Chapter 6 - A New Test of Tactics and Strategy

One night, several weeks after Nathan had started working with Team Scorpion, he was testing out his ability to walk without using his crutch. His physical therapist had recommended that he get used to putting his full weight on the healing joint in low-stakes situations when he could move slowly and carefully on a level surface, and those opportunities were few and far between, so Nathan was making the most of his downtime in the mostly deserted Garage.

Everyone else had gone home for the night and Walter was up in his loft, working on a computer program. So when Nathan turned to begin the trek back across the width of the main floor, he was surprised to see Walter watching him at the foot of the stairs. "Oh, I'm sorry, Walter, I didn't mean to disturb you. I just thought I could get some laps in before heading back to the barracks for the night."

"You didn't disturb me. I heard a sound down here and came to investigate. You're always welcome to spend time here. You're a member of the team." Walter, who had been watching Nathan's stride carefully before being noticed, wanted to be helpful. "You are still favoring your right knee. I have a kinetic diagnostic analysis program I wrote a while back that you might find useful. We can set it up with the team tomorrow. It will analyze your gait more closely, analyze it and we can help you make adjustments that will help the muscles that have atrophied while your wound was healing, strengthen properly, getting you back to peak physical condition sooner and with less risk of reinjuring your knee."

Nathan was surprised that Walter had observed so much about his injury just from watching him walk a few steps and that Walter had apparently written a kinesiology analysis program that he was willing to use to help Nathan rehabilitate the joint. "That would be great, thanks."

Walter smiled. "Just another benefit of working with Team Scorpion."

"But for tonight, do you mind if I spend a while longer here walking? It just feels nice to move freely without the crutch."

"Sure, no problem, stay as long as you like. I'll be up for a while." Walter turned and sat at his desk on the main floor of the Garage, intending to go over some invoices that Paige had asked him to double-check and sign.

Nathan continued making his way across the Garage, when he stopped, surprised by something he must have walked past a hundred times since joining the team, but had never noticed before. He looked at a spot on the wall of the cavernous space, staring at a small incongruous object embedded in the concrete. Nathan cleared his throat. "Uh, Walter?"

Walter looked up from the invoice, mid-signature. "Yes, is everything all right, Nathan?"

"It's fine, I think. But it appears there's a chess piece stuck in the wall." Nathan squinted at it. "A rook, if I'm not mistaken."

Walter looked slightly embarrassed. "You are not mistaken."

When no further information was forthcoming, Nathan spoke again. "How did the rook get embedded in the wall?"

"Sly threw it at my head at the end of a week-long chess tournament. It nearly ended our friendship and fractured the team. We… all three of us… Sly, Toby and I vowed never to play again."

"Never? Not against anyone?"

Walter nodded. "We all swore a pact, none of us play, against each other or anyone else."

Nathan ran his finger over the chess piece meditatively, impressed by Sylvester's arm. "That's too bad. I enjoy a good chess match." He continued his walk. "I would have enjoyed playing you."

Walter barked out a laugh. "I doubt that very much. Sylvester was a Grandmaster, back when he could play and be ranked. I never had any interest in that sort of nonsense, but Sly could never beat me, at least not without cheating, so I doubt you could last more than five minutes playing against me."

Nathan smirked. "You think you're so smart, O'Brien, but you don't know everything. I competed nationally when I was a kid, but then stuff happened and I didn't have time for playing at that level anymore. You know I used to travel for work, right? 'Join the Navy, see the world' and all that. I've played International Masters and Grandmasters before, some even who were stationed on the same sub I was. I even played Super Grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura, once. Like you, I'm not ranked. I don't have time or the inclination for the politics of the chess world these days, but chess, it's the ultimate test of psychology and strategy. I love it to keep my mind sharp."

Walter was struck speechless, but several disparate pieces of information that he had gathered about Nathan over their weeks together clicked into place, finally making sense. He made a noise of disappointment in the back of his throat. "When you put it that way, I do regret my decision not to play chess. Perhaps a game with you would have been a worthwhile pastime."

Nathan chuckled. "Glad to know I can still surprise you, Boss. But if chess isn't your thing, surely there must be another game of strategy you enjoy playing."

"I haven't found one, no. I also have trouble finding an opponent to play games with. But if you are offering to play and have a suggestion, perhaps we might find a new mutually satisfactory game of strategy to play."

"I do have one I think you might enjoy. It's one my CO introduced me to on my first assignment. I have to admit it's kind of addictive. It's called Go and it originated in ancient China. I have a small, travel board in my truck. I never go anywhere without my Go board, one of the few extras I travel with. I've been trying to convince a couple of the guys in my barracks to play with me, but so far no takers. Should I go get it?"

Walter smiled and pushed the invoices aside. "I think that sounds like an excellent way to spend the evening, much better than paperwork." Walter followed Nathan out to his truck and noticed the duffle bag in the back. "You keep your belongings in your car?"

"No space is really our own at the barracks. I can put my stuff in a locker, but this is just easier."

Walter rubbed his fingers on the rough canvas of Nathan's bag as Nathan unzipped it and rummaged around for a moment to find the game board and pieces. "I know you had said you were staying at the barracks, but I guess I hadn't thought much about what it meant. Isn't the barracks a ways away?"

Nathan shrugged. "It is a drive, I suppose, the naval base is in Ventura County. I don't mind though, I enjoy driving. It gives me a chance to be alone with my thoughts."

