Jason, Gracie, and Connor sat around the converted dining room table and waited for DC to call in through their video conference equipment. Connor had sprung for Chinese delivery to the safe house, and they had just put away the empty boxes. He looked good for having gotten shot almost a month ago and nearly bleeding out. Jason couldn’t believe that the agent’s full-time job involved monitoring his and Gracie’s activity in the Realms of Infamy. He didn’t think that would keep him busy, but he was always available for his crew at the drop of a hat.
It was almost 8 pm in Chicago, and Jason and Gracie had been busy preparing for this meeting all day. They had relied heavily on their counterparts in CIA headquarters and regretted keeping them up this late, as it was almost nine on the East Coast, but they had stumbled upon some time-sensitive information, and they needed to have the approval to proceed tonight so they could log in the next morning for a marathon session.
The screen on the wall flickered to life, and Stephen and Allison smiled back at them. The duo was used to working crazy hours, and Jason knew they monitored teams all over the US. Stephen had been hired specifically for this task force and worked with Gracie for almost a year. Yet his knowledge was equivalent to someone who had spent their whole life in the game. According to Gracie, the young man had tried to play a few times but usually died before he got to level 10. Allison had only been hired a few months ago but was willing to pour through any chat site or database to find the needed information.
Seated beside the youthful pair was Ross Fordier, the senior agent in charge of this task force. He had become Jason’s biggest fan over the last month as the accountant’s performance had cemented the legitimacy of this operation in many people’s minds. This would have been easy if all they needed to do was convince Ross their proposed quests were legitimate. But, sitting next to him was a man Jason had never seen before.
“Good evening,” the much older man said. He had a square jaw and salt-and-pepper black hair. He looked like a retired field agent straight from the movies. “My name is Gregory Sykes. I’ve been asked to sit in on this meeting to bring some awareness of what you guys are doing to management.”
Jason thought that was a pretty low-key description of why he was there. Their last mission revolved around freeing four players whom the North Koreans had kidnapped. Two were MIT students, one was from Russia, and the fourth was from South Korea and used the game to generate contacts and funds to smuggle people out of the north. Shortly after they had completed that mission, social media blew up with one of the most significant defections from North Korea in decades. The refugees included professors, scientists, politicians, and media members. They released tons of information about what was going on in the communist regime, and the world was having a hard time absorbing it.
The escapees were wise not to mention the Realms of Infamy or the CIA’s involvement in the affair. Still, the word made it through the US government that Jason and Gracie had been responsible, and those working in Central Intelligence who had thought that this special task force was just a bunch of video gamers now thought differently. Ross Fordier was a senior agent, but the CIA thought they needed additional oversight. If Jason and Gracie were about to disrupt Iranian terrorists or Columbian drug cartels, the CIA didn’t want to hear about it on Facebook or Twitter first.
“It sounds like you need approval to conduct a mission tomorrow,” Gregory continued. “I’ve got the dossier here,” he hefted four thick folders that Stephen had probably handed him a few minutes ago, “but why don’t you tell me what you want to do.” He opened the top folder and scanned the first page. “You’re trying to expose a money laundering scandal?”
“Yes,” Stephen said. “We found suspicious activity around one of the players in the game. He’s a man named Derrick Benser. He runs a graphics art studio in New York City. His firm illustrates everything from children’s books to comics to adult content. We believe 90% of his business is legit, but we fear he also funnels money to sleeper cells in the US. He pays digital artists all over the country, but we know he is also doing artwork development in the game using NPCs. So, someone is getting paid for work they aren’t doing.”
Jason watched Gergory nod his head. The CIA agent was probably used to all kinds of money laundering and distribution schemes, and Stephen didn’t need to go into detail. As an accountant, Jason also understood. If you were a terrorist and you had people living in the US that you needed to fund, you had to find a way to put money in their bank accounts. A suitcase of cash wouldn’t work. People needed to pay for things online, with credit cards, or through direct withdrawal. The problem was that if you tried to deposit large sums of money, the bank was obligated to inform the IRS. The safest way to deposit was through a paycheck tied to a W2.
“So,” Gregory said, “you think this Derrick Benson is doing work in the game, exporting the art, but then paying criminals for doing the work. Clever. What evidence do you have?”
Stephen took a deep breath. “In ROI, Derrick is known as a dwarf named Rock Bender.” The young agent tried to ignore the eye roll he got from the man in response to the fantasy terms. “He also runs an art studio in the game and employs some of the best NPC artists.” He saw the confusion on the older man’s face. “Uh, NPC means Non-Player Character; these are computer-controlled characters that function in the game run by AI.”
“So, they produce art like in Mid Journey?” Gregory asked.
