Epilogue
Keller didn’t look up from the apple he peeled with his boot knife as Admiral Davis took the seat across from him.
They were the only customers currently in the twenty-four-seven diner on the outskirts of D.C.
. Given that it was one in the morning, this wasn’t that surprising, but Keller had also slipped the waitress and cook some cash to keep to the back.
“Well?”
Keller dropped the perfectly spiraled skin onto the paper placemat advertising local businesses in front of him. “He doesn’t have it. Or if he does, it wasn’t on his system.”
Admiral Davis let out a low growl. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I give you one fucking job, and you can’t even do that right.”
Keller inserted the blade into his apple twice before coming away with a perfect eighth slice. “I did it right. Not my problem that you don’t believe me, or him.”
“Did you cover your tracks well enough? No one can trace this back to you.”
Keller finished chewing, liking the bead of sweat on the admiral’s temple at the prolonged silence.
“The only way anyone could find out is if I left a note behind claiming responsibility,” he replied wryly.
Wiping the blade on the white napkin, he set it down on the table next to the cheap silverware provided by the diner.
“Caspian had his own troubles going on right now and I was able to manipulate it so his enemy covered my tracks.”
Admiral Davis nodded once. “Good.” He slid a piece of paper across the table. “This is what you asked for. I don’t know why you care, but—”
The silenced gunshot under the table hit the admiral in his abdominal aorta, cutting off his words. It would feel almost like a bee sting for the first few seconds before his body registered the extent of the damage caused by the .45 ACP hollow point bullet.
Keller slid out of the booth as the admiral slumped over towards the glass window, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. Holstering the gun beneath his dark olive waxed canvas jacket, Keller reached forward to grab the piece of paper and his knife.
“You know, if you didn’t have such a stick up your ass, maybe you’d have actually been a decent human being.
” Keller shrugged. “Then again, maybe that whole nature versus nurture thing is a giant load of horseshit. Either way, you’re dying knowing the son you genetically mutated for your own personal gain is the one who pulled the trigger. See you around, Dad.”