Page 65 of Call Me Bunny
Maybe the question isn’t “how are Bunny and her crew connected to this?” Maybe the question is how amIconnected? Why did Justin target me, specifically, and why did he get Bunny involved? Did he know she’d show up at the club when I was attacked?
So many questions, more than we had before we found the files, and no real answers.
Chapter 29
Kendrick
I let Bunny explain what Keys found on Neil’s computer because I know if the results piss me off, I’m less likely to hurt Bunny. If Keys or Neil gives me bad news, I might strangle them—and not in a fun way.
The rabbit hole gets bigger with each revelation. Justin had enough evidence on Ramsey to take down his whole operation, and he just … sat on it? He didn’t use it against Ramsey. He didn’t take advantage of what he had. Just turned the tables on Neil and Keys and the rest of us. For what? What was his end game?
I don’t like it. Something stinks about this. Either Justin was smarter than he seemed, or he was even dumber than I thought. Who does this convoluted evidence planting bullshit?
Doc sits quietly through the whole thing, resting after several rounds of intravenous antibiotics at the hospital. Thanks to some connections he had that even I didn’t know about, we managed to get him admitted, treated, and discharged without any cops involved. I’m pretty sure Doc now owes someone a considerable debt, but at the moment all I care about is that he’s on the mend.
“I just wish I had never invited Justin over,” Neil says after Bunny finishes. “He seemed like a normal guy. He playedBattlemagesand was even on the same server as Keys and me.”
Something about that sounds off. “He playedBattlemageswith you and Keys?”
Neil shrugs. “He was on our server, but I don’t think I ever ran into him in-game. It’s a big game, lots of players, so that’s not too surprising. I’m not even one hundred percent sure what his username was. TinMan something, I think.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Keys turn pale, and he pulls the lollipop out of his mouth slowly. “TinMan9000?”
“That might be it. Why?”
Keys swallows hard, and his hand shakes. “Um … Bunnyluv69 may or may not have kinda sorta fucked around with TinMan9000. Before I met you!” He adds that last bit in a rush, as though he doesn’t want Neil to think he fake-cheated on him when they were online dating.
“What do you mean by that?” Neil asks.
“I might have played the gamer chick card a little too hard, and when I revealed myself to him, he didn’t take the joke super lightly.”
Everyone turns and zeroes in on Keys. My hands curl into fists, and it takes everything I have to restrain myself from wailing on him. If what he says is true, this whole mess might be his fucking fault.
“I didn’t know he’d do this!” Keys takes a step back from us. “I swear, I never thought he’d go this far just to get back at me.”
Doc sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You pretended to be a woman and, what? Seduced him? Are you saying your stupid game started all this?”
Keys puts his head in his hands. “Fuck, I don’t know. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Not really.”
I wheel around to face Bunny. “What are you talking about? He pretty much admitted it’s his fault.”
She shrugs. “Why come after all of us, though? I can see him targeting Keys for this, maybe even Neil if he realized Keys had hooked up with Neil after flirting with him, but coming after us and getting the Cobra involved? Sounds like a lot of fucking trouble to go to, not to mention putting himself at risk in the process.”
I hate to admit that Bunny has a point, but that’s mostly because her point takes the blame off Keys. I was all set to vilify him. Old habits die hard, and Keys has always been the default pain in my ass.
“Let’s think this through.” Doc puts his hand on Keys’ arm. “Is it possible for someone to get enough information on us through that video game to even set the Cobra’s sights on us? And I’m not asking, ‘Is it possible given your awesome firewalls,’ I’m asking if it’s in the realm of possibility in general. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you’re not the hot stuff coder you think you are. Could someone with Justin’s skills dig up our location and other information?”
Keys scowls. “It’s possible to ping our location through my IP address, but that wouldn’t give him anything on the rest of you. Not the kind of stuff that the Viper we questioned mentioned him spilling to Ramsey.”
Bunny jumps up and heads for the door. “We need Justin’s computer. It’s probably got even more stuff than Neil’s did.”
I reach for her arm, but Bunny’s too fast for me. “Wait, Bun! It’s too risky to go out there right now, especially as beat up as you are. Let’s lie low for a few more days.”
“Nope,” she chirps as she flings the door open. “If you wanna come with you can, but I’m going.”
I turn to Doc on my way out. “Will you be okay here?”