Page 17 of Wild Oblivion

His brown eyes narrowed at me. "Just whose side are you on?”

I glared at him. We were not getting off to a good start. "I'll put an app on my phone that records incoming calls. I'll share calls that come in from our suspect. Take it or leave it."

Thompson stared me down for a long moment, then relented. "I want up-to-the-minute updates. You got that?”

I gave him a mock salute. "Aye-aye, Captain."

Thompson gave Daniels a disgusted look—how the hell did he put up with us?I'm not sure Daniels had an answer for that.

I exchanged information with Thompson, gave him adebrief, and said I'd keep in touch. After Thompson walked away, I shared a glance with Daniels.

“That guy has no idea what he’s getting himself into.”

I laughed.

“I don’t care who’s got the lead on this damn thing,” Daniels said. Find the scumbag responsible.”

“Count on it,” I said.

We wrapped up at the scene, then headed back to the station to fill out after-action reports.

We typed away on iPads in the conference room.

My phone buzzed with a call from anunknowncaller.

It had to be our perp. I stared at the screen for a moment, a range of emotions swirling inside. I swiped the screen and held the device to my ear. "This is Deputy Wild?”

9

"I'm impressed,” the smug perp said. “You found that faster than I anticipated. And disarming the device was a masterstroke. Took a lot of guts to do it yourself. Too bad the robot failed. Technology," he said in dismay. "I often wonder what will happen when society becomes so reliant on technology that people forget how to accomplish basic tasks. Just think of all the knowledge that will be lost. One day, the power grid will go down, and mankind will go back to the Stone Age. We will have to relearn everything.”

"Is that your ultimate plan?” I asked.

He chuckled. "That's far too idealistic a motive for someone like me.”

"What is your motive?”

"I take it right now, people are analyzing my device.”

"It's only a matter of time before we identify the components and track them back to you.”

He laughed again. "Good luck. That's not going to happen.”

"I wouldn’t be so sure about that."

"Well, you keep doing what you do, and I'll keep doing what I do. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you survived. This game would be less fun if you weren't involved.”

"I'm sorry, but do we know one another? Have we met at some point in time?”

"I'm a man who respects excellence and hard work, Deputy. A hero is only as good as the villain. They are a reflection of one another. It takes a great obstacle for a hero to rise to the challenge. My masterpiece would not be complete if I did not have a formidable adversary.”

"So you think of yourself as a hero?”

"We are all the heroes of our own story, are we not, Deputy?"

I said nothing.

"I must be going, but I've enjoyed our little chat. The next time, it won't be so easy.”