Gay­lan Kessel and Ted Panos arrive at the Memo­r­i­al Hos­pi­tal of Car­bon Coun­ty in Rawl­ins late at night, park­ing in a dim­ly lit area of the lot. Panos, dressed unchar­ac­ter­is­ti­cal­ly in busi­ness casu­al attire, is uneasy about the mys­te­ri­ous enve­lope on the seat and the unusu­al instruc­tions. To calm his nerves, he takes boot­leg Per­co­cet, which quick­ly dulls his anx­i­ety. Kessel, mean­while, remains focused and author­i­ta­tive, direct­ing Panos toward the hos­pi­tal entrance and empha­siz­ing the need to appear con­fi­dent and avoid sus­pi­cion. The ten­sion between them is pal­pa­ble as Panos strug­gles to main­tain com­po­sure under the influ­ence of the drugs.

Kessel briefs Panos on his mis­sion: to locate Car­ol Schmidt in the crit­i­cal care unit and ensure she does not wake up from her med­ical­ly induced coma. Schmidt, a “tough old bird,” sur­vived a car acci­dent and may have infor­ma­tion dam­ag­ing to Kessel. Panos, still under the calm­ing effects of Per­co­cet, half-lis­tens as Kessel drills him on the details, includ­ing a fab­ri­cat­ed cov­er sto­ry about being a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal rep retriev­ing a file. Kessel pro­vides a fake hos­pi­tal badge with Panos’s pho­to, fur­ther deep­en­ing the sense of con­spir­a­cy. Panos’s slurred speech and detached demeanor hint at his impaired state, but Kessel dis­miss­es his con­cerns, insist­ing on the urgency of the task.

Kessel instructs Panos to make Schmidt’s death appear nat­ur­al, sug­gest­ing meth­ods like dis­con­nect­ing machines or using a pil­low. He stress­es the impor­tance of avoid­ing detec­tion and warns Panos not to devi­ate from the plan. Panos, though unnerved, agrees but ques­tions why he’s the one assigned to the job. Kessel explains that his own high pro­file makes him rec­og­niz­able, while Panos can oper­ate anony­mous­ly. The exchange reveals Kessel’s manip­u­la­tive nature as he jus­ti­fies the act as “for the greater good,” imply­ing Schmidt’s knowl­edge could jeop­ar­dize undis­closed inter­ests. Panos, numbed by the drugs, reluc­tant­ly accepts the expla­na­tion, though his moral dis­com­fort lingers.

As Panos pre­pares to enter the hos­pi­tal, he hes­i­tates, ask­ing about com­pen­sa­tion for the risky task. Kessel promis­es a reward but offers no specifics, leav­ing Panos skep­ti­cal. Despite his doubts, Panos steps out of the truck, pro­pelled by the Percocet’s arti­fi­cial calm. The chap­ter ends with Panos on the brink of com­mit­ting a moral­ly rep­re­hen­si­ble act, his judg­ment cloud­ed by drugs and coer­cion. The scene under­scores themes of manip­u­la­tion, des­per­a­tion, and the ero­sion of per­son­al agency under pres­sure.