Blindside (Michael Bennett 12)

“You know why. I don’t want to go to prison. Henry keeps moving out further and further from his original goals. It was fun to unleash government secrets on WikiLeaks. It made me feel like some kind of god, deciding what people could read about government. It was fun when we shut down Home Depot’s credit card system for a day. But then Henry started blackmailing companies to pay him or he’d cut off their internet platforms for days at a time. Shit like that gets you in real trouble.”

Janos said, “You don’t think ignoring Henry gets you in real trouble?”

Tommy shook his head. “I can’t believe you guys spent the whole day watching my apartment, then following me here. I’m not that important to Henry’s operation. I’m just a programmer. He knows a dozen guys like me.”

Alice laughed and patted him on the shoulder. She said, “Give me your wallet.”

Tommy was beaten. At this point, he just casually reached into his pocket and handed it to her.

She opened it and pulled out the condom she had given him earlier. She held it up in front of his face.

Tommy mumbled, “Son of a bitch.”

Alice chuckled. She said, “Don’t feel bad. Most men fall for it. No one expects a little tracker inside a condom wrapper. They never look to see the thin line of tape holding the wrapper together. When Janos checked his phone forty-five minutes ago we saw you were here and thought we should chat one m

ore time.”

Tommy said, “I can’t win. If I go to Estonia, I risk getting swept up in a big arrest. Or worse, when Henry is done with me, he’ll have me killed and no one will ever hear from me again. He’s changed so much from when we started. Now he thinks he’s some sort of royalty and can order executions.”

Alice didn’t say it, but she agreed with Tommy. Henry was an egomaniac. He even tried to conceal his Estonian accent by using a fake English accent when he spoke English. She almost felt sorry for the young programmer. But she wasn’t getting paid to have feelings.

She said, “You better come with us.”

“Where?”

“I think we’ve answered all the questions we’re going to. You need to understand that life’s not fair. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to. You’re like all the other Americans I know. Spoiled. Spoiled and entitled. It’s infuriating. You have never known hardship, so you whine about anything that happens.

“Europeans are more prepared for adversity. We have to work together. You Americans are just brats who haven’t learned any lessons in life.”

She thought Tommy was about to say something, but after being called a whiner, he held his tongue.

He slowly rose to his feet and slouched like an old man as they made their way out to 34th Street. She kept window-shopping so they didn’t look like police leading a prisoner.

For his part, Tommy Payne just shuffled along silently.

CHAPTER 13

IT WAS A quiet night, at least for New York. They turned down Seventh Avenue and kept walking. Tommy was still silent.

Janos didn’t look like he was paying attention, but Alice knew better. His hand rested on the butt of his pistol and he was aware of every step the young programmer took.

Alice enjoyed the walk. The weather was perfect. She liked seeing the tall buildings. She liked visiting a couple of tourist attractions in every city they visited. In San Francisco, she was disappointed in Fisherman’s Wharf. In London, she loved riding the London Eye, especially because the height made Janos nervous.

So far on this trip she had dragged her partner to the Statue of Liberty, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the Chrysler Building. If they had more time, Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building were next on her agenda.

At the moment, she had her arm locked through Tommy’s so they looked like a couple. Janos was perfectly happy to stroll a few steps behind them in case Tommy did something stupid.

But Alice didn’t see the computer genius making too many stupid mistakes. He was, after all, a genius. He was also smart enough to know that working for Henry was a dead end. Alice was only doing it on contract. She didn’t think she’d be doing it again.

After they turned again onto a numbered street, Janos rushed ahead of them for a moment and motioned them into a narrow parking lot between a large parking structure and a small Italian restaurant called La something. Many letters were missing from the sign. Tommy showed no reluctance to turn in to the dark lot, where a row of cars were parked on top of each other in a heavy-duty rack.

At the far end of the rack, half a block in from the main street, they stopped and Janos turned Tommy toward him. Janos said, “Dude, why didn’t you listen to us?”

Tommy didn’t answer.

Janos said, “I did use the word ‘dude’ properly, didn’t I?”

Tommy just nodded.