Chapter 151 - Gearing Up
Reaching his home, Adam parked his car in the driveway and got out. Getting into the house, he set his office belongings on the counter. Leisurely going to the study room, he turned on his computer. Loosening his clothes and walking to the bedroom, he changed into something more comfortable to go out in if he chose to. Heading back to the previous room, he sat down and waited for his desktop to completely boot up.
"..." the programmer stated pulling out his phone.
Waking it up and looking to see if there were any notifications, there were none. Double checking the setting perimeters, he confirmed with himself that certain numbers were blocked from calling his cell. Placing on the desk, he checked his answering machine for any missed calls. Seeing no flashing number light, he turned back to his computer. Getting to the main screen, he went into the internet and began searching various websites.
"..." Adam spoke looking up a number of things. Making mental notes of them, he went into the Gamco company website. Accessing the administration segment to be able to work at home, he began looking for the data files of E.D.E.
"...there you are..." he muttered.
Checking to make sure that all his wires were plugged into the external hard drive, he began to copy all of the files. Seeing the amount of time it would need to obtain all that data, he reached for his mobile. Waking it up and checking into the contacts list, he found the number he was looking for. Selecting it and hearing a dial tone, the connection went through. No one spoke on the other end and waited.
"Mr. Bennett has an assignment...it is to get signatures from a specific individual that is a patient at a hospital."
[Authorization code] a distorted voice asked. Instead of Adam giving his own, he stated the head administer's code.
[...one moment...authorization code accepted...leave instructions or meet?]
"Leave instructions," the man stated getting up and walking to the counter with his work stuff.
[Payment?]
"Bill to the account holder of the authorization code," Adam informed picking up the documents that Bennett gave him.
[...encryption recording ready...leave instructions after the tone...] the voice stated then gave a beep like on an answering machine.
"..." the programmer said taking a breath in then out. Opening his mouth, he began to give detailed information of what kind of job that was supposed to be performed. When he finished, the distorted individual acknowledged the recording was done and payment had been requested.
[...once payment is made...the request will be executed] it informed then hanged up.
"...and now...the snowball begins to roll downhill," Adam stated to himself. Hanging up the phone, he walked back to his study room. Seeing that it was really going to take a while for the download to be completed, he began to declutter his office items and find places for them. At the same time, a confident smirk stayed on his face.
Waiting outside of the hospital room, both Renee and Tiffany sat on the nearby bench. Pacing around the hallway a little to their right was Ami. She looked a little tense as she kept looking passed them down the hallway. To their left, Derek was talking with his associates. Feeling that both of them were trapped being in the middle, the mother began to speak to break the awkward tension.
"...any idea what the interviewing or interrogation would be about?" Tiffany asked looking at her daughter.
"...other than probably what happened when in E.D.E., asking what our daily activities were maybe," Renee answered quietly.
"Well, you are relatively clear. Right? You been mostly at school, home, out with friends, and sometimes with your boyfriend."
"...that's true..."
"As for your gaming sessions...you were spending most of the time with Jin...your "virtual" boyfriend," she stated with a smirk.
"...most of what you said is true...minus the boyfriend part," the junior clarified then gave her a small frown. "He is just my partner in the game."
"To which when he was kidnapped and forced to put the helmet on, you deliberately put yours on to go save him...hmmmmm."
"..." the female teen commented with feeling a little embarrassed. "Like I said...he is my partner...it felt wrong to not do anything for him."
"Did you meet him before in school or just through playing the game together?" her mother asked sounding interested.
"...I met him in the game first before realizing that he was in the classroom across from mine on the same floor."
"How did meeting Jin in the game happen?" she asked finding the conversation something to take her mind off of who was around them.
"...well...I was stuck in one area because my character was not at a high enough level to continue...the previous gamer group I was in banned me from an accusation," Renee began to explain. In her peripheral vision to the right, Selbith stopped pacing and leaned against the same wall that the bench was on some feet away.
