West of Nothing

36. The Inside Guy

Mason was sitting on the john when Goat came into the bathroom. He recognized his leather loafers through the bottom gap as they passed by. A stall door opened and shut followed by an unusual silence. No one did their business that quietly.

Mason flushed, exited the stall and went to the sink. He was still rinsing soap from his hands when Goat emerged and turned on the faucet next to his.

"Hey Peeper." The materials scientist gave a small jerk of his head toward the mirror. When Mason looked up, their eyes locked in the reflection. There was an intensity there he hadn't observed before. "You've been here since the beginning, right?" he asked in a low voice that could barely be heard above the running water.

"I got here a couple days into the project."

"Close then. You've gotten to know everyone pretty well, wouldn't you say? Do you trust them?"

"Yeah, sure," he shrugged. Truth was, he had never really thought about it. "Except HotDamn. Now that is one shady character." He meant it as a joke, but Goat's eyes narrowed.

"What makes you say that? Have you noticed him doing anything suspicious lately?"

"No, I mean, he seems like a pretty trustworthy guy," Mason fibbed, uncomfortable with where this conversation was heading.

"Well, keep your eyes peeled." Goat rubbed his hands noisily in the sink. "I have good reason to believe that not everyone is in this for the purest of patriotic motives."

"You think someone on the team could be a spy?"

There was a knock on the door, one of the guards. "Almost done in there? One of the engineers has to pee."

Back on the Bridge, Goat acted as if the conversation had never happened. But dammit if he hadn't planted a seed in Mason's head. When he looked around the Bridge, he couldn't help wondering, could one of them be the thwarted X-Bot thief? If so, who were they working for? The Chinese? The Russians? The deep state? He hadn't seriously suspected his other teammates until now, but he couldn't deny that it made sense. Who else had around-the-clock access to the Bridge with the ability to snoop on his password?

He pulled up a chat window and picked out Gabby's name. She had a way of putting his mind at ease.

Is it true that you were an orphan? he typed.

WHO TOLD YOU THAT!?

Yikes, he must have touched a nerve. Corny mentioned something at the party. Weren't you raised by Korean parents?

Yes, that's true, Gabby said. I was adopted at birth. My parents had two recessive genes for a rare condition and decided having a child of their own would be too risky. So they contracted through a Catholic agency that worked with young, unwed mothers who otherwise would have had an abortion. They were there in the room when I was born.

Was it hard for you growing up? Mason asked.

Because of my ugliness and lack of speech, is that what you mean?

Mason paused. This was not going as intended. Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Kids can be kind of cruel sometimes. I got teased a lot in school for being big and clumsy, figured you probably had it a lot worse.

It's okay. I'm just a little snappish right now. You shouldn't interrupt a girl in the middle of working out an algorithm. Didn't you see my busy status was on?