Page 32 of Dreaming

“She’s a prodigy. When she was nine, she advised her U.S. Treasury Department father about concerning patterns she’d observed in the market. He informed his higher ups so there would be no conflict of interest. The moment Nia’s name was entered into a computer system, it went into circulation.”

“I don’t...know what that means.”

“The alphabet government agencies wanted her and began pressuring her father to submit her for testing. When the government wants someone, it makes the underbelly of society take notice, too.”

Dennis asked quietly, “You mean criminals?” He was trying to absorb everything he was hearing. It wasn’t easy.

“You see, someone with a gift for numbers…that’s a skill that can be used in many ways.” He stared at Dennis and added, “Nia started her doctorate in mathematics when she was sixteen and a syndicate on the West Coast began blackmailing her. She was told to lend them her brain when they called or they’d kill her family.”

“No…”

“Yes. They were better than most. Most monsters would have kidnapped her. She would have disappeared and likely never seen again. These kind-hearted perps were willing to compensate her for her time but it wasn’t a job offer she was allowed to turn down. Soon enough, she was cornered. She still managed to get her first PhD by nineteen and her second in tech by the time she was twenty-two.”

“I didn’t know she knew tech like that.”

“Nia can barely use her phone apps. Her interest is memory and speed. She needed a system that could compute specific information faster than she could. Her handlers raked in more money than they’d ever dreamed.”

“Did she…” Dennis swallowed. “She tried to leave…”

The man nodded. “She talked to her father. He didn’t want her facing jail time for the many crimes she’d committed under duress so he tried to take care of things himself. When her Marine brother was home on leave, they loaded her in the car to get her over the border into Canada and from there to another continent where she could set up a new life.”

“Th-they didn’t make it?”

“No. They didn’t make it. The people hired to get Nia back were local - from a violent gang right here in Chicago. They ambushed them, killed her father, killed her brother slower because he took down half a dozen of their crew. Then they dumped their bodies in the backseat of the family car, put Nia in the trunk, and drove back to her house.”

“The trunk?”

“They parked the car in the driveway and walked away. Nia’s mother found the bodies of her husband of thirty years and her only son when she came home from work. Her oldest daughter was unconscious in the trunk and seizing from the summer heat.”

“Nia went back to work for them?”

“She didn’t have a choice. Her sister was in middle school and her mom was grieving badly enough that she had to be hospitalized.” Dennis gasped softly. “For two years, Nia worked for the people responsible for murdering her father and brother. She tripled their money yet again.”

The man straightened and raised the bed so Dennis could sit up. “One day, her contacts didn’t answer her requests for information. She assumed they planned to kill her. The truth was that we’d taken out the entire festering bunch of them. We made her an offer and Nia accepted it on the condition that we maintain protection for her family.”

“Did you?”

“A small price to pay for someone with her skills.” Crossing his arms, he exhaled roughly. “Nicki wasn’t aware she had a bodyguard. That girl has caused her big sister no end of stress. When you went from fucking one sister to the other, I admit, we didn’t like you much.”

Dennis closed his eyes, hating the reminder of how he’d met Nia in the first place.

“Then we did like you because you treated Nia the way she deserved and clearly fell in love.” The lean man clenched his jaw. “Now we’re back to not liking you again, Mr. Hancock. You are behaving like a spoiled child whose toy has been taken away. While you’ve wallowed in self-pity, growing angrier by the day, have you wondered what Nia might be going through? Hmm?”

“W-where is she?” Dennis was almost afraid to know.

“Let’s see. For the first nine months, we sealed her in an underground facility in North Dakota specially created for members of the Think Tank. Many levels below the frozen ground, Nia worked eighteen hours a day to find every member of the crime syndicate who invaded your bar.”

Crossing his arms, he continued, “Once she identified them, she was instrumental in taking every dime they possessed which cut off their operations within hours. Unable to pay their staff, they were left to the mercy of the Malaysian government.” He gave a slight incline of his head. “We chased down the stragglers.”

Gripping the bar of the bed, Dennis asked, “Nine months? Where has she been the last few weeks?”

“In your lifetime, have you ever known a prodigy, Mr. Hancock?” Dennis shook his head. “It’s both fascinating and terrifying. Let me explain how Nia’s brain works. She’s given a puzzle that she deconstructs. Once she takes the entire thing apart, she puts it back together in a new way.”

“I don’t…”

“It’s a lot. Take the Malaysian gang, for instance. She started with their legitimate businesses, followed every transaction to its source, and worked backward to find where the cash was being poured in to be laundered. From there, she stopped the funnel. No more clean money.”

The man picked up a plastic cup filled with water and handed it to Dennis. “You need to drink, Mr. Hancock.”

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