Page 98 of The Hitman’s Final Job

“You don’t need beauty sleep,” Draven says.

Zuza laughs, and the fact that Draven produced it tells me they’ve spoken before this call.

“Silas,” Draven says.

His voice is what it always is, measured and neutral. Everything I tried so hard to be but never managed. How could I be when my brain stores so much information that isn’t measured or neutral?

“Draven,” I say.

“I owe you an apology,” he says. “For the mess we’re in.”

Draven has never apologized to me. He’s never had cause to apologize.

“After two weeks of no contact from you,” he says, “I was getting pressure from the client to eliminate the target. Significant pressure. I made a decision to send another operative.”

“His name,” I say, and I hear the edge in my own voice, “is Vaughn Reeves. He’s a scientist. He’s been developing soil regeneration technology that could help millions of farmers. He’s a good man, and he’s an innocent man, and I’d like to know at what point the agency decided we were in the business of killing innocent people.”

“Silas,” Draven says. “I need you to listen.”

“I’m listening.”

“The client wasn’t the only one applying pressure. There was someone within the agency that was pushing it through too,” he says. “It made me look more carefully at the brief. Within twenty-four hours of sending the second operative, I found enough to understand that something was wrong with the original intelligence. The evidence against Vaughn that was presented to justify the contract was fabricated.”

This is proof this job has been a clusterfuck from the beginning.

“I tried to recall the operative,” he says. “He was unresponsive, so I dug a little deeper and found out that someone else paid him separately.”

“He was working for two clients.”

“Yes,” Draven says. “That’s what it appears.”

“Who was the client?” I ask, even though I know.

“Vertex Holdings,” Draven says.

“Fuck,” I say. “Jordan was right.”

“Jordan?” Draven asks.

“Someone who helped Vaughn with the investigation. What’s the current status?”

“Vertex Holdings is under active FBI investigation,” Draven says. “The scope of what they’ve been doing, not just with this contract, but across multiple states and multiple targets, is significant. They falsified intelligence about Vaughn Reeves specifically. They presented documentation suggesting his research was designed to deliberately damage agricultural soil in order to create dependency on expensive remediation contracts. The intention being to make him appear to be a threat rather than a benefit.”

“That’s complete bullshit.”

“I know that now,” Draven says. “The fabrication was sophisticated enough to pass initial vetting. It shouldn’t have been. That’s a failure on our part, and I’m taking steps to address it. The contact within the agency who accepted the contract without proper independent verification is being dealt with internally.”

“The threat to Vaughn Reeves, is it neutralized?”

“Completely,” Draven says. “The operative is in custody. Vertex Holdings’ senior leadership is under federal investigation. The contract is dissolved. The agency’s involvement is concluded.” He clears his throat. “I want to commend you both for following your instincts. The outcome could have been significantly worse.”

“It was significantly worse,” I say. “Rowan Reeves is in a hospital bed.”

“Yes,” Draven says. “It was. I’m aware of that.”

“Draven,” Zuza says. “Are we keeping our jobs or not?”

“You’re not being fired, Zuza,” he says.