Senior Agent Gregory Sykes moved to the last folder. “Are we reviewing Esther Xerxes or Kai Morte?”
“Both, sir,” Jason said. “They are connected. A couple of weeks ago, Esther and Gromphy went on a mission for me and ran into one of Esther’s old acquaintances: a vampire named Atrax. All we know about him is that he serves a powerful demon and is hunting Esther and the other angels who fell with her. We don’t know why.”
“Esther can’t tell you?” Gregory asked.
Jason shook his head. “No, and she only remembers as much as she does because Atrax told her. She and a few other angels – we don’t know how many – fell to the realms and lived in a forest for a while, trying to figure out what had happened to them and what they were supposed to do. Eventually, they sent Esther to a nearby village to visit a temple and find out what was wrong. Instead, she ran into Atrax. Somehow, the vampire knew she was an angel, seduced her, and tried to get her to tell him where the others were. She didn’t, and he held her in the city long enough that the angels sent someone after her.”
“This Kai Morte,” Gregory said as he skimmed through the dossier, which paralleled Jason’s story.
“Yes. He is an inquisitor, which is a type of paladin. Atrax captured him as well and tortured him for information. It didn’t work. Eventually, he turned Esther into a vampire in front of him to convince him to talk, but that didn’t work either. They escaped and ran back to the other angels, and everyone agreed it was best to split up and wipe their memories so none of them would be able to spill the beans to anyone else who might be looking for them.”
“Then how were they supposed to figure out how to get back home if they couldn’t remember anything?”
Jason shrugged. “I guess they figured once their time of banishment was over, someone would come for them. Or, perhaps, they knew why Atrax was after them, and they reasoned it was better to forget everything and keep the vampire’s demon lord from finding them than it was to return to the divine realm. Whatever the reason, Esther doesn’t remember. She only remembers Kai because Atrax triggered her memory. He linked Kai Morte to his deity, Dignatio. It is Latin for Honor and Dignity. Esther’s former god is Decus Gemma, which means precious stone.”
“And so if no one can remember anything, what is your plan?”
“We solve Kai’s quest, and hopefully, there will be clues to lead us to one of the other fallen angels,” Jason answered, knowing it wasn’t the best response.
“And what is his quest?”
“It’s taken from the Bible,” Jason replied.
The CIA agent laughed. “Of course it is.”
“We believe Kai Morte is the realm’s version of Mordecai, who was Esther’s uncle and took care of her. Esther won a beauty contest to become the next queen of Persia. In the Bible, the king’s name is Ahasuerus, which is a Hebrew form of Xerxes, possibly Xerxes I, who ruled Persia from 486 to 465 BC. It is also perhaps a reference to his son, Artaxerxes, which is where Atrax’s name comes from.
“I wasn’t expecting a history lesson,” Gregory said.
Jason ignored the comment. “Esther’s story revolves around a man named Haman who wants to kill all the Jews. At this point in history, Jews are a fallen people since they were taken into captivity by the Babylonians, who preceded the Persians. We think it parallels Esther’s in-game situation, where she is part of a group of fallen angels. The Jews angered God in the Bible, and he allowed them to be taken into captivity. Esther and her fellow angels must have similarly angered their deities, and now someone is trying to kill them.”
“So you are going up against someone named Haman?”
Jace shrugged. “In the Bible, Haman is trying to kill the Jews. So far, we only know of Atrax trying to find all the angels. Esther thinks she heard Atrax and his partner talk about another player like me looking for all the angels, but I doubt his name will be Haman. He might be filling that role, but as far as we can tell, no one in the game has that name. Gandhi retroactively made this mission once I freed Esther so she would be limited to current players. The game’s AI can do a lot, but we don’t think she can change a player’s name.”
Gregory nodded. “You keep saying ‘We Think . . .’” He looked around the room in Langly and through the TV screen at the other group members who had all been quiet so far. “Are you being modest, or was this a group effort?”
“This was mostly Jason’s deductions,” Stephen admitted. “He knows the Bible better than we do. But we all agree with him.”
“Biblical knowledge is rare among players in the realm,” Allison added.
“I can’t imagine why,” Gregory said while rolling his eyes.
“We think, uh,” Jason started. “I think this is why no one has solved Kai’s quest yet. He appeared right after I freed Esther and the other escorts, but a lot of things changed right around then, so there was nothing obvious connecting him with her. And if you look at his picture, it doesn’t exactly make you think of Jewish captivity.”
Gregory turned a page to see a color portrait of Kai Morte in plater armor. “The first thing that jumps to mind is a young Antonio Banderas. I didn’t expect that.”
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, sir,” Stephen said, barely keeping a straight face. Allison punched him in the arm.
If Gregory picked up on the reference, he didn’t let on. Jason stepped in quickly. “All joking aside, most people did associate Kai with the Spanish Inquisition and poured through Middle Ages’ history to find a solution to his quest.”
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“What is his quest?”
“He knows of a plot to kill a king in a foreign country,” Jason explained. “The inquisitors in Spain worked for the Catholic Monarchs and often rooted out assassination efforts, so it makes sense. However, everyone who has tried to solve the quest that way has died. Once you convince Kai to let you help him, he takes you to the foreign kingdom and then immediately accuses you of working with the assassins. You are thrown in prison, and when the king dies the next day, you are tortured and eventually killed. The game doesn’t allow you to escape.”
“Yet people keep trying?” Gregory asked.
Jason shook his head. “Not in a while. Based on our research, no one has tried it in over a week. Most assume it is a broken quest. This can happen when someone kills or destroys a critical component of a module, and the game is forced to intervene. Only one person has shown any progress with Kai, and that is the new owner of the Gilded Swan. He hired Kai to be a bodyguard for the women working there. It is similar to the role he performed for Esther, so it makes sense. It also follows his role in the Bible.”
