KIMMY WAS WATCHING Tom Owens work. He enjoyed spending time with Kimmy. She might not have been
the smartest girl he’d ever met, but she seemed to get him—or at least seemed like she was trying to understand him
emotionally. He knew it wasn’t easy. That part of his life had never been easy.
As he got older and better educated, he’d really started worrying about the big issues in life. Government control,
the environment, the tentacles of tech companies. Sometimes Owens felt like he might be the only person who could
stop them. The only person who could save the world.
Kimmy said, “So are you planning to help Ellis with his idea for funding the cause?”
Owens stood up from the table, marched over to where his newest device sat, and carried it back. He set it right in
front of Kimmy. “I made this device for Ellis. If he finds the right place, it should do the trick. All he has to do is
turn on the remote under here.” He held the remote control up so Kimmy could see the black switch on the bottom
of the handle. “Then whenever he pulls the trigger, the bomb will be armed and go off in two seconds. It should
have enough power to do what he wants it to do.”
“You haven’t shown this to Ellis yet, have you?”
“I showed it to him yesterday. But I wanted to focus on the bomb I made for the detective’s car. We need that one to
work.”
Kimmy was silent and looked away. Owens was never good at social cues, but he realized that bombing the
detective’s car was something Kimmy didn’t like to think about. She was a kind soul. That was one of the things he
appreciated about her.
With no warning, Ellis Warrenton st epped through the doorway into
Owens’s workshop. He stopped in front of the table and the satchel bomb.
Ellis looked at Owens and said, “I have found the perfect bank to use this bomb on. Thank you very much. I’m
going to use it today whether you like it or not.”
“I expect the bomb on Michael Bennett’s car will detonate today as well.
You don’t think that’ll draw more attention to us?”
“Don’t lecture me on how to run my own organization. We brought you in to make bombs. Now it seems like
you’re trying to micromanage everything.”
“On the contrary, I would prefer not to have any responsibilities other than making the bombs,” Owens said. “It’s
because you’re such a poor leader that I’ve had to st ep up and take over things you should be doing.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
“Finding us this house, for instance. Breaking into the NYPD computer system. And half a dozen other things
you’ve asked me to do.” He glanced over at Kimmy and saw that she seemed scared of him. That’s not how he
wanted Kimmy to view him. He looked again at Ellis and said, “Let’s talk outside.”
Ellis snatched up the bomb and the remote. “That’s probably a pretty good idea.”