first, but he didn't let go of her hand. Kate fell in behind his back as they filed up the short hallway and into a very large room. A warehouse, which explained why they all called it that. But this one was filled with clusters of desks and computers. Kate looked around, hoping for a few faces she recognized.
When she found Rhaven, she sucked in a breath, pulled her hand free, and hurried that way. "What the hell happened?" Kate gasped.
Rhaven hopped up from her chair and met Kate around the edge of her cluster. "It's ok," she promised. "And I know my makeup doesn't cover it, but Zara's didn't match, and I just gave up."
Kate carefully reached up to touch the safe spot beside Rhaven's impressively black eye. "Who did this?"
"They tried to burn the lobby last night," Rhaven explained.
"Are you supposed to tell her that?" the girl in the desk beside them asked.
Rhaven waved her off. "They'll find out in a minute anyway." Then she looked back to Kate. "Jason's at the police station interviewing the guys who did it. Six of them. One went to the hospital. I guess I hit him too hard with the fire extinguisher."
"Nice!" Kate said, turning back to find Adam. "Rhaven, we're supposed to talk to Chance."
"How bad is it?" Rhaven asked.
"Bad," Kate admitted.
"Real bad," Adam said as he joined them. "And is that Dez camped in the back corner?"
Rhaven just turned and yelled, "Dez! Degrass!"
"Over here!" Dez yelled back, lifting a hand to wave them closer.
Rhaven gestured and then led the pair of them through the maze of desks. Kate was a little impressed. There was a kind of order to the chaos of Deviant Games, but she was pretty sure it wouldn't make sense to anyone who didn't work here. Still, she saw Braden, so she lifted a hand in greeting. A few others she knew, but they weren't exactly what she'd call friends. Just faces she could put names to.
Then they were in a dark corner beside the emergency exit. The place looked like a den, which was somehow fitting for Dez. Add in the half-full bottle of whiskey on the desk in plain sight, the laptop charging in the corner by the wall, and the gigantic monitor that worked like a shield between the elusive woman and the rest of the warehouse, and Kate couldn't think of a better word for it.
"Love the stuffed animals," she said as she reached Dez's side.
The co-owner of Deviant Games didn't bother to get up, and she certainly didn't offer to shake hands. "Thanks. I've been collecting them since before this place had real walls." She turned to Rhaven. "Find me a pair of chairs, then tell Chance they're here?"
"He's in..." Rhaven wagged her finger between the front of the building and the side.
"Third room," Dez told her. "His office smells like smoke, so he's working back here."
A moment later, Rhaven was back with one chair. That was passed to Kate, and then Rhaven snagged another from the desk that butted up to Dez's. Adam and Kate sat, wheeling themselves around so they could see Dez without being too close.
"So," Dez said, "we got hit. I can't officially tell you how we knew - "
"Riley did," Adam assured her.
Dez nodded. "Well, they wanted to burn my world. The location of the Expo and here. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the lobby. Rhaven grabbed an extinguisher and went to put it out. From what we can tell, they were outside, saw her putting out the fire, so they jumped her. She fought back like a bitch, too," Dez said, then chuckled. "And they didn't expect Braden. Chance came a bit after that, and then Mark arrived. Zara put out the fires. Amy called 9-1-1, and I had a meltdown with Crysis."
"Which is allowed," Kate assured her.
"My official story is that I was protecting the dog. Jason told me to go with it."
"Cyn," Adam clarified for Kate.
Kate rolled her eyes. "I know his real name." Then she looked back to Dez. "How bad is the damage?"
"It's the guest entrance. Chance's office, one of the break rooms, and the Think Tank all smell like smoke, but that'll clear. Amy lost everything up there, tech-wise, but it was all stuff that can be replaced. Rhaven has one hell of a black eye. Braden's moving slow today, so I made him smoke a bowl with me. If he's giggly, don't mention it. Chance is a little