Two Can Play (Entangled Ignite) Read online

  “Yeah, but once EverLife II rolls, all the Lounges will be swamped,” Holly said. Holly was Rena’s Recruit. Her screen name HyperChick was dead on. She was lively, ever cheerful, and a great beta gamer. Becoming a Lifer had literally saved her life. Her stalker boyfriend had set her Dead World apartment on fire, not knowing she’d moved into Level One Quarters. Watchers promised the guy a hospital stay if he came near her again. That was how Lounge Life worked.

  Spotting Gage’s shift manager on a nearby stool, Rena leaned past Holly to get his attention. “How’d my Recruit do over the weekend?”

  “Stone?” He tipped a can of E into a glass. “Not bad. He kept the Card Girls busy and repaired some machines…” There was doubt in his voice.

  “But…?”

  “Too much jabber-jaw with the crew. All the time talk, talk, talk.”

  “Really?” Gage didn’t strike her as Mr. Chit-Chat. “I’ll warn him.”

  He shrugged. “He’s smart and the techs need him. I don’t like my people pulled off task is all.”

  “I’ll make sure he knows.” What the hell was he up to?

  She finished her E and pushed to her feet, her headache gone, her energy restored. “I’ll be in the Dome for a while,” she said.

  “But you’re leading the Quest, right?” James said, worship in his eyes.

  “That’s the plan.” A highlight of Lifer Mondays was an all-Lifer Quest in EverLife. She felt honored by how often she was voted Mission Leader.

  Now she picked up her pace, eager to battle. Dome battles reminded her of her first fight—the kick to her uncle’s crotch that ended her hell.

  Rena had been eleven. After her best friend in the house—her father’s driver—got fired, she’d been so lonely. Hanging in her uncle’s playroom, playing Tomb Raider for endless hours, had helped.

  Until the day he sat beside her on the couch—too close, and too quiet and urgent. He breathed all strange, as though he wanted something really badly. Too late she noticed they were alone, that the other kids, neighborhood boys, were out swimming. He pinned her, forcing his thick worm into her mouth. She’d gagged and bitten down, but he yanked her hair. “Be nice and you can play every day.”

  He tried to shove her down again, but she’d imitated Lara, elbowing him off, kicking like Lara, too, until, to her amazement, he crumpled to the floor moaning. It was as if she’d dreamed herself into Tomb Raider, as if Lara had taken over and saved her.

  After that, Lara lived within her. It was Lara who gave her the courage to take off at sixteen, riding the bus as far as she had money to spend. Phoenix.

  Now she rounded the turn to the Dome and was surprised to see Gage doing a sideline practice with Zeke. He was early. Maybe he was more fired up than she thought. He wore silky black gym shorts and sweat made his naked chest shine. She felt a twinge down there.

  Zeke showed Gage an axe stroke, which he performed, then spun into a nice roundhouse kick. The man knew martial arts, for sure. He was strong and predator-quick, with an animal grace that was a pleasure to watch. The man had moves. In bed, too. Forget that.

  When the fighters separated, she held out a towel to Gage. She watched his pecs swell and recede as he caught his breath, his abs twist as he dried himself. She caught that great smell—spice and man—and got dragged back to the sex, dammit. “You’re early,” she said.

  “I need the points,” he said. “Want to go? You and me?” It took her a sec to realize he meant a battle. “What’s a fight worth?”

  “In points? If you win, tons. If you lose, utter humiliation.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to win.” His tone gave her an achy ping, but she made herself roll her eyes.

  Zeke slapped Gage’s shoulder. “Prepare to get your ass handed to you, chief. Rena’s ruthless on the field.”

  “I can take whatever she’s got,” he said, zeroing in on her. Ping, ping, flash. Her insides were a pinball machine. She hoped she wouldn’t light up and start ringing.

  She led him into the battle space just as the previous fighters left. The Dome Commander hit the switch to sound the trumpets and it was game on.

  Rena and Gage circled each other slowly, bouncing on their feet.

  “Astra rocks!”

  She glanced toward the familiar voice. Cassie lifted a V-Trique in her direction, distracting Rena enough that she failed to block Gage’s roundhouse kick. She stopped his cross punches, though, then let him get in a couple front kicks for the practice of it.

