for some backup.
"Which is illegal," Rhaven pointed out. "Kinda like saying she's a drug dealer, Zara. And this? She used Deviant's network. She used Deviant's servers to store it."
"She put it on an unused one," Jason clarified. "Plausible deniability. If she's caught, she made it so she'll go down, not the whole company."
"So why didn't she do it months ago?" Zara demanded.
"Because she had to figure out how to keep the company out of it," Braden realized. "And she wouldn't ask us, because that pulls the company right back into it."
Jason shook his head. "I think she was trying to play by the rules, but when they sent Rhaven a message like they did her..." He paused. "And right about now, I'm hoping you know about that, Rhae."
"I do," she promised. "They didn't want me to see it, but I looked. I'm not scared anymore, Cyn. I'm pissed, and I know Dez is too. Someone fucking walked right up to her on the loading dock and touched her, guys. She thought she was safe. She was fighting back within the law, because they were just words. Sticks and stones, you know? But it's starting again."
"Because Soul Reaper's back," Jason said. "I think the rest were just his flunkies. This, though? It's got his M.O. all over it."
"Shit," Braden breathed. "Got a good headset, bro? Because, no offense, the rest of us don't want to hear Dez's private shit."
"I'm good," Jason promised. "I just need to set everything up to access those forums without making things worse."
Braden grinned. "So, I have dev-level access to all Deviant servers. Already set up, VPN and privacy protections. The whole bit." He grabbed a black laptop from the corner of his desk. "Would just prefer you don't access anything but the servers with this one. It's got Renegade on it."
Jason smiled. "Perfect. I have dev-level access as well, but would need to add the protections. This is faster."
"Then let me tell Dez to get her stolen forum copy up and running," Braden said, reaching for his phone.
"Dinner?" Rhaven asked. "We've got pizza and Asian that deliver, or you can suffer through us trying to cook."
"I can cook," Zara offered.
Jason just shook his head. "Baby, I love you, but you're dangerous in the kitchen."
"One time!" she shot back, and then groaned. "Jason usually cooks because he thinks I'm going to burn down the house."
Rhaven laughed. "So, back to delivery."
"Asian," Braden said before looking back at his phone.
"Asian's good," Zara agreed.
Jason just nodded, because he was focused on transferring all of the information from his phone to his computer. He'd prefer to have his desktop right about now, but that didn't travel as easily. Still, he'd store copies in the cloud so he could access them later, and then he could figure out what information was really hidden in Dez's mind.
Rhaven came back with a menu. Everyone picked something and she called it in. Braden spent a few minutes mumbling into the phone, clearly talking to Dez. Zara had claimed Rhaven's desktop computer and was focused on loading her own profile in, but that only took a few seconds. After that, she turned her chair so she could face him, then swayed it back and forth. Clearly, something was on her mind.
"What's up, baby?" he asked.
"Chance offered me a job," she said.
Braden chuckled, cleared his throat, then turned for the hallway to give them privacy. Clearly, he knew what was going on. Jason was willing to bet that Rhaven did too - or would soon. But a job? From Chance Hunter? Jason had questions, and a lot of them.
"What kind of job?"
"He wants to use some of my mixes for the game trailers. And, um, he said they want me to make an album for the in-game stuff. I kinda don't know what that means, but he offered to have Void look over the contract."
"Logan will make sure it's fair," Jason agreed. "And the in-game stuff is like the combat music, the loading music, the traveling music, and all of those background pieces you learn to ignore pretty fast."
"So I shouldn't do it?" she asked. "Jason, I don't even know how to make that work for a game, but he's offering me six figures a year plus royalties."
The breath rushed from his lungs. "What?"
Zara nodded. "He said it was Dez's idea, and he doesn't disagree with her."
"Shit," he breathed. "All you'll need to do is make a song for the time limit they tell you. Like fifteen