Karloff looks at Joey. Starts right in. His accent is thick but his voice is low and rich, and Joey can understand every word he’s saying. “One of two things will happen to you, Joey. Either the state will retry you on other criminal charges or some of the families will bring a wrongful death suit, which is civil court, not criminal. Whichever can be put together faster. Whichever means a better chance of conviction.”

Joey is surprised by Karloff’s keen interest, his clear, instructive summation of Joey’s situation. He’d expected Karloff to talk in gruff, grudging single syllables. It’s a reminder to Joey that, despite the dockworker appearance, the man does, after all, run an extensive criminal enterprise. It makes sense that he’s as smart as he is brutal.

“Either way, your case is getting fast-tracked. The dumbass prosecutors got caught with their hands up their asses by your brilliant attorney’s argument about the Cloud. Cope’s jury research showed the argument would work. But next time, the prosecution will be ready. They can still try you on a lot of lesser charges—attempted homicide, weapons possession, assault, grievous bodily harm—which all come with a lot of sentencing discretion. You’re going away forever, Joey. So I figure you’ve got a couple weeks at most. A couple weeks of freedom in this life. Just so you know.”

He says it flatly. Factually. Information only. Like a white-coated cancer doctor, telling Joey he has just months to live before checking his watch and moving on to the next patient.

A couple weeks of freedom.

Freedom? That’s not how Joey would describe it.

“But that’s plenty of time for your next assignment, Joey,” Karloff says with a little smile and an affirmative nod of his chin. “The assignment that will let you pay us back for our considerable investment in your defense.” He looks at him. “The assignment that is the whole reason for our investment in your defense.”

As Karloff continues to speak, certain phrases echo in Joey’s head: A big assignment, Joey. The last thing we’ll ask you to do. It’s being explained to him in the context of making things right with the organization. Of doing his duty. Of what Joey owes them. He is only hearing the broad strokes: a detonation of some sort to not only get the target but also destroy the surrounding evidence beyond recognition or forensic usefulness. No more specifics are mentioned, which is typical at this stage, keeping details about when and where purposefully unclear.

But Joey starts to sense the edges of something darker. Darker than a hit. To understand more fully the investment in his defense. And the reason for this special meeting. And the babysitting presence of this kid Will. It all starts to come together for him in a very uncomfortable way.

He starts to sense it’s not a standard assassination assignment.