Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,68
the man he’d killed. And JK wouldn’t leave it alone. He’d seen to that without realizing the danger he’d put her in. Stupid, stupid…
With a supreme effort, he forced himself awake, shooting past all the games and into the network in search of the test lab. And suddenly it was there. He was there, gazing straight at Dale.
Chapter Fifteen
Dale stared at him, slack-jawed, as if mesmerised. Behind Dale, a computer monitor showed the open chat program with JK’s messages. Adam must have switched it on subconsciously when he sensed the contact, but he couldn’t really have done her a worse disservice. If Dale knew they’d been in touch…
“You,” Dale said hoarsely. “Is that really you? Adam?”
“Weird, isn’t it?” Adam agreed, far more nonchalantly than he felt.
“Is it…are you just the VR program from the database?”
“Just?”
A reluctant smile flickered across his old friend’s face. “All right, you’re good. You’re a fucking genius, we all know that.”
“So how’s it going? All ready for the launch?”
“Got a few issues. We miss you, to be honest.”
“Don’t like to be mean, Dale, but you should have thought of that when you were watching that psycho try to rip my heart out with a machete.”
Dale’s eyes widened. He swallowed, as well he might. “You remember that? How can you? Your database file dates from well before that.”
“All things are possible,” Adam drawled.
Dale, perhaps thinking of the poltergeist which Sera had, presumably, dispatched, nodded thoughtfully. But his eyes were sharp. “What else do you remember?”
“I remember strangling the psycho with his own medallion. I remember killing him, and then I remember being shot.”
“Would you believe we had burglars as well as the psycho that night?”
“Funnily enough, I would.”
Dale’s lips formed into an unhappy twist. But his eyes were veiled. Why had he never realised before that Dale hid so much? They’d been friends and partners for so long, it had never entered Adam’s head to distrust him, to even imagine any kind of betrayal. Even after their lives had drifted apart, Adam would have done anything for Dale, and not just because they shared their baby, Genesis Gaming.
It felt like a sharp claw around his heart.
“And now,” Dale said, “you can actually control your own VR program? It really was you who contacted me the other night?”
Adam quirked his lips. “Fancy a pint?”
“Fuck, you know I do.” Dale’s voice cracked as if he was genuinely upset. Or perhaps just worried. “But I can’t take this, Adam. You wouldn’t believe what we’ve just had to do to get rid of the bastard you killed. How can we cope with you living in the VR machine?”
“Might make your demos more exciting,” Adam observed. Placing his palms behind him on the bench, he lifted himself into a sitting position and regarded his old friend and partner steadily while his brain whirled and tried to find a way to prevent Dale simply switching him off.
A breath of laughter hissed between Dale’s teeth. More like the old Dale. “It would certainly get us attention. I’d do it too, as a tribute to you, if I thought you’d behave.”
Gently, Adam reached into himself into the network and sent the betraying monitor with JK’s messages to sleep. Turning the whole computer off would cause too much electronic activity that would just attract Dale’s attention. By whatever fortune, Dale seemed to have caught sight of him before he could see the computer.
“I might, for the sake of the new system. What’s your problem with it anyway?”
As if involuntarily, Dale took a step nearer him. “Getting it all to work together. Individually, all the parts work wonderfully. Stick it all together and it throws out the sort of glitches you wouldn’t believe.”
“Not surprised. None of the guys know what the others are doing.”
Dale’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been checking up.”
Adam spread his hands. “Hey, I’m only human. It’s my baby too.” Except Dale had stolen it from him, but neither of them brought that up. Adam swung his legs, saw Dale’s fascinated gaze follow the motion. “I can fix it up for you,” he said casually.
Dale’s gaze flew back up to his face. “You’d do that?”
“Sure, a few e-mails, a few instructions, and it’ll all be hunky-dory in a week. Or two. Gives you time to train a few guys in demonstrating the finer points of the game before launch day.”
Which would guarantee Adam two more weeks, at least. In which time, maybe he could come up with another extension plan. Or he’d at least have made