Gregory Sykes lifted the next folder from the pile and hefted it off the table for the camera's sake. Jason easily interpreted the action to imply that the CIA agent thought the next dossier was a little light. “It seems we haven’t done as much research on this next character,” the older man advised, setting the folder down and opening it. “Delih Sorek. We don’t know much about her?”

  The room at CIA headquarters was quiet for a beat as Ross, Stephen, and Alison contempted how to approach this third mission. They were on shaky ground with their strategy, so Jason stepped in. “That’s right. The first two women had stand-alone quests created specifically for them, but Deli appears to be retconned into an existing module.”

  “Retconned?” the older man asked.

  “Retroactive continuity,” Stephen said. “It’s when a movie or book tries to expin how something happened earlier in a story by releasing information ter on. Often, movies want to create sequels but find that information they’ve already revealed about a character would conflict with future stories, so they retroactively change it by showing how someone didn’t die, or they had an evil twin or something else like that.”

  “So the AI uses Deli to expin something else in the game?” Gregory asked.

  “It looks that way,” Jason said.

  “And what is that?”

  “Conan the Barbarian,” Stephen replied. “Thulsa Doom is the main vilin in the movie, and he sughters Conan’s vilge when he was a boy, killing his mother and father. Conan is taken into svery while Thulsa runs a snake-worshipping cult. Conan endures manual bor for many years, which turns him into a hulking brute, and he tracks down his parents’ killer to get revenge. There is much more going on than that, but it is a typical sword and sorcery movie from the 80s.”

  “And it is the same in the game?” Gregory asked.

  “Not exactly,” Stephen continued. “In the game, the vilin’s name is Vulder. It is a combination of Vader and Thulsa. James Earl Jones pys Thulsa in the movie, and he is the actor who voiced Darth Vader in Star Wars, so the module creature paid homage to that.”

  “And this Vulder has Force powers?” Gregory asked, happy to finally run across a piece of pop culture he knew about.

  “Not exactly,” Stephen said. “Being a master in both sword fighting and magic would be too powerful. So they gave him a glowing red sword that can slice through anything, and he has a mage companion who specializes in mind and telekinetic magic. He controls a massive city in a desert environment called Zamora. In the movie, Conan is ensved in a small vilge on the outskirts, but in the game, he is a sve within Zamora, pushing a giant wheel that pumps water from a deep well to turn the city into an oasis in the otherwise barren terrain.”

  “No one has rescued him yet?”

  The younger agent shook his head. “No. The module is six months old and is unique in that it has a time limit. Vulder is old and ready to retire. He is looking for someone to take over, so the module involves multiple pyers competing for prominence within the city to win his favor. Anyone can join the competition, and Zamora generates level-appropriate quests to guide pyers up the seedy and violent ranks within the city until you are granted an audience with Vulder and put into consideration as his successor. Three prominent pyers have risen to the head of the list vying for the rights to the city, with dozens of others cwing away just beneath them. Getting to the top is a meat grinder, as life expectancy for someone starting at the bottom is about one week. If anyone appears to be gaining an advantage, they get a bounty on their head and are killed. Vulder is supposed to announce his successor in about a week, and no one expects anyone new to dethrone the three pyers at the top before then.”

  “How does all this rete to Deli?”

  Jason took up the thread. “We can only guess at this point, sir. Delih is the woman in the Bible who is sent after Samson. The Philistines hire her to seduce the strong man and steal his strength. She does so, and Samson is captured, his eyes are plucked out, and he is put to work turning a mill.”

  Gregory nodded, seeing the obvious comparison.

  “All we know,” Jason said, “is that Vulder has revealed to some pyers that, in addition to gaining control of Conan, who is called Sonan in the game, he also has a female barbarian held captive who might be just as powerful. She is described as a dark-skinned beauty equally skilled on the battlefield and in the bedroom. If any of these pyers have seen a picture of her or know her actual name, they aren’t sharing. The information we have was purchased off one of their ckeys.”

  “Wait,” Gregory said, holding up one hand as he paged through the few sheets in the folder while he heard the description. He finally looked up. “We don’t even know if this is Deli?”

  “We are pretty sure,” Allison said, the only one new enough not to know that you shouldn’t express doubt before a senior agent. “It would be far too coincidental if it wasn’t.”

  “Expin.”

  She nodded and continued. “Like Stephen and Jason said, Deli appears to be retconned into this module. When it unched six months ago, there was no female barbarian. Other pyers had made it to the top of the city’s hierarchy before being dispced and were given a tour of what they would inherit, including being led down to the lower dungeons to see Sonan hard at work. None of them reported a character that looked like Deli. The first hint that she existed came a day or two after Jason broke the Gilded Swan module and set the four lieutenants free. The fact that Deli is a dark-skinned female barbarian and her Biblical story meshes so perfectly with Conan’s is too much of a coincidence.”

  Gregory nodded and shrugged. “Very well. So what is the pn?”

  Everyone at CIA headquarters looked back to the TV screen, focusing their eyes on Jason. He nodded. “We are kind of flying by the seat of our pants on this one,” he admitted. “Without knowing exactly what Deli’s quest is, we can’t pn too far in advance. It must involve Sonan in some capacity, but all attempts to free him in the past have failed so spectacurly that most believe the game won’t allow it until ownership of the city is turned over. That won’t happen for another week, and we don’t want to wait. Assuming we successfully rescue Leah and Tami, word will get around that we will come for Deli too, and the other pyers will be ready for us. We need to do this right away.”

