Page 66 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Then there was a new console that came out of San Francisco. My friend Darnell got his hands on it. It was a game changer, pardon the pun. It was X-Box before there was an X-Box.”
“Didn’t that come out in two-thousand?”
“Two-thousand-and-one. Streetgamezzz had developed something that was out of this world much earlier, and I was in love.”
“I’ve never heard of Streetgamezzz.”
“That’s because the company imploded when you were in kindergarten. The CEO went to prison.”
“What happened? How’d you get involved?”
“When I got my hands on their version of X-Box, called Streetcube, I started adapting some of the current PC games to it.
“That’s impressive.”
Gideon gave a small smile. “There’s more. Before I was fourteen I knew that I could tweak it.”
“How?”
“I was positive I could incorporate wi-fi with Streetcube. I saved up to get a Nokia phone. Nokia had already created a game on their phone called Snake, the very first game on a mobile phone, so it seemed like a slam dunk.”
Jada nodded and said with a smile, “Let me guess, you nailed it.”
“Damn right. Streetcube went wireless, and I was asking my friend Darnell for another Streetcube so I could modify it so we could play head-to-head. That’s when everything went to shit.”
“Tell me.”
“I’d just turned fourteen.”
Jada nodded.
“Darnell had originally gotten the cube from his uncle. Neither of us knew it at the time, but his uncle was high up in the company and using Darnell as a tester to find out if the product would work with our age group. When my friend went back to Streetgamezzz for a second cube, his uncle got suspicious. Darnell couldn’t lie for shit, so his uncle came and gave me a visit. Of course, I confessed all.”
“Of course, you did, you were a kid.”
“Plus, I was pretty proud of what I’d accomplished.”
“I’m surprised that your friend’s uncle didn’t try to take credit for your work.”
“I’m pretty sure he did. He gave me another cube and made some suggestions about what I should work on next. He met with me weekly at Darnell’s house to see what new modifications I’d made.” Gideon grinned. “I was pretty cocky back then. There were a couple of times when I could tell he didn’t get what I was telling him, and that sent me over the moon.”
“Are you trying to tell me you’re not cocky anymore?”
Gideon leaned over and brushed his finger across the side of her nose. She smiled up at him. “Cocky is for test pilots. I’mconfident.”
“Okay, so what happened when you schooled Darnell’s uncle?”
“One day I went over to Darnell’s house and I found out that his uncle had been fired.”
Jada shrugged. “Yeah, like I didn’t see that one coming. Someone caught on that he didn’t know what he was talking about. Then what happened?”
“Darnell told me I was in big trouble, and I had to come to his house the next day because somebody would be waiting for me.” Gideon stopped talking. He remembered just how scared he was. His friend had told him he couldn’t tell anyone, or he’d be in even bigger trouble.
“When I got to Darnell’s house, there was a shiny, black town car waiting outside, and I was told to get in. I was driven an hour and a half to downtown San Francisco. There I was in my ratty Sacramento Kings jersey, jeans, and my knock-off Air Jordans, walking into the Transamerica Pyramid building. I was in awe, but also scared shitless.”
“I can imagine.”
“The driver takes me high up in the elevator, and then past this hot, blonde receptionist until I’m sitting in a leather chair facing a man behind a chrome desk who is giving me an oily smile. At fourteen, I might not have known much in life, but I sure as hell knew when I saw some con man, and this guy was like a visiting preacher at church who’s looking to sell salvation for a hundred dollars a pop.
