Page 39 - TruthAboutLyingFinalAmazon20

Nicholas Boothman
They sat around a heavy oak table. For a few minutes,
they stayed on the surface. Vincent asked if he had any
trouble finding the place. Henry asked about the crowd
gathered outside. Vincent explained that the "dinner rush"
usually started two hours early when the wind picked up off
the river.
"Claire says you're looking to build something," Vincent
said finally, setting his mug down with a thud. "Something to
stop the world lying.”
“Good old Claire. Yes, not just stop it, I want to burn it
down. I spent half my life as a high-priced hitman for the
corporate conscience. But I didn’t use bullets—I used
bullshit. And I was the best there was. And forty-seven
people are dead because I taught their killers that the truth is
negotiable.
"The world isn't going to stop lying because people
suddenly decide to be good," Jinji said.
"It's going to stop because of this.” She reached into her
pocket and dropped a small packet onto the table.
"Verax. Latin for 'truth-teller'. It's a perfect name because
I’ve essentially created a cure for lying that turns the human
nervous system into its own judge.
Henry felt the hair on his arms stand up. He knew that
shape, the subtle, raised circle against the skin. It was a V-7
Life-Link Patch he’d helped put on the map.
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