Alexander Plansky - Arcadia

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I’ve had better days.”

“Some vacation, huh?”

“Technically, it was a business trip.”

Gonzalez looked around Solaria. “Seemed like a nice club. Shame we had to tear it up.”

“I’m just glad nobody innocent got hurt.”

“But they already have,” she said, growing more serious. “This Arcadia business has been going on for months. We need to put an end to it ASAP.”

“Blackwell and Caruso are planning their next moves as we speak. Once the S.W.A.T. team leaves, they’ll find a way back. They’ve invested too much in this to let either of us go.”

“We’re going to be out of here soon. I’ve requested an unmarked car from the Vegas PD. The three of us are going to Arcadia. Tonight.”

“Tonight? Still?” He glanced at his watch. It was barely 9PM, but he felt exhausted.

“You said they weren’t well guarded. We should be able to sneak in and get to the other building. Whatever agency is behind this is never going to let us get a warrant; they’ll find a way of interfering with due process. The only way to get hard evidence is to sneak in there and take it, like you tried to do. Although this time, you’ll have backup.”

“That’s crazy. Jenna and I aren’t trained at all.”

“I know, but you’re alternative is staying here like sitting ducks. If a government agency wants you dead, not even the police will be able to protect you. I’m surprised they haven’t altered your and Jenna’s criminal records and forged warrants for your arrests yet. I’d rather not wait around for that to happen.”

“I have no clue if what we find there will be any use.”

“We know that Arcadia has to be where the final brainwashing occurs. Clearly, the game by itself is not enough to induce homicidal psychosis. So they must do something else to the gamers there. Not to mention they kidnapped a person last night. Remember?”

He nodded. He hated to think what they might be doing to the poor person.

“They have access to the security cameras all over Vegas,” Lewis pointed out. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a special drone flying overhead. They’ll know we’re on our way.”

“Not necessarily. In movies, they always make it seem like the conspiracy is much larger than it actually is. Whoever is funding this Zhao guy, it’s probably a rogue element of an existing agency that is funneling money from other projects toward this side venture. Think about it, they could have framed you for murder and had the Vegas PD come after you by now, but they haven’t yet. It doesn’t mean they’re not trying to get access to those sort of things, it means they don’t have easy access to begin with. They sent some of their own people after you two as a quick op, and then those people fucked up.

“There were three of them. Two were probably surveilling you at the pool. They followed Jenna up to her room and were supposed to grab her there while one waited in the car, keeping the engine running. It was supposed to be in and out. But she got away, and then you got mixed up, and then one of them killed a cop, and then the whole incident here happened, and now one of them is dead. Zhao is probably freaking out right now. He ran a low profile in the desert for six months, but now his people have become a liability. I wouldn’t be surprised if his bosses decide to torch everything and terminate the project – and him along with it.”

“If they killed everyone involved, that would be convenient for us.”

Gonzalez shook her head. “Probably not. If they bring in real professionals – I’m talking top-level black ops teams who you won’t be able to outrun – then we’re all dead. Zhao’s employers will want to wipe the slate completely clean, and they’ll leave nothing behind.”

“How long do we have before that happens?”

“Probably not long. I would say tonight is our last chance to get in there before the clean-up crew scrubs it off the face of the Earth.”

Lewis nodded and sighed. He hated the thought of going back there, but those two words sifted through his memory like the whispers of a distant dream.

“ Arcadia awaits .”

He could see Jenna standing there, drenched in blood, her eyes turning black and her lips curling into a sinister smile.

Lewis shook his head and turned back to Gonzalez. “When do we leave?”

“Soon,” she said.

One of the detectives, a lean Japanese man in his late 40s, walked up to them. “Agent Gonzalez, Officer Rogers just informed me that the car you requested is here.”

“Excellent. Thank you.” She turned to Lewis. “Get Jenna. We’re out of here.”

Acool breeze greeted Lewis as he climbed out of the passenger seat and looked around the gas station. It was a quiet night out here along this lone section of desert highway. US-93 stretched off to the horizon in each direction beneath the stars. A full moon shone down from the heavens. A large sign just off the road displayed a giant, glowing white letter G against a gray background. Theirs was the only vehicle here.

Gonzalez shut the driver’s side door of the unmarked white Nissan. “Can’t believe they didn’t give us a car without a full tank.”

“Guess they didn’t think we’d be driving so far,” Jenna said, getting out of the back and stretching. It was over 70 miles from downtown Las Vegas to Arcadia, and then another 70 back.

“We’re still about a half-hour away,” the FBI agent noted, glancing back the way they came. They hadn’t seen another car in ages.

“Can we grab some snacks or something quickly? I haven’t eaten in ages,” Jenna said, putting a hand on her stomach.

“Sure, be quick,” Gonzalez said, moving to the pump.

“Come on, Des.” There seemed to be something off about her tone. She led him to the convenience mart entrance and they went in. The air conditioning gave the store an unnecessary chill and the clerk behind the counter looked pale and bored reading a weathered paperback novel. His eyes flicked up from the page as they walked in, then returned down again.

The store had three aisles and a bunch of drinks along the back wall. Chips were in the second aisle and Jenna led him over to it. She sighed and put a hand to her forehead.

“You alright?” he asked.

“Hey, you’re the one that got shot.”

He shrugged. “Shit happens.”

She laughed. “I just never figured someone would want to target e-sports champions as part of a government plot.”

“To be honest, it does seem a bit far-fetched.”

Jenna narrowed her eyes and looked back out the window. “Listen… this whole thing has me worried. I don’t know what Gonzalez is thinking! We’re not trained at all, why is she bringing us along without backup?”

“She doesn’t want anyone else to get involved in this. And we’ve both actually been to Arcadia before, she hasn’t. We’re more familiar with the layout.”

“Or…” Jenna glanced out the window, then leaned closer. “She’s taking us straight to them .”

Lewis blinked, confused. “What? She can’t be working for them, she shot one of them in the face! She’s been helping us both this whole time.”

“Des, what did she say to you just before we got into the car?”

“She said a lot of things.”

“The clean-up crew . The agency that employed Zhao and all his people at Arcadia is probably going to terminate everyone involved if they think there’s a risk of them getting exposed. First, your buddy Jake dies while doing a story on them, but they manage to pass that off as him doing drugs – which is improbable to anyone who knew him, but whatever. Then Charlie, their next target, is scheduled to go nuts in L.A. this past week. So they send in one of their operatives, Gonzalez, and have her pose as an FBI agent to make sure the investigation doesn’t turn up anything. Hell, she’s probably the one who deleted Rogue Horizon off Charlie’s computer!