I waited in in darkness as I heard the boy typing something into the laptop and suddenly I was racing through a tunnel toward a kaleidoscope of light and color. I had transformed into my avatar, the Aztec warrior wearing a crown of eagle feathers. I was inside the lobby of Passion Headquarters. The virtual setting was so life-like. The only thing missing was the lingering smell of floor cleaner left by Jaime's overnight crew.
A security guard sat in the lobby, his face random and generic like an extra in a video game who gets gunned down before you make it to the second round. I knew he wasn't an avatar with a real person inside of him. He was just a program designed to play a certain role. Most of the people in the Second World were just programs like this, hard-coded to perform a short menu of repetitive actions. In that way it reminded me of the real world, where so many folks just go through the motions like robots without really thinking on the choices life presents.
"I am going to the top floor," I told the security guard. "The office of the CEO." He opened the door and pressed the top floor button. The elevator sailed upward into the sky. The last time I'd made this trip in real life. It was after Chet had fired everyone in the call center and moved their job to India. I worried he would fire me that day. Everything would've been so much better if he had.
When I stepped out of the elevator, I was at the gate of an ancient city, an entranceway buttressed by giant slabs of dusty stone. I passed into the market square where the city was alive with sounds. Traders dressed in tunics chattered in an ancient tongue, haggling over bushels of grapes and olives. Donkeys brayed and chariots rumbled along the unpaved road. In the distance, the path turned to stone, climbing a steep slope to a summit. Majestic temples with marble columns covered the peak of the craggy hilltop, looming magnificently over the city. I had seen the mighty structures before, maybe in some high school field trip to a museum.
The White-Haired Man strode forward in a white tunic. He touched my shoulder and led me up the hill. I know instantly it was Chet Castle behind the avatar.
"Do you know where we are?" he asked.
"I've seen it somewhere," I said.
"This is Athens. My major in undergrad was Philosophy. Pop was a business guy but he always encouraged me to study the Classics at Harvard. The Greeks were the first to do so many things. You think about the world back then. Strength and power were the only things that mattered in the world. There was no right or wrong. And then the Athenians seemed to pull these ideas out of nowhere: freedom, justice, equality. And they didn't just talk about these ideas, they used them to create community of citizens where men had basic rights regardless of their birth and fortune. Now it wasn't perfect of course. They didn't let women vote and there was a whole class of slaves. But it was still the world's first vision of democracy, a vision we're still trying to perfect three thousand years later."
"Is your avatar anyone from history?"
"I've modeled it after Socrates. 'Know thyself.' 'The unexamined life is not worth living.' Did you study philosophy?"
"Not in school if that's what you mean."
"My avatar was sentenced to death for asking questions that made the elite uncomfortable."
"Sounds like someone else I know."
. We climbed the stone path until we reached the summit, finally resting on the steps of a great, rectangular temple that overlooked the city. "You're not going to die. I am not going to let that happen. Your enemies are my enemies."
"I don't see how you can help me."
"Do you know how much I am worth?"
"Money's not enough. J.P. Breton was rich. Los Empresarios had money and guns. Where are they now?"
"I am richer than all of them. My fund had the highest returns on Wall Street for ten years in a row. Other investors react to changes. I shape the change. I've been preparing for the war with Shiro for a long time. I know you've been through hell. I believe in you. I believed in Gina. I finally understand who did all of this and by God I am going to make them pay." I could feel Chet's rage lurking behind the visage of his avatar.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"You'll find out soon enough. The whole world will. When that happens, we need to make sure you are in a secure location. Where are you now?"
"The Chinese Consulate General in Koreatown."
"So you're with Chen? That means you are in great danger. The Red Prince isn't your friend, Temo, no matter what he tells you."
"He's the only one who has tried to protect me."
"I am sure he'd want you to think that. Let me guess, he's promising to smuggle you to China where there's no extradition treaty. That's a flight headed for the bottom of the ocean. You need to get out of there when you have the chance. I am about to give a press conference that will provide some interesting information about Mr. Chen and his benefactor. He's not going to like what I have to say and how it affects his plan to acquire my company. By the time the conference is over there's going to a fair amount of commotion within Chen's world and that will be your opportunity to escape. It may be your last chance. I'll have a car waiting for you on Wilshire and Vermont."
"I need to get my wife and daughter. They are being held by one of Shiro's killers at my old apartment in South L.A."
"We're not going to leave them behind, Temo. My bodyguards can get your family out safe. They are all former special forces."
"And then what? You can't stop the FBI from imprisoning me no matter how much money you have."
"I can get you out of the country. I own properties in over 50 countries. Hell, I own islands in the Pacific. You think the rich play by the same rules? How many oil sheiks went to jail after 9-11? There are plenty of places without extradition treaties where you can live in exile while I lobby the White House. Presidents are always ready to pardon the friends of their donors as long as the price is right."
"Like you protected Gina."
The old man struck me hard. I could feel Chet's anguish in the blow.
"Don't dare say that. You have no idea how that devastated me."
"I am sorry."
"I should've saved her. I didn't know what these people were capable of. God help me, I will avenge her if it's the last thing I ever do."
"You really know who these people are?"
"I told you, you'll find out soon enough what I know. We need to leave now. You need to think about whether you trust me to save you. You won't have a chance like this again. After you plug out of the Second World, turn on the news and you'll understand when it's time to run."
The old man descended the temple steps, vanishing into thin air before he reached the bottom. I felt a floating sensation, my warrior avatar rising up in the air above the ancient Greek city, swirling through smoke and shadow as I jolted back into the real world, as if waking from a dream.
I flipped off the headset and handed it to Quentin.
"Thank you."
"You met him didn't you?"
"You're right," I told the boy.
"Right about what?"
"You're not the one with problems in your head. It's everyone else."