Hunter already knew it wasn’t a baseball or soccer team. This team couldn’t be as safe as a math team.
“A Tale of Victories and Valor. My team has nine other players.”
“A video game… Is that what you’re talking about?” Not waiting on his answer because Hunter already knew what it would be, he continued. “Do you know these people?”
“Online.”
“So you don’t know them. For all you know, they are grown men posing as teenagers for nefarious reasons.”
“Nefarious reasons?” Kyle laughed. “Man, you are so extra.”
“Extra what?”
“Never mind. You wouldn’t get it anyway.”
“I’m not that old. I’m hip.”
“Hip? What are you, from the eighties?”
Hunter stood there staring at his brother and realized he did feel old. No, he wasn’t from the eighties, but he definitely wasn’t cool… Not that he ever was. He didn’t hang out with the jocks, despite playing sports. He wasn’t in the cool kids crowd. Behind his athleticism, he was a nerd. He liked to read, which was another reason why he loved his job.
He’d been approached by a voice talent agent after he’d done a few radio commercials for a college friend’s family car dealership. Frank, his agent at the time, said he had a voice that would make women’s panties drop. That had yet to happen, and most likely never would.
Lost in his own head, he caught only the last of Kyle’s reply.
“… let me handle it.”
“I’m sorry if I don’t feel comfortable leaving my life in the hands of a barely there teenager.”
“Whatever.”
“I want to make sure it’s safe to go home. Stay here and I’ll come back and get you if it is.”
“Sure,” Kyle muttered while looking at his phone again.
“Did you hear me, Kyle?”
“Yeah. You’re leaving and will come back in an hour if it’s safe. Got it.”
“Just stay off your phone. We don’t have a charger and I want to be able to reach you.”
“Fine.”
Hunter loudly exhaled in frustration with Kyle’s one-word replies. He didn’t seem to worry about what happened the night before. It didn’t matter. Hunter was worried enough for the both of them.
“Bye,” Hunter said as he let the door slam shut.
Kyle didn’t think he’d ever leave. He tried to hide his nerves after reading his client’s response… or threat.
Telling him that GigaByte had sent goons wasn’t concerning to the client. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
“You’re getting close. There’s no quitting now. You are in this or your family will find out the hard way how dangerous the stakes are. I want an update in four hours, or else.”
Kyle didn’t need to know what the ‘or else’ meant. He had believed what he told Hunter… GigaByte wasn’t going to hurt them, despite scaring the daylights out of them. The client, however, was a different story.
He had less than half an hour to give the client an update… An update that he didn’t have.
* * *