Page 64 of Mastermind

“Yeah,” Gerald chimes in. “What she said.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ZOMBIES

Jessica is looking at me like she’s seriously considering turning me back over to Kieren and being done with me forever. Gerald seems ready to help her.

“Okay, let me explain things. Or not . . .” I think out loud. “Jessica, do you trust Gerald?”

“With my life,” she replies flatly.

“Okay. Do you trust me?” I ask.

“Not at the moment. No.”

“Okay, fair enough without context. On a meta level, do you trust that I have everyone’s best interests in mind, not accounting for whatever brain damage you assume I may have?”

“Fine. Sure,” she says impatiently.

“Okay, Gerald. May I call you that?”

“If it helps you get to your point faster, yes.”

“You trust Pullman, right?”

“He’s ethical. Yes,” he replies.

“All right. But I can infer that somewhere between Pullman and the other agencies, there’s someone we shouldn’t trust.”

Gerald glances at Jessica. She doesn’t flinch. I’m assuming there’s something deeper here.

“My name showed up on a list that it had no business being on. Someone’s leaking misinformation. Which means somewhere in this huge circle of trust between the Justice Department and the intelligence community, there’s someone being trusted who shouldn’t be trusted. And if I were to have said certain things in this room that raised red flags, the party we do not trust could learn what was said . . . eventually.” I turn to Jessica. “And that meant me withholding certain things from you until after your briefing so you wouldn’t have to disclose them and have the enemy know what we know.”

If they think I sound like a raving lunatic now, wait until I get to the good part.

“Go on,” says Jessica.

“Well, first we have to solve the Gerald problem.”

“And what problem is that?” he asks.

“If what I tell you is too sensational or whatever, you’ll have to tell your superiors.”

“As will Jessica.”

“No. Not if you tell her to use her discretion,” I reply.

“It doesn’t work like that,” she fires back.

“Of course it does. If I told you that I believe in aliens, does that have to go into a report? No. If I mentioned that one of the reasons I want to go to Estonia is to see if the mother ship is there, does that need to go in?”

“Aliens?” asks Gerald.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just making a point. I have a lead, and it would be better if only Jessica knew. You have the comfort of knowing that if she thinks I’m completely insane, she’ll let you know.”

Gerald shakes his head.

“See what I’ve been dealing with?” says Jessica.