Page 62 of Mastermind

“Whoops. Looks like I need to take this.”

“I’m not surprised they need you,” says Hailey. “But can they handle you?”

CHAPTER THIRTY

THE CLOCK

An FBI staffer greets me at the entrance to the J. Edgar Hoover building and escorts me all the way up to the sixth-floor meeting room where Jessica is seated at a conference table with five other people I’m given quick introductions to.

The only one I’ve heard of is Gerald Voigt, her acting supervisor for the Manhattan incident. He sports a boyish look but also has a certain gravitas that tells you he’s intelligent and chooses his words carefully. The other obvious player in the room is an older man to his right, Assistant Director Thomas Pullman. While he shares Gerald’s gravitas, he falls on the other end of the boyish spectrum. Pullman looks like a man who would rather be tying flies and planning his fishing trip to Montana than be here right now.

“Jessica, do you want to give Theo the update?” asks Gerald.

Other than a polite nod, we haven’t interacted since I entered the room. We never agreed on an “official” version of the events, but we did dissect what happened enough to know we wouldn’t contradict each other. The only tricky part is how I got the gun in Thailand. Since I still have a federal firearm permit from my work as a defense contractor, I’m not too worried about the legality of my having a gun, at least from the US perspective.

“Sure,” says Jessica as she picks up a controller for the oversize video monitor at the end of the room. An image appears showing a countdown clock and the name MANHATTAN. She opens two more screens with SEOUL and SINGAPORE. “These website countdowns appeared five days before each city experienced its Void. The links to them were found in several Reddit forums from aliases that appear to be connected to Heywood.” She clicks to another countdown timer that has four days left. “If this is to be believed, another city’s going to be hit soon. We’re obviously concerned about wherever gets hit, but we’re especially concerned if it’s in the United States.”

“Agent Blackwood is convinced that Michael Heywood is either the originator or a conspirator in this attack,” says Gerald. “What’s your opinion?”

I’m not sure if this is a trick question. Are they asking me to contradict her? Do they want me to implicate myself?

“I would defer to her opinion on Heywood’s involvement,” I reply. “I’m not as familiar with his methodology or his motives as she is.”

“Do you think it’s possible?” asks Pullman.

Interesting. They don’t know if they should believe her, or at least Pullman doesn’t. Do they want an outside opinion? That seems odd. Do they want a scapegoat in case their judgment is questioned after the fact? That seems more likely.

“I’d say the chance is nonzero. And as to my understanding, we have no idea of his whereabouts after his custody was shifted to another agency. All of which is suspicious,” I reply.

“That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the theory,” says Pullman.

Odd that he calls Heywood being behind this a theory, dismissively.

Wait a second. Why are they looking for every opportunity to look anywhere except at Heywood? Jessica suggested that Heywood had been feeding another agency false information and may be at the center of a spy ring embedded in the intel agencies. If that’s the case, then they’re afraid to find out if that’s true. Heywood escaping, causing the Void, and also being involved in espionage and disinformation from within federal custody would be a huge blow to the government. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t the FBI’s fault. Everyone would look bad, and whoever would look the worst is probably trying hard to convince themselves and anyone who will listen that Heywood is a preposterous suspect.

They’ve done such a good job of it that the only reason Jessica was even brought into the case was because her former colleague realized she was essential.

Okay, I think I understand the game. This is a matter of risk management. So I need to try to point it out to them in emotional terms, not rational ones.

“If Heywood is involved in this and you don’t follow Agent Blackwood’s leads, I can’t see how this would be anything other than a disaster for the FBI.”

“I’m glad to see you have our best interests in mind,” says Pullman sarcastically, possibly thinking of Butcher Creek and the other times I’ve frustrated federal investigators.

“I’m always for good law enforcement. Furthermore, what concerns me is that nobody seems terribly bothered by the fact that Heywood is still at large.”

“We have a special unit dedicated to his capture,” says Pullman.

“How’s that working out?”

Pullman sighs. “We don’t have nearly the resources you imagine.”

I nod at Jessica. “And yet, the most valuable resource you have is kept at the academy teaching cadets card tricks.”

She glares at me for a moment. I know she’s not teaching them card tricks. At least I don’t think so. What I do know is that if I’m going to be the most aggravating version of myself, I need to say things like that. At least that’s the strategy I’ve decided to follow here.

Usually my “I’m the smartest guy in this room and if you don’t do what I say, you’re all going to look like idiots” approach has a fifty-fifty chance of working. Which is to say, shutting up might have the same outcome.

Pullman shakes his head. “I don’t know how much of you is show versus real. I’ve got people at NSA and the CIA strongly hinting that I should take a closer look at you. They say you’re far more dangerous than Heywood could ever be.”