Clayton

"That's the entire dossier," Bill said. "Only a handful of people have seen it all."

Clayton clicked the button to open the file. Conrad Hall. Most of the photos were fairly recent - modest beard, gray, black beret, cigarillo present in some. Black Ray-Ban aviators.

Sixty-six years old. Five-nine, one-seventy, no fat. Balding, modest beard usually neatly trimmed.

Hundred seventy pounds of muscle in a compact frame. Dunno if I'd to want to mix it up with this dude, even at half his age.

Usual attire jeans and hiking boots or boat shoes, long-sleeved shirts in some shade of khaki or ivory, undershirt of contrasting color. Black beret in fall/winter and tan in spring summer. Crucifix with bible verse inscribed always worn under the inner shirt.

Why hide it?

"Some people wear crucifixes like jewelry," Nikki said. "Virtue-signaling or something. He doesn't seem to care if anyone knows it's there. It's for him."

She knows him as well as anybody I guess.

"Philippians 4:13," she added.

He doesn't care if anyone knows if he's religious or not. Fits with what we know.

"I guess he should be pretty reasonable," Clayton said, "as long as you don't offend certain principles."

"Assassinating citizens offends the principles a lot of people," said Bill. "And the citizen in this case was a friend. A close friend, a childhood friend. He'd kill you for murdering someone he never met in person - like the Springfield Four - but Andy was someone close."

"Yeah. I can see that."

"There were six involved in tha actual hit," Bill said. "Whether he'll go after anyone higher up we don't know but I wouldn't rule it out."

"That would be wise," Nikki added. "He doesn't distinguish between minion and master. He might go after the little fish first - not just because they're easier to get to but it keeps the higher-ups looking over their shoulders."

"I'm guessing these are the minions," Clayton said, laying Hall's dossier aside.

"Correct," Bill replied. "All are low-level, the biggest one - Paul Harrell - is chief of the Franklin office. The others are ISD agents that have been involved in numerous killings. They're not the best and brightest even among regime troops. Harrell is a drunk and has a number of other problems - it's all in there. The others are on regular duty and easy to track. We know where they are at all times."

"Presumably if they're involved in another hit we'll save Hall the trouble," Clayton said.

"Most likely. Hall might appreciate the help or resent us interfering in his affairs. Either way their days are numbered."

"Wouldn't want to be them," said Clayton. "They're toast pretty either way."

"They're beginning to notice that," Nikki said. "They picked up the pattern right away. We've all got the same resources for tracking and analyzing. If Hall hits one of those the others will be flagged as potential targets."

"I'm supposed to keep an eye on Hall and cover him?" Clayton asked. "Let him do his thing and make sure no one interferes?"

"We prefer that," Bill replied. "Hall is an indie but they don't know that. As far as they know he's one of us."

"Or some indie or other?"

"Right. At any time there are a dozen or more of them, mostly people pursuing vendettas. If Hall starts whacking these guys and they think we're doing it so much the better."

"This Cassandra, how does she fit in?"

"There's another dossier on her - I probably should have included it but Section IV pretty well covers it. If you need it I can have it sent up."

Clayton scanned Section IV.

"That looks good," he said, "but go ahead and send it up. I'll need my team. It'll take a day or two to get them here."

"Good enough," Bill replied. "As quickly as you can get them into place get on it.