  “Fight me,” he murmured. “Don’t lay back.”

  “If you say so.” At least his ego was sturdy. She went at him hard, using her axe and shield, then did quick double-kicks and a spinning side thrust.

  Gage adapted to each move. Points zinged, fast and furious. The Lifers loved it, hollering and stamping their feet. In the end, she bested him, her axe poised at the side of his neck, signifying imminent decapitation.

  Gage grinned. She’d won, but he hadn’t been beaten. They walked off together to applause and whistles. It was eerie for a stranger to so quickly become a teammate. She was just a little shorter than him, so they were nearly eye to eye, equals, and their strides swung into an easy rhythm.

  The next fighters started off with fancy moves, so Rena knew she and Gage had sparked a competitive spirit. That was good. Lifers needed to push themselves. You could never, never take the Life for granted.

  It would be fun to work up demo battles, she thought, with actual Quests and lots of fighters. Too bad Lionel Dray, the Dome Commander, was so damned lazy. She looked up at the booth, where the guy dozed, drunk or stoned, she’d bet, even though both were prohibited on shift. There were so few rules. Did he have no respect?

  “So, what did I just earn?” Gage asked her.

  “Two K in training points, but you lost the battle, so—”

  “Total humiliation?”

  “Sorry.” She grinned, not sorry at all.

  “If I’d won?”

  “Twenty K.”

  “That’s twice what I got for the sex.”

  “Sex is easy.”

  “With the right person, maybe.” He held her gaze, making her think about them on her big velvet bed, her on top, shaking through her climax, her cry ripped from her throat, the release so strong she practically passed out, then she’d fallen onto the guy, breathing with him, liking his arms around her so much she had to rip away. She’d felt so naked. Barer than bare.

  “Sex is no big thing.” She had to escape him before her inner pinball pinged so loud he heard it.

  “Yeah?” Holding her gaze, he used the towel around his neck to wipe sweat from her temples. “Seemed damn good to me,” he said very low.

  Ping, ping, flash, clang. She hated reactions she couldn’t control. “I saw God,” she said as flatly as she could manage. “Oh, oh, oh. Yes. Oh. Yes. Yes.”

  “Ouch.” He laughed, deep and warm and relaxed. “How about we go again? Give me a chance to boost my score?”

  “Like I said, no points for repeats.” She was smiling, all girly and flirty, which irritated the hell out of her. “It’d be a waste of time.”

  “Oh, I doubt that.” A current surged between them, a crackling twist of raw energy, a cable with the insulation peeled back, pure danger.

  “So this is the guy, huh?”

  They broke apart. Rena was glad of the interruption until she saw it was Cassie, staring at Gage, standing close enough to dose the air with liquor.

  Oh, Cassie. Soon Rena would wreck her world. “Cassie, this is Gage Stone. Gage, Cassie Fletcher.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Gage said, holding out his hand.

  Cassie shook it, looking him over, swaying, but clearly trying not to. “Nice work out there. How about you and I fight the next round?”

  “You’re in no condition to battle,” Rena said to her. “You’d get hurt.”

  “See how she is?” she said to Gage, throwing her arm around Rena’s shoulder and hugging her. “Rena recruited me and now
she goes all mom-bossy over every teensy-weensy slipup. You better watch out.”

  “Oh, I will,” Gage said. “I’ll watch out.”

  Rena pried herself gently from Cassie’s grip, sick at heart over what was to come. Cassie’s drinking had become insane, it was true. It was barely 9:00 a.m. Maybe the Life was enabling her. Maybe the eviction would lead to a cure. She could only hope. “The K men are here.” Rena pointed to where the Koreans were moving single file toward the largest group of consoles, solemn in their black gis.

  “What’s with the uniforms?” Gage asked.

  “The gis represent respect, unity, and devotion.”

  Ji Jin caught sight of her and smiled shyly, waving with a low hand.

  “Ahhh,” Cassie said. “That boy wants to make sweet, sweet love to you. Too bad the K men aren’t Lifers.”

  “Ji Jin and I are just friends, Cass.”

  “The programmers aren’t Lifers?” Gage asked.

  “Nope,” Cassie said. “They’re chained to the computers in the basement, living on E and PowerBars.”

