A mother-hen type, who would hopefully keep him in line. Granted, Jason had a feeling Braden did a little bit of taking-care back. And that Doris didn't seem upset by Braden's sexual preferences? Even better.
With his coffee in hand and his dog in the passenger seat, Jason headed out of town, aiming for Deviant's headquarters. He hadn't been there in days, but Bradley had been in and out. Jason had been lost in the data, trying to find the thread to catch this guy, and it felt like he was so damned close. He just needed something to tie Soul Reaper to Dez, and then to use that to prove Arturo was behind it all. And if he could announce that this case was closed before the Columbus Expo? Even better!
Thankfully, when he pulled up to the warehouse gates, the protestors were gone. Jason wasn't sure if they'd stay that way, but he had a feeling Bradley was behind that. And speaking of his partner, the guy's rental was parked right at the front. Jason took the spot beside him, got out, then went around to let Crysis down. Something was going on. He knew that, but when he stepped through the front door, he didn't expect the chaos inside.
"Jason!" Amy said, hurrying around her desk to fall in at his side. "Good, you have coffee. Look, KoG is going to hit us today. Mark says we've double-checked our protections against a DDoS attack. Sam has the filters on the game forums. The problem is that we aren't sure what they're going for, and Dez is at her desk waiting for you."
He didn't stop walking the whole time she talked. "Thanks, Amy. Sounds like I need to get caught up."
She just stepped around in front of him and stopped. "Do you at least have a lead?"
He caught her upper arms and stepped a little closer. "A big one. Still have a few pieces missing before I can call this done, but we've found a few things we overlooked so long ago. I'm going to catch them, Amy. I promise."
"Don't," she said softly. "We all know you're trying, but don't promise. Because if the worst happens, you'll be the one who feels bad about that. Just try as hard as you can, and we'll consider that enough."
"Yeah. Let me find Dez." He rubbed her arm gently then started walking again.
Damn, but that girl had a point. He couldn't guarantee he'd catch these guys. If he did, he couldn't promise that they'd get convicted. A lot of time had passed since those first assaults. He needed to temper his goals a little. The Kings of Gaming had to be stopped. Women had to be saved. Justice? That was something people only got in movies. This was the real world, and it wasn't that pretty.
When he reached the back of the warehouse, he found Dez standing before her desk, leaning her weight onto both hands, but her eyes were locked on the screen. He moved beside her, careful not to invade her space, then cleared his throat. The woman simply lifted a finger, begging him to wait, and her eyes kept scrolling.
"Do you know what this means?" she asked, turning her monitor toward him.
The first thing he noticed was the picture at the bottom. It was a pretty typical restaurant. Nothing much memorable about it. A few cars were parked in the parking lot, and it looked like there was a decent amount of customers inside. Then he noticed the little yellow car right at the front. His eyes jumped to the license plate, scanning the numbers, then to the offset black racing stripes.
"Fuck," he breathed, reaching for his phone. "That's Kate's car!" His fingers were already dialing. Thankfully, Zara picked up on the first ring. "Baby?" he breathed. "Where are you?"
"Uh, about halfway there?" She paused. "Yeah. Braden says five minutes or so. Why?"
"And you have Rhaven?" he asked.
"Of course. Why, Jason? What's going on?"
"Because KoG was at your girl's night. They were fucking watching you, and the title of this post says they can't wait to see the gamer girls die. Come straight here. Do not stop for anything. If you have a problem, call me. I need to call the others."
"Five minutes," Zara promised. "No cars around. I'm watching, Jason. Just like you taught me. I'll be there, and we're fine. Take care of the rest."
He hung up the phone and hit the second contact on his list. This time,