“I mean nobody, Knox, men, women and children. Nobody. Then we were to put a torch to the place and say that the Viet Cong had done it. It was some disinformation bullshit campaign that Hayes had come up with. He was constantly pulling that crap. Guy was like Machiavelli reincarnated. I think he saw it as a career enhancer.”

“What happened?”

“Two of the three companies followed orders. One didn’t.”

“And Hayes came after you?”

“He tried. But I told him if he did I’d tell everybody the truth. It wasn’t like he could say I’d disobeyed orders, because the orders he gave should have landed him right in front of a court-martial. See, I knew how he played the game. The brass upstairs might look the other way if the mission went off, but any hiccup that the journalists could get hold of and they’d eat him alive. Anyway, with one village left, the command chain wasn’t pleased. So it took old Hayes a little longer to get his cluster of oak leaves.”

“But he found another way to hurt you. The medal.”

“I really didn’t give a shit at that point. I’d been fighting a war that had no end. Every friend I’d ever had over there was dead. I was tired. I was sick of Southeast Asia, the rain, the heat, every minute of every day of my life spent taking and giving up a hundred yards’ worth of dirt and jungle, and for what? For what, Knox?”

“Is that when you joined Triple Six?”

Stone hesitated. “I guess you’ve earned the right to know.”

“I promise you it won’t go any further. If they convict you it won’t come with any help from me.”

“Yeah, that’s when Triple Six came, although I wouldn’t say I joined. They made it clear that was my only option. I just ended up trading one hell for another. I was always lucky that way.”

“I’m assuming you were great at your job. So why did the CIA turn on you?”

“The years went by and I married Claire and we had our little girl. Best thing that ever happened to me. Without getting too sappy about it, it was like a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me. And I decided I didn’t want to play the game anymore. I just couldn’t pull the trigger, Knox. I couldn’t stand my own stench. I couldn’t fly halfway around the world, pop someone in the brain and come home and hold my little girl and kiss my wife. I couldn’t do it anymore.”

“And they didn’t appreciate that?”

“Men like that think they own you forever. And maybe they do.”

Stone slid back down to the floor, tipped his head back and closed his eyes.

“I’ll help you, Oliver. I swear it.”