how anxious she felt, and they worked on discussing the night before until Gina called Nate back. Nate stared into space thoughtfully as he listened to his assistant on the phone.
“Sounds fine,” he said. “We don’t need a gym or a pool, but they won’t get in our way. As long as we have a good visual of the surrounding area in every direction and solid internet connection, we’re good. Yes…two o’clock for lunch delivery. Yes. I know. You are magnificent, Gina. I bow before your vast cosmic power. Yeah, you bet. Two weeks in Hawaii for you and Kenny, minimum.” His eyes shifted to Elisa, smiling. “Yes, she is…yeah, I look forward to having you meet her, too.”
Nate closed the call. “We pick up the key from a rental agency in Bellamy. He’s expecting us before noon, so we need to get moving.” He tapped a message into his phone. “I sent Mace and Jim the address. And I’ve already checked us out of this hotel. Gotta pack those consoles up, babe.”
“Let me just leave Josh a quick message before you break it down,” she said quickly. “So he doesn’t think I abandoned him.”
“I bet that would never even cross his mind,” Nate told her. “No one lucky enough to have you for a sister would think that for one second.”
“That’s sweet. But he’s been through so much. I want him to have something from me the second he logs on.” She sat down and typed into the dialog box.
we have 2 change our location. incommunicado for an hour or so. will check back in asap. love u. stay strong.
She saved the game and closed out. “Let’s get moving.
Between the two of them they got all the stuff dragged down and loaded into his rented Jeep. The morning was gray and raw, snow fluttering down, but the roads were mostly clear. They drove to Bellamy to pick up the keys, and from there, headed straight to the house in the hills that Gina had secured for their base of operations.
It was a strikingly beautiful house. Modern, glassy, austere. Perched up on a hill with a clear view all the way around it. There was an indoor pool and a sheltered rock garden atrium in the center. Picture windows on every side opened onto a wraparound deck that showed a vast panorama of wintry mountain landscape.
Nate and Elisa worked feverishly to get the computer monitor and gamer console set back up. Elisa logged back into the game and found both her and Josh’s points dangerously low, so Nate siphoned money out of his credit card and topped them up. Elisa had to look away as his avatar once again sliced its wrist with the ceremonial knife and sprayed gouts of virtual blood onto the stained altar.
“That is vile,” she said. “Whoever designed this game is twisted.”
“Yeah,” Nate agreed. “And thank God for them.”
“Amen,” she agreed, leaning to peer at the pop-up menu.
GeekwadX1000 appeared on the list, to her intense relief. “He’s online,” she said, using the wand to tap Josh’s line on the Obelisk, where Josh had left a brief message. The translation appeared in the dialog box. w8ing
im here, she typed back.
thank god i was afraid it was just a dream. tnx 4 the points btw
no dream she typed. im really here and i wont stop until u r free
“Let me talk to him,” Nate said.
passing u to nate. more l8r, she typed.
Elisa sat back and watched Nate typing into the computer, hair dangling over his face, eyes narrowed in concentration. His fingers flew. Nate in work mode, utterly focused. Sexy. Wow, she must have done something good in a past life to deserve this.
She went into the kitchen and loaded up the coffee maker to keep busy, and to avoid getting weepy again. When the water had gurgled through and the pot was full, she poured two cups and brought them back to the room with the gaming consoles, offering one to Nate. “Brace yourself,” she warned. “I made it brutally strong.”
“Perfect,” he said without looking up, and accepted it, taking a sip. “I have to stop for a while anyway, because Josh just told me he has to go do some work in the kitchen. He has assigned chores after meals. He’s on dishwasher duty. You know what? Your little brother is the perfect hostage, from a rescuer’s point of view.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Nate’s eyes studied the script of their past messages on the screen as he sipped his