  “Why would you say such a thing?” Rena said, irritated that Cassie would be sarcastic in front of a Recruit, especially one with Gage’s tendency to mock.

  “Because it’s true. They live down there and they work 24-7.”

  “The barracks are convenient to the lab and they’re devoted to the job.”

  “Don’t be naive. It’s all about the revenue stream. They don’t produce, they get deported. You can bank on that.”

  “That’s an ugly thing to say.” How had Rena missed Cassie’s bitterness? What kind of a friend was she to have not noticed or tried to intervene?

  “It’s obvious, Reenie. The charter school gets government funds, then NiGo gets the grads for tech slaves. Very, very smart.” She turned to Gage. “I’m in accounting, so I see all.” She rested two fingers in a vee beneath her eyes.

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Rena said to Gage, trying to laugh off the nasty words. “Come meet Ji Jin. Cassie, you coming?”

  “Nah. I’m a quart low. I’ll be on your Quest though.”

  “Maybe skip the vodka? So you’ll be alert?”

  Cassie waved her away and headed for Blood Electric.

  “You’re worried about her drinking,” Gage said.

  “I kept hoping she’d cut back.”

  “Addicts don’t cut back,” Gage said, his firm tone surprising her. When she looked at him, he added, “My mother had a pain-pill habit. She was always tapering off. Until the next score.”

  She knew he was right, but she wasn’t about to tell Gage about the liquor jones she herself had inherited from her birth mother, a hooker who called herself Brandi Wine. At least the bitch had had a sense of humor.

  Before Rena left home, she’d pried the adoption papers out of Bingham’s locked desk and a sympathetic social worker tracked down her mother’s story—she’d croaked when Rena was five. Rena hadn’t wanted to meet her or anything, but it had left her feeling hollow.

  Rena led Gage to where the K men were speaking frantic Korean while making lightning moves with the controllers, then greeted Ji Jin in Korean.

  He looked up. “Rena! So happy to see you.” Ji Jin ducked his head in a quick bow. His name meant “precious wisdom” and it suited him. He had old-soul brown eyes and knowing ways, though he couldn’t be much older than Rena. “We will be having again our sessions after the launch?”

  “When you can spare the time. I’d like you to meet my Recruit. Gage Stone.”

  “I wish to you much luck,” he said to Gage.

  Gage bowed slightly and said “nice to meet you” in Korean. Rena’s jaw dropped. Ji Jin’s smile widened at the use of his language.

  “You speak Korean?” Rena asked Gage.

  “I picked up some in tae kwon do.”

  Another programmer spoke urgently to Ji Jin, so Rena waved him back to his work, saying they’d talk later. She and Gage watched the screen as a castle portcullis lowered with perfect sound effects and a scout band entered, their moves electric and vivid and so real.

  “Amazing imagery,” Gage said.

  “It’s a two-game-generation leap at least. Fully world-interactive and change-sustaining. At the top levels, players can build towns or mountains or lakes, design new ways to travel, create governments, whatever they want, and it will exist for all.”

  “That means a giant server demand, doesn’t it?”

  “Astronomical, but necessary. And the engineering is so elegant that it’s well worth the delays we’ve had. The K men are brilliant.”

  The screen froze for a microsecond. One of the programmers sank into his chair with a cry. His neighbor patted his back.

  “They’re exhausted with the release just three weeks away.”

  “Chained to the lab, like Cassie said?”

  She gave him a look. “We’re all pushing hard.”

  “Makes sense,” he said, backing down. “Sounds like Ji Jin enjoys you.”

  “He’s taught me a lot. I was able to debug some shaping code in the early levels. A small contribution, but it made me feel good.”

  “Getting girls into programming is part of your Girl Power thing, right? Seems like you’d be a perfect candidate.”

  “Nigel and Naomi know what we all need.”

  “Yet you have this project.”

  “They want Lifers to learn lessons on their own and work to make the Life better.” She didn’t like his jabbing doubts. Worry skittered through her, EverLife spiders escaping her stomach to travel to her brain.

  “Rena! I saved you a seat,” James called from an EverLife station.

