Page 102 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“What?” his father asked him.
“I can’t remember it exactly. I figured some programmer was just fooling around and forgot that they wrote a message to another programmer and left it in the code, and their QC team sucked. It’s in my Lego Star Wars Skywalker video game.”
“Call it up,” Mike ordered.
Felix grimaced. Gideon immediately guessed the problem.
“What level was it on?” Gideon asked.
“Twenty-three or twenty-four, I think, and I’m way past that.” Felix looked at his uncle in consternation. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really read the message, I just blew past it. I’m not sure how to go backwards.” By that time Felix had the game pulled up and Mike, his young son Kyle, Felix, Jada, and Gideon were all looking at the television screen.
“Can I take control?” Gideon asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Felix was obviously relieved.
Gideon immediately saw that both Kyle and Felix were listed as players. He looked down at his four-year-old nephew. “Hey, champ, do you like playing the Lego game?” he asked.
Kyle nodded. “But I’m not good like Felix. I watch him, and I learned. But I like Mario.”
Gideon grinned. “Good choice. I like Mario too.”
“Wanna play?” Kyle asked.
“Maybe later.”
Gideon handed the controller back to Felix. “Play as Kyle, he’s only at level two. Get it up to twenty-three, and then we’ll see the message.”
“You bet,” Felix said eagerly. I can do it real fast, I’m good at this now.”
“I know you are, kid.”
“How long, Felix?” Mike asked his son.
“Maybe a half hour.”
Gideon raised his eyebrows, he was impressed.
“Let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll get you some coffee,” Mike suggested. Gideon and Jada followed him as he left the room. While they were in the kitchen, Gideon explained to his brother where Kane’s lake house was.
“I thought it went good with Ma,” Mike said tentatively.
“Let’s not go there right now, ’kay?” Gideon asked.
“We’re going to need to discuss this. She talked to you, Gideon, that was huge. I’ve been telling you that things have changed. This proved it. I know you think you did wrong, but you didn’t. If you talk to her, Ma would see that. She’d understand. She’d realize there’s nothing to forgive.”
“That’s not true, Mikey. That’s just not true.”
“Uncle Gideon,” Felix cried from the other room. “I have it!”
The three of them rushed to the family room. Gideon immediately spotted what Felix had been talking about. He could see why his nephew thought it was a coding error. He read the message.
A SMART MAN WOULD KNOW THE END ALWAYS
STARTS AT THE BEGINNING.
It tookhim seconds to think it through, and when he did, he was furious with himself. He pulled out his phone and pulled up streetgamer.com. It was what Streetgamezzz.com had eventually morphed into after the bankruptcy and restructuring. He found the list of board members, and there was the new guy—a history professor by the name of Gideon Rydell. It gave his personal website address. Gideon clicked on it.
Kendall Douglas’ smiling face appeared.
“You found me! I’m so proud of you, Gideon. Maybe I did teach you something after all. I finally figured out why you joined the Navy and had to become a SEAL. You just had to punish yourself after your father died. So much guilt.” Kendall looked at him sadly and shook his head.
“So, there you were, going on mission after mission, trying to save the world to make up for your sins. Well, I’ll give you the chance to really make a difference. Not that you’ll be able to.”
Kendall laughed, and Gideon’s flesh crawled. He felt Mike and Jada watching on either side of him.
“Listen to this web address carefully, then you’ll see what I have planned. You may have minutes to stop me, hours, or maybe even a day. Depends how quick you were on the uptake. I’d wish you luck, but I wouldn’t mean it.” The screen went blank.
Gideon was vaguely aware of Jada texting. He assumed it was to the tech group, but he was too busy typing in the address.
