“Who hired you to kill Jared?” North asked. “Why was I there in the first place? Was Jared always the target?”
“Do you think you get to ask questions?” V snarled. “You are supposed to do as you are told.”
Mr. Z waved his hand.
“Originally we thought you were going to have to take out Fergus Bartolli. He was disrupting too many businesses belonging to clients of mine. Once he was gone, we thought about removing you. But the truth is, we decided it was best to leave you. Sometimes we leave our people in place for years. You are one of the longest, but it suited us. Until you became compromised and wouldn’t do as you were meant to.”
“So who hired you this time?” He needed to know.
“No one,” Mr. Z said.
“No one?” North repeated. “I don’t understand.”
Don’t you?
God.
“It was a test,” V told him. “One you failed.”
“Indeed,” Mr. Z replied. “And now we have to decide what to do with you. Do we try to reprogram you or get rid of you?”
“I think reprogramming at this stage will be impossible,” V replied.
That bastard always was a pessimist. But his mind was still back on what Mr. Z had said.
“A test? Killing Jared was a test of my loyalty?” he asked.
Even he could hear his voice cracking, emotion slipping through.
Maybe he was now defective.
But he didn’t care. Except for the fact that he might not make it out of here alive.
For the first time in his life, he might actually care if he lived or died.
Simply because he wouldn’t see them again. He didn’t want to lose either of them.
“It was. And you failed,” V told him. “Defective. I can get rid of him for you, sir.”
Jeez, didn’t even have to think about that, did he?
What the fuck was he going to do, though? He didn’t want to die but that seemed to be where things were headed.
Think.
You know these men. You know how they think. What do they want?
Power.
Money.
“Ransom me,” he suddenly said.
“What?” Mr. Z asked.
“Ransom me back to Jared. Cut me free from the organization and ransom me. Get back the money you put into me. I’m an asset, right? Surely killing me isn’t the best return on your investment. So ransom me to Jared. Get some money back.”
“You cost us millions,” Mr. Z said.
