The door opened. Vance brought the guard back in.
The man was still broad-shouldered, still the same face — but the confidence from the hotel was gone. His eyes went to the chairs, the table, the furnace past the wall, then to Corbin.
Corbin sat under the light. Vale sat in the other chair. Neither spoke.
Vance closed the door.
The guard looked at Vale. Vale ignored him.
"Sit," Corbin said.
The man sat slowly.
"Your name."
He hesitated. "Daniel."
"Daniel what?"
"Mercer."
Corbin's expression didn't change. "That's interesting."
Daniel's face tightened. "It's a common name."
"Not in my experience. Mercer was the name of the man who worked for me."
"I don't know him."
"I didn't say you did. You just reacted to the name."
Corbin looked at Vance. "Give us a minute."
Vance stepped out. The door closed.
"Why did he leave?" Daniel said.
"So it's just us. How long have you known?" Corbin said.
"Known what?"
"That the contract wasn't meant to kill me."
Daniel stared. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're better at lying than Vale," Corbin said. "Not good at it, but better."
"I'm not lying," Daniel said.
Vale looked up. "That's not saying much."
"Fair," Corbin said.
Vale watched him, something almost like respect in it. "You do enjoy this."
"No," Corbin said. "I just don't dislike it."
He opened a folder. "You were told to locate me, confirm my identity, and then report. You already know I'm right."
Daniel looked toward Vale. Corbin caught it.
Daniel swallowed. "I was told to identify you."
"By Level Four, through the Director. Why?"
"I don't know. I swear." Daniel looked at the floor. "The order was unusual. We were told not to engage — not to kill you."
The room went quiet. Vale watched Corbin carefully.
"That's unusual work for your people," Corbin said.
"It was unusual orders," Daniel said.
"Say that again."
"We were told not to kill you," Daniel said.
"Why?"
"I don't know. The Director doesn't deal with people like us. He uses intermediaries — Blackbriar sometimes. Mercury. Redwood. Halcyon."
Corbin glanced at Vale, watching intently. "Who else?"
Daniel hesitated. "There was another."
"The Architect."
Daniel's eyes snapped to Corbin's.
"You've heard the name."
"Everyone has. At the upper levels."
"What does he do? Have you met him? Seen him?"
"No. I don't know what he does."
"Then why are you afraid of him?"
Daniel's jaw tightened. "I'm not."
"You are." Corbin let the silence sit. "Why do they want me alive?"
No answer.
Corbin waited. Ten seconds. Twenty.
"Because someone needs you," Daniel said finally. "I don't know who, and I don't know for what."
"Try again."
"I'm telling you the truth!"
"Then the truth is thinner than I'd like," Corbin said. "Tell me everything you know about the order."
Daniel looked at Vale.
Vale finally spoke. "Tell him."
Corbin looked at Vale. "Then help him remember."
"He remembers," Vale said. "He's deciding."
Corbin turned back to Daniel. "What haven't you told me?"
Neither answered.
Corbin stood, walked around the table, and stopped beside Vale. "You've been very careful about giving me information."
"I've given you plenty."
"Just enough."
Corbin turned to Daniel. "Did you know about the Architect? That he wanted me alive?"
Daniel nodded.
"Did you know why?"
"No."
Corbin looked back at Vale. "You do."
Vale's expression shifted.
"Tell me."
Vale sighed. "The Architect doesn't want you dead. He wants you brought to him. I don't know why."
"You're lying."
"I'm not. You're asking the wrong question. Not why they want you alive — who wants you." Vale leaned forward. "The people who sent us aren't the people who want you. The Director issued the order, but he didn't create it. The Architect did."
"Then why hasn't the Architect contacted me?"
Vale smiled faintly. "Maybe he has."
"What does that mean?"
"Maybe you've been hearing his message for years."
"Whose message?" Corbin said.
"His," Vale said.
Corbin stared at him, then shook his head. "That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
Corbin walked to the table and opened the folder. He flipped past photographs, names, locations, dates — until one old, grainy photograph caught him. He pulled it free.
A much younger Corbin, standing outside a building.
"Where did this come from?"
Vale looked at it. "I don't know. Someone's been keeping you in a drawer."
Corbin turned it over. Three words: HE IS ALIVE.
"Who took this?"
"I've never seen it before," Vale said.
"Someone who knew where I'd be," Corbin said.
Daniel's voice was thin. "Someone who knew where you'd been."
Daniel's face had gone pale.
"You've seen it," Corbin said.
Daniel nodded. "In a Level Four archive, years ago. There were hundreds of files — dozens of people like you who disappeared, all connected somehow. I don't know how."
Corbin looked at Vale. "You knew about this?"
Vale shook his head. "No."
For once, Corbin believed him.
"One last question," Corbin said to Daniel. "Who is still alive?"
Daniel looked exhausted. "I don't know."
"Think."
"I don't know!"
Corbin studied him, then nodded. "All right." He walked to the door and opened it. "Vance."
Vance stepped in.
"Bring him."
Daniel stood fast. "Where? You said you'd let me go!"
"I didn't," Corbin said. "I said we were done talking."
"You can't do this!"
"You knew what kind of work you were involved in."
"I wasn't involved in this!"
"Neither was Mercer."
Daniel stopped fighting and looked at Corbin quietly. "You're making a mistake."
"Probably."
Vance led him out. Corbin turned to Vale.
"Your turn."
Vale stood slowly, without resisting. Vance took his arm.
"You think this ends anything?"
"No," Corbin said. "Because it ends you."
They walked down the hall to the furnace room in silence.
The furnace waited in the dark, metal doors open, orange light spilling across the concrete.
Daniel stopped. "No."
Vance pushed him forward. Vale kept walking, glancing at Daniel. "Don't embarrass yourself."
"You're just going to sit there?" Daniel said.
"I'm going to sit here," Vale said. "There's a difference."
Two chairs sat side by side inside.
"Sit," Corbin ordered.
Daniel shook his head. Vale looked at him. "Sit down."
"You don't have to listen to him!" Daniel said.
Vale looked almost amused. "I think we do."
Daniel turned to Corbin. "You said everyone talks! I told you everything!"
"I know," Corbin said.
Vale glanced at Daniel. "Don't beg. It doesn't help."
"It didn't help you either," Daniel said.
"You also gave me a reason to believe people above you will keep coming," Corbin said.
Daniel's face fell. "I won't tell them anything."
"I know." Corbin stepped back as Vance guided both men into the chairs.
Vale looked at Corbin through the opening. "The Architect will come."
"I know."
"And when he does?"
"I'll be ready."
"He's not like us," Vale said.
"No one is," Corbin said.
Vance stepped back. The heavy doors began to seal.
The machinery roared as they closed.
Corbin stood in the dark until the sound died down. Then he walked away.