Page 47 of The Hitman’s Final Job

He nods solemnly. “Tragic.”

“It was.”

“You should try again,” he says. “Somewhere with more space.”

Something tells me he’s not talking about the zucchini.

“Maybe.”

The stars are out fully now, the Colorado sky putting on its best show. Without light pollution, the Milky Way is clearly visible across the dark expanse. I sit back on the camping chair and look at galaxy as the fire crackles between us and the cold settles in properly.

We stay by the fire until the cold wins, then we get into the tent. I lie in my sleeping bag and stare at the fabric above me, listening to Rowan’s breathing even out into sleep.

Vaughn is alone at the farm tonight. I reach for my phone.

No messages.

I put it back and close my eyes and tell myself he’s fine.

He’s fine.

FIFTEEN

VAUGHN

The garden doesn’t need this much attention, but my hands need something to do.

I want to see Rowan before he goes back to Denver, so I’m not going to the lab until this afternoon, which means I have time to kill. Spending it inside thinking about the folder and the photographs on my desk is not going to be productive.

A friendly warning before this becomes unfriendly.

I turn the soil over and try to push it out of my mind, especially because there isn’t much I can do other than wait for Jordan to do his thing.

Talking to Atlas and Kai about it last night was exactly what I needed. As I suspected, neither of them have heard anything or have any reason to believe HelixGen is back and using a different angle.

“But why would they be coming after you?” Kai had asked. “What exactly do you research that could be so valuable? I thought you just ran the farm with Clay.”

I ended up telling them more than I would anyone else, but Atlas used to work for HelixGen, so more information means he might remember things he saw, documents that went past his desk.

“Clay rents my land,” I’d said. “He farms it for himself. My main job is research. In a nutshell, think about all the places on earth where there’s famine because you can’t grow food on the land. Think of areas hit by tsunamis where the soil is damaged, taking years to recover. My research is to find ways to help the soil regenerate so it can grow food.”

They shared a look before turning to me.

“This has nothing to do with Pine Ridge, Vaughn. Someone is coming after your research,” Kai said.

They’d voiced my exact fear, which is great for the town, but not so great for me, so we called Jordan.

Jordan, who I’ve met twice and know only as Atlas’s friend who is very good at computers and very bad at sleeping at normal hours. We told him what we knew, and he said he’d check it out and get back to us.

So now I wait, which is something I’m not good at.

Fuck the people making these threats.

Tires crunch on the gravel, so I stand up in time to see Rowan’s car coming around the bend in the access road. I hear them before the car stops, a burst of laughter from inside the vehicle, and the tightness in my chest loosens at the sound.

They get out still laughing.

Rowan first, unfolding from the driver’s seat and stretching his back, and then Silas from the passenger side.