A Game Called Chaos (7 page)

After breakfast Joe, Frank, and Chelsea showered in shifts, dressed, and headed for Viking Software.

When they got there, Chelsea introduced Phil to Dave Henderson, her boss. Dave seemed upset about the whole situation.

“It's like some nightmare I can't wake up from,” he said. “Like being trapped in one of Royal's games.”

“That's the way I felt last night when that driverless car tried to run Frank and Joe down,” Chelsea said.

“Chelsea,” Joe said, “you mentioned something about A Town Called Chaos when Royal's sedan tried to hit us last night. Is there a driverless car in the new game?”

“Yes. Along with a giant ape, exploding bats, a
booby-trapped mansion, the ghost of Katherine Chaos's evil sister, and a lot of other cool things. Seeing something like that real car doesn't seem so cool, though,” Chelsea said.

“And the giant spider was in the second game,” Joe said. “What kind of things from the third game might we find in this forest?”

“You're going to Kendall Forest?” Chelsea and Phil asked simultaneously.

“Right after we get Phil set up here. It seems the only logical thing to do,” Frank said.

“Well . . .” Chelsea said, thinking, “there were a lot of things from the first two games: more spiders, more snakes, and, of course, the Terrible Bear—the one Tochi thinks is a parody of Bombo.”

“I don't know about this,” Dave said. “I'm pretty nervous about you guys poking around in the woods. Shouldn't we leave this to the police?”

“The police think your company is behind this whole thing,” Joe said. “They're still concentrating on the publicity stunt theory.”

“Well, if I can track down where those first e-mails actually came from, maybe we can stop that,” Phil said.

“I'll take you to a workstation,” Dave said. He led the Hardys and Phil to an empty cubicle. Chelsea went back to her office. Even on a Saturday morning, Viking Software bustled with energy.
Several projects were so close to their deadlines that nearly everyone on staff was working overtime.

Frank and Joe helped Phil get set up, then they headed out to the van to begin their trip north to Kendall State Park. But when they got into the Viking Software parking lot, the door of a red Volkswagen Beetle opened up next to them and out climbed Samantha Rockford. Apparently, she'd been waiting for them.

“So,” Sam said, strolling up to the brothers and falling into step beside them, “what's our next move?”

“What do you mean ‘our'?” Frank asked.

“And where did you hurry off to last night?” Joe said. “I think the police might want to talk to you.”

“I try never to become involved with police,” Sam said. “Look,” she continued. “I figure you and I should team up. You guys got to this case ahead of me, but I probably know a lot more about Royal than you do. I've studied him. I know all his friends and acquaintances, all his usual haunts.”

“Then,” Frank said, trying to walk away from her, “you should have no trouble finding him on your own.”

“Hey,” she said, tagging along, “we're all on the same side here.”

“If we're all on the same side,” Joe said, “let's see your PI's license.”

Sam's eyes narrowed. “Let's see yours.”

Frank stopped walking and looked Sam straight in the eyes. She was wearing the same cheap thirties detective outfit she'd worn the night before, he noticed. “Personally,” he said, “I'd settle for seeing just your ID.”

“I left it at home,” Sam said. “I never carry ID when I work. It might compromise my employers.”

“A likely story,” Joe said.

Just then Chelsea Sirkin came out of the front door of the building. “Frank, Joe, you'll never guess what I found,” she said. Then, noticing the woman in the trench coat and fedora, she added, “Oh. I'm sorry. Who's your friend?”

Joe stepped aside so Chelsea could get a better look at Sam. “Chelsea Sirkin, I'd like you to meet the ubiquitous Samantha Rockford.”

Chelsea's jaw dropped open. Looking straight at Sam, she gasped, “What are
you
doing here?”

“She's trying to tag along with us,” Joe said. “But I don't think we're buying.”

“B-but her name's not Rockford, and she's not a PI!” Chelsea stammered. “Her real name is Teri McLean, and she's a fan who's been stalking Royal for years.”

McLean turned to run, but Joe grabbed her by the wrist and held tight. “Oh, no,” he said. “You're not going to pull that disappearing act again.”

