Page 114 of Mastermind

“No, Heywood. It’s what I know. A visitor’s pass and a bad temper don’t mean that you’re running this facility,” I explain. “No matter what you offered them, they’re never going to give you that much power. They’re not that stupid.”

“Agree to disagree on the last point. As far as my power, there’s what I’ve been given and what I’ve taken. Vivian Kieren works for me, whether she wants to admit it or not. One of my talents is finding people’s vulnerabilities. For her it was her need for credibility. I chose to feed her intelligence that I hacked from the computer networks of our enemies and gradually built up enough trust that she’d gladly use her wide-ranging and poorly understood legal powers for my purposes.”

“IDR were the ones who broke into the data center in Manhattan during the Void.”

He nods. “Very good.”

“That’s why they were in Seoul. They weren’t looking for Theo; they’d just broken into that facility.”

Heywood grins. “Correct. A little late, though.”

I decide to test how comfortable he feels in his safe space. “Theo was right.”

“Right? About what?”

“You needed someone to cover your tracks because of the pharmaceutical machines you tampered with.”

Heywood falls quiet for a moment. “I’m not sure what he was implying.”

“Autopharmix? That’s the company you used to mess with prescriptions and find out all the combinations Lifeline generated that didn’t work. The ones that killed people.”

“I’m afraid Dr. Cray may have been reaching on that one,” says Heywood. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You never had a controlling stake in Autopharmix? I saw the paperwork and the timing with the clever Bitcoin heist.”

He shakes his head.

I see an opening. “If you expect me to believe you’re in control, then why do you feel the need to keep lying to me?”

“I am in control, Jessica.”

“So why do you act like you’re afraid? As far as I can tell, I’m talking to the same scared man I saw back in that Texas police station after we caught him with the kidnapped girl he was going to murder. You were pissing yourself because you didn’t think I was smart enough to catch you. But there we were. And here we are . . . and you’re still scared of me. Too afraid to admit what you really are. Only now you’re fixated on me. You wanted to kill me before. Now you want to fuck me.”

Heywood is back on his feet, hands on the glass as he glares down at me. “Who says I still don’t want to kill you?”

“It is what you’re good at. How many lives did it cost to come up with Lifeline’s treatments? Five hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?”

“Twenty-two thousand,” he says. “I killed twenty-two thousand people, most of whom were going to die. I gave them purpose. I gave their deaths meaning.”

“Purpose? For your snake-oil machine built on top of other people’s ideas?”

He smirks. “It works, Jessica.”

“That’s not what Theo says.”

“Fuck Theo Cray. He’s a pathetic burnout.”

“You hate him because you know he’s smarter than you.”

Heywood shakes his head. “I’m glad you’re finding these mind games amusing.” He sighs dramatically. “One day you’ll want to remember what the sun looks like, and we’ll come to an arrangement.”

“And Theo?”

Heywood sits back down. “Theo? Lifeline has suggested some interesting psychoactives that I want to try on him. I’m curious to see if I can make him a more malleable personality. And if they’re safe enough, maybe we try them on you. But as you deduced, Lifeline is nowhere near as far along as they think. Thankfully, I have all the time in the world to work out the kinks.”

I shake my head. “Wow.”

“You still don’t believe me?”