The Fifth Victim (FBI Task Force S.W.O.R.D. Book 1) by D.D. Black

Author:D.D. Black [Black, D.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Darkness and Light Publishing
Published: 2024-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Kingston, Washington

“You shoot with the right trigger button, mom. The right trigger.”

Claire fumbled awkwardly with the controller. “I… what? Where’s the right trigger button?” On the screen, her character jumped backwards into a wall.

Ca-ching! Benny’s computer made its familiar sound, an old-timey cash register sound that happened every time he received a micro-payment from YouTube for one of his videos.

“Moo-oom,” Benny said, exasperated “you are literally the worst player in the history of video games.”

Claire pressed another button, bringing up a screen called ‘Inventory.’ It showed a whole list of cartoonish weapons, from watermelon guns to lemon-lime grenades.

“That was the left trigger, mom. You shoot with your right trigger.”

“I, umm…” Claire tried again, and this time it worked. She pressed the right trigger button on the controller and, on screen, her character, a fish wearing a bright green suit, shot a laser gun at the target, a spinning dart board that looked like a pizza, suspended in a cotton-candy sky.

She missed badly.

“Better,” Benny said, laughing. “You hit the right button, at least.”

His laughter was infectious, and, after the interaction with Fitz, it was exactly what she needed.

In real life she was a good shot, always testing at the top ten percent of her class. Never at the top—she’d never been at the very top in anything—but she was in the top ten percent of everything. When Brian still lived with them, he’d played video games with Benny for half an hour every night. It was their thing. Now she tried to fill that role, but aside from some Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong in the arcade when she was a teenager, she knew little about gaming. Still, Benny would be a teenager soon, and that might make relating to him more difficult. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible while he was still her little boy.

“Now,” Benny continued. “See that little red circle? That’s how you aim.”

Claire lifted up the controller and moved her arms to the left.

Benny sighed.

“You don’t physically move the controller, mom. See that wire connecting it to the box? You use the joystick.”

Claire sighed and set down the controller. “It’s bedtime, sweetie. We’ll have to pick this up tomorrow.”

Ca-ching!

“Fine,” Benny said, “But I want you to practice! How can I be a famous YouTuber if I can’t teach my own mom how to shoot in Fish Wars II?”

Claire chuckled. He had a point. “Just tell them I’m a poor student.”

“But I want you to be good,” Benny said. “Dad was better.”

That hit her harder than Fitz had, but she tried not to let it show. “Dad grew up playing more video games than me. It’s built into his fingers. I told you, I never had any of the Nintendos or Ataris or anything as a kid.”

“Did grandma and grandpa never get you one? Because of your real mom and dad?”

Claire’s chest tightened. She swallowed. “Grandma and grandpa are my real mom and dad. They just weren’t my biological mom and dad. Does that make sense?”

“I know.

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