The Last Good Boy

Marcus parked three blocks from the target's house, rain sheeting across the windshield. His phone buzzed—his handler, wanting to know if he'd retrieved the prototype specs from the home office. Marcus ignored it. He was done being their private spy, done infiltrating startups as a fake consultant, done sleeping in hotels whose names blurred together.

Lightning split the sky, illuminating the suburban darkness. He thought of Luna, his golden retriever waiting at his apartment, probably staring out the window with that heart-melting concern she always showed during storms. The dog was the only living thing that didn't look at him and see a calculation.

He'd told himself for years that corporate espionage was just business, that everybody betrayed somebody eventually. But this time was different. The target was Elena—a woman who'd hired him as a consultant three months ago, who'd trusted him with her father's legacy, who'd made him dinner last Tuesday when he'd mentioned feeling lonely. He'd played the role so perfectly he'd almost forgotten who he was supposed to be.

The USB drive with the stolen specs burned in his pocket. He could email the files right now. Elena would lose everything—her company, her home, probably her mind. Marcus would get his bonus, another notch on his resume, another ghost in his past.

Another flash of lightning. This time he saw the truth: he wasn't a spy who'd fallen for the mark. He was a man who'd spent forty years becoming someone he didn't recognize, and somewhere along the way he'd started preferring the role to the reality.

He dialed his handler. "I'm not sending the files."

"Marcus, we have a contract—"

"Fuck your contract. I'm keeping them. If you want them, come get them yourself."

He ended the call, tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. Tomorrow he'd face the consequences—lawsuits, threats, maybe criminal charges. But tonight, he was going home to his dog. Luna would be waiting by the door, tail thumping, utterly certain that he was a good man who deserved to be loved. She was wrong about him, obviously. But Marcus figured the least he could do was spend the rest of his life trying to become who she thought he was.