Page 24 of Mastermind

I glance down at the handcuffs now around my wrists. “For crying out loud.”

“Sorry. We don’t have time to debate this.” She gets out of the car and walks around to my side and holds the door open. “Just keep your mouth shut and act like a prisoner. It shouldn’t be hard.”

She puts a hand on my shoulder and shoves me ahead of her. As we get within a hundred feet of the jet, a man in a pilot’s uniform steps down the stairs and watches us approach.

“Where’s the rest of the team?” he asks.

“They’re taking another way back. We need to get him out of country ASAP before the locals change their mind.”

“I need to check with Kieren,” he says.

“Check the paperwork,” replies Blackwood.

“I know. But I’m still going to check with her. Hold on.” The pilot goes back into the plane.

This doesn’t look good.

“Now what?” I whisper to Blackwood.

She holds up a finger and turns her back to the jet. A moment later, she speaks in a lower register that doesn’t quite sound like her voice.

“Affirmative. We need to get Cray back now . . . Yes. The authorization is correct . . . Understood.”

A moment later the pilot emerges from the doorway. “Sorry about that. Just had to check.”

“No problem,” says Blackwood in a voice much softer and sweeter than the one she just used. She pushes me up the stairs. “Cooperate and I’ll take the handcuffs off,” she says loudly enough for the pilot to hear. “Understood?”

I nod and let her shove me into a seat in the back, where I sit quietly while she talks to the pilot up front. I can make out the words security matter and not to be disturbed before he steps back into the cockpit to explain the situation to his copilot.

“What happens once they realize we’re not supposed to be on this plane?”

“Technically, Dr. Cray . . . Theo . . . you’re supposed to be on this plane. They’re not going to risk sending you back and having the Myanmar government try to arrest you again. Fortunately, the people that control where this plane goes aren’t the ones that want you killed.”

“And where exactly is this plane going?”

“That’s what we need to determine right now. First, why did you help that man back there? He was ready to put a bullet in you.”

I try to put it into words that make sense to me. “I’m not a monster. A survivor, a killer, yeah, but I’m not a monster—at least, I don’t see myself that way.”

She undoes my handcuffs and slips them into her pocket. “Fair enough. The problem is that monsters rarely see themselves that way.” She reaches into her bag and drops a stack of folders in front of me. “This is all about what happened in New York. The question is: Why would whoever did that be trying to keep you as far away as possible?”

“I’m sorry, but what happened in New York?”

Blackwood sits back in her seat opposite me and buckles her seat belt as we prepare to take off. “Oh, right. You couldn’t know . . .”

“Is it something bad?”

“Very. And now we’re trying to stop it from happening elsewhere,” she explains. “And I’m supposed to figure out how you’re connected to all this.”

I’m curious to find out what happened in New York and eager to understand my place in everything, but I’m also tired. I try to stifle a yawn but find myself falling asleep before I can ask any more questions.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MASTER OF LIES

“So, a group of terrorists set off a series of EMPs around Manhattan, knocking out the electrical grid and destroying most of the microprocessor-based electronics across the city?” I ask, trying to understand if this is a movie plot or a real thing.

“Yes. We have some suspects in custody, but we don’t know if they’re aware of who actually initiated this, let alone why,” she replies.