Zero Effect

"After investigating her, I found myself in better shape than ever before in my life. To me, she will always be a singular unforgettable event, the only time I ever took leave of my objectivity. Perhaps the most able blackmailer of her time, she was at once the worthiest opponent and the greatest ally, and the only woman I have ever... the only woman, period. And though I never would've anticipated it, in the end she did for me what I have done for so many: help solve a problem, first by observation, then by careful intervention - in other words, the Zero Effect."

Steve Arlo: "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that, instead of calling me, you had me fly up here so you could tell me to go straight back to the computer - and then fly back again tonight?"
Daryl Zero: "Yeah, well, it wasn't an emergency. There was no reason to risk the long-distance lines... they listen, you know."

"You can't buy silence. You can only rent it. So if someone has something on you, they are always going to have it. So the cost has no ceiling. And the fear has no end to it. That's why some knowledge, some information is like a terminal disease. It's contagious and it's fatal."

Steve Arlo: "He can elicit a confession from a criminal without their realizing they're being questioned."
Gregory Stark: "How does he do it?"
Steve Arlo: "He has a deeply nuanced and thoroughly functional understanding of human behavior to rival the great psychoanalytical minds of our time. He understands the criminal mind as well as the innocent mind, the stable mind as well as the psychotic, sociopathic mind. The male, as well as the female."

"It's an uncompromising standard of his practice. He never meets any of his clients. He doesn't speak with them, or, for that matter, communicate in any direct fashion. That's his policy. But I am his sole representative and he is my only employer; and as such, I have full authorization to speak on his behalf on all his matters of business. I have with me a signed letter to that effect. He doesn't negotiate his fee. He works at a flat rate. Under some unusual circumstances, he'll work pro bono - never in between."

Steve Arlo: "$5 million, so you can kill someone right away instead of a day later."
Gregory Stark: "No, no. For $5 million, you do it."

Steve Arlo: "Why are we talking on the phone?"
Daryl Zero: "I told you. We can't be too careful. Two guys in an airport... talking? It's a little fishy."

"When your number's up, it's up. There's no sense to it. There's no justice. Innocent people suffer and murderers get away with it. So when my number's up, whether I'm walking down the street or doing something else, that will be that. You know, you, me, anyone could walk out of here and get killed by some drunk in a pick-up truck. I could slip in the shower and break my neck."