"And waste time in traffic. That's more than sixty miles away. I can't believe you never said anything. You should stay here, at the Garage. There's more than enough room. You can stay in the Airstream. My friend Ray stayed in it for a while, so I know it's livable. It's not fancy, but the commute is better than Ventura County and you'd have your own space, at least for a while, before you get back to your sub."

Nathan smiled. "Are you sure you don't mind? I don't want to put you out or overstay my welcome."

Walter held up the game board. "If this game is as strategic and complex as you say, you may be doing me a favor by giving me an opponent and a new challenge to occupy my mind."

"Always happy to help, Boss, always happy to help. Now if you can just grab my duffle bag for me, that will be the first challenge I'll give you as your new roommate."

Walter stood with a blank expression for a moment as he tried to parse the meaning underneath the meaning of Nathan's words for a moment, just like Paige had been teaching him. As understanding dawned, Walter dropped the duffle bag on Nathan's foot. "Oh, ugh. Carry your own gear. I'll be inside watching YouTube videos on the rules and tactics of this game so you won't be able to try anything funny and cheat."

Nathan chuckled and picked up the bag. "Never, Walter, I'd never try to get anything past you."

Walter found the basic rules and the gameplay for Go simple enough, which is the case for many of the most complex things in life. The two men played a handful of quick games on Nathan's smaller, travel-sized nine-by-nine game board. By the third game, Walter was hooked and had already placed an order for a high-quality, handmade nineteen-by-nineteen grid, with hand-polished stones instead of plastic pieces.

"I'm surprised that a genius with your IQ had never played Go before, let alone never heard of it." Nathan mused as the first light of the coming dawn crept into the Garage through its grimy windows.

Walter stood and stretched his back with a crack as he yawned. They had played and talked all night long. Walter couldn't remember the last time he had spent this long playing a game with someone that hadn't devolved into a squabble. He had been enjoying their time together up until this moment. "Why do you say it like that?" Walter asked testily.

"Say what like what?" Nathan asked puzzled by Walter's tone.

"Genius. You say it like it's a bad thing."

"I did?"

Walter nodded.

"I apologize, I meant no disrespect." Nathan held his hands up as if in surrender, trying to defuse a situation that he had no idea why it had become potentially explosive. "Of course, it's not a bad thing," he said in his friendliest tone. "I only mentioned it because it's been such an education working with all of you geniuses. It's surprising when I know something you don't."

"I don't know why you call us 'you geniuses' like it's something foreign to you." Walter looked at Nathan pointedly. "You know you're a genius, too, right?"

Nathan was struck speechless for several seconds as he processed Walter's question.

Before Nathan could form a coherent response, Walter continued. "An IQ of about 155, I'd guess, with proficiencies in logic, reasoning, strategy and mathematics. You've never noticed? Never been tested? I'm willing to bet you have a near eidetic memory as well."

Nathan nodded his head slowly as he considered parts of his life that had always been ridiculously easy and other aspects of it that had been almost impossibly difficult. Suddenly several things made sense. "Is that why you asked me to join Scorpion?"

"No, I had no idea, not until tonight, but only because I wasn't paying attention. Several of the signs were there, but you are remarkably well-adjusted for a genius, even one who falls much further into the more populated portions of the top standard deviations of the bell curve than anyone else on the team. I didn't pay attention to the signs until this evening."

The shock of Walter's assessment was beginning to wear off. "Interesting…" Nathan drawled. "So… does this mean I get a raise? Now that I'm an official genius?"

Walter stared at Nathan blankly for a few moments, and the Navy officer kept a straight face for as long as he could hold it, but finally, when he couldn't keep it in any longer, he cracked a smile. Walter relaxed visibly. "Oh, humor, that was a good joke, but the joke's on you. You make more money than the rest of the team with your salary being paid for by Homeland, rather than Scorpion's profits. Saving the world is not particularly lucrative. You would think so, but for some reason, it's not."

"I've seen the expense reports from past cases. You guys do a lot of damage on the path to saving the world, I guess that's why it ends up mostly being a wash. Maybe try being less destructive of other people's property and you might show more of a profit on your cases."

"We do what's necessary." Walter shrugged. "I'm not that interested in money, more in the greater good and saving lives."

"I think the only reason you manage to get paid anything at all is because Paige is so good at her job. I've read her justifications for the team's expenses and she's nothing short of a miracle worker. Maybe you should give her a raise." Nathan watched as Walter got that look on his face that he always did whenever Paige's name was mentioned. Walter was obviously in love with her and Nathan could easily see why, she was an amazing woman. What he couldn't understand was why Walter hadn't made his feelings known to Paige. Nathan could easily see that she had strong feelings for Walter as well.

Walter turned to his computer and watched as the monitor blinked to life. Nathan saw him purposely push thoughts of Paige aside as he focused on the lines of code on the screen in front of him and his fingers began typing. Nathan picked up his duffle bag from where he had dropped it several hours earlier, "If you don't mind, I'm going to hit the shower before the rest of the team starts arriving for the day. Thanks for letting me bunk here while I'm working with you. A genius, huh? Well, that's something to ponder."

Walter nodded, he barely looked up from the screen as he gestured to the Go game board. "Thank you for introducing me to a new, worthwhile game. I look forward to learning the strategies and tactics of the game, and to becoming the dominant player in our duo."

"Oh, I doubt that, O'Brien. You will find I am and always will be the superior player." Nathan tossed over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs to the loft.