Page 53 of Cassidy

Before they could strike out at him again.

ChapterTwelve

Gabe’s thoughts whirled as he stared at the computer screen. He was so close to uncovering the truth. The final piece of the puzzle hung just out of reach. He stared at the screen so long the numbers and letters blurred. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to clear his head.

“Gabe? Can you tell me more about this gaming software?” Cassidy asked.

“Not really.” He opened his eyes and focused on her anxious expression. “Let’s take a moment to review the facts. Travis is a gamer and so is this guy, Miles Wayland. Maybe they met on the Dorian site. I can log in and check any communication that’s public. But if they were in touch on the site in private, that will be more difficult to find.”

“Okay, that’s good to know.” She smiled encouragingly. “Do you think Travis sent you this code?”

“I believe so, although I’m not sure why. But if he did, Travis may have done that via the same site.” He turned and quickly brought up the Dorian gaming site. He typed in the password that came to his fingertips, but it didn’t work.

He frowned, sitting back in his chair. He needed to think this through. The last thing he wanted to do was to lock himself out by trying every password under the sun. He could go the password recovery route, but he didn’t have a phone to verify his account.

Then he remembered his phone password, using Cassidy’s name. He leaned forward, took a deep breath, and typed inCassha$myheart.

It worked! He sent up a silent prayer of thanks as he quickly checked his messages.

“Is that the Dorian site?” Cass leaned over his shoulder to see the screen. “I’ve never heard of a specific site just for gamers.”

“It’s quite the community.” He scrolled through the list to find the most recent messages from Travis. His heart thumped against his chest as he saw there were several messages from his half brother. “This is the message in which Travis sent the code.” He scanned the cryptic message accompanying the document. “Seems he has concerns about the security of the game.”

“Security?” Cass sounded skeptical. “That doesn’t seem like something important enough to kill for.”

“Maybe the computer software company thinks Travis was stealing their technology.” He wished the messages were clearer, but it was obvious that Travis hadn’t wanted to put the details in writing. Which was probably smart, as someone figured out what Travis was up to anyway.

“Okay, check this Miles Wayland guy, see if you can find his posts,” Cass urged. “Maybe that will give us more information to go on.”

He found Miles Wayland, but there were few public posts and nothing specific about gaming security. Although Wayland did mention the game Sorcerer’s Sword. A chill snaked down his spine as he brought up the code he’d stored on the USB drive.

Was this the security system for Sorcerer’s Sword, the hottest computer game to hit the stores in over a year? And if so, why had Travis been concerned? Was there malware embedded in the code?

Yet that didn’t make sense. Gaming software was set up to get gamers hooked on making their way from one level to the next. The goal was to have the consumer invest time and energy playing it. Some companies even sold advertising that provided additional income to the company. If there was a hint of computers going down after playing the game, the entire gaming community would get the word out, and everyone would stop buying the product.

He was missing something, but what? Gabe rubbed his eyes, battling weariness. The sleep he’d gotten didn’t seem nearly enough now that the rest of the day was looming before them.

“I found Miles Wayland’s address,” Cassidy said. “I need to talk to Rhy about getting a search warrant. It’s a long shot. I’m not sure seeing his vehicle last night and having him on the same gaming site as Travis—along with a million other users—will be enough.”

“Try ten million users and more jumping on the site every day,” he said. The way some facts popped into his mind was a little annoying. He needed to know what he and Travis had been concerned about regarding the Sorcerer’s Sword game.

“I wonder if my stepsiblings Ben and Brian Hamilton are on there.” She waved a hand at his computer screen. “I assume so as they are big into computer games.” Was there a hint of derision in her tone?

He told himself not to overact. He performed a quick search and nodded. “Yep, both of them are.”

Her brow furrowed. “Do you think they’re in danger?”

“I doubt it,” he hastened to assure her. “They took Travis and have targeted me for a reason. I don’t think other users are at risk.” Yet as he said the words, he noticed both were discussing the merits of the game and their plans to purchase it. Was he wrong about the danger? He prayed he wasn’t. He noticed another user with the code name Axe had attacked Travis’s post about the security, claiming it was ridiculous.

“You’re probably right.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I’m still trying to understand why any game would cause gunmen to find and try to kill you.”

“I agree, it doesn’t make sense. But I’m sure we’ll know more once we find Travis.” That gave him a thought. He pulled up another program and did a search on Miles Wayland.

“What program are you using? I don’t think I have access to it,” Cassidy said with a frown.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t,” he said absently. He nodded with satisfaction when he found what he was looking for. “Here, these are Miles’s parents, Gordan and Joanna Wayland. Now I’ll run a property search on them.” As he spoke, his fingers played the keyboard. It took a minute for the results to bloom on the page.

Again, Cassidy leaned over his shoulder, so close he could turn his head and kiss her. He forced himself to focus on the screen. “They own a house in Brookland, which is interesting. And they own a small house on Newport Lake. It’s a much smaller lake than Peabody Lake or the other more popular lakes nearby. But it’s also not far, only thirty minutes from their home in Brookland.”

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