Day 76 - Darwin's Game - Chapter 25 (2792 words)

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DARWIN'S GAME

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 25

The next episode was late, for the first time in five weeks it did not appear 7 days after the previous one. The next day had rolled around and there was still no sign, and the day was almost over. No one knew what to make of that, the expectation was high, the elaborate tiger episode had captured the imagination like none before, stirring up debate and comment on a global scale.

Animal rights activists claimed it abusive to animals and human rights activists claimed it was abusive to humans. They then proceeded to fight over which was more abused, which of the players (human or animal) was more captive, it went on all week until the next episode was ready to be aired, but somewhat unexpectedly the debate had to continue as there was no episode six. That debate though was fizzling, not because either side was lacking in argument, but because they were distracted by what would be happening next.

The first day there was anticipation, it could arrive at any minute right up to an including midnight that day. Sure there was no guaranteed offered, nor was there any real indication that there even would be an episode six, as nothing had been explicitly stated ever, but the format and the regularity suggested that it was going to follow a regular schedule and that one a week would be the call. Until of course the end, which would be episode eleven or maybe twelve, or sooner if they ran out of people sooner. Two people had died in episode four, and if that happened again it may only be nine episodes. And that was if there was one winner, maybe there were more than that.

The second day was well under way when the suspiciously cautious media started to call the episode late, delayed or even perhaps intercepted. The accusations flew thick and fast at the Facts Alone site, Blake fronting the media with a huge grin on his face and pointing out that it if he had it, they would have it. After all it was their insistence and dodging of the FBI that made earlier episodes available so quickly. It made no sense to accuse him or his site of duplicity in delaying the

game. The FBI released a statement to the effect that they were not in possession of any new evidence in the Darwin Case, but that their investigation was ongoing. That satisfied no one at all and questions were levelled higher and higher in government, where no reply was forthcoming. There was no easy way to answer that question, if you answered too quickly you were as clueless as everyone, if you refused to answer you were being evasive and hiding something, if you took your time to answer then you were lying. So they said nothing, the day already planned around no public appearances, the day after an episode of Darwin was a light news day anyway the attention it drew away from the business of running a country was very handy. It would have suited everyone to have the new show turn up and get people talking, focussing on that instead of everything else that was going on.

The day wore on and the restlessness grew, the wild and lengthy conspiracy theories about why it was delayed were getting bigger as the day came to a close with no sight of the new video and no indication that anything was going to be different the next day.

The third day was much like the second, but the expectation was now lower, another day was going to pass where someone knew something but was not telling what they knew. Reviews of the previous instalments were run along with predictions about why there was no show this week and what that could mean. The most favoured explanation was that the authorities had caught the man, or men, behind Darwin's Game and were keeping the arrest quiet. All sorts of legal experts argued against this theory, and a few for it based on the idea that Darwin was not American and therefore an Enemy Combatant, having been renditioned to Guantanamo or some other Black Site never to be seen again. Those who favoured this theory did not guess as to the locations of the remaining six players, dead or alive no one could tell. The FBI again released a statement saying that no arrests had been made, that no one was being held and the investigation into the Darwin affair was still ongoing.

The fourth day focussed on the more implausible theories and wild speculations. The Mafia had found Darwin when the government could not and they had taken their vendetta out on him for one of their own being killed, or that they had been behind the whole thing in the first place. Using this as a smokescreen to kills the rat Tony Vittorio, aka Tony the Snake aka Even Jacobsen. They planned the elaborate set up to embarrass the Feds and they did not need to finish the game to get what they wanted. In fact they wanted the Game to appear as if it was not finished as they would not be suspected while the authorities chased their tails about Darwin not realising it was the mob he whole time. Of course this was nonsense, but the sheer drama and over the top sensationalist nature of the theory gave it legs for the day and gave media types something to think about.

The fifth day was when Jacob Edgerton left his hotel room, while Blake was fielding questions and firing salvoes back at the various people attacking him, Jacob, now with a heavy beard and a new hair colour, was smuggled out of the hotel by the Dragon Ridge team and given access to the a number of tools and technologies for staying in touch without being monitored by anyone in the government or law enforcement agencies. Blake had planned with Jacob to cover the exit with a good distraction, and they had struggled to find one that would get everyone's attention away from the hotel and whatever it was that was happening next. The lack of the next episode caused chaos and confusion, and Blake's willingness to go on camera and insult various experts and opinion makers meant he was the perfect time filler and no one was looking at the now-reclusive business partner, still assumed to be traumatised by the kidnapping. Jacob had a plan to work his way around the players lives and disappearances, not following the trail that the police and FBI had already done but by looking and reading between the lines where he could. There had to be something that was being missed, or something that the Feds had but did not recognise. He was out of the state and heading towards Marquette within hours, on a private jet owned and operated by the Dragon Ridge company.

The sixth day was the weekend and by now there was a new expectation building that the week long gap would be over and there would be an episode six this week. With it grew the idea that there would be ten episodes in all, as there was a natural intermission forming, five instalments had been and gone, the halfway point had a break, a half-time metaphor often seen in television series. The mid-season hiatus. They opined that it was only a week, it would not be the months or weeks that would happen with commercial shows. There was no lucrative advertising contracts to satisfy, there was no 'sweeps' to make numbers on, it was using a televisual template for the form that people were accustomed to, it made sense. Again there was no data or indication that this was going to be the case, but with no one to talk to but themselves about it, the blanks were being conveniently filled in by hope and desire.

