‘No, Jaden, trying to use the things they taught us to bring a bit of good into this world.’

Wolf laughed bitterly. ‘Good luck with that. I hope business is going well.’

‘Well enough.’

‘And yet, somehow, here you are, showing up looking for me with a gun in your hand. So much for doing good.’

‘You want to know how this came about.’

‘Damn right I do.’

Ben filled him in. ‘A man calling himself Saunders approached me on a plane. He told me very little about himself, but he knew all about our shared past history. Which means he has access to top-level clearance Ministry records. Said you’d left the reservation and had to face the consequences. That he had people on your trail but so far they’d failed to track you down. And he enlisted my services with an offer that was hard to refuse.’

Wolf pulled a cynical smile. ‘I get it. Business is never quite good enough. Not when they dangle a big bag of money under your nose.’

‘It wasn’t about money. They have me in a clinch, Jaden. The deal is that someone I care for will die if I don’t serve them your head on a platter. And I’ll admit, until I got here tonight and found you, that was exactly what I intended to give them. I didn’t change my mind until the last minute.’

Wolf looked piercingly at him. ‘What’s stopping you from changing it back again?’

Ben shook his head. ‘There has to be another way. For everyone’s sake.’

‘This person you care about. It’s a woman, right? They’re threatening her?’

Ben nodded. ‘And the clock is ticking.’

‘But right now you’re risking her life, for the sake of mine. Sounds like you got your priorities in a twist. Not that I’m complaining.’

Ben was silent for a while, then replied, ‘The fact is, Jaden, even if I was okay about killing you, killing you wouldn’t end this. It’s like you said. Once you’re in, these people don’t let you go. I do this job for them, they’ll line up another. And another. They won’t go away. And neither will the axe hanging over Grace’s head. She doesn’t know it yet, but that’s the price she pays for getting mixed up with a man like me.’

‘That’s her name, Grace?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Nice name. I like it.’

Ben said, ‘Me too. And I kind of like the person it belongs to, as well.’

‘Do you love her?’

Ben paused a beat. ‘I think I do, yes.’

‘Too bad. Romance is a bitch for the likes of us. That’s why I never got too involved with anyone.’