American Assassin

“You did, and you know that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about our third objective.”

Hurley frowned. She knew right where to hit him. He quietly wondered if Stansfield had put her up to this and said, “You think this shit’s easy? You want to take over ru

Ke

She might as well have hit him in the gut with a two-by-four. Hurley stood there speechless.

“You’ve created a cult of personality,” Ke

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, if you’re talking about our first two objectives.” Ke

Hurley didn’t like hearing this, but he was not some unaware idiot. He knew what he’d been tasked to do, and he was acutely aware that he had so far failed to make any progress on the most delicate of the three programs. Still, it wasn’t in him to cede the point so easily. “I can teach anyone how to kill. That’s easy. You point the weapon, you pull the trigger, and assuming you can aim … bam, a piece of lead enters the target’s body, hits a vital organ, and it’s done. If you’ve got big enough balls I can teach you to slide a knife through a guy’s armpit and pop his heart like a balloon. Fuck … I can show you a thousand ways to punch someone’s ticket. I can teach you battlefield techniques until I’m blue in the face…”

“But?” Ke

“Turning a man into what we’re looking for,” Hurley stopped and shook his head, “it just ain’t that easy.”

Ke

Hurley glanced at the car.

“He’s off the charts on all of our tests,” Ke

With a deep frown Hurley studied what little he could see of this raw lump of coal that Ke

“That is,” Ke

Checkmate, Hurley thought to himself. I’m stuck with this puke. At least for a few days until I can figure out how to make him quit. “Fine,” he said with a defeated tone. “But no special favors. He pulls his weight just like everyone else or he’s gone.”

“I don’t expect any favors, but” Ke

Hurley digested her words and then gave her a curt nod. “Fine … I’ll do it your way, but trust me, if I so much as get a whiff of weakness—”

“I know … I know,” she said, robbing him of the final word. “You’ll make him wish he’d never met you.” Ke

CHAPTER 3

RAPP watched Ke

As the car drove down the lane, Rapp could feel the weight of his decision. A door was closing. He had picked one path over another and this one was undoubtedly the one less traveled. It was overgrown and more treacherous than his imagination could do justice to, but then again his youthful self felt invincible and was filled with schemes to cheat death. He would undoubtedly be pushed to quit, but he was confident that would not happen. He’d never quit anything in his life, and he’d never wanted anything anywhere near as bad as he wanted this. Rapp knew the score. He knew how his chain would be yanked and jerked every which way and he would be forced to endure all of it. The prize at the end was what it was all about, though, and he was willing to endure all of it for his chance.

Rapp could feel the man’s eyes on him. He let his heavy bag fall to the ground and watched him come closer. The man with the ‘stache and the sunglasses blocked his view of the long driveway. Rapp instantly smelled the acid mix of coffee and cigarettes on his breath. He wanted to take a step back, but didn’t want to appear to be backing down, so he stayed put and breathed through his mouth.

“Take a good look at that car,” Hurley said sourly.

Rapp tilted his head to the side and watched the sedan disappear around the corner.

“She ain’t coming back,” Hurley added in a taunting voice.

Rapp nodded in agreement.

“Eyes front and center,” Hurley snapped.

Rapp stared at his own reflection in the polarized lenses and remained silent.

“I don’t know what kind of fucking bullshit you pulled on her. I don’t know how you managed to con her into thinking you had what it takes to make it through my selection process, but I can promise you that every day you’re here, you will curse her a thousand times for walking into your life. But you better do it silently, because if I hear you utter one single unkind word about her, I will make you feel pain you never thought possible. Do you understand me?”

“Yes.”

“Yes!” Hurley barked. “Do I look like one of your faggot college professors?”

“No,” Rapp said without twitching.

“No,” Hurley howled with a veiny throat. “You call me sir when you talk to me, or I’ll stick my boot so far up your ass you’ll be chewing leather.”

A fleck of spit hit Rapp in the face, but he ignored it. He’d figured something like this would happen. He’d already taken a look around and hadn’t seen any others, so this was probably his best chance. “Sir, permission to speak?”

“I should have figured,” Hurley said with a sigh. He placed his hands on his hips and said, “All right, Ivy League. I’ll give you this one chance to say your piece. I can only pray you’re going to tell me this was a bad idea and you’d like to go home. And I’ve got no problem with that,” he added quickly. “Hell, I’ll drive you myself.”

Rapp gri

“Shiiiiit!” Hurley drew out the word as he shook his head in disgust. “You actually think you can do this?”