Page 97 of The Session

“I don’t know anything. I don’t know anybody. I don’t know if it matters whether I’m dead or alive.”

“Yet certain people seem very eager to get you on the inside. What makes you so special?”

“I guess my father’s last name, but that doesn’t change the fact that whatever machine this is, I’m not even a cog.”

“Yet. Clearly, somebody wants you to be a very important cog, and it looks like somebody else wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.” She shrugged.

He shrugged back. “I don’t know what to tell you. It was just a flyer. It could have been a prank.”

“This is how these people play practical jokes—by trying to get you kidnapped?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said.

“No, it’s not, Mark. You seem like a good guy. I’m trying to figure out what the hell you’re doing with these snake-oil salespeople.”

“Maybe the perks are too hard to turn down,” Mark told her.

“I don’t think that’s who you are.” She waited.

“I don’t know anything about David McCready. I’m sorry. I wish I could help you,” Mark said.

He had a million questions, but had no reason to trust the woman he knew only as Diane. She had lied when they first met, and she was still lying, hiding her motive, et cetera. Her theory about someone murdering him was hard to process. When he said he was a nobody, he really meant that. At best, he was a pretender trying to find a place at a table that had been thrown in front of him. Was he really such a threat to someone? To whom?

“Kevin probably thought the same thing,” Diane said. “He got away from it all. And yet he’s dead. And now here you are.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Kevin was the one Max Lightman wanted to pass the mantle on to. But then he rejected it, or so people say. Others say Kevin had cleaned up and wanted to come back into the fold—maybe take things over.”

“What else are these people saying?” Mark asked.

“Maybe Kevin wasn’t the right fit and there was a better choice, or maybe that better choice saw an opportunity,” Diane said.

“Wait. Some people think that I killed Kevin? I didn’t even know he or Max or any of this existed a month ago!”

“Take it easy. I’m just telling you what people have speculated,” Diane said. “And in fairness”—she flipped open the textbook cover to show Max Lightman’s face—“some people find it hard to believe you never had any idea who your father was.”

“Who are these people? Can I meet them? Or are they just in your head?”

“People talk, Mark. People close to you. Or at least people around you.”

“Do these people spend a lot of time around crypto bros?”

Diane gave a small smile. “Maybe,” she said. “But they’re not the only ones.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. You clearly know more about Summit Strategies than I do, which means you know there’s probably a very long list of people who don’t like us. So take your pick.”

“You said ‘us.’ Does that mean you’re one of them now?” Diane asked.

“If I can make it through these textbooks and pass the exam, maybe.”

“It sounds like you’re getting plenty of help from the top.”

“What are you getting at?” Mark asked.

“You’re the new golden boy, but I’d be really curious about what happened to the last one. Maybe his death was accidental, but if it wasn’t, that would mean he was in the way.”

“Whose way could Kevin have been in if he didn’t want to be part of any of it?” Mark asked.