Stephen was impressed by the man’s knowledge. “Sort of. If you’ve ever used that online software, you have to give it long, detailed prompts, and you rarely get what you want. If you need to make changes, you can’t just say, ‘Make his hat green,’ or ‘Add more trees.’ You have to enter the whole prompt again, and half the time, you lose the things you like. Plus, you usually get images of people with three arms or two heads. But in the game, you communicate with the NPC artists like they are real people. You can talk with them about what you want, and they can repeat it to you. And if you want a change, you can pinpoint exactly what to fix.”
Gregory nodded, seemingly understanding. “Impressive.”
“So,” Stephen continued. “We talked to many gamers who frequent his place and discovered that several high-profile criminals visit all the time.”
“Maybe they are just looking for fake nudes of their favorite Bollywood actresses,” Gregory said.
“Yes,” Stephen admitted, “Rock Bender’s artists are often tasked with NSFW images, but the unique thing about the criminals that visit his shop is they all have interests in or stated agendas against the USA. There are plenty of terrorists and gun runners who only work in Asia, Europe, or the Middle East. They rarely, if ever, visit his gallery. It’s only people with assumed assets in the US.”
“Who are we talking about here?” Gregory asked, turning to Ross.
“Drug dealers, sex traffickers, gun runners, a few jihadists,” the head of the department replied. He mentioned a few names Jason couldn’t pronounce, but Gregory seemed to know who they were.
“So, these are big players,” he said. “But this isn’t evidence.”
“It is,” Stephen argued. “But it isn’t proof. Derrick is audited by the IRS almost every year, and we’ve reviewed those reports. For every artwork he produces, he has a payment coming in, usually anonymously through Crytpo, and he has a payment going out to an artist. But we know he is producing some of his art in the game, so who is he paying for that order? The problem is, we don’t know which art he is producing in the game and which he is producing with actual artists in the real world.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Gregory nodded. “You’d never get a warrant to knock on random citizens’ doors based on what you’ve told me.”
Stephen nodded. “And Derrick is smart enough not to keep his real books at his firm in New York. But he has to have a record of which customer ordered what and which fake artist he is supposed to pay once he receives money in the real world. Those books are likely in the game. We need to access them.”
“Let me see if I’ve got this,” Gregory said. “I’m a terrorist with associates living in Texas. I need to get them $20k. So, I log into this game, visit Rock Bender’s art gallery, and order $20k worth of art from his NPC artists. They do the work, and he exports it out of the game. I send him money, he sends me the art, and then he pays my people as if they had produced it.”
Stephen nodded. “That’s it.”
“Don’t the criminals end up paying for the art twice?” Gregory asked. “Do these computer characters need money too?”
“Yes,” Stephen agreed, “but they work much faster. Just like Mid Journey can produce a high-resolution image in seconds, these artists can produce 100 hours’ worth of work in minutes. Plus, money in the game goes much farther. They still need to be paid, but it’s probably only one to two hundred dollars. That’s a small price to pay to launder $20k. And, obviously, Derrick will keep a percentage of that as well.”
Gregory nodded but still had a puzzled look on his face. “I understand this, but I have two main questions. The first is how did you even find this? Like you said, this isn’t proof of anything. You had to dig really deep to find what you did, and with all that’s going on in the game, why did you pick to drill down on Rock Bender? Second, if he is dirty, how will you convince him to let you look at his books?”
“Actually,” Stephen started. “Jason is probably the best one to explain that.”
In DC, the three full-time employees turned to look at their screen. “Ah,” Gregory said, “the legendary Jace Thorne.”
Jason nodded. “At your service, sir. We looked into Rock because he recently acquired a new artist we are interested in, Leah Jacobs. By everything we can tell, she is the best NPC artist in the game, and he is eager to put her to work, but she is currently at odds with him because he hasn’t solved her quest.”
“Her quest?”
“Every NPC has a quest you have to solve,” Allison said, joining the conversation. “There is something they care about deeply, and once you help them achieve that, they will join your group and work loyally with you. Rock promised Leah he would solve her quest but hasn’t yet, so she won’t work for him.”
“And why are we interested in Leah?”
Jason spoke up. “Because of Esther Xerxes, sir. She is one of my party members. She is an extremely valuable asset to the CIA, and we can’t afford to lose her.”
Jason watched as Allison guided Gregory through the folder before him until she pointed at one of the pages. By the reaction on Gregory’s face, Jason assumed it was a picture of Esther. “She is a CIA asset?”
“I know,” Allison replied, interpreting his tone. “Emphasis on the ‘ass.’”
The older man looked at her, glad she had said it so he didn’t have to. He returned to the screen. “And Esther is connected to Leah somehow?”
