Page 75 of Mastermind

“What would it take to get you to surrender?”

“In time, I’ll let the world judge me for my actions,” he replies.

That bit of grandstanding sounds more like the Warlock I know. “What can you tell us about the events known as Voids?”

“I’m not the one responsible for those.”

“Do you have any involvement in them? Did you design them? Did you plan them?”

He holds up his hands. “I can’t answer any of that right now. Not in a way that would be convincing.”

Is he on Xanax? He’s being evasive but in the most nonchalant way. Should I provoke him? I was warned not to, but I want to see what lies under that facade.

“How do you live with yourself, knowing the pain you’ve caused?” I ask.

He hesitates. His eyes look down for a moment. “Not easily, Agent Blackwood. Not easily. I haven’t done nearly what people think I have, but the things I have done, I’m embarrassed for. I think people will understand, once they’ve had a chance to see everything for themselves, but still, this is something I live with.” His eyes rise to meet the camera. “And to you, Agent Blackwood, I’m very, very sorry for the harm I’ve caused.”

What the hell?

“What about the harm you’re continuing to cause? What about the people in the graves in the clinic at Chernobyl?”

Something changes. His face freezes for a moment. Not an emotional freeze, but a video frame freeze. Did he hang up?

His face starts moving again. “I wish I had answers for everything. But I don’t. Some of the things I’ve done will have to be seen in the light of the greater good I’m trying to bring about for humanity.”

Theo’s standing in the doorway, holding up a pad of paper that reads, ASK HIM WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO GET HIM TO SURRENDER.

I already asked that question. I point to my list. He nods and points again to his notepad emphatically.

“Jessica, are you there?” asks Heywood. “Are you conferring with your friends? I won’t hang up if you are.”

“Yes,” I reply honestly.

“I appreciate your candor.” He gives me a small smile.

“Next question . . . What would it take to get you to surrender?”

“In time, I’ll let the world judge me for my actions.”

What? That’s the same response he gave when I last asked the question.

Theo is writing something on his notepad again: WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE VOID?

I ask Heywood the question.

“I’m not responsible for that,” he replies.

He’s got the patience of someone overdosing on Prozac. From the apology to the mindless way he repeats himself, he sounds like he’s going through some kind of twelve-step program.

“You said you had something for my friend? What is that?”

“I emailed it to you. But answer me this: Has he figured the other thing out?” The other thing?

Theo nods.

He writes something else on the pad and turns it around to show me. Jesus. Christ.

I’ve been played again.