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All of which goes to prove that crime pays, 47 mused. Especially drug trafficking.

Satisfied that his actions had gone undetected, 47 began to go through Johnson’s pockets. The search turned up a wad of pocket lint, a wicked-looking flick knife, and an outdated Binion’s $500 casino chip complete with a horseshoe-shaped design. It was a rare item, and one that 47 was going to need in order to crash the Big Kahuna’s party.

His next step was to retrieve the saddlebags from the truck’s cab. One of the hand-tooled leather bags contained a gun rig, complete with a pair of Johnson’s signature Colt Pythons. The other held two bags of heroin. The assassin emptied both packages onto the ground prior to replacing them with two kilos of street-smack that The Agency had given him. Both were laced with fentanyl, which was 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. The problem was that while the mixture produced a higher high, it had been known to kill unsuspecting addicts by causing their respiratory systems to shut down.

Which was exactly what 47 had in mind.

But before he could put the Big Kahuna out of commission, permanently, and thereby fulfill The Agency’s contract, the assassin would have to penetrate the annual meeting of the Big Six.

He checked to ensure that both.357 Magnums were loaded before buckling the western fast-draw holsters around his waist and securing the tie-downs to his legs. It felt good to have a couple of weapons, even though he preferred semiautomatics. But, given the fact that Johnson was known for his six-guns, 47 was stuck with them.

He was covered with sweat by the time he got back behind the wheel. The air conditioner roared as he took a moment to examine himself in the rearview mirror and check the key component of his subterfuge. The face that stared back at him looked more like Johnson’s than his own. A blue kerchief concealed most of the assassin’s bare scalp—and the fake beard was still in place. Beards could be dangerous appliances, given their tendency to come loose, and 47 had been careful to use plenty of spirit gum, so even the sweat from his exertions hadn’t loosened it.

Of equal importance were the small things, those details that made a person like Johnson memorable. Like the swastika-shaped tattoo that the assassin had inked on his left cheek, what appeared to be a scar just above his right eyebrow, and the silver rings that dangled from his ears. His clothing consisted of leather gloves, a matching vest, faded Levis, and a pair of lace-up combat boots.

But would the disguise be sufficient to get him through the meeting? The folks at The Agency thought so, especially since Johnson had been in prison for the past four years, and therefore out of circulation. Which meant most of the people who could ID him were still behind bars. Agent 47 took comfort from the thought as he steered the truck out onto the road, and turned north.

Having been raised in Europe, the assassin had no desire to actually own one of the inefficient, gas-guzzling trucks that Americans loved so much, but could understand the appeal. With a brawny 345-horsepower engine under the hood, and a stance that placed the driver almost eye to eye with long-haul truckers, the four-wheeler conveyed a sense of power. Which offered 47 some comfort as he topped a rise and discovered an ancient road grader parked across the road. It was a precaution intended to keep farmers, telephone repairmen, and lost tourists from crashing the Big Kahuna’s party. As the assassin applied the brakes, and the truck began to slow, two heavily armed bikers strolled out to greet him. They positioned themselves on either side of the truck so their M16s could put him in a crossfire.

But Agent 47 wasn’t looking for trouble—not yet—and plastered a friendly smile on what was supposed to be Mel Johnson’s face as he brought the truck to a halt. The side windows whirred as they went down. A man with the look of a part-time bodybuilder sauntered up to the driver’s side. He had bushy eyebrows, a walrus-style mustache, and a pugnacious jaw.

“So,” he said conversationally, as the second biker stuck his head in through the passenger side window. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m the Reaper,” 47 replied with what he hoped was a sufficient amount of gravitas.

“Yeah?” the man replied. “I’ve heard of you. They call me Nix. And that’s Joey. They told us you was comin’ on a bike.”

“That was the plan,” the assassin agreed soberly. “But the chopper broke down, so I borrowed this.”

There was a burst of static from the other side of the truck, followed by some unintelligible conversation as Joey brought a walkie-talkie up next to his ear. After listening for a moment, he replaced it at his side.

“That was Skinner,” the biker proclaimed importantly. “The Big Kahuna wants to start the meeting, but they’re waitin’ on this guy.”

“Sounds like you’d better get a move on,” Nix advised. “But nobody gets in without a chip.”

Agent 47 nodded, plucked the $500 casino chip out of his vest pocket, and handed it over. Nix produced a disc of his own, compared the two, and returned the first one to “Johnson.”

“You’re good to go, Reaper,” Nix said. “Hold a sec while Joey backs the grader out of the way. You’re the last guy on the list, so we might as well escort you in.”

There was a pause while Joey fired up the grader’s diesel engine, backed the big machine off the road, and waited for the pickup to pass. Then he moved it back into place. Five minutes later Nix and Joey straddled their choppers as they waved the truck forward.

The choppers threw up a cloud of dust, and quickly moved into the lead, so 47 eased his foot off the gas and let the pickup fall back a ways. That allowed him to see better as the threesome blew through a second checkpoint and sped toward the odd collection of structures where the meeting was being held.

A metal silo stood next to a run-down barn that was fronted by a new double-wide mobile home. A variety of small sheds in various states of disrepair were nestled here and there, as a forest of tall weeds did what it could to consume a row of junked cars. The big motor coach that Agent 47 had seen earlier, a red Mercedes, and four brightly painted motorcycles were parked off to the west side of the seedy complex. All of them wore a fine patina of Yakima road dust.

A black-clad biker appeared as Nix and Joey came to showy stops and sprayed the area with loose gravel. The assassin turned the truck into the makeshift car park and positioned it for a quick getaway. The man in black was waiting as 47 opened the door and dropped to the ground. Johnson’s saddlebags were draped over his left shoulder, and they bounced as he landed.

“The name’s Skinner,” the long-faced man announced laconically. “Welcome back to the real world. The brothers are waiting. Follow me.”

Agent 47 expected Skinner to object to the six-guns that were strapped around his waist. But judging from the Glock that protruded from the back of the biker’s leather britches, personal weaponry wasn’t just acceptable, it was expected. The fact struck the assassin as both comforting and worrisome as he followed his guide past the off-white mobile home, up a deeply rutted driveway, and toward the looming barn. Which, judging from the thump, thump, thump of music that issued from inside the ancient structure, was where the meeting was about to be held.

As he walked up the path 47 compared the layout to his mental picture of the satellite photos while paying special attention to potential escape routes, structures he could use for cover, and the surveillance cameras that were tucked here and there throughout the property.

Skinner hooked a left where an old refrigerator had been put out to rust, made his way up a slope, and nodded to the tough-looking gang members posted to either side of the huge tractor-sized door. Both thugs were equipped with M16s, pistols, and a lot of tattoos. Agent 47 had one too-aside from the disguise-a bar code that incorporated both his birth date and production number. Largely meaningless, now that his clone brothers were dead, but a permanent link to the past.

It was cooler inside the barn, and darker, too, so it took 47’s eyes a moment to adjust as the music died and lots of eyeballs swiveled his way. It had been years since farm animals had been quartered in the building, but a faint hint of their musky odor still remained. Dust motes drifted through the shafts of sunlight that slanted down from holes in the roof. There were windows, but they were covered with grime, which meant most of the illumination came from bare bulbs that dangled above. In an effort to give the meeting a festive feel, tavern-style bunting had been draped across the rafters. It consisted of Corona beer placards hung from strings of multicolored Christmas lights. The advertisements shivered in the breeze produced by two rotating industrial-strength fans that swept the air across them.