Double-Blind: A Modern LITRPG

Azure's punch didn't disappoint. To my summon's credit, and Miles' misfortune, there was zero hesitation. I'd long suspected Miles had dumped far more into Strength and Toughness than I had, and couldn't be sure how effective it would be. But we were both in our civvies, and there was only so much incremental increases could do to cushion the effect of bare fist to unshod face.

Miles got his arms up—entirely too late.

His head snapped back painfully as he took it on the chin, entire body following it forty-five degrees, where he wobbled, checking once to see if I was pressing the attack, and when I didn't, rested his hands on his knees.

There was a commotion, and Miles raised a hand, waving off what I assumed to be the rest of the people he had following me rushing to his side.

He made the gesture again, more insistent this time. "No. No. Leave it. That was my bad, I asked for it." Slowly, he straightened up, still looking unsteady on his feet. "Not gonna bother explaining why I suddenly got nasty, but that's uh... not how I expected it to go." He tilted his head and winced.

Fume. Barely restrained rage.

"Don't care," I said. "If you wanna just cut the shit and settle this here, keep bringing my family into it, see what happens."

"Not what I was going for."

"Could have fooled me." I seethed, letting hatred seep through. "These might be the last few hours I have, Miles."

"No, I'm really not." I pressed him, taking advantage of the physical disorientation while it lasted. Hammering him with the truth. "You'll 'figure out a solution' my ass. We both know there's a good chance I'm coming out of that tower in a body bag. Hell, I've known it from the second I came clean. You saw me dismiss my summons in the Tower. Even if I wanted to go full damage control mode, Azure already pulled his weight today, and doesn't have the energy to spare. Even if he did, summoning him is like setting fireworks off."

Miles paused, absorbing that. "So you can't just pull him out now, clear this up the easy way."

"No, for fuck's sake. You'll see it in the tower. Over and over. It's like fucking Fantasia when I pull him out, that's the tradeoff. Unless you want to draw even more attention to us than you already have."

He shifted his head back and forth, rolled his shoulders back. "I wouldn't blame you, if you were trying to take precautions. This would be the best time to do it."

Spread your arms wide, then drop them.

"Yeah, I could be out here going full Machiavelli." I let my voice catch. "But I'm not. Because I know you've got me. You have my stat sheet, known associates, goddamn psych profile and who can say how much else locked and loaded. So instead of scheming for nothing, I came to a place no one knows me, to eat my favorite food, and pick up a few things for my friends and loved ones, because I'd really like to see and spend time with them before I fucking disappear. And there's no way in hell you'll let me do that. So I bought gifts, instead." Tears blurred the image of Miles, as Azure wept without prompting, perfectly in sync.

When Miles came back into focus, guilt was written all over his face. "I... know you and the little merchant girl are close, but I can't let you see her. There's too much professional mixed with the personal. Even if she's not in this with you, I'm guessing you've got more than enough history and accumulated favors to call in to get her to make my life very difficult in the short term."

"That's fine." Azure swiped at my eyes. "I didn't expect you to."

"But... I'm not as cold as you seem to think." Miles rubbed the back of his head and looked at me sheepishly. "Head home, stay there, and I'll make sure you get a chance to see your family. Assuming you're willing to host overnight. I'm feeling pizza, you feeling pizza?"

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In other words, he'd let me see my family. But not unsupervised.

Fine.

"Yeah. No problem. We'll eat, watch something. Iris'll pass out on the couch like she always does, and you and mom can crash in the guest room." I paused.

Stare at him.

"Where I will be chaste as the Pope himself." Miles put his hands together in supplication, then glanced at the bag. "Completely unrelated, but feel free to swing by Tara's on the way back, I won't stop you."

"Somehow, the mood has passed."

"Come on, give me that one." Miles chuckled. "The only people you were planning to fuck with, going in there, was the people following you."

Smile a little.

"More than one thing can be true, Miles."

"Yeah, yeah. You should stop by for a chat at least. I'll see you tonight."

Azure's projected image of Miles dissipated, leaving me alone in his bedroom, quiet and pensive.

I'd won this round. But it was close. If he'd pushed a little harder, retaliated and struck back at Azure with anything other than a fist, it wouldn't take much damage to send the lithid packing, back to the void.

More than that, the level of aggression concerned me. I'd expected reading through my intel would encourage Miles to be cautious, careful in maintaining his distance until he didn't have a choice. Instead, he seemed more than comfortable taking the opposite approach. That confident in his patron's protection, or going off instinct. Either way, it was costing me time.

For now, I needed to assume the flat callout wasn't a bluff. It might have been a wild stab in the dark, but it was too on target to dismiss.

I stuck my head into the main room, where Jackson was screwing a vent back on a few feet away from Chuck, still searching the computer. "Anything?"

"Striking out." Jackson shook his head. "He's either psychotically devious when it comes to hiding shit, or there's nothing more to find. Docs in the bedroom might be as good as it's gonna get."

"Speak for yourself." Chuck grinned. "Got something. Multiple somethings."

"Go on."

"Dumped a bunch of files a few weeks ago. But he was either too practical or shortsighted to take a drill to his hard drive, after. Working on recovering more, but I already have a handy excel sheet, complete with names and bank accounts. Before the dome, our Boy Scout took his alimony payments seriously."

I hesitated, then, remembering some of Miles' earlier comments, thought better of it. This was already nasty. We were both still just pretending that it wasn't. And just because I had something didn't mean I had to use it. Insurance never hurts. "Addresses?"

"Nope." Chuck leaned back in the wooden chair, grimacing as he stretched. "But a bank account is just a street address with extra steps."

"Right. What else?"

"Dunno." Chuck frowned. "Could be nothing. But there was a stray MP4 mixed in with the rest of the dump. Only video file he had, so it stuck out. Recovering it now. Should be done in a few minutes."

"How long exactly?"

"Two minutes, thirty-nine seconds."

I weighed the risks, then let it go. "Fine. But we need to cut this short. Finish what you're doing, put whatever you have on a thumb drive and give it to me. Jackson, how long do you need to tidy up?"

That got both their attention.

"Ten minutes if I rush it. Twenty if I don't. There a problem?" Jackson asked.

"We're not blown. But we need to clear out of here soon, and complicating that, there's a non-zero chance he's got people watching on the street level, looking for anyone leaving in a hurry."

"Ah." Chuck turned to Jackson, waggling his eyebrows. "Reverse stakeout?"

"Yeah." Jackson agreed reluctantly.

"Pretend I don't know what that means."

"Hell, I don't either, man's just out here making up terminology." Jackson shook his head. "I assume he's suggesting we hit another floor, find an empty unit and bunker down a bit. So we won't be here, and also won't be rushing out all dodgy."

That made... a lot of sense.

"How long?" I asked, checking my system clock. It was a little after four.

"Half hour should be plenty."

Part of me resisted the idea of idling for that long, but rushing would cost me. It'd give me time to compose and send critical messages. The list of people I needed to contact felt never-ending, and I likely wouldn't get to them all. But Kinsley was right. Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

I pulled up my DMs and started composing a message to the Steward.

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