"In retaliation, I tried to steal the items they took from me...except, I was caught from not being skilled enough. I was pushed into a narrow alley where two guys from my former group were going to kill me."
"And Jin swooped in to your rescue?"
"...he did...but I didn't see him initially...only a black silhouette in the shadows...I tried following the shadow but it disappeared before I could catch it...so...I staked out in an area that gave the best vantage point," she explained then looked at the floor. A smile grew onto her face in remembrance.
"I waited a bit until I saw some lone guy about my age walking by. He didn't have much armor at all which seemed to be very noobish."
"...noobish?" Ms. Sanders repeated with an amused small smile.
"It means a newbie in gaming...a rookie that doesn't know the ropes yet," Renee informed blinking then looking at her mother. Seeing the amused smile, she narrowed her eyes before going back to gazing at the floor.
"...anyways...he acted suspicious watching other groups of players pass him by. When the coast was clear, he became translucent like a ghost...from there, I knew that it was the same person that stopped the two guys in the alley."
"So I followed him as he was heading toward a park area in...I did the same thing that he did so I wouldn't be seen either...I thought...since I was more experience playing longer and he had a high skill level...we could team up."
"Sounds like a wonderful matchmaking scenario hon," Tiffany remarked still smiling at her.
"..." her daughter grunted a little while frowning at her. It made her mother laugh a little.
"Go on...I'm curious about the rest of this first meet up you had."
"...fine...well...Jin rested near a tree and was looking at his menu screen. I got around to be behind him and peered at him...not too long, both of us detected one another and...drew our weapons at each other," she continued then gave a soft laugh. "He pointed a gun at my face while I had my dagger touching his throat."
"How...unorthodox for a first meet up," her mother mentioned with a raised eyebrow along with a smile. "What happened after that?"
"After that...we talked...and I convinced him to help me get passed the stage I was stuck in...instead of going to the next stage, he took me to a hidden dungeon underneath the town and we both leveled up some."
"...wow..." the woman reacted with both eyebrows raised. "After that, you became more of a woman?"
"...?" Renee reacted initially with confusion. Repeating what her mother stated in her head, she became a little red with embarrassment and irritation.
"We did not!" she said then heard her mother snickering at her. "...ugh...shut up mom."
"Hee hee...awe come on...a little innuendo humor never hurts. Besides, is that what you did with Juan when he convinced you to start playing?"
"I did not do that with him in the game mom," the female teen retorted.
"You mean he never showed you how to play the game with your character?"
"...you are twisting things..."
"Glad you noticed honey," Tiffany spoke with a smirk. "But you gave me something to smile about."
"...what...?" she asked then saw her mom scoot over. Putting an arm around her shoulder and bringing their head side by side, the woman continued to smirk at her.
"Seems like you actually want to be with Jin...instead of having a boyfriend to keep up with your friends."
"..." her daughter responded with blinking and looking at her. Fighting to hide her embarrassment, the junior stiffened herself to respond firmly.
"He's...my friend mom...as I am his friend...we appreciate...each other's company."
"Hee hee...you are cute trying to hide your embarrassment."
"..." the female teen reacted with frowning and turning her head the other way.
Seeing Ami staring at her, she blinked and saw her look away slowly with her eyes. Seeing Selbith's head move back to her direction, she stared hard at something passed her. Both women heard multiple footsteps walk pass them and saw it was Derek and his accompaniments. Watching them, his daughter became more guarded the closer the men got. Stopping near her, they began to surround her.
"..." both commented. Seeing Derek begin to talk and cross his arms, his daughter just stared. Even when Mr. Felmort began to raise his voice, Ami did not back down or cower. Instead, the look of scorn grew on her face.
"You know...aside from who the father and daughter really are...it does seem like a common scene of parenting," Tiffany quietly commented. "But she is giving Derek the evil eye...it is kind of refreshing to see one of his family members turn against him."
"...you and Jin's parents don't like him at all...why is that?" Renee asked turning to her.
