“Snare, the Jordanian, was quite good, I hear. Not a contemporary of mine, really. I never knew of him, but I am hearing he’d done some good work back in Europe.”
Court said, “I’ve looked into you.”
“Woulda been surprised if you hadn’t.”
“I know your name is Campbell Coyle. I know you’re forty-seven, son of a terrorist named Roderick Coyle. I know you were in the Legion, then you assassinated for the British, and then you turned into a killer for hire. I know you went dark for a long time, only came back into the light to kill a guy in London along with two of his bodyguards.”
Coyle said, “Very good, but you left out one thing. I was father to a lad named Charlie. Andthat’sthe only thing that ought to matter to you, because that wee fact is why you’re dying at the end of all this.”
“I’ve thought back to that night. I killed a couple of men, injured several more. I don’t know which was your son.”
“One of the injured. I did some digging myself. He was pulled off the living room floor of a suite.”
“Right,” Court said. He of course remembered the man who shot him in his bulletproof vest.
“He died in the hospital a week later,” Coyle said.
“You going after the doctors next?”
“No. Yours will be my last killing. I’ve got this big, long to-do list from those that employed me here in America, but I’ll chuck it and go home once I’ve dealt with you.”
Court said, “You know you’re working for the Russians, or maybe the Chinese. You feel okay about that?”
“I’m working for meself.”
“You’re working for Gauntlet, a private military company with ties to China.”
“Maybe I am, I have no idea. But I couldn’t care less who they’re tied to. They are bringing me to you. That’s all I wanted out of them.”
“And what did they want in return?”
“They know you’re one of the ones tryin’ to stop them, so they want you done, as well. I came here to kill you for free. I’d have paid all my money to do it. Now there’s those that actually want to pay me to do it. Ain’t life grand?”
Court thought this over a moment. Finally, he said, “I went to Bulgaria to ask that mob boss for some help. I had no ill intent. Then he ordered his men to beat the brakes off me, maybe even kill me, and he took a photo of me that he was going to send to some people, and that could just not happen.”
“So?”
“So if the situation had been reversed, you’d have gone through his security team to get to him, just like I did.”
“Again…so?”
“So…you have to acknowledge I was just doing what I thought was right. You have to acknowledge your boy was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“What difference does that make?”
“You could just let this all go.”
“Unfortunately, chief, I just can’t do that.”
“Whycan’t you? You sound like a man who’s been around long enough to know that vengeance never produces the satisfaction that one—”
“This is not about vengeance. I’ve no need for that. Charlie lived in a world where this was the only outcome.”
Court looked down at his phone a moment, then brought it back to his ear. “Then why the fuck are you—”
“Because Charlie himself had a child.”
“Charlie had a…What does that have to do with anything?”
