicago this afternoon for a fundraiser and won’t be back until later tonight, and his father won’t be here until Friday.
He returns with a video camera and tripod, working quickly to get it set up. While he’s testing it to make sure it’s perfectly positioned, our food is delivered by two Secret Service agents, getting ready to go off duty. Upon seeing that we have the game everyone is talking about on the screen, they decide to stay and watch.
We all eat dinner, Danie
l chowing down his massive caloric intake as fast as possible. He’s like a kid on Christmas morning, giddy with anticipation.
“Everyone will go nuts when they hear I’m playing with the infamous X,” he says.
“Like you’re going to play with him online?” one of the agents asks. “Is it some promotional thing?”
“Huntley is X,” Daniel says.
“No way. You’re too young. X was one of the first gamer tags,” the agent counters. “Is it like your dad’s login or something?”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been playing this game since I was fifteen,” I lie. Actually, I was twelve, but the game wasn’t released to the public until three years after I was sent to Blackwood. I had pretty much mastered it by then.
“I just assumed X was a dude. Sorry,” the agent says, looking down after getting a playful swat on the back of his head by a female agent who has also joined us.
She’s usually very serious, but I suppose she has to be as one of the only women assigned to the First Family.
