Page 166 of Johnny

if there were two such people? A researcher teams up with a banker and together they unleash their

hidden rook tendencies and become something new.

Obviously the king is the piece you need to win a game of chess. But the king mostly just stands

around looking kingly.

The queen is the real threat.

But two rooks can beat a queen. Two rooks can, in fact, win the game on their own.

Here’s the problem. I have no idea who the queen is.

Suddenly the muted sound of underwater is all around me. Johnny comes around the starboard

deck. “There,” he says. “Sorry it took me so long. I haven’t piped music out here before.”

“Is this music?” I ask, relieved to be drawn out of my thoughts. I’m not in the right headspace to

think long term right now. I’m still wrapping my mind around everything that happened today.

“Music of the sea,” he says, scrambling up to the sundeck and extending his hand. “This yacht used to belong to some guy who was into whales and he put in this underwater microphone to catch their

songs. But it’s just to set the mood. The real show has no singers.”

I take his hand and allow him to pull me to my feet. “Mood for what?”

“I’m gonna show you. Come here.”

He leads me over to the very front of the bow and then starts crawling across the top of the hull.

“Come on. We’re gonna dangle our feet like kids.”

“OK,” I say. And that inappropriate laugh I’ve been stifling suddenly comes out. “I’ll be a kid with

you.” And I scramble after him. Wondering what the hell he’s got planned here.

Also noting that Johnny Boston might be making a romantic gesture.

He dangles his feet over the side and grabs the stainless-steel railing above his head. Then one

hand darts out to steady me when the yacht tips upward from an errant wave, and pitches me

backwards a little.

“I got you,” he says. “And just FYI, if you did fall in, I’d go in after you. That’s part of our deal,

should you choose to accept it. So don’t worry about that.”

“Did I look worried?”

“No.” He grins. “But you do look distracted. What are you thinking about right now?”

“I’m thinking about you, mister. And what you’re up to. What this whole thing is about.”

“Look down.” He grins.

So I do. And I gasp. “Holy shit. Wow.”