"Like I said in the room...he was an unbelievable prick and asshole back then and still is so now," Ms. Sanders answered then looked at her. "He finds information to use against you to make you do what he wants...now that he is established and has money, it has only grown to be every part of his ego."
"Control complex?" she questioned and saw her mother shrug her shoulders.
"That and other things...I just limit myself to conversing with him back then...and even more so now."
"When Jin's mom found out that his father had still kept in touch with Mr. Felmort...she kind of lost it when I was at their house...do you know why?"
"No...I don't...other than they dated in high school for a bit," Tiffany answered then crossed her arms over her chest. "Our first impressions of each other were sour at best."
"Because...she was dating him...and you were part of a punk gang?"
"Pretty much," the woman commented then leaned back. A small frown was on her face as if she was recalling things.
"We didn't talk much...but we didn't look at each other with a friendly eye either...that's all in the past now," she continued. Glancing over at the father daughter scene, she felt goosebumps rise on one her arms.
"...?" Renee responded with a blink.
Following her line of sight, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end a little. Both Derek and Ami were glaring at each other. Feeling the tension from where they were sitting, nothing good seemed to be developing over there. Hearing a door open near them, Dr. McCole came out of the room. Turning to him and seeing him look at them then look left, he immediately walked over to the scene.
"Mr. Felmort...what are you doing to my patient?" he called out sternly. The only individuals that turned around and walked toward him were the associates. As if to block him, the doctor frowned.
"If you don't get out of my way...I will have you three sighted for trespassing," he declared. Seeing the three men not move initially, Derek moved his head to look at him.
"Abusing your power doctor?...this is a family matter."
"If you remember where you are Mr. Felmort," the medical staffer began walking through the narrow space the associates made. "You are not in charge of this facility. You are a family member of my patient. Until she is fit enough to be released back into your custody, you will not use interrogation methods when I am in charge of her health and care."
"Hmph. Are serious-" Derek started to say with a mocking expression then stopped. Dr. McCole got in his personal space then stopped.
"I am dead serious...you stop right now and leave, you are free to come back to visit another time," the man stated then put his hands in his lab coat pockets. "If not...then I can get with security to prevent visitation rights of you...personally."
"I would not test me doctor," Mr. Felmort declared turning to him and glaring at him.
"Your choice Mr. Felmort...I won't repeat myself."
"..." Derek stared for a few seconds before smirking. "...very well...I hope you have fun...with your visitors...especially since you are the one in charge...of so many victims."
Not responding back, the doctor watched the man turn around and walked away. Seeing the associates follow him, they passed the Sanders in which both did not look at them. When the group was down the hallway and turned to be out of sight, the medical staffer sighed out loud. Moving to look at Ami, she stared at him with only a stoic expression. Engaging with a short conversation, Selbith just blinked and stared for a little bit until she began walking forward.
"..." the two other women spoke. Watching the female teen walk by, she did not turn to them. Instead, she continued down the hallway some distance till she got to a room. Opening the door and entering, the door swung slowly closed. Hearing tired footsteps getting closer, they turned their heads to see the doctor getting closer to them.
"It is a rare sight to see someone put Derek in his place doc...I'm actually impressed," Tiffany stated with a small smile.
"...thanks...I am stretching how I am supposed to act and behave as a doctor," Dr. McCole began then frowned a little. "I just have...no patience right now."
"Understandable...can we go back into the room or...no?"
"...you can...just be forewarn that if the officials come in...they may kick you out."
"Okay. Thank you doc," Ms. Sanders said then stood up. Renee got up as well and both began heading toward Jin's room. Upon reaching it and opening the door, the two walked in. Seeing that everyone seemed to be quiet, only eyes and heads moved to greet them.
"So...how bad was the talk?" the woman asked.
"...it was different..." Alex spoke first. "The aspect of government people coming and asking questions over an investigation is new."
"Really? You are not going to explain it?" Tiffany questioned with a hand on her hip.
"...Jin...is the main person they'll want to interview," Samantha explained sounding drained. "More of a detail account of what happened during the beginning of him playing till he was able to escape."
