Corporate Lobby

[Vogel]

Beneath a rigid poker face, Hayes was shocked.

Completely derailed.

He pulled the drawer open and, sure enough, there was a nondescript knife inside. Black handle, reflective blade, as plain and deadly as ever.

So much for that idea.

To accumulate evidence having committed a murder in the process would do little to achieve anything. The simple fact was that this man was trying to incriminate him in order to assure his silence, and in such a way that even an investigation for a legitimate organization would be completely discredited. In fact, had his fingerprints not been removed quite some time ago, merely picking up the knife would have sealed his fate.

Contingencies it was.

He casually grabbed the knife, slid the drawer shut and took to his feet. Maintaining his cover, he played with the knife, paying more attention to its detail. Almost predictably its markings had been removed; had it been used as evidence against him, nothing would have linked the knife with OCULUS to begin with.

"So why isn't this guy's identity important to me?" he asked while walking over, rubbing a hand along his sleeve and briefly brushing against his wristwatch, "Is he one of those people you had 'handled' by any chance?"