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“You never ask me about specifics when we have technical discussions, but as soon as I say games, you suddenly have a burning desire to learn?”
Tristan shrugged.
“Reputable game makers like the Massons follow certain protocols. No one would trust their games otherwise, and it would hurt their bottom line. It’s a tentative truce,” Lila explained. “No one in the industry can use that code unless they’ve paid the licensing fee. If the matrons find someone else using the code without permission, the game makers find them, tranq them, and shove them before Bullstow’s gate, bleeding from the chest with a note carved into their skin. You don’t screw with these people.”
Tristan gulped. “The Massons? Really?”
“This game,” Lila said, holding up the spare. “It isn’t using the standard code. It’s either an illegal game or a virus. Given the fact that the game doesn’t even work, then it’s a virus. Natalie couldn’t have downloaded it on any highborn network, that’s for sure. Her snoop programs should have caught it as well. That means she must have deactivated them at some point and forgotten to turn them back on. So how’s that for clever?”
“The game was on all three palms.”
Lila had forgotten about that. She opened the data for all three palms, noting that none of the file sizes seemed to match. She quickly typed in a command to compare the contents of the files. “Hmmm…”
“What?”
“The other two copies didn’t finish downloading.”
“But the one in Natalie’s bag did?”
“Yes.”
“So what does that tell us?”
“That the devs need to get their shit together before the alpha, or they’ll go bankrupt?”
“Alpha what?”
Lila peeked over her laptop. “Seriously, Tristan, play a damn game once in a while.”
Dixon grinned, the corner of his mouth twisting upward slightly.
Lila shared his smile. “Did you find anything that might shed some light on Oskar or the girls or their whereabouts?”
“Nothing. Nada. Zilch.”
Lila drummed her fingers on her laptop, then broke into Bullstow’s files, scanning Natalie’s case file for any updates. “They haven’t discovered the tracers in Natalie’s system. They probably won’t if they haven’t already. They haven’t found much of anything else, either. They haven’t even bothered looking deeper into the game.”
“Toxic will get a kick out of that.”
Lila considered telling him about Teresa Bailey and the brothels, but she wasn’t sure what impulsive thing
he might suggest. But when she glanced up at his face, she remembered her thoughts from that morning. She needed to give him a break.
Besides, a fresh mind might help.
Two minds, since Dixon seemed to be paying attention to their conversation now.
“I do have a couple of leads. I’m not sure they’ll come to anything, though.”
Tristan sat across from her on the coffee table as she explained why she couldn’t just message Shaw about the brothels or Teresa Bailey. Telling the chief about one brothel might drive the rest underground. A simultaneous raid would be the only way to procure the safety of all the children, and she had to be sure that she’d found them all first. And Teresa couldn’t be approached without Shaw being tipped off during questioning.
“I understand about the brothels. I hate it, but you’re right. I don’t understand your reasoning for Teresa, though. My people and I could talk to her.”
“If you go near her, Chief Shaw will know I sent you.”
“Because you’re the only hacker in all the land who could find Teresa?” Tristan pulled out his palm and tapped on the screen. “I’m sending Fry and Dice to find her.”
“Tristan…”