"How come?"
"...what Derek was alluding to...they might suspect that Jin...was the one that caused the crisis."
"...!?" she reacted with bewilderment. "That...that has to be bullshit."
"..." everyone responded with staying quiet.
"Oh come on! I mean, how could he have caused the crisis when he was just playing the game just like the other what...2,000 something players?" Tiffany continued swiping her arm in front of her a little for emphasis.
'...he is kind of the epicenter of everything...' Renee thought then tensed up her face. 'It doesn't matter. Even if Jin released the viruses, he was forced to base on how the gunslinger character was supposed to be played out. It is still the developers that devised the whole thing. This is part of their skeam from the beginning.'
"It doesn't matter," Jin spoke then turned to look at Ms. Sanders. She looked confused at him.
"...what do you mean it doesn't matter? It sounds like they believe you are the mastermind."
"That will be an interesting conversation," the male teen began with a smirk. Turning his head to look at the bedsheets, he gave a nasal exhale of dark mirth.
"...assassination attempts...kidnappings...forced imprisonment...bleeding from a VR helmet without a known medical condition...that sounds like what a mastermind would do to their self," he stated with a calm tone. "Especially having connections within Gamco Inc. to have them dictate my plan to which I never met them."
"See, that is what I mean," the woman agreed and looked at everyone. "This whole thing smells like bull."
"Even if it is...what exactly are we supposed to do?" Alex asked out loud. "It is an accusation that is hard to prove...but Jin."
"..." the sophomore answered with turning his head to the right to see his father.
"When you were playing...do you know how to hack as well?"
"You suspect me as well?" he asked with a stoic expression. Everyone else looked at Mr. Ainsley with mild shock from his question. He immediately raised his hands for defense.
"I'm just...asking a question. I'm not accusing you."
"But dad...me and big brother don't have the equipment to hack," Gene stated in defense for himself and Jin. "I don't even know code."
"That's why I'm just asking-" Alex began when there was knocking at the hospital door.
Causing everyone to blink and turn to it, the handle started to rotate. Hearing the door open, there were three government looking officials that walked in with Dr. McCole. Despite the doctor's tense face, the other three wore neutral ones. They looked at the people in the room and saw them silently staring back at them. Looking at the one that was on the bed, the rather dead looking male teen seemed to surprise them.
"Sorry to intrude on this visitation," the one in the middle stated. "Are we correct to say that you are Jin Ainsley?"
"...that is me..." the sophomore answered with a stoic face. "Who are you...three?"
"We are with the FBI," the person stated. All three got out their wallets to show credentials. Seeing the general atmosphere of the room tense up, the male and female teen did not at the same degree.
"We are here to figure out this cyber-terrorism related crisis. As you might have guessed from us being here...we want to have your cooperation in this investigation."
"Three agents...on one case?" Jin asked without an expression.
"There are a lot of victims to this case...it will take time to interview each one with only one."
"Makes sense."
"You seem to be rather calm."
"Should I be something else?"
"Normal people would not be calm in this situation."
"Oh? Did you learn that in psychology 101?" Jin mildly mocked with a frown. He ignored the tense looks from his family and others.
"..." the middle agent gave a small smile. "Rather smart mouth you have."
"How observant of you," the male teen remarked and slowly got off the bed. Ignoring the growing shocked expressions including Renee's, he walked and stopped in front of the three agents.
"If you are here to interrogate me...my family and friends do not need to be a part of it."
"..." the middle government official blinked and gave a small smirk. "Alright. Given that you are a minor, we will have to ask your parents' permission to interview you alone...as well as your doctor's approval that you are well to be interviewed."
"Verbal or written...sir?" the sophomore asked narrowing his eyes.
"Mr. and Mrs. Ainsley?" the agent closest to the adults spoke looking at them. The teen's parents looked like they were still in mild shock from how their son was acting while the other woman had a mixture of surprise and seemingly impressed. Clearing his throat, he tried again.
"Mr. and Mrs. Ainsley?"
