Page 67 of Chain Reaction

“During,” Reacher said. “She was in jail when I got there.”

“Was it you who helped her?”

“She did the heavy lifting. I was mostly along for the ride.”

“That’s not how the story goes. Apparently some mysterious stranger swooped in and broke her out and saved her bacon.”

“That’s the thing about stories. They’re made up.”

“Now you’re helping her again.”

“She needed a clean skin from the outside, until she figured out where the leak was coming from.”

“But now she knows, and you’re still here.”

“Would you prefer I wasn’t?”

“I’m good if you are,” Elwood said. “As long as you understand your role.”

“I think I do,” Reacher said. “Fifty percent of her job is political bullshit. She doesn’t want to go to the Chief of Staff and tell him there’s a computer problem. She’s hoping I solve the problem off the books. Then everyone will live happy ever after. The politicians will never know a thing.”

“Your performance review would call that an astute analysis. The mysterious stranger rides again, and she and I walk away with clean hands and unblemished reputations.”

“Happy to help.”

“Let’s hope you don’t let her down.”

—

Elwood was restless and went out for a walk. They arranged to meet at the car at a quarter to six. Reacher was happy to sit and drink coffee. He had spent many afternoons that way. He watched customers come and go. He listened to their halves of their phone conversations. He watched people tapping on keyboards. Some of them had earphones in. He ate pie, alone but not completely.

—

Reacher got back to the car a few minutes early. Elwood was already there. He was looking at the downtown map on his phone. He said, “Do we assume Hugo will head back the same way he came?”

“That would be logical,” Reacher said. “Not guaranteed, but it would be a decent percentage play.”

“I’ve been watching how these taxis are programmed. They try to be on the right-hand side of the road when they stop to pick up. They try not to U-turn. They favor right turns over left turns. So I think it will pick him up facing the same direction as when it dropped him off, and then it will make two right turns and head back home on a parallel street.”

“Makes sense.”

“So we should wait some way up the road and let the taxi pass us while it’s still empty. Then Hugo will get in, and we’ll follow him. We’ll be behind him all the way. At no time will we be in his field of vision.”

“Makes sense,” Reacher said again.

They got in the car and Elwood started it up. He put his phone on the console with the map still showing. He didn’t use the robot voice. It would have objected. They weren’t taking the fastest or shortest or most logical route. They went north four blocks and east two blocks, and then they turned south on the long straight road with the bungalows. Twenty-five miles an hour all the way. They pulled in at the curb next to a bespoke travel agent. They were ninety feet from Lazarus Lorenzo. Five minutes to go.

Reacher took a Glock out of an outside pocket and a suppressor out of an inside pocket. He screwed the suppressor to the muzzle and put the gun on the floor in the foot well. He took the second Glock from another outside pocket and the second suppressor from another inside pocket. He screwed them together and held the gun out for Elwood to take.

Elwood asked, “Where did these come from?”

“We took them from two guys Hugo sent to our first motel.”

“Where are those two guys now?”

“With a bit of luck the coyotes will have eaten them by now.”

“You’ve been a busy man. Two down in Summertown, two down here.”