Page 100 of Tapeworld Induction

She gave him a smile, acknowledging his pain and thanking him for letting her explain all of this.

“Maria Powers disappeared twenty years ago.”

Sacha and Talia exchanged worried looks.

“She was Astrid’s father’s first choice to be his successor at Crypterra. Not Astrid,” Dylan continued. “But once Maria was out of the picture, Astrid gained full control of the company.”

Sacha glanced at Isaak. He could imagine exactly what his former teammate was thinking. Pity. How it made sense now that his parents never showed up at their games. Wondering why he would work for Astrid if he knew she might be responsible in some way for his mother’s disappearance.

The truth was that until his conversation with Dylan this morning, he’d had a completely different idea of his mother. She’d left them when he was a kid. He had some vague memory that she worked for a tech company, but he didn’t know which one. And when she left him and his dad and never tried to contact them again, he grew up to hate her. His dad had never brought her up in conversation, and Isaak had never bothered to find out more about her as an adult – why would he, when she so obviously never wanted to see him again?

He knew she was gone from his life, but until Dylan told him, he’d had no idea that she’d disappeared altogether. He just assumed she was out there somewhere, raking in cash as a tech CEO, and spending all her time and money and effort on herself. Or someone else. Now he didn’t know what to think.

Of course, the hate he felt for Astrid was unreal. Not just for sending him the Sleeper device to trap him in the Tapeworld, a cruel retaliation for quitting the gig, but also for doing whatever she might have done to his mum. If she was still around, might she have made contact with him again? Might she even have come back…? He swallowed his emotions. Now was not the time.

“Astrid’s ex-husband is a man called North Lock,” Dylan continued. “She kept the double-barrel. He’s a higher up at Crypterra’s owner itself, The Book. Senior Vice President of New Business Opportunities.”

Of course the Five Kings would have their bloody hands all over this.

“Did you manage to find anything about any contact still going on between them?” Isaak asked.

“Their last appearance together was mere days before the divorce. When the Book announced they were buying Crypterra.” She zoomed into the photos.

“Strange…” Talia said.

“What is?”

“They look very happy in this photo. You'd think it’d be obvious their relationship was over by then, wouldn’t you?”

She had a good point.

“So,” Sacha said, “your theory is that Astrid made Isaak’s mum disappear to get control of Crypterra? And then, twenty years later, she manipulated her son into stealing secrets from the Book?”

Dylan nodded.

“I don’t know what exactly went on between them,” Isaak said, fighting to keep his emotions under control. “I don’t know for sure that Astrid harmed my mother. I always felt like she left us willingly.”

But the full implications of it made him feel sick. They hadn’t even talked about the fact that his first meeting with Astrid had ended up with them in bed. Sleeping with this woman who knew his mother? This woman who might be responsible for making his mum disappear? Just thinking about it made his insides turn. He swallowed the feeling down.

“I want to find out what happened. Astrid came after me with this device. For what? To try and get the Gunkatana? Or is there something else going on? I want to know what she’s doing with all the data we’ve handed her. What does she want?”

Dylan moved away from the desk and looked at the other two, her hand on Isaak’s shoulder.

“You two don’t have to be here if it’s too much. Talia, I’m sorry I brought you into this. Sacha, I’m—”

“Are you kidding me? I was with you before we entered his trapworld, and I’m with you now. I know you. You’ve been dying to find a cause like this.”

Dylan blushed. “It’s not like that. I just want to keep Isaak safe, and you too.”

“Sure, sure…” Talia rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Where do we start?” Sacha asked, already busying his hands with the end of a summoned metal tube. He looked like he meant to use it.

A proud nervousness settled into Isaak’s chest. They were all staying. They wanted in.

“You guys know it’s dangerous? If you’re injured or killed in the Tapeworld, we don’t know what happens IRL…”

Dylan looked back at him, eyes calm. “Maybe we die. Maybe we don’t. But who’s to say we’re any safer out there?” She turned to Sacha. “You asked where we start. Well, Astrid’s throwing a special event.” Her voice was lifted by elation, the excitement of someone finally letting everyone else in on something. “The Night of Entertainment, she’s calling it, at the Crypterra mansion in Mayfair. Two days from now. It’s a product launch, and I think we can all take a pretty good guess what the product is going to be.”