"...!?" both flinched a little and looked at the federal official.
"Do we have your consent on interviewing your son alone?"
"..." Samantha opened and closed her mouth looking at the back of her child's head. Not seeing him turn to look at her, it gave her conflicting aspects of how to proceed. However, Alex began to answer.
"I-I'm sorry for how my son is behaving. He-"
"...dad..." Jin spoke very clearly to make his presence known. Turning his head slowly to look at him, he stared him down.
"My behavior...is not...your concern...either you...or mom...just answer...the question."
"..." he responded with wide eyes and looked lost a little.
'...oh shit...' Tiffany thought crossing her arms over her torso. '...so this is...how Alex's son expresses anger...kind of like Samantha.'
'Definitely like mom,' Gene said in his mind remaining quiet and still.
'...if his mother used that tactic to tame his dad...there might be a chance that it work the same way,' the junior pondered feeling a little adrenaline from the situation in the room. From looking at the male teen, she could feel that his nerves were stretched too thin. It would only take one more push before he would go over. The thought of seeing a side of him that he hid in himself gave her goosebumps.
"W-Where is this coming from?" Alex demanded sounding irritated and stood up. "Why are you acting this way?"
"...dad...my behavior...is not...your concern," the male teen repeated evenly without blinking or moving. "...either you...or mom...answer the agent's question."
"It is my concern. I'm your father!" he stated sounding angry then gestured a hand to Samantha. "Stop putting this act on us."
"...act...?" Jin repeated quietly. Without warning, he gave an evil toothy grin.
"...did you say...an act dad?"
"...what...what are you doing?" the man asked seeing his son turn his body to face him. The expression he saw was not something he saw before and made him lean back a little.
"I'm just following...in your footsteps...if it is to put an act."
"..." Tiffany and Samantha blinked rapidly a couple of times and straightened. Looking at Alex, he looked confused and irritated still.
"You tried to hide...what you did to Ami Felmort," the sophomore commented still giving the cruel expression. "...and you hid it...from everyone...so well."
"..." the agents blinked and looked at his father. It made him tense up before they looked back at the teen that changed his expression. The three were on guard in case the grin was of malicious nature.
"So well father...that even when I asked you about it...you lied in my face...more than once," Jin growled while feeling his head do small movements of a controlled shaking in place.
"...I-"
"Do you deny it...dad?" the sophomore interrupted still not moving or blinking. He didn't care if he caused goosebumps on Tiffany's arms or the growing shocked look on his mother's face.
"...I'm trying to answer...if you let me," Mr. Ainsley answered carefully.
"...then...by all means...answer..." he stated and continued to give a toothy grin at him.
"When you asked about where I was going all the time...I didn't lie to you...I told you the truth."
"..." Jin reacted with an eye twitching and his hands closed into tight fists. "...go...on...I'm...listening."
"All the money that was going to the hobby activity and the group...was from the wage raise that I gotten that same year," Alex explained cautiously. He flinched from seeing Samantha turn to him slowly.
"...you did?" she asked and watched him. "...I thought you told me...you just got a large bonus instead of a pay raise."
"T-That's right," he corrected himself and gave a small nervous smile. "It was a larger than normal bonus and not a raise."
"..." everyone reacted from hearing grinding teeth.
Turning their attention to the sophomore, he kept his position and facial look; however, his teeth were slowly going from aligning to unaligned. At the same time, veins were beginning to protrude on his temples. Before Renee was about to act, the middle agent stepped forward to be behind the male teen. Putting both hands on Jin's shoulders, he could feel how tense up and shaking he was. Not wanting to be a witness to a family drama, the individual lowered his head a little and whispered into his ear. After finishing, the high schooler began to calm down and breathe.
"Given the certain nature of what this is becoming Mr. and Mrs. Ainsley," the agent stated standing up straight. "This is of an emergency case to which nationwide individuals were affected by this act of cyber-terrorism. If you both are not willing to cooperate, Dr. McCole will then accompany Jin for our interview...do you understand?"