Allies

“Really?” she asked, looking at me. “You took a full punch to your arms and didn’t get hurt?”

“A little bit.”

She wasn’t impressed by my little act.

“Okay, a lot. But I’m okay now.”

“Part of the reason your match with Dalet was postponed.”

“You postponed it?”

“I haven’t said that. Anyways, you should open up more about such things, you got hurt and kept quiet about it.”

“Last time I opened up, you told me to ask Oliver myself.”

“That’s different,” she laughed. I didn’t.

“I called you here about the advanced profile you’ve been using.”

I didn’t talk, but my body language did. She noticed.

‘That’s one : nil.’

She smiled, celebrating her small victory over me.

“I wonder what would happen if you got caught.”

‘Larson was charged with attempted breach. If we get caught, getting fired will be the least of our concerns.’

She said it like she was joking, but I could see it in her eyes.

“What do you want?”

“I want Dalet to reach the second stage. Should be easy enough for you.”

“And what makes you think I can make them get there?”

“I know you will.” She tapped her laptop.

I got up to leave, but just before I opened the door,

“Flynn,” she stopped me.

I looked back.

“There’s a lot going on, don’t listen to everyone.”

I left.

But before I got on the elevator, I stopped, and went back.

Later that day, the advanced profile was blocked. Our grace period was over.

‘All ten squads were divided into groups of three squads, with one group having four squads: There was Gimel, Fay and Lamed; Bet, Resh and Chet, and Tsadi, Alef, Dalet and Zayin.

Each squad was required to play two matches, and rankings were based on the total number of points a squad has after both matches.

Now, in the first group, Gimel beat Lamed, then beat Fay, and Lamed proceeded to beat Fay.’

I paused for a while, then continued analysing the data from the advanced profile. I’d taken screenshots before my meeting with the admin.

‘Wait, Fay lost both matches, yet…’

Advanced profile_

[Squad Gimel vs Squad Lamed

Squad Gimel won

Squad Gimel: 110 points

Squad Lamed: 0 points. ]

[Squad Gimel vs Squad Fay

Squad Gimel won

Squad Gimel: 130 points

Squad Fay: 90 points. ]

[Squad Lamed vs Squad Fay

Squad Lamed won

Squad Lamed: 130 points

Squad Fay: 90 points. ]

I checked the data from all the other squad matches.

And that’s when I saw it. My opening to solve all this.

[Squad Alef vs Squad Dalet

Squad Alef won

Squad Alef: 120 points

Squad Dalet: 40 points. ]

‘This whole thing was never about winning or losing…’

I made a phone call.

[Calling Alicia ]

…

“What do you mean it’s no longer working?” Alicia asked.

She tried opening the advanced profile again on the squad phone. We were denied access.

“Lucas is going to kill you,” she laughed.

“He wanted us to get rid of it anyway.”

“Before you convinced him we should keep it.”

“You helped me. He’s killing you too haha.” We both started laughing.

“Now, about our match with Dalet,” I said. “What’s the plan?”

She stopped laughing.

After a while of thought,

“I… I don’t know.”

She was avoiding my eyes. I let her continue.

“Nothing I’ve suggested has seemed to work for the past two matches. I feel like I’m letting us down, and getting eliminated…”

“Name it,” I cut her off. She looked up.

“Name what?”

“Name any suggestion that you’ve given us that didn’t work.”

“Squad Tsadi, Squad Echo.”

“We didn’t even have a gameplan against Squad Echo until you stepped up. And Squad Tsadi? Really?” I said.

“Your plan worked perfectly and you know it. If there’s anyone to blame for that loss, it’s me for not pressing that button.” I continued.

“Alicia, this squad needs you a lot more than you realise. So stop doubting yourself, and give us a plan.”

Her eyes lit up. She opened the screenshots I had taken from the advanced profile.

“Call the others. I think I have an idea.”

“Wait, what?” I asked.

I heard her the first time. I just wanted to make sure I’d heard her properly.

“I think you heard me the first time,” Alicia said.

We were at the food court, both Dalet and Zayin. We knew as well as they did the stakes for this match. That’s why we all got there on time for this meeting.

Zayin was offering a deal.

According to them, the lowest squad in the table, Dalet and Zayin excluded, had 130 points. And of course they refused to disclose what squad that was, or where they got that information.

They wanted us to draft a gameplay where both squads would end up with more than 130 points.

“How can we be sure you’re not trying to pull one over us?” Amelia asked.

“We won’t.”

We had 40 points, and they had 60. As much as I wanted to believe we could beat them, they were offering a simpler way out.

“Why would you do this? You could just beat us,” I asked.

“Could we?” Alicia said. “Neither of us is sure we could beat the other, and a coin flip on five jobs isn’t reasonable.”

My eyes met Amelia’s. After a moment of thought,

“Fine, we’ll do it. What’s the plan?”

We all walked to the center of the maze the moment the session began.

Each squad would only carry one gun. We placed both flags at the center of the maze.

After we were all gathered together, Alicia captured Dalet’s flag and submitted it.

[Alicia has captured Squad Dalet’s flag.

Squad Zayin +20

Squad Zayin: 20 Squad Dalet: 0 ]

[Alicia has submitted Squad Dalet’s flag.

Squad Zayin +40

Squad Zayin: 60 Squad Dalet: 0 ]

[Squad Zayin has submitted the flag first.

Squad Zayin +10

Squad Zayin: 70 Squad Dalet: 0 ]

Zayin would start, and work up to 90 points, then Dalet would finish off with 110 points. Caspian picked a gun.

[Sana has been eliminated.

Squad Zayin +20

Squad Zayin: 90 Squad Dalet: 0 ]

I caught her before she fell and laid her gently on the ground. He put the gun down.

“You’re up,” Alicia said to Amelia.

[Amelia has captured Squad Zayin’s flag.

Squad Zayin +20

Squad Zayin: 90 Squad Dalet: 20 ]

[Amelia has submitted Squad Zayin’s flag.

Squad Zayin +40

Squad Zayin: 90 Squad Dalet: 60 ]

Amelia picked a gun.

She signaled Lucas and Garnet to stand behind those she was going to shoot.

“Why didn’t we think of this before the stage began?” Garnet asked, not directing the question at anyone.

“Same reason no one else tried,” Amelia said.

“Everyone is too busy trying to win,” she said. “Because we assume the other squad just wants to beat us.”

Bang!

[Squad Zayin’s Flag Holder has been eliminated.

Squad Dalet +50

Squad Dalet: 110 Squad Zayin: 90 ]

The match came to an end, as the walls in the maze went down.

[Squad Dalet vs Squad Zayin

Squad Dalet won

Squad Dalet: 110 points

Squad Zayin: 90 points. ]

As we were leaving the hall,

“You do know that means we’re in their debt, right?” I asked Amelia.

“I know. It’s still better than brawling it off. Besides, we now have some allies.”