“Which is?” Gregory prompted. “I’m afraid I also missed this lesson in Sunday School.”
Jason nodded. “I admit I had to reread the account myself. Mordecai hung around the king’s gate where the harem women gathered, wanting to hear news of how Esther was doing. He heard two eunuchs talking about a plot to kill the king, so he told Esther. She reported it to the king, and the eunuchs were killed.”
“The king’s harem?”
Jason shrugged. “It was a different time, and it fits well with the realm's normal bent. I think the key is to use Esther to infiltrate the palace as a harem girl, and she can present the news of the assassination plot.”
“Seems like a pretty tough mission to solve if you need to have Esther on your team,” Gregory pointed out. “There is only one of her in the game, right?”
“Yes,” Jason admitted, “but I think any of the escorts from the Gilded Swan would work. Kai seems like someone who trusts and wants to protect women, so proposing that plan to him is the key to winning his trust. As an inquisitor, he is immune to all mind magic and control spells, so no one else can get him to do what they want. And I’m sure that trying to coerce him in another way is a sure ticket to prison and a torture session. Plus, us taking the Biblical angle while everyone else took the Spanish Inquisition angle might be another reason they failed.”
Gregory nodded. “Okay, I understand. It sounds like you have a good plan. You get this paladin to trust you, and you foil the assassination plot against the king. But you’re missing something.”
Jason’s brow furrowed, and he exchanged looks between Gracie and Connor before turning back to the TV screen. “We aren’t exactly sure what will happen after that, sir,” Jason said. “We hope that after freeing Kai from his quest, he will remember something that can help us locate the other angels or at least find out why Atrax and his demon are hunting them.”
Gregory shook his head. “No, I understand all that. What I want to know is why the CIA cares about this. Are any of these characters working for an international criminal? Is a gun runner trying to get Kai to join his team, and you are beating him to the punch.”
Jason frowned.
Gregory read the expression and didn’t back down: “I know you think this is all fun and games, but our work in this game . . . your work in this game saves lives and protects US interests. If I understand this correctly, you are asking for permission to go on a quest that has killed every other player who has attempted it. We have a term for that in the CIA that I’m sure you’re familiar with. It’s called a Suicide Mission. Why should I let you do it?”
“Because we will have earned it,” Jason said. “In the first three missions, we will have exposed and probably disabled a prominent money launderer, sabotaged the efforts of a real Somalian pirate organization, and crippled three High-Value Targets. This mission will secure Esther as part of our team so we can complete more successful missions in the future.”
“Or,” Gregory countered, “you might solve Esther’s quest, and she will return to the divine realm, leaving you without your most powerful ally, thus weakening your team.”
Jason hadn’t considered that and wisely held his tongue.
“Let’s wait and see,” Ross spoke up, diffusion the tension. “If you are successful in the first three missions, we can present a convincing argument to finish Esther’s quest. If not, then this argument is moot. Besides, you may turn up evidence that Kai is associated with another HVT.”
Gregory nodded, closed the current folder, and stacked all four on top of each other, signaling to the group that the meeting was over. “Well, good luck tomorrow,” he said, rising from the table. “It looks like your work is cut out for you. Get some sleep. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon.” The senior agent nodded at everyone present and left the room.
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Jace was watching his crew finish lunch, including Esther eating almost an entire roasted chicken by herself, when Gracie chimed in his head. {Well,} she started, {I have good news and very disturbing news. Nobody wanted to tell me anything at first, and I finally had to get a hold of Ross to get any information, and he didn’t even want to talk with me.}
“Sounds bad,” Jace said. He made eye contact with Psycho, letting his second-in-command know that it might be time to get ready to leave. Esther reached for more food, but the elf slapped her hand. “What’s the problem?” Jace said.
{Remember the list of in-game clients Gropmhy was able to get from Rock Bender’s art gallery?}
Jace didn’t. He knew that was the first mission‘s goal, but the transfer of information had happened directly between Gromphy and Gracie through the goblin’s magical earring. Plus, Jace had spent several nights in the game since logging in, and while he knew that mission likely ended about 10 hours ago in real-time, it felt like days to him.
{Well,} Gracie continued, {Stephen and Allison were able to match visits of known terrorists with artwork produced and sold in the real world, and they found several payments probably made to people who didn’t produce the artwork. It took hours to get a warrant, but eventually, they sent a team to raid an address in Dallas. It happened a couple of hours ago. You won’t believe what they found.}
“I’m guessing it wasn’t art supplies.”
{No, they had explosive equipment, guns, and barrels of fertilizer in the garage.}
“I’m guessing they weren’t gardeners,” Jace said.
{Not exactly,} she agreed. {They also had detailed blueprints of Cowboy Stadium and a white van with a fake extermination company logo painted on the side.}
“Isn’t the next Superbowl in Dallas?” Jace asked.
{Exactly,} Gracie said. {We just stopped a terrorist attack that could have killed 100,000 people.}
Jace took a few deep breaths. Rescuing a few kidnapped players was good. This was on another level. “So, does this mean we can go ahead with our last mission?”
Gracie laughed. {Ross tried to get a straight answer out of our buddy, Agent Gregory Sykes, but he didn’t have a lot of time to talk. Ross was asking if we had permission to help a paladin stop a king’s assignation attempt in a fantasy video game, while Sylkes had the White House on the other line, asking how the CIA had uncovered the most significant terrorist plot since 9/11. Meanwhile, Stephen and Allison had half a dozen other addresses in the US of potential terrorists that we are trying to get warrants for. So, they didn’t have a long conversation. Ross told me all he could get out of Sykes was, “You tell Jason he can do whatever the @#$% he wants, and leave me alone” or something like that.}
Jace laughed. “Good, Esther will be pleased.”