Page 26 of Mastermind

“Is that all you have to say?”

I shrug. “Saying stuff is what got me into trouble in the first place. I didn’t know when to shut up. Do you really think I’m a suspect?”

“I think you’re suspicious. But I don’t think this attack is something you’d do. To be honest, until an hour ago, I didn’t think you cared about anything.”

“An hour ago? What happened?”

“You were mumbling in your sleep, ‘Make sure Johnny’s okay.’ Who’s Johnny?”

“A local kid, very bright. Taught himself English and Chinese by watching YouTube videos. He was our guide and translator.”

“And now?” asks Blackwood.

“I don’t know. When things got bad, I told him to run. I think he went to his cousins in the hills. To be honest, I tried not to think about him when I was being interrogated.” I still pray that I didn’t say anything about him. I tried to drown myself when I came close. “Anyway. I’m sure he’s fine.” Keep telling yourself that, Theo. “So, let’s get back to why you don’t think I was involved?”

“Well, your alibi’s obviously solid. More importantly, your name popped up on a list of potential suspects, which seemed more than suspicious to me, considering who I think is really behind this.”

“Heywood.”

“Yes. And also, I don’t think his ego could handle working with you,” Blackwood explains.

“I’ve heard that before.”

“How about you? How does your ego handle working with people smarter than you?”

“I think we’re getting along fine.”

“Tactful response.”

She thinks I’m kidding. In the last few hours, I’ve gained an understanding of how she thinks. While I’m good at focusing on one problem and seeing all the possible solutions, I’ve watched her deal with every threat around us while thinking several steps ahead. She was watching the road, conversing with me, and listening in on the radio that we grabbed to keep tabs on the IDR team.

She probably doesn’t think she can multitask well, but under pressure her bandwidth is enormous. Her greatest skill is not trying to focus on any one thing, but reading the entire world around her.

If I had that gift, I wouldn’t be in a lot of the trouble I’ve found myself in. I probably wouldn’t be who I am, either. But it might not be a bad trade-off.

“Why New York? Why the EMPs?” she asks.

“Was anything missing?”

“Like Rockefeller Center? No. First things we checked were the Fed, the banks, and all the other high-value targets. Ordinary looting was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But no, there was no heist. At least none we’ve detected.”

“Test run by a foreign power? Maybe they wanted to see what they could pull off?”

“And risk the repercussions? We doubt it. You worked in counterterrorism, right? You had a whole lab, I understand.”

“Yes. Until I went nuts chasing a serial killer and it was taken from me. Oh? Is that one of the reasons I’m a suspect?”

“It’s been thrown around.”

“They did me a favor. It was too much pressure. The office politics, the meetings, worrying if my lab manager was going to infect me with some kind of rage-inducing virus. I’m better off without it,” I say, not exaggerating.

“We have very different workplace experiences,” she says. “So, let’s talk about Heywood. What else do you know about him?”

“Besides the secret handshake and the nicknames we have for each other when we’re playing video games and plotting to take over the world?”

“Funny. A few liters of water and your sense of humor’s back in business.”

“I bounce back fast.” And then hit the ground twice as hard. “Tell me about Heywood. What’s his pattern?”