Page 86 of Master of Chaos
“Don’t test my patience,” he said crisply. “Regina depends on it.” He put the remote in his pocket. “Back to us. You have surpassed my wildest hopes on this operation, Cassandra.”
“Operation? What are you talking about? I thought you’d kill me for breaking Masters out of jail.”
“Oh, God, no,” he said. “That was my idea all along. I set you up. I gave you keys, clues, deadlines, motivations. I nudged you in the right direction, and you performed like a dream. The bold and daring escape! The rescued little sister! Going to the Masters enclave, where you mounted a SmokeScreen attack on the Coatesworth to save her… ah. Beautiful. I never thought it would go so smoothly. Or so quickly.”
I gaped at him, bewildered. “Your plan? What do you mean, your plan?”
“I admit that when I recruited you to work for me?—”
“Took me hostage, you mean?”
He looked amused. “Don’t be melodramatic, Cassandra. Hostages aren’t paid top dollar and pampered like lap dogs.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “You worked me to the bone. You stole my IP. You abused my sister. And I am no one’s lapdog.”
“Hmmph. So fiery. But I suppose I shouldn’t complain. That quality was exactly what made the plan work so incredibly well.”
“You planned this from the start?” I said. “I don’t get it. I don’t see how that works. I didn’t know Shane Masters even existed before I got here.”
“The idea came to me after you arrived,” he said. “Originally, it was just a matter of wanting access to your brilliant malware, for the purposes of acquiring SmokeScreen, of course. And yes, I wanted to recruit your prodigious skills for Halliwell Enterprises. But the only way to get my hands on SmokeScreen was to use Glow-worm to counter a direct attack from the Masters themselves. And when it came to that, you performed as if you’d been coached. Glow-worm slid into their system… and completely swallowed it.” He kissed his fingertips. “Superb.”
“So you have SmokeScreen right now,” I said faintly. “Because they fished for Reggie’s cure. To help me.” My heart squeezed painfully. Shane must feel so betrayed.
He looked pleased with himself. “Yes, yes. It was very stupid, but I know how sentimental you all are. I got the original idea when Haley tattled on you. She said you’d gotten a crush on our handsome prisoner. But of course you did. What girl would not be intrigued with a dangerous, beautiful, tormented captive? And then, voila! Like magic, you genuinely fell in love with him. It was almost comical.”
“But… but…”What about Jana?I wanted to yell it, but I didn’t want to implicate her, if she had somehow avoided getting caught.
“You’re wondering about Jana, I presume,” he said.
My heart sank even deeper. “So she was just saying what you told her to say?”
“No, actually, Jana’s rebellion was quite real,” he said. “I just used it for my own purposes. I believe in using everything. I waste nothing, Cassandra. Not even hatred. It’s energy, after all. And hatred can be such a powerful force, don’t you agree?”
I didn’t want to touch that one with a ten-foot pole. I shook my head.
He went on. “I used Jana’s misery to heighten the tension. It was a real shame, years ago, when Jana came across that file at the Coatesworth about Tamiko’s Disease. Learning the truth about what happened to her mother broke poor Jana’s nerve. She was never the same after. She just couldn’t break that sentimental maternal tie, even years after her mother was dead. Such a tragic waste of potential. It ruined her.”
“You ruined her.” I couldn’t help but say it, even though I really, really needed to shut the fuck up and not make things worse for myself. Or for Reggie.
“Don’t interrupt,” he snapped. “So, I used Jana to get you all the tools you needed for the escape. I set the time for Shane Masters’ execution, and then I let you and Jana do all the rest. Getting him out. Saving the sister. Sending you into the belly of the beast. The histamine pill you took was really quite brilliant, my dear. A dramatic touch. Much appreciated for the entertainment value.”
“But how did you find us? I took the GPS tracker off the van.”
“Oh, that was easy,” he said. “Both you and Shane Masters had tracking nanoparticles in your bodies when you left, him from his water bottles, yours from your morning coffee. I could have tracked you anywhere on earth for days on end before they cleared from your system.”
“Ah,” I muttered. “Tracking nanoparticles. Of course.”
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “My gamble paid off. I got everything I wanted. An algorithm that will give me vast power, and infinite wealth, which is essentially the same thing, if you know how to administer it. And you. I have you, Cassandra. And I will keep you.”
That made me extremely nervous, but I pushed it aside for now. “Hold on,” I said. “If you wanted me to get away, why did you send those guys after us when I ran? That makes no sense. They could have killed us!”
“Nonsense,” he said briskly. “It made sense for the narrative. It was a risk, yes, but I know what Shane Masters is capable of. And the struggle made it all the more convincing, don’t you agree? The Masters family were on high alert. They would never have trusted you if your escape had gone too smoothly. And the fact that Masters killed nine of my men really cemented your emotional bond, didn’t it? He’s a formidable opponent, compromised as he was. Those poor fellows that came after him were doomed.” He shook his head. “Pity.”
I didn’t want it to be true, but I had to swallow it down. I’d been used to hurt people I cared about. I’d been turned into a witless tool for this monstrous man.
“But… what about Jana?” I asked carefully. “Did you… did she?—”
“Did I punish her?” He laughed. “Well, I have been doing some housecleaning, I admit. It’s a new era at Halliwell Enterprises, and I want only the best at my side going forward. And of course, that means you.”