  Rena led the way there and motioned for James to slide to the next chair so Gage could sit. James frowned, but he handed Gage a headset and controller with a sigh. Rena sat and sank into the moment, checking out the focus of Lifers across the arena, all of them together with one thought, one mission. She couldn’t help smiling.

  She felt Gage’s eyes on her and said without turning. “Yeah, Gage. I love this.” She felt his amused eyes on her, as she logged in and activated Astra, who carried simple weapons and wore modest armor—her weapons, powers, and potions hidden in her inventory so opponents had no clue as to her strength.

  Gage, a Paladin, also Level Twelve, operated low-key, too. His leather boots and vest were scuffed, his hat ragged, as if he’d traveled far and endured hardship. Paladins were lone wolves, which matched Gage’s vibe. So why had he been so jabber-jaw during his shift? Something did not jibe.

  She glanced at Gage’s profile. Clean lines, straight nose, square jaw. Solid. Like Gage was someone you could count on and not just on an EverLife Quest.

  “What?” Gage said, catching her staring at him.

  Her cheeks go hot. “I’m just wondering if you love it, too.”

  His dark eyes, deep and hard to read, searched her face. “What’s not to love?” he said finally with a shrug.

  Okay. A decent answer. She noticed the mission timer had reached zero, so she got busy keying in the code to get the Quest. Defeat the Demon Argot, ensconced in the Castle Dragonelle appeared in the text box in elaborate script. They would need catapults and tall ladders, so she put out the request.

  Soon the players had gathered in the town square to begin the mission. Cassie’s avatar, Andromeda, drove a cart of Electrique in wooden barrels into the scene, then tipped it over, spilling the barrels, knocking down two avatars.

  Rena spotted Cassie at a nearby station, laughing, while her mates looked annoyed. “Not cool.” Baker spoke over voice chat. If Cassie had pissed off the laid-back Baker, she truly was blowing it. Somehow, Cassie had unraveled, losing her place among Lifers. Cassie is a ghost here now.

  Now Cassie had Andromeda freak-dancing against Gage’s avatar. EyesOnly ignored the move and went to collect and stack the barrels near the tavern. A classy response, and Rena and others soon joined in.

  “You guys are a drag.” Andromeda transported of
f scene and Cassie left the station. Rena watched her, worried.

  “Let’s roll,” Holly/HyperChick said over voice chat, drawing Rena back to her duty as quest leader. She focused in, sensing Lifers all around doing the same, intent, fired up to achieve any task they were given. There was so much power in their unity. So many hearts and minds aimed at a single purpose. What glory, what joy. Rena glanced at Gage to see if he was getting the same vibe, but he was studying her. Again. Sheesh.

  The quest turned out to be a tough one. Twenty minutes of battle and a couple strategies and they’d barely chipped a turret.

  “Any ideas?” Rena asked over voice chat.

  After a long silence, Gage spoke. “I know code for concealing dynamite. We could put the explosives…in the barrels maybe…and catapult them over the wall.”

  Deep silence now. New Lifers rarely dared to offer up a plan.

  “Complicated,” one Lifer wrote in the text box.

  “Give us more detail, EyesOnly,” Rena said out loud.

  Gage demo-ed a build and explained the next steps. Lifers threw out queries—if this failed, they would all lose powers and they didn’t know Gage well enough to trust his skill—and Gage answered each one easily.

  More silence.

  “Shall we try it?” Rena asked finally.

  Holly/HyperChick piped up. “If you say we go, Astra, we go.” More voices agreed and before long they were launching the assault.

  It worked. In a half hour they’d captured the Dragonelle throne. Rena noticed Lifers all over the arena looking over, checking out the new guy. She felt stupidly proud, though she’d contributed nothing to his success. He had moves in EverLife, too. And he smelled so good, even sweating in battle.

  “I’m betting it’s a damn good thing that worked,” Gage said to Rena once they’d left the station, turning to face her, standing close enough she could see flecks of caramel in the dark brown of his eyes. “Would I have been in trouble?”

  “Oh yeah. Lifers hate to lose.”

  “They only tried it because they trust you.” He looked her over in a way that showed respect. “You’re a leader here.”

  Her cheeks went hot at the praise. “They’ll trust you, too, Gage, once they know you better.” First, Rena had to trust him, and she wasn’t there—not even close.