The seventh day was a day of rest, they had named it that from a sense of whimsy and the idea that a day off was somehow good for the soul. Also there was a widespread feeling that the next day would bring the next delivery, if it were not already on the way then the conjoined will of the media and the public would bring it to Darwin's attention, like children waiting patiently and 'being good' to earn a reward, the class sat on the collective mat, with arms and legs folded, waiting patiently. A few shows did reviews of the remaining players, dredging up what they though were strengths and weaknesses, trolling through sites and forums for the more likely ideas about what the next episode would be and who would be featured in it. No one spoke to Blake Hilliard or anyone else form Facts Alone and the surveillance on them was dialled all the way back to invisible as possible with orders to watch and to not intervene if a delivery were made.

On the morning of day eight Blake got up and found that there were no messages on his phone, no emails in his inbox, except the usual newsletters and sale subscriptions he was a part of. He had been left alone and it was the oddest of feelings. He picked up his encrypted satellite phone and called Jacob who was in the offices of the Russell-Watts building examining the records of David Wilson, looking for clues. The Dragon Ridge team had been very helpful in providing a cover identity that allowed him to pose as a nebulous government agent with a badge, court orders and other paraphernalia that all looked above board and legal. The dark glasses sitting on the faces of men in dark suits that flanked him wherever he went certainly helped.

“Did you find anything? Anything useful?” Blake was very interested in Jacob following his obsession, it got him out of the depressing funk that he had been in since his personal security had been compromised so completely a few weeks earlier.

“Not yet, the doctor who put Wilson into the sedated state was not, as far as I can tell, acting under any duress or ulterior motive. It all checks out, the guy who Wilson had a run in with was a well known guy here, it's not like he or any other staff were new or had suspiciously large endowments recently.” Jacob paused and added “Well he did, but it was not suspicious Per Se, he had been waiting on the insurance payout for years, five years. If Darwin was behind that he'd have to be psychic. Wilson was not even on anyone's radar then, he hadn't committed the crime or been found mentally incompetent or anything. He was unknown when this whole insurance thing started.”

Blake heard something in his voice. “Then why are you going on about it?”

“I...” Jacob was not sure, there was something about Eugene, they way he reacted to him when they spoke. He recognised a weight on him, a man who had recently had all his problems solved, one who had a baby on the way and the one patient that had got to him removed from his life permanently, and definitively and yet he looked tired and as if it were a normal week at work. “I don't know, but there's something there. He should be happier but he's not. He's not depressed, don;t get me wrong and this is a hard job to be happy at as well, but there's still ...” he went quiet in the line as he thought it over. “ There's still something.

“He's hiding something?”

“Again, I don't know. He's been very helpful, he reviewed the tapes with me and told me everything that Wilson said to him and why that hurt him, why that got to him and he's been nothing but open.”

Blake knew that Jacob felt he was on to something. It did not matter of he wasn't if he was chasing his tail, he never really expected that he would find Darwin or necessarily anything that would get the closer to the truth or the identity of the people behind it all. What the searching did was get Edgerton out of his room, back into the world and engaged in something other than burrowing down in fear.

“You should chase that up then.”

“Really? I did not think of that, I mean after all I flew all the way from San Francisco to Marquette via how many fucking private airfields manned by men with guns, I don't know. I WAS just going to give up and go to Disneyland, but now? Now that you mention it? I SHOULD follow that up.”

The banter was a good sign to Hilliard, his friend was on the road to recovery. He thought this was a dead end, that there would be nothing to this Eugene person, that Darwin would not leave such a lose end just dangling there, so it was safe to encourage Jacob to push ahead and get involved more.

God forbid they were anywhere near any real trail left by Darwin. The last thing they needed was Jacob to be exposed and put in the sights again by the overly competent and resourceful Darwin. That would be far too big a risk to take, better to chase these loose ends that were really dead ends. They would keep him occupied and keep him from imploding over the kidnapping. This was a good waste of time, but a waste none the less.

They said some insulting, yet well meant goodbyes and ended the call. Blake tapped the phone on his temple and walked around the room thinking about the days schedule. As he returned the sat phone to the charger he saw paper on the table wafting slightly and he knew that there was a breeze coming in the room.

He froze on the spot, he had not left any windows or the balcony open, so where was the breeze coming from. He did not use the air conditioning, he could not stand the stale metallic taste it gave him, city smog and general foul air of the city was all the bad air he would take if he had too, and the bay and the sea breeze were instant cures for those.

He looked at the windows, turning as he did, and caught the flicker of movement from the curtain at the end of the sliding door to the balcony of the suite. It was ajar, only a little but enough for an eddy to push through the curtain and allow a thin current of cooler, faster moving air in the line that intersected the table and moved the papers there. He waited a few seconds, eyeing the material moving about the breeze, trying to see if someone were hiding behind it but he could not say for sure. He took a deep breath and counted to five and then stayed where he was. He took another deep breath and counted to five again, this time not just in his head but quietly and under his breath. The first step was the hardest and it felt tentative and shaky, which was embarrassing even though no one was here to see it. He wondered if this was the start of his own experience with Darwin and if he would awake blindfolded somewhere else awaiting rescue.

He gently pulled he curtain a fraction, seeing no bulk within and pulling a little harder, faster. There was no one there, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He opened the balcony door and put his head out, there was no one there either, but that was unsurprising, they were a long way up from the ground, there was no access above them, or not an easy one and it was a serious climb from the floors below to get to this one, one that could not have been attempted without access to the rooms below, which Dragon Ridge housed their rotational guards in to cover that eventuality.

On the table was an envelope under an empty whiskey tumbler. Blake had a dram before going to bed at around one a.m. and had not left the glass there, he had taken it inside and left it on the counter top, washed and up ended before turning in. Now the glass was here, also upside down and weighting down the envelope. Already he could see that there was something written on it and the glass was obscuring the writing, but he knew what it would say.

Darwin's Game - Epsiode 6