Chapter 15

Kane was the first to finish breakfast. He wolfed down his burrito, scrunched up the wrapper, and tossed it on the ground. Fletcher took a little longer to get through his food. Vidic fussed with his pastry and dropped half of it on the floor. Paris stirred her yogurt around for a while and toyed with a couple of chunks of strawberry, then snapped her plastic spoon in two and shoved thepieces into the pot. Vidic got to his feet and started to collect everyone's trash. When he reached Paris he said, "Get the door forme?"

Kane sneered at him and said, "Why bother? Leave it. Who cares if rats come in now? Or more rats."

Vidic glared back. "Maybe this whole thing with the Feds will be a false alarm. Maybe we'll need this place again. And anyway, don't tell me what to do."

Paris held the door then Vidic led the way to the back of his Jeep. She opened the tailgate for him. He dropped the trash onto the load bed floor, checked that no one had followed them outside, and said, "I've been thinking about the house. Are you sure someone was watching it?"

Paris said, "Certain. Why?"

Vidic shrugged. "The timing seems off. It's too soon for the Feds. And I can't see who else it could be."

"Too soon? How? If they have an agent missing…"

"Think about it. Gibson died yesterday. He could only have missed one contact, maximum. There could be all kinds of reasons for going dark like that. The Feds wouldn't send backup immediately. What if Gibson changed his routine because he thought Fletcher was onto him? He could be lying low deliberately. And if Fletcher was already suspicious and then spotted a bunch of strangers running surveillance, that could blow Gibson's cover. There must be some kind of emergency procedure they would go to. Alternative contact arrangements to try. No one would show up, physically, for a couple of days, surely."

"I guess. Don't ask me. How would I know? All I know is that the house was being watched."

"How many people were watching it?"

"I didn't see any people."

"What kind of vehicle were they using? Or was there more than one?"

"I didn't see a vehicle."

"I don't understand. If you didn't see any people, and you didn't see any vehicles, how can you be certain anyone was watching?"

"I could feel it."

"Are you serious? That's all you have? A feeling?"

"Don't question me. I know what I felt. Someone was watching. It's a fact."

Vidic couldn't keep a smile from spreading across his face. "If you say so."

"Don't laugh at me. This is serious. What if they do more than watch? What if they break in? Find the ledger?"

"The ledger's hidden, right?"

"Right."

"And you wrote it in code."

"I did."

"So if somebody broke in, they wouldn't find it. And even if they did find it, they couldn't read it."

"I guess. And by the end of the afternoon Fletcher's going to burn the place down, right? So I'm probably worrying over nothing."

Vidic looked away. The house was going to burn. That was for sure. Only the fire wasn't going to be set by Fletcher. He said, "You are worrying over nothing. And there's something more important than the ledger, anyway. The phosphorus. Did you get it?"

Paris covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God. I totally forgot. I did get it. Yes. But I left it at the house, too."

"Whereabouts?"

"In its container. It's full of water. I checked. But the container is glass so I left the thing in its crate full of sand to make sure it didn't break."

"Where's the crate?"

"In the closet in my bathroom. Under a bunch of towels."

Vidic smiled. "Excellent. Then we have no problem at all. Trust me. By the end of the afternoon we'll be free and clear. And we won't be leaving empty-handed. We're taking Fletcher's two mil."

—

Knight finessed a passkey from the guy who had replaced Mary behind the motel reception counter then set off toward the door to room 18.

Reacher caught up and easily kept pace beside her. He said, "These guys are Kane's known associates, right? So you must have pulled their jackets."

Knight nodded. "All four are ex-military. Infantry. Dishonorably discharged."

"Together?"

"Two were. The other two, separately."

"And they haven't learned the error of their ways?"

"They have not. They've become what I call secondary players. They don't initiate anything. Their specialty is providing muscle or backup for anyone who needs it. And can pay for it. Typically they get involved in raids on high-value targets, kidnapping, extortion. Things like that."

"Is Kane ex-military?"

"No. He crossed paths with one of the guys in jail. Kept in touch on the outside. Then the one introduced Kane to the others. They worked together a half-dozen times, we think, but nothing could ever be proved."

They stopped talking when they were ten feet from the room. Reacher checked the parking lot and the surrounding area. No one was watching. No one was sitting in any of the nearby vehicles, so he stepped to the handle-side of the door. He took the Glock from his waistband and nodded to Knight. She held the key card to the lock, pressed down on the handle, pushed the door, and spun away to the opposite side. They waited. No shots were fired. No one emerged. No one shouted a challenge. Reacher stepped inside. The Glock was raised in his left hand. He checked that the room was unoccupied, then moved on to the bathroom.

A moment later Reacher called, "Clear."

Knight joined him and took her time to look around. The décor was just like Reacher's room, but this one had a pair of queen beds in place of a king. She said, "There's nothing left behind. Not even any trash. The place hardly looks used. The beds are even made."

"Old habits," Reacher said, then handed her a towel he had picked up in the bathroom. "In more ways than one."

Knight saw it had a row of black stains across the center. She sniffed it and immediately her nose wrinkled. "Hoppe's No. 9. They spent their evening cleaning their weapons, and now they're backing Kane's play. Great."

"Want to stand down? Leave this to the Feds?"

"Hell no. We'll just need to take extra care."

—

Their search of room 19 yielded no further information so Knight led the way to the parking lot. She stopped next to a silver sedan. A Toyota Avalon, several generations past current. It was in a space at the end of the front row. She had chosen a good location, Reacher thought. The spot gave her a good view of the motel as well as a clear shot for both of the exits to the highway. He was less sure about the vehicle. It looked ancient. There was a dent in pretty much every body panel. The wheels were all scuffed around the rims. Part of the lip beneath the radiator grille was hanging loose. And there was a foot-long gash in the back of the rear seat like a knife fight had recently broken out in there.

Knight caught the way Reacher was looking at her car. She said, "Meet Trevor. He might not be pretty, but he'll run forever."

Reacher said, "Looks like he already has."

Knight unlocked the doors with her key because the remote wasn't working, then opened the trunk. There were four plastic tubs inside, with lids. She moved one aside. It was labeled Plastic Cuffs. A metal lockbox was behind it, bolted to the frame of the car. She said, "Feel free to use it." Reacher handed her the Sig. She squared it away. He fished the bullets he'd taken from her in his room and handed them back. She dropped them into her purse, slammed the trunk lid, and moved around to the driver's door. Reacher climbed in on the passenger's side. He was pleasantly surprised by how much space he had. Knight fired up the engine then slotted her phone into a holder that was hooked onto an air vent. She fiddled with its screen for a moment and a map appeared with two dots superimposed on it. They were close together over a road and moving steadily toward the top of the screen.

"There they are." Knight shifted into Drive and eased the car forward. "Let's see where they go."

Reacher settled back in his seat. He wondered what the odds of the car's ancient radio being able to pick up a good blues channel were. Not great, he figured. Which was a shame. He could have used a little John Primer or Junior Wells right around then.