She pushes her mug of coffee away from her slightly and sits up straight in her chair. “No, Adrian, I wouldn’t! I don’t work for myself, but even if I did, I wouldn’t care. I’m an assassin. People pay me to kill other people. I’m not interested in why — all I’ve ever cared about is how much I’m getting paid for it. And I respect the fact that, like many other jobs around the world, there are people who know things others don’t — now, even more so. I’m not here to know what he knows. I’m here to shoot who he tells me to. End of story. Why is that so hard for you to come to terms with?”
“Because I’m the absolute best at what we do, Lily. Without exception. Not finding out why you’re killing someone is amateurish. It leaves you vulnerable to potential repercussions. You have to—”
She stands and slams her hand on the counter. “Fuck you! Who are you calling amateurish, you fucking asshole?” She paces away toward the back door. “I can’t believe I came here…”
Jesus…
I’m a little taken aback by her outburst. I hold both hands up. “Alright, take it easy. I’m not questioning your abilities, Lily. Knock it down a notch, okay? All I’m saying is it’s a mistake not to ask that question, and mistakes get people like us killed.”
She doesn’t say anything, holding my gaze for a moment. There’s a confused rage in her eyes that I can see her wrestling with. She slowly sits back down and grabs her mug, taking a sip. I can see her jaw muscles tensing as she thinks about what I’ve said. I can see the doubt slowly creeping in, replacing the anger.
I smile to myself.
I’ve been there, sweetheart.
“Lily, I’m sorry, alright? I didn’t mean to give you a hard time. Old habits, I guess. We’ll do this one together. That’s not against the rules, is it?”
She fixes me with an unblinking stare. I can see her trying hard to stay angry at me, but after a moment, she relents. Her expression softens and she smiles. “No, there’s no rule against a helping hand… providing it’s from someone in The Order, obviously. Thank you.”
“Forget about it. I’ve been looking for something to do anyway. This playboy lifestyle gets a little boring after a while.”
She laughs. “A bottomless bank account, total anonymity and immunity from everyone… it’s every man’s dream, surely? You’ve barely been at it a month, how are you bored already?”
I shrug. “You were bored when you got here… what’s your excuse?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, but I was lying, remember?”
I sigh. “Whatever.”
She smiles. “So, what now?”
I finish my coffee and take a breath. Resting on the counter, I glance down at my right arm.
WWJD.
What would Josh do?
I smile, mostly to myself. “Research.”
I grabbed a quick shower, threw on some fresh clothes, and set my laptop up on the kitchen counter in front of Lily and me. She’s sitting on one of the stools, transfixed by the screen. I’m just pouring us both another glass of juice. It’s hotter than hell, and despite the AC blasting cool air throughout the entire house, it’s still unbearably warm.
I sit next to her and pass her a glass, which she takes silently. I watch her studying an article on the page for a moment, looking uncomfortable. I bet she feels as if she’s betraying The Order or something by showing some initiative. She’s probably never done the whole research thing before. I know The Order says they will provide you with all the information you need to carry out the contract, but I would bet my bottomless credit card they only give you half the story. I can guarantee they leave out the important bits, such as why you’re killing them…
I don’t think it’s just me being stuck in my ways and stubborn, either. It’s a perfectly legitimate question that I think we have the right to have answered. Lily, me, probably countless others… we’re the ones on the front line, risking everything to kill these people. The least The Order could do is tell us why. They’re not a religion — they don’t operate on unquestioning belief and donations.
Besides, I know from experience never to ignore my spider sense. Every time I do, it nearly gets me killed. And it’s not as if I’m asking for an in-depth report or anything, I just want a simple explanation. The guy’s a terrorist… or they profit from other people’s misfortune… Hell, even they’re a bit of a prick—I deem all those statements as more than adequate reasons to shoot someone. But saying nothing immediately makes me question things.
Anyway… to business.
As much as I’m an advocate of research and preparation, I have to say it’s actually pretty fucking boring, and definitely not my thing. I’ve just spent about twenty minutes doing it, and I have a whole new level of respect for Josh. Here am I, feeling bad about making him think I’m dead, when I’ve been making him do this shit for over a decade! I’m surprised the guy hasn’t tried to kill me himself.
Okay, so Sayed bin Mawal wasn’t exactly a hard man to track down online. It turns out he’s one of the richest men on the planet. He was loaded before 4/17, but in this unstable new world, he’s one of the few who has actually maintained his wealth.
Despite only being at the tender age of thirty-one, he’s the majority shareholder in numerous companies across the world. The most prominent of those companies is Fuelex — a public, multi-national corporation, and one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the world.
So Forbes says, anyway.
Now, I have to admit, I kind of glossed over the details here, because they weren’t really about him, but the basic gist of why he’s so rich is that Fuelex stock rose significantly in the aftermath of 4/17.
The attacks affected Eastern Europe and Asia, mostly, with The West being largely left alone — with the obvious exception of Texas — as was Africa and parts of the Middle East. Consequently, there’s been somewhat of a power shift in certain areas. International trade agreements have mostly been ignored in favor of the greater good. No one can afford anything anymore. Millions of people are homeless. Half the world is drowning in poverty and economic recession, despite the other half, to its credit, doing everything it can to help out.
Some of the key players in the crude oil industry who were based in countries hit by the attacks are no longer in business. Consequently, their substantial share of the pie has now been split between the only remaining players on the field — the U.S. and the Middle East. Both regions have always been prominent in the industry, but now, they completely monopolize it.
The U.S. still charges above-average prices to its customers not affected by the recession. This serves to keep the commodity afloat on the stock market, which in turn helps strengthen the market as a whole.
But… the people who are affected by the recession still need oil. They can’t afford to pay what the U.S. is asking, so to counter this, Fuelex — arguably the largest single entity in the business — have begun exporting it at a loss, purely to satisfy the massive demand from millions of people who couldn’t afford it otherwise. It helps everyone out, which is great, and it’s ultimately only the good prince himself who’s losing money — and he doesn’t care because he has lots of it.
The problem being, him doing that devalues the commodity on the stock market, which is causing all the rich people in the States, who are desperately trying to carry on as normal, to lose money. Lots of money. Like, billions of dollars.
So, I think — if I understand all that shit — I’ve found the reason The Order wants him dead. They themselves, or the people who have reached out to them, want the prince gone because it’s simply too costly to let him live.