  “Still,” Gregory pushed. “You must have a pn.”

  Jason nodded. “A two-pronged approach. Zamora is a thief’s pyground with hundreds of secret passages and tunnels. Many of the early quests in the module require you to infiltrate a thieving guild and ascend to the top. If Deli is being held somewhere in the bowels of the city, we hope there will be a secret entrance. Most thieves stealthy enough to move undetected aren’t also deadly fighters and would be easy prey to guards. Anyone strong enough to fight off the guards would never be small or stealthy enough to descend to the lower levels. Esther is unique and could be successful in infiltrating the dungeons. Based on our informant, we have a general idea of where Deli is held. Hopefully, they can talk once Esther finds her. I can eavesdrop on that conversation and try to devise a strategy.”

  “And what will you be doing?” Gregory asked. “You said this is a two-pronged attack.”

  “I’m guessing Esther won’t be able to guide Deli back out. The other woman won’t be stealthy enough, and as good as they are, they won’t be able to fight through multiple yers of high-level defense. So, I pn to meet with Vulder and hope to figure something out. I doubt the game will allow me to take over the city without going through the dozens of trial quests to rise in prominence through the city, and that is what is usually required even to see the warlord. Still, we hope my celebratory status within the game will grant me special privileges, maybe not with Vulder directly, but at least with one of the three prominent pyers. When one of them inherits the city, they will still need to solve Deli’s quest to use her effectively. In the same way that I pn to help Derrick free Leah, I’m hoping to convince them to contract me to unlock Deli.”

  Gregory nodded. “That all sounds reasonable, but there is one thing missing.”

  Jason thought they had covered everything they knew, but he saw Connor and Ross nodding as the two senior agents anticipated Gregory’s objection.

  “Why does the CIA care?” he asked. “With the previous missions we’ve discussed, you are eliminating a money underer and Somali pirates. Those goals are worthy of risking government assets. I haven’t heard anything like that so far with this quest.”

  “Securing Esther should be enough . . .” Jason started but quieted when he saw Ross raise his hand.

  The agent pointed down at the slim folder open before him. “Turn to the st page,” he said.

  Gregory obeyed, and Ross continued. “The three pyers currently vying for control of Zamora are listed. The city is unlike any other stronghold in the game. It is the rgest one by a staggering amount. We guess at least 100,000 NPCs live there. A normal ‘BIG’ city in the game has five to ten thousand. If any of those three pyers get control of the city, it will be a massive boon for them and their real-world operations. For most of them, it will triple their revenue stream, which will only spell disaster once they under the money into our world.”

  Gregory could see the names and a short description behind each, but Ross listed them out loud for everyone else’s benefit. “Hidalgo Cortex traffics guns, drugs, and humans across our southern border. He is protected under yers of criminal and political operations in Mexico, and try as we might, we can’t get close to him.

  “Golda Baccay owns several casinos in the Philippines. The local government sees her businesses as a boon to the tourist trade, but we know she offers tax shelters and money undering to criminal organizations worldwide.

  “Lastly, Ahbid Terran operates in Afghanistan with close ties to the Taliban and is one of the biggest pyers in the Asian opium trade. He funds countless terrorist operations.

  “If any of these individuals gain control of Zamora, we will see a dramatic increase in activity in the real world, and if we have an opportunity to disrupt their in-game fortunes, we should take it.”

  “But we are after Deli, right?” Gregory asked. “Jason won’t be able to solve the Zamora quest without going through the weeks of trials.”

  Ross shrugged. “We don’t know what will happen. Jason tends to cause chaos. Right now, the three top pyers are living peacefully, and all say they will bow out once the successor is chosen if it isn’t them. None are strong enough to take on the other two, and while they all want the position, they don’t want to risk losing everything they already have to get it. Hopefully, Jason can change that.”

  Gregory chuckled. “Let the animals kill themselves. Do our work for us. One still rises to the top, but we eliminate the other two.” He nodded as he looked down at the sheet with the three names. After a while, he froze. “This st name is bugging me. Ahbid Terran. We know him, right? We’ve had dealings with him before?”

  Ross nodded. “Yes, sir. He killed one of our agents st year.”

  “In the game?”

  Ross hesitated. “Yes, but also in real life. He killed Liam Walsh.”

  Gregory nodded as recognition flooded through him. It was a big deal when the agent was killed on American soil st year. Then he froze as he remembered the rest of the story. His eyes went to the television screen and the three people sitting in a safe house in Chicago. “He was your brother,” Gregory said to Conor.

  “And my husband,” Gracie added.

  Gregory allowed a respectful moment of silence before returning to Ross. “Is this mission perhaps too personal?”

  Ross paused before answering. “I don’t think so. Perhaps if Gracie and Conor were attempting this alone, they might let emotions cloud their judgment, but Jason and his in-game crew have no history with Ahbid. I trust that tempering element will defuse any potential conflict of interest. Plus, it is a retively small game. Going forward, it will be impossible to conduct a mission without running into someone we have a history with.”

  Gregory thought about it for a moment and then nodded his head. “Okay. I approve.”