“I remember.”
“Welcome to the real-world version of my algorithm.” Samir swept a hand around the room. Bricks of C-4 plastic explosives were wired to detonators in each corner.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You are surrounded by an actual minefield,” Samir replied. “Now, there is a way to disarm them, a cipher to solve.” He gestured to the computer. “Solve it, and you win. Simple as that.”
Charlotte waited, knowing Samir’s description of “simple as that” was the farthest thing from the truth.
“However, make a mistake on your decryption, and the cipher dissolves and rebuilds, and you have to start from scratch. If you don’t solve it in the allotted time…” Samir widened his eyes and mimicked an explosion with a gleeful smile.
“Are you insane?”
“I can assure you, I am in possession of all of my faculties. Of course, Aristotle did say that no great mind exists without a touch of madness.” He winked.
“I can’t do this. How can you expect me to think under these circumstances?”
“Well, I can’t imagine you’d make a very good mother if you can’t think during times of stress. What will you do when your baby crawls into the pool or your toddler ingests poison?”
“That’s hardly a comparable situation!” she shouted.
Samir turned feral. “You claim you defeated my system all on your own. You think you’re smarter than I am. Well, I’m going to give you a devastating reminder of the fact that no one outthinks me. You didn’t just steal my life with your antics, Miss Devlin. You took my reputation, my notoriety. My immortality. My name should be spoken in the same breath as Turing and Eich.”
Twitch gaped at him.
“Now now.” Samir tapped his watch. “Best get to it. Time is not on your side. Tick tock, Miss Devlin.”
Twitch felt the baby move inside her as if urging her to save the small life. She crossed to the computer encumbered by the chain. Drawing a shaky breath, she looked at the puzzle on the screen.
Samir stood behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. His cheek came down beside hers, and she recoiled. Samir forced her face next to his and whispered, “I sometimes think about the two of us together, imagine everything had played out differently.” He inhaled. “You as my protege, my partner, my lover. You could have stood by my side as I conquered the world.”
Shaking her head from his grasp, Twitch said, “Never.”
Samir backhanded her across the face, knocking her from the chair. He kicked her in the ribs once, twice. “You don’t get to decide how things play out. I control the outcome. If you hadn’t thrown a wrench in the works seven years ago, you would have learned that by now.”
An alert sounded on Samir’s phone. “Ah, perfect timing. Your date has arrived.” He hauled Twitch up and returned her to the chair. Blood from her split lip dripped down the front of her dress, and her ribs were throbbing. “What? Did you think I didn’t see you hide your phone in my car? If you hadn’t, I would have done it myself. I need you both for the big finale.”
Samir grabbed a remote detonator from the counter, walked to the front door, and pulled it open as if greeting a visiting friend. He shouted into the woods. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Twitch stood and moved as close to the window as the chain would allow. Finn stepped out from behind a tree, looking like menace personified. Twitch noticed Samir shudder. He quickly gathered himself and held out the detonator so Finn could see it. “Drop every weapon on your person!” he commanded.
Finn made a show of shedding two guns, a K-Bar knife, and a few other toys. Staring straight at Samir, his expression lethal, Finn started to walk.
Her kidnapper spoke with confidence, but Twitch saw him take an involuntary step back. “Now, now, let’s not be hasty. I don’t want to kill her yet, but perhaps I will add a few scars to her face to match yours.”
Finn stopped.
“Do you trust your little cheater? Do you have complete faith in her—how did Regina Phelps describe it?—her unbridled genius?
“Yes,” Finn answered.
“Are you willing to bet your life on it? Will you die believing in her?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Walk around to the back.” After issuing the brief instruction, Samir stepped back into the cabin and closed the door. He turned to Charlotte. “As I mentioned, when you make a mistake in your solution, the cipher changes, but there is also a penalty. Come to the back window. The chain should be just long enough for you to see.” Without waiting for Twitch to obey, Samir withdrew a gun from his pocket and left through the back door.
Twitch stepped to the large plate glass window and looked out. A ball of dread formed in the pit of her stomach at the sight before her.