Free Raymond Benson - 2012 - Hitman: Damnation by Raymond Benson

still took us several hours to find
you. You are a very lucky man.”
                 Was
she telling the truth? Agent 47 supposed that it sounded plausible. He also
knew that the Agency was capable of elaborate deceptions.
                 A
middle-aged man in a suit appeared in the hatchway. He wore glasses, had a
mustache, and was a bit overweight.
                 “How’s
the patient?” he asked.
                 “Dr.
Chalmers says he’s doing very well,” Jade answered. “Agent 47, this is Benjamin
Travis.”
                 The
man approached the bed and held out his hand. The hitman ignored it, so Travis shrugged. “I can imagine how you feel. Hiding from the
Agency for a year and suddenly finding yourself on our
ship. I’ll bet you think you were set up.”
                 “Where’s
Diana?” 47 asked.
                 Travis
and Jade exchanged a look, and then he continued. “I’ll get to that. I want to
assure you that what Jade told you is true. Yes, we
wanted to find you. Yes, we would have paid a lot of money to get you back, and
we did. Yes, Roget worked for us, in a way. As an informer
and sometimes contractor. I’m sorry the flight didn’t go as we planned.”
                 “Where’s
Diana?” the hitman asked again, with a little more
insistence in his voice.
                 “Very well.” Travis took a chair and sat in it. Jade
continued to stand. “Diana Burnwood betrayed the
Agency. She irreparably damaged the organization by compromising a classified
project that top management was working on. And … she abandoned you during a
crucial mission. The Himalayan assignment would not have gone wrong had she not
bailed. She left you in a vulnerable position. I suppose you remember that?”
                 He
did. Agent 47’s eyes narrowed as he searched Travis’s face for artifice.
                 “What
happened?” he asked.
                 “I
can’t go into the classified details, but suffice it to say that she meant for
you to die. Diana felt you were the only one who might possibly be sent to come
after her when we discovered her betrayal. And she’s right. As soon as we find
out where she’s hiding, we will send you after her. After all, you know her
better than anyone.”
                 “I
don’t work for the Agency anymore.”
                 “I
was hoping we could discuss that.”
                 “I
don’t work for the Agency anymore.”
                 “Hear
me out, 47. Will you do that?”
                 The
assassin kept silent.
                 “We
know you’ve been working freelance. We know you’re being paid much less than
what you’re worth. It’s beneath you, 47. You were the Agency’s greatest asset.
We want you back. We’re prepared to double your fees.”
                 “I
don’t care about the money.”
                 “We
know you don’t. You never have. But you care about your reputation. You care
about the quality of your work. You care about what you do best.”
                 “I
am nowhere near one hundred percent operational.”
                 “We
think you are,” Travis said. “The fact that you survived that jump from the
plane and the subsequent hours in the sea proves that you are. Did you know you
were floating in impossibly rough waters for seven hours before we picked you
up? That’s extraordinary. Any other human being, even one with your, uh,
special genetic structure, would never have endured the ordeal. You did, 47.
We’re all astonished and … humbled.”
                 47
didn’t respond.
                 “Look,
why don’t you rest? Think about it overnight. You’ve been through a tough
twenty-four hours. But, frankly, we need you. There’s a pressing assignment
that is quite suited to