Page 81 of Chain Reaction

“The CliffsNotes were useful,” Elwood said. “But Mr. Tow didn’t have much else to offer us. This isn’t about a water permit in Colorado.”

“I thought that part was key,” Reacher said. “Tow looks like an old-school guy, been around the block, probably more cynical than most. Yet he had no suggestions. He had no handle on what crime they might be committing. Which means it must be an entirely new crime. Something unprecedented.”

Turner nodded.

“Literally beyond a cynic’s imagination,” she said. “That sounds promising. How do we figure it out?”

“Do we need to figure it out? We want karma for Bisley. All we need is two bullets in two heads.”

“What would be the West Point approach?”

“I can’t answer that,” Reacher said. “West Point would need to know your non-negotiables. In one sense this is straightforward law enforcement now. You could bring in a team. The best of the best, like you said. But maybe you don’t want to do that.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I don’t want to do that. I can’t bring in a team now. Internally there would be no way to keep it a secret. And I need to. I’m two weeks down a private rabbit hole here. Politically there’s no way for me to reverse course now. I’m past the point of no return. Lying by omission is still lying, so I’ve been lying to the Chief of Staff every time I met with him. Including yesterday morning. Anything to report? he asked me. No sir, I said to him. He must never find out.”

“Got it,” Reacher said. “So we have two non-negotiables. Karma for Bisley, and we do it ourselves under the radar. Still doesn’t mean we need to figure anything out.”

“Karma for Bisley means completing his investigation. I want Julia to know her husband started something that saved the world. I want the baby to hear the story when she grows up. It’s the least I can do.”

“OK,” Reacher said. “Three non-negotiables.”

Elwood asked, “First step?”

“There are no steps,” Reacher said. “There are three strands, intertwined and braided together. The first strand is completing Bisley’s investigation. The third strand is getting in a room with Brill and Cameron and shooting them in the head. Both of which will be made very difficult every step of the way by the second strand, which is the private army. If you really want a first step, I suggest we start there. We need to know who they are, how many they are, and what their capabilities are. Respectfully submitted.”

“Statistically they’re retired U.S. Army NCOs between forty and sixty, from elite units, who don’t want to be Walmart greeters or live in a cardboard box under a bridge.”

“How many?”

“Depends on the corporate budget.”

“We need to know,” Reacher said. “We need to bring them out in the open and count them. And see how fast or slow they are, and how smart or dumb.”

“How would you like to do that?”

“We’ll give them the runaround with your work phones. We’ll send them here, we’ll send them there. We’ll be watching from a nearby location. We’ll get to know them like family. We’ll be sick of the sight of them by the time we’re finished.”

Elwood said, “Ma’am?”

“First we need to know where they’re based,” Turner said. “I think probably right here, where the personnel and the infrastructure is. That’s what needs security. I want to get a look at their parking lot.”

Elwood pinched out his phone screen, to make the map bigger. It showed a wide driveway off a side street, that led behind the glass cube to a blank area bounded by trees that lined one of the golf course’s fairways. Their parking lot, presumably. Screened from the front by the building itself, and from the rear by the trees. Ideal, from the municipal point of view. No ugliness on display. But frustrating from Turner’s point of view. She wanted to know what was parked back there.

“No problem,” Reacher said. “We can go take a walk on the golf course. We can peek through the trees.”

“We’ll be trespassing,” Elwood said. “We’ll get thrown out.”

“Walk like a billionaire. They’ll think we want to buy the place.”

“How does a billionaire walk?”

“Any way he wants.”

—

They thought they might not get another parking spot, so they locked up the car and left it where it was. Looping all the way around to the golf club entrance took them away from the glass cube at first. Then they skirted around the clubhouse and headed back toward it across the grass. People saw them but paid them no attention. They stayed off the finely-mowed sections and crossed the fairways carefully until they were close to the edge of the facility. Ahead of them was the line of trees that bordered EEF’s lot. There were deciduous oaks and maples, and evergreen pines and cypresses. Their trunks were limbed smooth to above head height. On the floor were conifer needles raked flat. It was like a long thin arboretum in a city park.

Turner went first. She dodged left and right between the trunks. Elwood went next. Reacher brought up the rear. The belt of trees was maybe thirty feet deep. Then came a black steel fence. Then came EEF’s parking lot.