Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
GHOST
The Code: Rule #1
Do not violate The Code.
“It’s better if I don’t know you. Because if I know you, someone is trying to kill you. And if that someone pays me well enough…” I dab the corners of my mouth delicately with my napkin. My chair screeches against the concrete as I stand, heaving a sigh. “I shouldn’t talk about these things over dinner. My mother always screamed for me to mind my manners, but I suppose it never stuck.”
I run my fingers over the steak knife on the fine white dining cloth. Bits of muscle and sinew cling to the serrations, and I place the napkin over it, suddenly nauseous at the sight .
“My apologies. I didn’t ask you if you wanted any,” I say, shooting a look at the gagged FBI agent in the corner of the bunker. “How rude of me, indeed.”
Blood seeps through the thick cuts across his arms and abdomen—thick rivers of red that fall to the ground with a light plop… plop… plop…
The gagged man yells something through the duct tape, bringing my attention back to him. I yank it off his mouth, taking pleasure in the way he winces painfully.
“What’s that?”
“Whatever she’s paying you, I can double?—”
I place the tape back over his mouth, then step back, shaking my head in disappointment. “What you fail to realize is that I am a man of principle. Taking your money would be wrong, considering I’ve already promised her you’d be dead by the ’morrow. Now, what kind of a man would I be if I went back on my word?”
The agent stares wide-eyed, and I continue, undeterred. “I would be a man much like yourself. Gagged. Tied to a chair and forced to listen to a lunatic's ravings right before he dies. So you see, I must maintain my principles. For without principles, man is nothing more than?— ”
A gunshot rings out, and the agent slumps forward. My gaze falls to the gun in my hand, still warm from the shot I don’t remember taking.
“A beast,” I murmur, staring at the weapon a beat too long before shoving it in my waistband. A green call box blinks in the upper corner of the screen built into my mask, reminding me of the next step of the mission. Usually, I would have already called the Disposers to clean up my mess, but something stops me.
Maybe it’s because Daniel’s proclivities reminded me so much of another. Maybe it’s because I’ve finally lost my mind. Or maybe—maybe it’s because I need to make a point.
A gesture.
With my pulse monitor blaring, I step forward and haul Daniel’s lifeless body over my shoulder. A thick squelching noise accompanies the movement, but it barely registers as I float across the room, a plan forming in the depths of my depraved mind.
Like a ghost, I disappear into those shadows from which I came.