“You've got nothing on me,” McLean said. “Let me go or I'll scream for the cops.”

“She's wrong about that,” Chelsea said. “We've got enough for the cops to hold her. Royal took out a restraining order against Teri that prevents
her from being this close to him, his house, or his place of work. She's in violation of that order right now.”

“Guess you aren't as innocent as you pretend,” Joe said.

Teri didn't reply, only tried to slide out of Joe's grip. Joe had to use some of his wrestling skills to keep hold of her, but he didn't let her get away. After a while, she gave up and stopped struggling.

Chelsea was angry now. “You bet she isn't innocent. She used to follow Anne Sakai around, too. Royal says that this woman is the reason Sakai left the country before she died.”

“So, you're saying that if it wasn't for Ms. Sweetness-and-Light here, Sakai might not have died in that plane crash?” Frank asked.

“That's a lie!” Teri McLean screamed. “Anne and I were good friends. She invited me down to that island!”

“You were on St. Cecile before Anne Sakai died?” Chelsea asked, wide-eyed.

A cold calm passed over McLean, and her whole attitude changed. “I'm not saying anything more,” she said.

“I wouldn't clam up now if I were you,” Frank said. “You're in enough trouble as it is. You'd better come clean if you hope to get out of this.”

McLean didn't say anything, and Joe, who still had her by the wrist, began to pull her back
toward the Viking Software building. As they neared the door, McLean suddenly yanked free and dashed to the red VW. She started to tug the door open, but Frank stopped her. “Going somewhere?” he asked.

“You can't stop me,” she said. As she pulled on the door, something fell out of the pocket of her trench coat. She scooped up the item but not before Frank and Joe saw what it was: a fairly new set of lock picks. McLean glared angrily at the brothers. “This is illegal detainment,” she said.

“On the contrary,” Joe said, stepping in behind her. “We're just holding you for the police.” McLean was now trapped between her VW and the car next to it, with the Hardys cutting off her only avenues of escape.

She tried to yank open the door again, but Frank stopped her. “Let me go, you two!” she cried. “Steven's life is in danger! I'm the only one who can save him!”

“I doubt that,” Joe said. Then something in the Beetle caught his eye. “Hey, Frank. Take a look inside the car.”

Frank looked in, being careful not to let McLean slip away. The floor of the vehicle was strewn with papers; some of them had Steven Royal's letterhead on them, others bore the seal of NCU. “I think,” he said, “we may have found
out who ransacked Royal's condo and Tochi's house—it looks like she took a few souvenirs.”

“I didn't ransack anything,” McLean complained. “Those aren't souvenirs, they're clues. You'd have done the same thing.”

“No, we wouldn't,” Joe said. “And we'll let the police decide if those papers are evidence in this case, or evidence that you're a thief.”

Frank smiled grimly at McLean. “I think you may have some trouble explaining the lock picks. If you were better at using them, you'd have left fewer clues.”

“I'll get security,” Chelsea said, heading for the building.

“You've got to listen to me,” McLean said. “I didn't do anything wrong. I'm only trying to help Steven Royal. He's in big trouble, I just know it. He'd never disappear like this before the release of a big game. He needs that game.”

“Needs it how?” Joe asked.

McLean looked around furtively, then said, “He's almost broke. He made some bad investments.”

“And I suppose you learned that from some of those papers in your car,” Frank said.

“It doesn't matter how I know,” McLean said. “I was just trying to protect him, but it didn't work. Something terrible has happened to him, I just know it. I'm looking out for him. . . .”

“Following him, you mean,” Joe interjected.

“He slipped away from me last Monday,” McLean continued, “and he never came back. Didn't he know I was just trying to protect him?”

“Was he driving his car when he got away?” asked Frank.

“Yes,” McLean said. “He was heading north, but he lost me on an interchange. I think he did it deliberately. I didn't know anything was wrong until he didn't come back for a few days. That was when I decided to take things into my own hands.”

“So, you used those lock picks and looked around in his place, and Tochi's, just trying to protect Royal,” Joe said.

