When I saw that, I lost it.

  Screaming in rage, I pounded on the car until my hands hurt. Then I started cursing…loud, ugly, uncontrolled. Carol got her son out of the van, and even HealBot backed away, leaving me alone with my ranting, swearing, and fury. I didn’t care who heard it. Or who saw me pounding the steering wheel until my hands hurt.

  I hadn’t been this bad when my wife died.

  Then I cried. Not just from physical pain, but from the deep, tearing pain of losing her…of losing the most important woman in my life.

  I could still see it…the back doors of the semi-truck trailer we’d been shoved under as everything went dark. The metal looming closer. The crushing sound. I remembered thinking I was dying. I could have…but help came faster than I knew.

  The next thing I remembered was waking up in the hospital days later. My son was there. All I could say was, “Mom’s gone.” He nodded and hugged me, and we both cried.

  They let me out of the hospital just long enough for her funeral and burial. My son handled everything. He was a man and a military officer. He took care of it all. I was still in the hospital when he had to return to base, but he came back for a few short visits once I was home again.

  Blaze wasn’t dead. I prayed she wasn’t.

  She’d be too valuable as a hostage. So would the rest of the town.

  Abruptly, I stopped screaming, crying, and pounding the steering wheel. I was still angry…no, I was furious…but control snapped back into place as one thought hit me.

  “She never sent me another message via Game Chat.”

  I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. “She’s dead or captive.” And there was a way to find out which. Maybe. Anything was worth trying.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Are you alive?]

  The message went out. Nothing came back.

  I sent another.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Granhombre] [Are you alive?]

  [NO SUCH PLAYER] was the System response.

  I knew he was dead. He’d died at the Battle of Eddington. I’d hoped the misspelling meant no one else had taken the name. No one had.

  “She’s alive!” I screamed, loud enough for people outside the van to hear me. Heads turned. People stared.

  “Blaze is still alive!” I shouted. “She didn’t respond to my chat message!” I saw some of them looking in my direction.

  Carol was still near the van. She turned back, eyes wide. “What?”

  “You can’t chat a dead person or a name that doesn’t exist. You can only chat live people. PokerRun mentioned a possible Mentalist. He must be high enough level to grab her.”

  She nodded slowly. “What about the woman she was with?”

  “Blaze said she was Level 4. Easier to CHARM for someone strong enough to take Blaze.”

  “Or she’s unconscious. Or sleeping,” Carol said. “Wouldn’t that do the same thing?”

  “Yeah. Both would.” I forced myself to breathe. “But her car’s parked behind a barricade…looked like sawhorses and boards. Someone parked it. Either her or them. We won’t know until we reach it…or she can communicate.”

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  Carol nodded.

  “Sorry I blew up,” I said. “It’s just…just…”

  “Just that she means something to you,” she said gently, patting my shoulder. “I understand.”

  “Yeah. She does. It hadn’t sunk in until now how much.”

  “It means you’re human,” she said. “And this isn’t a computer game.”

  “No. No, it’s not.”

  She hesitated. “People are asking me what we do now.” She was starting to look worried again, but not as bad as during my outburst.

  “I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “Maybe I’ll think of something once my head clears.”

  She patted my shoulder. “If not,” she asked, “who do we hand it to? The Army?”

  “Lt. Marmari’s in charge of a combat platoon. Not high-level game-wise, but they’ve been grinding county spawns. The ones who fought with the president were solid. And they’ve got army and game gear.”

  I stopped and stared ahead. “Gear…they’re coming in Strykers.”

  “What’s that?” Carol asked. “I don’t pay much attention to military things.”

  “Armored troop transports. Squad carriers. Big gun on top. Thirty-millimeter. Big bullets. Loud ones.” I swallowed. “They fired one at the quarry when the World Boss first showed. We were running away.”

  “How loud?”

  “They should have given us ear protection before they fired it, not after. That loud.”

  “If they’re armored, rifles won’t hurt them?”

  “Not unless someone’s packing something like PokerRun carries. Even his rifle probably wouldn’t punch through. Spells might…if they stack enough.”

  “We won’t know until they try. Or we try?”

  We froze at the same thought.

  “Or we try!”

  “We don’t know what will go through them,” I said slowly. “But the Army does.”

  Light dawned in her eyes. “Of course they do. So, we ask them.”

  “Yep, Lt. Marmari is leading them. We can ask when he gets here. He’s on his way.”

  I called Blaze’s local office. The man who answered didn’t recognize me personally, but he knew who I was…and what Blaze planned. He’d been waiting to hear from her.

  The last message he had was that they’d swapped places and were doing a drive-through.

  I told him everything I knew.

  He turned away, barking orders for someone to call state and national offices that they’d likely been captured and they were joining us to help. When he came back, he said they’d be on their way…thirty minutes or less. Which meant closer to an hour before they’d be here. It wasn’t a straight-line drive.

  The waiting for help was agony.

  Twenty minutes later, I heard it…the deep, chest-rattling rumble of Strykers. Five of them rolled in, including the command vehicle, bristling with antennas and a folded satellite dish. I recognized it from the quarry.

  They parked along the road. Lt. Marmari stepped out of the front passenger door of lead vehicle.

  The Strykers could easily plow through the barricades I’d seen from the satellite images, and maybe parked cars without slowing down, much. Spells were the only real question.

  I wouldn’t try melee weapons against them unless you had bigger weapons than any I’d seen so far. My gut feeling is a +5 DAMAGE Sword would only scratch the paint. Too bad we didn’t have any of those. Yet.

  “Lieutenant,” I said, meeting him halfway. “Good to see you again. Sorry I wasn’t back at the quarry.”

  “That’s fine, sir,” he said, shaking my hand. “You did your job. We did ours.” He studied me. “You look healthier. What are we facing? I’ve seen the sat pics.”

  “Unknown number. Neo-Nazi types. Guns…likely hunting rifles and AR-15s. Barricades are improvised. They may have casters too.”

  He nodded. “We’ll go through the barricades like they weren’t there. Push cars aside too, if needed. Captain Park said follow your lead for objectives. We handle the best way to get there.”

  “Strategic command, not tactical,” I said.

  He grinned. I grinned back.

  “They may have casters who also carry guns. We won’t know until something happens.”

  He leaned in and lowered his voice. “For your ears only…army’s tested spells against Stryker armor. Up to Level 7, it’s cosmetic damage. Windshields are the weak point if the spell is something solid like stone or metal.”

  I laughed quietly. He smiled.

  “We get to find out what happens after that?”

  “After everyone’s safe,” he said. “Sure.”

  When I’d first met him with the President, he seemed stiff and by the book. At least it was the new book. And smart. Very smart. After we got to know each other, I decided he’d be a fun guy to share a beer with. Off duty, of course.

  Once Bhaarrt arrived, he and Marmari took over coordination. Shadow scribbled notes to help. Bhaarrt used big markers only. Pens didn’t survive his grip.

  Sheriff Harper arrived with five deputies. Two State Patrol cars followed, then a third with Lt. Charlita Debisono. Law enforcement took over traffic control while our command team formed.

  Our plan was everyone would go in and attack together.

  To keep it legal.

  Mostly.

  I didn’t bet on it staying that way.

  15 Chapters Ahead.