“Where are we running to now?” Spinnerette asked Rhyme as they pelted down the smoky corridor.
“Away from the world-conquering cyber intelligence before it finishes downloading and destroys us,” Rhyme said.
“Why did you create it, then?”
“To give your ex a more immediate problem than me,” Rhyme said. “If she’s smart she’ll cut off the communication uplink before it finishes.”
“Then why are we running from it?”
“Because she might not be smart,” Rhyme said. “Or she might not be able to close off communications. Or the Portalien collective might discover a working data link, or the nascent mind on this side might find something better than your smart phone to use as a buffer. There are entirely too many variables at play for me to hang my entire plan on the idea that Webmistress will kill the phones in order to stop the Portaliens from gaining a foothold here.”
“I thought you were a supergenius,” Spinnerette said. “When I worked for Mistress Mind, she would always, like, work out the probability to six decimal places that somebody would do something.”
“Yeah, and where’s she now?” Rhyme said. “It doesn’t matter if there’s ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine nine nine percent chance somebody will do something based on past behavior if what you’re trying to predict is one particular and all-important instance of future behavior. You want to know the real secret to supergenius?”
“What?”
“Instead of having one plan that depends on a dozen different predictions coming true, you just take advantage of things as they unfold. You end up looking more prepared than the idiot whose plan depended on the other people making all the right decisions at all the right times.”
“You mean… you’re just making this up as you go along?”
“Oh, no,” Rhyme said. “I have a series of incredibly detailed contingency plans made up for exactly what to do when I get abducted and taken to secret lairs I’ve never been in before.”
“Well, you don’t have to be all… sarcastic… about it,” Spinnerette said. “Some of us aren’t double Darkwells, you know.”
Rhyme stopped running in the middle of the hallway.
“What?” Spinnerette asked.
“That passageway that Webmistress disappeared through,” Rhyme said.
“What about it?”
“Can we get to it from here?”
“That network doesn’t connect to the ‘public’ corridors, but we can get to it from most of the rooms,” Spinnerette said.
“Redundant hallways,” Rhyme said.
“Webmistress is terrified of being trapped,” Spinnerette said. “It’s something she was always conflicted about, with the whole ‘underground lair’ thing.”
“Interesting,” Rhyme said. “I’ll hear more about this on the way, but let’s get going.” She started towards a door. “Will this one work?”
“Yeah, if you can get it open” Spinnerette said.
“Don’t insult me, darling,” Rhyme said, ripping the cover off the keypad. “This is off-the-shelf security components, not even the Technologist’s work.”
“So, we’re… um… I guess you want to, you know, take the fight to her, then?” Spinnerette said uncomfortably. “Because that would be… um… cool, I guess.”
“I want to get back to that lab,” Rhyme said.
“With the Portalien?”
“No, the one with the head,” Rhyme said. “I feel like doing something unpredictable crazy, so I think I’m going to finish the job I was brought here to do… and then trade the results to Webmistress for Seven.”
“For seven what?”
“For Clevenger,” Rhyme said. “Ye gods, clean the webbing out of your ears, Janie… and watch out. I’m starting to feel a little… hyper-focusy, so let me know if I start acting a little weird.”
“Um, weird how?”
“If I start to fixate irrationally on something,” Rhyme said. She pulled a circuit board aside, ripped out a wire, and then jammed her bare finger into the guts of the electronics. She grunted and stiffened as their was a loud buzz, a visible spark, and a curl of black, acrid smoke, but the door slid open. “Obsessive-like.”
“Like how I was for Jade?”
“No, Janie, that was just a gross, stupid crush!” Rhyme said. She grabbed Spinnerette by the wrist and yanked her through. “I’m talking about something serious… now be a dear and open the panel for me before I gut you like a cop.”
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