“Some of them went into it,” Abigail pointed out.
“After they used gates to get out and across the country. Mahin thought they’d gone in at the Science Center.”
“Yes, they told me they were taking everyone underground and going to use special vehicles to get back to D.C. If I survived and won, I was to meet them at the coordinates I gave Mister Buchanan.”
“Not quite,” Buchanan said. “The location where she was to rendezvous was across the street from the Gaultier Research facility. I just took the logical step of figuring our enemies would be in the tunnels underneath versus actually out in the open.”
“How were you supposed to get across the country on your own?” Claudia asked.
“They told me how to work a gate. I was to go back to Area Fifty-One and either take a gate or commandeer a vehicle.” Mahin gave a weak smile. “It wasn’t a good plan, now that I share it aloud.”
“They used her,” Reader pointed out. “So? They do that all the time.”
“But why? Why lie to her? Why give her the coordinates but not the truth of the rest? Did they expect us to kill her? Naomi’s right, she’s family, but so was Ronaldo and it wasn’t like we were inviting him over for Arrival Day Dinner. And we didn’t know Mahin existed until this action. So why didn’t she get an emotional blocker or enhancer? Why wasn’t she told anything much? It’s as if they never figured she’d stick with them, like they knew she’d move over to the side of right somewhere along the way.”
Everyone looked at Mahin. She leaned a little closer to me. “I didn’t know any of you existed until the invasion, either. And I never suspected I was one of you, in that sense, until Ronaldo found me. I just thought I was different. My mother never told me who my . . . real father was. So how would anyone know what I would or wouldn’t do?”
“Research,” Chuckie answered. “They’ve known where you, and probably the others they’ve found, were. Potentially for years. And they studied all of you and extrapolated likely reactions. Well in advance of this action.”
“My guess, by the way, is that Ronald Yates kept a Little Black Book of all his sexual conquests, either because he was just that kind of man, or because he wanted to be sure to be able to find his offspring easily.”
“Then why wait until now to find them?” Claudia asked.
“And before you say they wanted to wait until he was dead,” Lorraine added, “he’s been dead for over three years now.”
“And Serene was identified and used by our enemies within six months of his death. Ronaldo was activated around that time, too, if we pay attention to the timelines of how various Operations played out. So, my bet is that Leventhal Reid, who we all agree was the first Apprentice, had that Little Black Book and used it once Yates was dead.”
“Does that mean the current Mastermind has it now?” Doreen asked.
“Give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. My bet would be that the Apprentices were charged with legwork in finding the Yates Offspring. Our current Mastermind was better at this than Reid, or else Reid was more motivated to ID these people once he became the Mastermind. But that would mean they likely have detailed information on every one of the Yates Offspring they’ve managed to find.”
“They got what they needed from me the most before I was captured,” Mahin said slowly. “I helped break Russell out of Israel, and my skills were truly what allowed them to get him. And I was convinced you were all dangerous and evil when I attacked you in the desert.”
“And you really almost killed us,” Christopher said.
“I note that you’re sitting here, alive and well. Thanks to my skills that you constantly want to run down, Mister I Can’t Actually Fly A Plane Myself But Love to Backseat Drive One.”
“If she’d killed any of us she would never have been allowed in,” Jeff said before Christopher had a chance to come back with anything other than Patented Glare #3. “So if that had worked, then they’d have had Mahin with them forever, because she wouldn’t have had any options.”
“Which is why they gave her the coordinates,” Tim said. “So she could get back to them and they could retrieve her if she was successful.”
“So they win either way,” Chuckie said.
“Right. Especially since there was no way they were getting Chernobog’s cooperation without Russell freed and in a position to collect on the YatesCorp prize.”
Everyone gave me shocked looks other than Mom, Buchanan, and Chuckie, who all nodded. “Based on the intel Olga gave us,” Chuckie said, “that’s absolutely accurate. Chernobog hasn’t been this active and obvious in at least a decade.”
“That’s an interesting point I don’t want us to forget, but I want to get back to the whole Mahin issue. I realize our thinking just confirms that the Mastermind is back, bigger than ever, but I think what they did and didn’t do with Mahin is hugely key. Because if they were always figuring that the odds were that they’d lose Mahin to us, what else were and are they already banking on?”
“Everything you did from the point you and Gladys got to Guantanamo,” Christopher suggested.
“Maybe,” Reader said. “But I have a question we didn’t have time to ask before now. Mort, why was Mahin held at the Air Station, instead of over at the Detention Camp? And why were all these other prisoners there at all?”
“They were scheduled for release,” Uncle Mort said. “Politically, we’re being cooperative and moved them over to the Air Base, where it’s more pleasant and better for photo ops. Realistically, they’re all likely to be terrorists, but we do have to play nicey-nice for the politicians. No offense,” he added to Jeff.
“None taken,” Jeff said. “What country are they associated with?”
Chuckie’s eyes narrowed. “You think they were or are part of the overall plan?”
“I think it’s possible,” Jeff said.
“Me too. Because Mahin was at the Air Base the whole time, right?”
Uncle Mort nodded. “Yes, but that was so it would be less unpleasant for your father and Mister Buchanan to question her. And to answer Jeff’s question, the rest of the prisoners there are from a variety of countries. Most are considered low-level threats. I could get you a full roster if you need it, Angela, Charles.”
“Yes, we’ll want that.” Chuckie rubbed the back of his neck. “The complexity just keeps adding in, doesn’t it?”
“The Mastermind knows us,” I pointed out. “And that means Mahin would have been put at the Air Base regardless, because someone from Centaurion Division or the P.T.C.U. would have been questioning her.”
“But they left me there for days,” Mahin said. “And no one contacted me before today.”
“Uncle Mort, when did the release orders for those prisoners come down?”
“Within this week.” He looked grim. “You think they’re connected to all this business, don’t you, just like Jeff and Charles do?”
“I do. The Mastermind has pull.” Pull I was sure wasn’t going to be traceable back to the Mastermind, of course, but I was getting used to that by now. Besides, all it took was finding the end of one thread in the tangle to unravel it. As long as we could find a thread, let alone an end to it.
“What would be the point?” Randy asked. “They didn’t do anything.”
“They utilized manpower,” Joe replied. “That might have been reason enough.”
Hughes and Walker both nodded. “And there was nowhere to put them, since the detention area was blown up,” Hughes said.
“If we hadn’t come back when we did, they might have done something as well,” Walker added. “They tried, Christopher just stopped them in a way that ensured they didn’t want to try again.”