it rang much too long, and his heart was starting to race. Then, finally, "I fucking hate you. The only people up at this time are sucking cock, and you should try it."
"Riley," Jason snapped. "Wake up, babe. We got a big problem. I need you to call everyone. If you had plans today, cancel them. KoG is hunting. Post on their site says the gamer girls are going to die. I don't know who they're hunting, or why, but I don't want anyone outside their house today. You, Psyc, Ice, the whole lot. Call them all, and tell them to wait for my update."
"Shit," Riley breathed, sounding like she was already walking. "Yeah, I'm on it. What do we know?"
"Nothing," Jason admitted. "But they have a picture of Kate's car when she met Rhaven and Zara for dinner. A randomly-chosen place. Sure, it's not that big of a town, but I'd rather be safe than wish I could step in front of a bullet."
"I'll sound the alarm," Riley assured him. "Oh, and Jason? Be safe. We don't want to lose you either."
"Love ya, babe. I'll be good."
He tried to ignore it, but his heart was pounding much too hard. Pushing his phone back into his pocket, he leaned in again, this time to read the entire post. It didn't say much, just that they were starting to gather, which should make the hunting a little easier, and something about waiting for the tears to flow.
"Scroll down?" he begged Dez. She did, revealing the replies. He read them as fast as he could, trying to make sense of their plan. "What is this in relation to?"
"I have no idea," Dez admitted. "It seems to be completely unrelated to anything public. They're talking about deaths, not death threats, and how we'll all be surprised to realize we're gone. What did we fucking miss!"
Then he heard the sweetest sound of all. "Jason!" Zara yelled from the front. "We're here. We're fine." She, Rhaven, and Braden all made their way into the massive room and kept coming toward him.
He let his eyes close and just sighed. "Good." But that was only one thing less to worry about. The list was growing as fast as he thought of potential problems, and he knew he couldn't do this alone. "Where's Bradley?"
"Think Tank," Bradley called back from the archway beside Amy's desk.
Jason nodded to show he'd heard, then turned back to Dez. "Go through that profile's messages. Check the trash. If there's nothing on the forums, then they have to be coordinating somehow. Get me his user information, IP address, or anything. No, fuck it. You can start tracking him yourself. I want a real person on the other end of that profile, Dez, and I want it yesterday."
She pointed at a computer across from her. "That's ready for you. How does this tie in to what you found?"
"I'm chasing a man named Arturo Ganza," Jason told her.
Rhaven sucked in a breath. "Isn't he the reporter for Cyber Magazine?"
"Same," Jason admitted. "Bradley, I just pulled his..."
He never got to finish that sentence because Tim surged to his feet. "Found it! Dez, check Wikipedia! We're all dead."
"What?" Dez asked.
"No, no, no, no!" Jeff began groaning from the other side of the large room. "And hacked! Guys, the developer bios are all memorials now."
"Check the whole site," Jason snapped. "Every page. Not just the forums, but everything." And he hurried to claim a seat behind the computer Dez had prepared for him.
"I'll help with coffee," Zara said, heading back toward the front.
"I'll run with Arturo," Bradley promised.
Then Mark stepped into the middle of the room. "Brae and Rhae? I want you two on the main page. Tim and Sam, take Eternal Combat. Jeff and Andy? Flawed. Flynn and Gavin? Silk. All associate developers, focus on the forums. If you see any signs of hacking, tracing, or rewriting our work, call it out. Don't escalate, just yell."
Everyone called back some version of agreement, and the entire company began pouring over their own data with a fine-tooth comb. Jason just hoped it was that easy. A virtual death was a little embarrassing. Having the company's own site get hacked was even more so, but it wasn't life-threatening. It wouldn't even hurt their profits, but it did count as an attack against the business and one hell of a threat.
But KoG never stopped that easily. Something was coming. Something big, and they were all still in the dark.