Page 124 of Chain Reaction

Turner’s phone rang. She checked the screen. She answered and listened. She clicked off.

She said, “Julia’s doorman says she went out for a walk an hour ago. With the baby in the stroller. They’re not back yet. My people are searching the neighborhood.”

“She would have her phone,” Reacher said.

“Maybe she’s not hearing it over the street noise. Maybe she keeps it on silent. Maybe it’s out of battery. Maybe it slipped out her pocket, down the sofa cushions.”

“Try her again.”

Turner dialed.

No answer.

“Room twelve,” Reacher said. “Now.”

—

Room twelve looked exactly the same as room ten, where Reacher had stayed before. The same queen bed, the same armchair, the off-brand flat screen, the bathroom and closet beyond. Well looked after and extremely clean. Identical in every way. He sat on the bed. Turner sat next to him. Elwood took the armchair.

“This could be nothing,” Reacher said. “There could be a hundred innocent reasons. On the other hand, Julia knows what she knows. She can’t un-know it. So from their point of view, theoretically, she’s still a loose end. And they know where she lives. So we hope for the best, but we plan for the worst. We can’t get there in time. We’re five hours away. We can’t intervene. So we need to distract. We need to give them a new shiny object. Like a much more urgent target.”

“Which would be what?” Elwood said.

“We should go stand next to their data center and turn your work phones on. Then we become the urgent target. They’ll have to respond. We’re literally right there on their doorstep. They’ll have to assume we discovered what they’re hiding. They’ll assume we’re about to prove it. Tomorrow the whole world will know. Catastrophic defeat is in their future. Everything Everywhere Forever will be heading for nothing, nowhere, and never. They’ll choose to put the loose end on hold and come here to deal with the main threat. No other tactical option.”

Elwood looked at Turner. Waited for her decision.

“Have we discovered what they’re hiding?” she asked.

“They’ll think so,” Reacher said.

“Are we ready for them?”

“As we’ll ever be.”

“OK, let’s go poke the bear.”

They filed out of the room and got back in the truck. They drove behind the diner again and parked at the brand-new curb. They crunched across the gravel to the fence around the middle unit. It was set about ten feet out from the front wall of the building. There was a gate with some kind of a complex electronic lock. They were as close as they were going to get.

Turner and Elwood took out their work phones. They entered their long strings of numbers. They dabbed their fingerprints on their screens. Their screens lit up.

Chapter 42

Down on the nerd floor Saxby Cameron dialed Axel Brill’s private number. He said, “General Turner and Colonel Elwood just came on the air again.”

“Where this time?” Brill asked.

Cameron paused a beat.

“Ground zero,” he said. “Summertown, right outside our building. Or possibly inside. Plus or minus fifteen feet, I can’t be sure.”

“Shit, bro, that ain’t good. We have investors coming in tonight. We have to do the whole dog and pony show.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Come up to my office,” Brill said. “We have things to discuss. And decisions to make.”

Cameron took the stairs. Quicker than waiting for the elevator. Four flights to the C-suite. He hustled through the outer offices and made it into Brill’s inner lair, all out of breath. Hennessy was there. Which was a surprise. Not sitting down. He was standing by the window, looking out. Cameron sat down on the sofa. His regular spot. Brill came out from behind his desk and sat down next to him. Very unusual. But very welcome. Just like the old days. Shoulder to shoulder, side by side, the two of them against the world.