“When his opponent’s sword actually cut him—the pain, the shock, the blood—all real, he was too stunned to react.”
“And the game ended for real the same way it ended in play before. This works. I need to fast-talk my way into search warrants. By their own statements only the three partners knew all the details of the game, only the three partners ever participated in play. Those three knew this program, this level, and the results of previous play, so they’re the only ones who could have used it to kill him.”
“While I hate knowing you’re right, I don’t see how it could be anything or anyone else. And shifting that to me, I’m considerably pissed off I could have made such an error in judgment. I’d never have believed any of them capable of this.”
“Neither did he, and he knew them all a hell of a lot better than you. People can hide and hoard and stroke all kinds of nasty stuff no one else sees. You saved that play, right?”
“I did.” He smiled now. “You were fairly magnificent. We’ll have to go riding in real life sometime.”
“I don’t think so.” But she remembered that sensation of speed, of power. “Maybe. Anyway, I want to view it, then do an analysis. He’d have saved the play, too, so he could study it, see his mistakes.”
“Absolutely.”
“The one he used the day he died is toast.”
“We’re getting some of it. A little some at this point.”
She nodded as she called for the elevator. “And maybe that was his disc, where he’d saved his play, his levels. Or maybe, since it wasn’t logged out, the killer gave it to him. You know, Hey, Bart, I did some tweaking—or whatever words you geeks use. You need to try it out.”
“If so, there’d be another copy, Bart’s copy. Which, if the killer has any sense, has been destroyed.”
“Maybe. But people keep the damnedest things.”
That night she dreamed of blood and battle, of castles and kings. She stood, observer now, her feet planted while the wind whipped the stench of death around her. Men, their wounds mortal, moaned and begged as they scattered the ground.
Those who turned their faces toward her she knew. Victims, so many victims, so many dead who lived inside her head whose ends she’d studied, evaluated, reconstructed to find the one who’d ended them.
Some who fought, who sliced with sword and axe, she knew as well. She’d helped lock the cage doors behind them. But here, in dreams, they’d found freedom. In dreams, in the games the mind played, they could and would kill again.
Only in dreams, she reminded herself. And if she shuddered as she saw her father, her eyes met his manic ones coolly.
Only in dreams.
She watched with pity and resignation as Bart fought a war he’d never win. Swords and sorcery, games and dreams. Life and death.
She watched his end. Studied and evaluated even as his head, eyes still wide in shock, rolled to her feet.
And the Black Knight wheeled his horse and grinned at her, fiercely. When he charged, she reached for her weapon, but all she had was a small knife, one already stained with her father’s blood.
Only in dreams, she told herself, but knew a terrible fear as he came for her.
14
She jerked up, shoving herself free of the dream. For an instant, just one beat of the heart, she swore she felt the keen edge slice at her throat.
Shaken, she reached up, half expecting to feel the warm wet of her own blood.
“Shh, now. It’s all right.”
His arms were there, drawing her in, closing around her like a shield. As her heart continued to bound, she leaned into them, into him.
“Just a dream. You’re home. I’m right here.”
“I’m okay.” No blood. No death. “It wasn’t a nightmare. Or not exactly. I knew it was a dream, but it was so real.” She drew one breath, then another. Slow, she ordered herself. Slow and steady. “Like the games. You lose track of what is and what’s not.”
He tipped her face up, and in the glow of moon and stars through the sky window met her eyes. “We’re real.” He touched his lips to hers as if to prove it. “What did you dream?”
“The battlefield, the last game.” Bar