Page 96 of Mastermind

“Pass.”

“Well, that was completely useless,” says Jessica. “So you made a nerd thing. Yay for you. I’m sure all the other nerds in nerd prison will be proud. Oh, wait. When we extradite you to South Korea, they’ll probably give you the death penalty. Too bad. Or maybe Thailand.”

Heywood shakes his head. “Nobody will be extraditing me. And if I go to those countries, it’ll be because they’ll be hailing me as a hero.”

Jessica stands. “All right. Let’s go. This is just sad now.”

“Not yet,” says Heywood. “We have to wait for your friends to arrive.”

“My friends?”

“Yes. I’m not surrendering to you—no offense. I had something more strategic in mind. You’ll understand.” He looks to me. “And Dr. Cray, this will be the part where you kick yourself and wonder why you didn’t think of what I did. You certainly have the capability.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” asks Jessica.

The computer clusters. The secret labs. Heywood’s grand proclamations. I finally see it now. The picture is coming into focus.

I was too close before, but now I see the entirety of what he’s done.

“Oh my god,” I say out loud.

“What?” asks Jessica. “What is it, Theo?”

“Holy shit.”

Heywood is grinning from ear to ear. “You see it now.”

“Theo . . .” Jessica’s scared.

“He . . . he . . .” Words fail me. I’ve wasted my damn life.

If he’s done what I think he’s done, then I should be the one taking the dive out the window.

“Theo!” Jessica says sharply.

Heywood’s practically bouncing up and down on the couch, waiting for me to say the words.

“Heywood won.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

PAPERCLIP

Jessica is staring at me furiously as I try to find the words while Heywood savors every nanosecond. This is the moment he wanted. Not what comes later. Not the accolades. Not the praise. Not whatever reward he may receive. This is the moment when someone else finally realizes why Heywood’s name will become immortal.

“How many?” I ask.

“Hundreds right now. Thousands with more data. All of them, eventually,” says Heywood.

“What. Did. He. Do?” asks Jessica.

“Heywood built the largest neural network ever,” I reply.

“We know this,” says Jessica.

“A neural network solves problems. Heywood built one to solve a very specific problem.”

“What problem?”