He'd been one, and almost every serious gamer he met had said just about the same thing. Online, they could find a way to mitigate their weaknesses in real life.
That didn't matter if it was Riley's issues with conforming or Kitty's problems with trusting men. Zara had found solace from her fears in a game. Kate had found a community that wouldn't judge her. Rhaven had been able to be just a woman, with no words to modify that. Then there was Dez. Games had been her one true love. The thing that had set her heart on fire, and then turned against her. Yes, she'd found a second love, but Chance knew he'd always have to share his time with her games. He also didn't mind.
Three cigarettes later, Bradley showed up. Without a word, Jason's partner took a seat beside him and held out his hand for the cigarette. Jason passed it over, Bradley took a drag, and then he handed it back. For a moment, neither one said a word.
But eventually, Bradley broke the stalemate. "You found something, huh?"
"Arturo Ganza," Jason said. "I'm waiting for the last piece, but it's him, Bradley. He raped Eden. He was there for all of it. I can tie him to Pueblo when one of the convicted rapist's ex was assaulted. Time after time, he's right there, mixed up in the middle of this."
"So what are you missing?" Bradley asked.
"A tie to Dez," Jason breathed. "The most important piece of it all. But if my guys can find it, we're done."
Bradley just pulled out his phone and began dialing. While Jason took a long drag on his smoke, Bradley lifted the phone to his ear. Then, "Agent Dalton, this is Bradley Matthews. We think we have him. It's not a done deal yet, but last night both Deviant Games and Degrass hotels were attacked. Arson, sir. Yes, sir. We think Soul Reaper is the online name for one Arturo Ganza. Yes, sir." Then he spelled Arturo's last name. "I'm not sure where he is, but that login Jason has? Yeah, last night, the KoG forums said they were going to burn the world. Not the right wording, but something about burning. Yep. We do have a screenshot of it. Yes, sir. I'll make sure to send that to you with the report. Mhm. Yeah. Sadly, we don't have any idea of his whereabouts, but he works for..." Bradley snapped his fingers a few times.
"Cyber Magazine," Jason supplied.
"Cyber Magazine," Bradley told the Section Chief. "Yes, sir. I'm sure they'd at least be able to narrow it down. Yep, we're going to keep going here. If you detain him, let us know and we'll get back to do some questioning. Sir, if Agent Raige can get this last piece, I don't think it will matter if anyone sees his face. Yes, sir. I told you he could do it. The CIs have been instrumental in putting this together. Thank you, sir. I'll let him know." Bradley hung up the phone and looked at Jason with a smile.
"Well?" Jason asked.
"They're going to have some agents detain him for questioning," Bradley gloated. "And if they have to, they will label him a terrorist to make sure he can't just walk out."
"Perfect," Jason breathed. "Then all we need - "
The ding on his phone made him pause. Glancing at the screen, Jason saw a notification for an email from a Chris Meyer. His brow furrowed, but he opened it up to find a link. Jason clicked it and was taken to an archived page on Reddit.
TheGanzaMan
And now Foxflight is going to be a complete disaster. They brought on some kid with no experience and then did everything she said. How many people were fired? The community is falling apart, and all of the best players got banned because of it. This? It's why girls should get their asses back in the kitchen and stop trying to act like they know what they're talking about.
WooHooBooBoo
Yeah, that works, except that the game is finally fun to play. So they banned the hackers. I mean, why do you think we all quit. Unless you were one of the hackers?
TheGanzaMan
You wish. I just wrote a story for this that's going to appear in GamerNow. Did a bit of research.
Lachesis
Which means you only interviewed the people who were laid off. Some of them were put in new positions, but the game was dying. Everyone could see that - except you? FoxFlight had