Jesus Christ. How does he know this stuff? He’d thought that only a handful of the most senior executives, including the director, knew the circumstances of his retirement. While Malta had been the end of the line for Zack, it had also been the beginning of the end for Brandon. The new administration wanted to focus on policies and negotiation, not intelligence and action. Brandon had been a casualty of that school of thought. He sighed, deflated. “It’s true, but that doesn’t negate all that I did during my career. We’re all just cogs in the big intelligence machine, and my time was up. It’s just that simple.”

“That’s my point—others made the decision for you. I saw the writing on the wall, and I made my choice before it was made for me. I am the only one responsible for my destiny, not some headquarters dweller on the seventh floor who never gets his hands dirty.” His voice was filled with resentment and disgust. “I’d rather make a fortune my way than spend a life serving a thankless, soulless bureaucracy. I took my fate into my own hands, and I have no regrets. None.”

And there it was, the unblemished truth—Griffin Huntsmen was a narcissistic, delusional, self-centered sociopath who only cared about one thing: himself. Are you ready to do this, truly? You have to provoke him and hope for the best.

Brandon exhaled and cocked his head as if he were studying an exotic animal for the first time from behind a thick pane of glass. “You really don’t see it, do you? I guess it really is true what they say—crazy people don’t know they’re crazy. You’re living proof of it, right here, right now. You’re brilliant, highly functional, and one of the most dangerous people I’ve ever known. But you literally have no idea that you’re out of your fucking mind,” he finished, smiling and shaking his head in amusement, seemingly oblivious to the threat in front of him.

Griffin’s eyes hardened, and he let his hands, which he’d held clasped in front of him, fall to his side. “This conversation is growing tedious. I only have two questions for you. One, how do you even know about the laptop? And two, where is it?”

He really doesn’t know. Whoever is paying him didn’t tell him. This gets better and better. “Have you considered why you don’t know that critical piece of information? Your buyer really didn’t tell you, did he? It’s amazing to me how naive you are, but quite honestly, I find it rather amusing.”