“Yes. I know he's in trouble. He's been nervous lately, but I don't know why. I just want to help.”

“I'm sure you do,” Frank said. McLean had become calmer, and he hoped to get more information out of her before the police arrived. “So, what do you think happened to him?”

“Anne Sakai's ghost got him,” McLean said matter-of-factly.

Both Hardys tried not to look shocked. “Sakai's ghost?” Joe asked skeptically.

McLean crossed her arms over her chest. “She's out to get him for driving her out of the country. She decided she couldn't compete with him, so she ran away. Then she got killed. So her
ghost blames him for it. Now she's done something terrible to him.”

“And you've actually . . .
seen
this ghost?” Frank asked.

“Only once,” McLean said quietly. “After she died on St. Cecile.”

Just then Chelsea returned with the building security guard. He took custody of McLean and escorted her into the building to wait for the police.

“So,” Joe said watching her go, “do you think she did something to Royal?”

Frank shook his head. “I doubt it—though I couldn't rule it out. I think it's more likely that she had something to do with Sakai's death. She confessed to being on the island around the time of Sakai's plane crash.”

“Do you think Sakai took that fatal plane trip to get away from her?” Joe asked.

“Could be,” Frank said. “We know McLean followed Sakai all the way to the Caribbean. What we don't know is, why? Is she just a crazy fan, or was she trying to get in good with Royal? Maybe she sabotaged the plane somehow. With Sakai out of the picture, the Chaos series is all Royal's.”

“Oh!” Chelsea said. “That's one of the things I came out to tell you. This business with McLean had me so rattled, I almost forgot.

“You asked about Sakai's heirs the other day,”
she continued. “I checked and she did have one heir, Regina Cross. Sakai's proceeds from the Chaos games go to Cross Enterprises in Switzerland. She has a piece of all three games, but I'm not sure about the new game.

“That's the other thing I needed to tell you. Dave turned up something funny in Royal's contract. Just a few weeks ago Royal had a minor change made.”

“What change?” Frank asked.

“Well, on the last contract anyone who helped Royal with the programming for the game was paid directly by Viking Software. Now, though, Royal is the only one we pay, and then he pays anyone who works under him. Since he didn't have any collaborators, our lawyers didn't think it was a big deal to change it.”

“No collaborators that you
know
of,” Joe said, frowning.

“Can you find out if Sakai's heir, Cross, has a stake in the new game?” asked Frank.

“Sure,” Chelsea said.

“We'd better get going,” Joe said. “It'll be dark by the time we get back.”

Frank nodded and both of them headed toward the van. “We'll keep in touch,” he called back. Chelsea waved as she walked back into the building.

• • •

Three hours later the Hardys pulled off the main road and onto one of the trails crisscrossing Kendall State Park. The man at the gatehouse couldn't tell them where to find the cave. He said that many people had searched for it before, but never found it. Personally, he thought it was just a myth. He wished the brothers well and gave them a map of the park.

Getting some help from Chelsea on their car phone, the Hardys picked a parking spot in a location that seemed to match the geography of the Chaos games.

“You know,” Joe said as he got out of the van and hefted his backpack, “I wish I'd played Forest of Chaos. It might have helped now that we're in the same woods.”

The two of them consulted their map and picked a trail that would take them by the Kendall River. “There was a river in the game,” Joe said. “It flowed through the cave. It's not much of a lead, but it may be our best shot.”

“Any monsters in the river?” Frank asked.

“Yeah. Some kind of cave octopus thing.”

“Well,” Frank said, adjusting his backpack, “let's hope we don't run into it.”

“You know, if we can find an eagle head-shaped rock we should be able to find the cave—” He stopped abruptly to glance back toward the parking lot.

“What is it?” asked Frank.

“I thought I saw another car,” Joe said. “It's gone now.”

“Probably just sightseers,” Frank said. “This place is beautiful.”

“Well, it won't be as beautiful when it gets dark in a couple of hours,” Joe said. The two of them walked in silence for a while after that, Joe keeping his eyes peeled for any landmark clues from the games.