Jason nodded. “Yes. They are close friends. Esther knows that Leah is in distress, so she is in distress. Right now, her relationship is strained with me as a way to force me into helping Leah. To answer your second question about why Rock would let us access his art gallery, he is desperate to figure out how to satisfy Leah before she leaves him. He will totally understand when I come to him saying I have the same issue with Esther. He won’t see any ulterior motives.”
“Plus,” Allison chimed in, “since Jace is known for solving quests no one else can figure out, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Rock to reach out and personally invite Jace to visit eventually.”
Gregory nodded. “I assume you have a plan for how you will sneak a peek at his books, and, of course, you know how to solve the quest.”
“I do,” Jason replied. “Do you need to know it to approve the request?”
“Humor me. I’d like to see how this group plans out a mission.”
Now Jason really thought the man used to be a field agent. He wanted a taste of the old life. “We will do a party member swap,” Jason said. “I have a crafter that won’t be useful to me on this mission, so I will offer to trade him for Leah. Rock will be reluctant to let me have Leah, but I’m guessing I will need access to her character to get her to trust me. Gromphy, my crafter, is much more valuable than Leah, and Rock will jump at the chance to have the best crafter in the game under his employ for the duration of the quest. He will willingly give Gromphy access to everything in the art gallery, so it shouldn’t be a problem for him to find what we need.”
Jason took a drink of water and cleared his throat. “As for the quest, there isn’t a lot I can tell you. We don’t know much, but I have a strong feeling Rock and the few others who have tried are barking up the wrong tree. Esther was one of four women working at the Gilded Swan when I found her. All four of them are named after women in the Bible who had a somewhat sexual storyline.”
“I’m guessing general Bible knowledge isn’t common in the Realms of Infamy?” Gregory asked.
“Oh, I’m sure if Leah’s quest was made public, and everyone could attempt it, it would be solved in hours, but Rock isn’t advertising his plight, and most people don’t know where Leah is. I’m guessing the few people who have tried haven’t approached the quest like I see it.
“What we do know is that Leah was a princess who was promised in marriage to unite two kingdoms. The foreign prince came for a visit but fell in love with Leah’s younger, more attractive sister. Still, the marriage happened, they had several kids, and the king died, making Leah Queen. When Rachelle, the younger sister, came for the coronation, the prince – now a king – had an affair, and she got pregnant. Leah was furious, and it didn’t help that as the boy grew up, a prophecy was made that Rachelle’s son would eventually save the kingdom. Leah interpreted that as meaning her husband would make Rachelle’s son, Josephus, heir to the throne. So, she did what any reasonable witch would do and cast a curse to kill her sister and nephew.”
Gregory shook his head. “You guys deal with this kind of thing often?”
Stephen and Ross shrugged their shoulders. Jason continued. “Rachelle and Josephus were attacked by a monster, leaving behind a bloody mess, and everyone assumed they were dead. Shortly after, Leah’s kingdom was struck by a famine and plague. The king was one of the first ones to get sick, and he died shortly after. Leah’s oldest son, Jude, was made king. The priests in the land tried everything they could to end the curse to no avail. They were able to cast spells to find its origin, and everything pointed at Leah as the cause. They chose to banish her, taking her out on a ship and tossing her overboard. She was rescued by Tami, a mermaid we will talk about next, and taken to the Gilded Swan.”
Jason took another drink of water. “I visited the Gilded Swan and freed Esther, sending that place into chaos, and the other three women found new homes. I don’t know how Rock ended up with Leah, but she’s been in a mournful state ever since. She heard that her son is now sick and dying, and she feels horrible for what she did. To solve her quest, you must reverse the curse and restore her relationship with the kingdom.”
“And you know how to do that?” Gregory asked.
Jason wavered. “I think I do. I know that the others visited the plagued kingdom, and upon entering, they were immediately sickened and slowly lost Hit Points that couldn’t be healed as long as they stayed. They poked around for a while but had to leave before they died. So far, that is all anyone has tried. Obviously, the prophecy that Josephus will save the land is the most obvious solution, but Leah insists that he is dead and won’t say anything else on the subject. I’m guessing she has a bad relationship score with Rock right now, so she isn’t forthcoming with more information. She should respond much better to Esther and me.”
“I’m guessing you think Joe is still alive?” Gregory said.
Jason nodded. “He has to be. It fits the narrative from the Bible. Joseph was sold into slavery, and his brothers put blood on his clothes to show their father to make it look like he had died. We just need to get Leah to open up to that possibility, and Esther should be able to do that.”
Gregory nodded. “How dangerous will it be? Are we likely to lose any of our . . .” he glanced down at the picture of Esther again, “ . . . our assets?”
Jason shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. No one has ever played this module before. I don’t know what to expect, but I have confidence my team will be able to handle it.”
“Very well. I approve.” He closed that folder and opened the next one. “What do we have here? Pirates?”
“Yes, sir,” Allison said. “Allow me to explain. . .”