Gone Tomorrow By Lee Child Novel Narratives Audiobooks End

you're crazy this is not a thing to be done alone what's the alternative Homeland Security will find them eventually then they'll put something together NYPD FBI SWAT teams equipment hundreds of guys a huge operation with lots of desperate components but carefully planned you've been on operations like that before couple of times how'd they work out for you Sansom didn't answer I said Al loone is always better maybe not Springfield said we checked on homeland Security's computer algorithm the hoath brought a large party with them how many 19 Men chapter 68 I finished my breakfast the coffee pot was empty so I finished my $8 bottle of water and lobbed it end overend toward the trash can it struck the rim with a hollow plastic sound and bounced out and rolled away across the carpet not a good sign if I were superstitious but I'm not total of 19 men I said four left the country already and two are walking wounded with broken jaws and elbows that leaves 13 on active service Sansom said broken jaws and elbows how did that happen they were out looking for me they might be hot [ __ ] in the hills with grenade launchers but scuffling on the street seems not to be their main strength did you write on their foreheads one of them why the FBI got a call from the Belleview emergency room two unidentified foreigners were dumped there after a beaten one of them had writing on his forehead punishment I said the hoath must have been displeased with their performance so they gave them up to encourage the others Ruthless People where are they now secure rooms in the hospital because one of them was there before some previous emergency at Penn Station he's not saying anything the FBI is trying to work out who the hell he is what's taking them so long I wrote Leela's name on his head I wrote Leela call me how many people named Leela is the Bureau interested in right now Sansom shook his head give them some credit the part with the name had been skinned off with a knife I stepped over and opened the second bottle of $8 water took a sip it tasted good but no better than $2 water or free water from the tap 13 people I said plus the host themselves Springfield said okay 15 suicide mission we're all going to die I said the only question questions are how and when we can't actively help you Sansom said you understand that right this is going to end with a minimum of one and a maximum of 15 homicides on the streets of New York City we can't be a part of that we can't be within a million miles of it because of politics because of a lot of reasons I'm not asking for help you're a maniac they're going to think so you got a schedule in mind soon no sense in Waiting the minimum one homicide would be you of course in which case I wouldn't know where to look for my photograph so keep your fingers crossed for me the responsible thing would be for you to tell me now no the responsible thing would be for me to get a job as a school bus driver can I trust you to survive to keep your word what did you learn an officer candidate school that brother officers are to be trusted especially brother officers of equal rank there you go then but we weren't really brothers we were in very different branches of the service got that right I was working hard while you were flying all over the world kissing terrorist ass ass you didn't even get a purple heart he didn't answer just kidding I said but you better hope I'm not the first homicide or you might be hearing that kind of thing all the time so tell me now I need you watching my back he said I read your record you told me that you got your purple heart for being blown up by that truck bomb in Beirut the Marine Barrack I remember it well you got a disfiguring scar want to see it no but you need to remember that wasn't the hoes what are you my therapist no but that doesn't make my statement any the less true I don't know who it was in Beirut nobody does for sure but whoever they were the ho's brother officers You're motivated by revenge and you still feel guilty about Susan Mark so so you might not be operating at Peak efficiency worried about me about myself mainly I want my photograph back you'll get it at least give me a clue where it is you know what I know I figured it out so you'll figure it out you were a cop different skill set so you'll be slower but it ain't rocket science so what kind of science is it think like a regular person for once not like a soldier or a politician he tried he failed he said at least tell me why I shouldn't destroy it you know what I know what does that mean or maybe you don't know what I know because you're too close to yourself maybe me I'm just a member of the public so I'm sure you're a hell of a guy Sansom I'm sure you'd be a great Senator but at the end of the day any Senator is just one out of a hundred they're all fairly interchangeable can you give me a name of one individual senator who truly made a difference to anything Sansom didn't answer can you tell me how you personally are going to screw Al-Qaeda he started to talk about the armed services committee and foreign relations and intelligence and budgets and oversight like a boilerplate speech like he was out on the stump I asked him what part of all that wouldn't be done by whoever else might get the job assuming you don't he didn't answer I asked him imagine a cave in the northwest of Pakistan imagine the al-Qaeda brass sitting there right now are they tearing their hair out and saying holy [ __ ] we better not let John Sanson make it to the US Senate are you top of their agenda he said probably not so why do they want the photograph small victories he said better than nothing it's a lot of work for a small victory don't you think two agents plus 19 men plus 3 months the United States would be embarrassed but not very look at the Rumsfeld photograph nobody cared times Chang things move on people understand that if they even notice it all Americans are either very mature and sensible or very oblivious I'm never quite sure which but either way that picture would be a damp squib it might destroy you personally but destroying one American at a time isn't how Al-Qaeda operates it would hurt Reagan's memory who cares most Americans don't even remember him most Americans think Reagan is an airport in Washington I think you're underestimating and I think you're overestimating you're too close to the process I think that photograph would hurt but who would it hurt what does the government think you know that the defense department is trying like crazy to get it back is it then why did they give the job to their B Team huh you think those guys were their B team I sincerely hope so if that was their a team we should all move to Canada Sansom didn't answer I said the picture might do you some local damage in North Carolina but apparently that's all we're not seeing any kind of Maximum effort from the dod because there's no real National downside that's not an accurate read okay it's bad for us it's evidence of a strategic error it's awkward it's embarrassing and it's going to put egg on our face but that's all it's not the end of the world we're not going to fall apart so al-qaeda's expectations are too high you're saying they're wrong too they don't understand the American people the way you do no I'm saying this whole thing is a little lopsided it's slightly asymmetric Al-Qaeda fielded an a team and we fielded a B Team therefore their desire to grab that photograph is just a little bit stronger than our desire to hold on to it Sansom said nothing and we have to ask why wasn't Susan Mark just told to copy it if their aim was to embarrass us then copying it would have been a better idea because when it came to light and Skeptics claimed it had been in faked which they would then the original would still be on file and we couldn't have denied it with a straight face okay but Susan Mark wasn't told to copy it she was told to steal it effectively to take it away from us with no Trace Left Behind which added considerable risk invisibility which means what which means they want to have it and equally they want us not to have it I don't understand you need to cast your mind back you need to figure out exactly what that camera saw because Al-Qaeda doesn't want to publicize that photograph they stole it because they want to suppress it why would they because however bad it is for you there's something in it that's even worse for Osama bin Laden chapter 69 Sansom and Springfield went quiet like I knew they would they were casting their minds back a quarter of a century to a dim tent above the coral valley floor they were stiffening and straightening subconsciously repeating their formal poses one on the left one on the right with their host between them the camera lens trained on them aimed zoomed adjusted focused the strobe charging then popping bathing the scene with light what exactly did the camera see Sansom said I don't remember maybe it was us Springfield said simple as that maybe meeting with Americans looks like bad karma now no I said that's good PR it makes Bin Laden look powerful and triumphant and it makes us look like patsies it has to be something else it was a zoo in there chaos and Mayhem it has to be something fatally inappropriate little boys little girls animals Sansom said I don't know what they would regard as inappropriate they have a thousand rules over there could be something he was eating even or smoking or drinking there was no alcohol there Springfield said I remember that women I asked no women either has to be something where there other visitors there only tribal no foreigners only us it has to be something that makes him look compromised or weak or deviant was he healthy he seemed to be so what else deviant from their laws or deviant like we mean it Al-Qaeda HQ I said where the men are men and the goats are scared I don't remember it was a long time ago we were tired we just walked 100 miles through the front lines Sansom had gone quiet like I knew he would eventually he said this is a real [ __ ] I said I know know it is I'm going to have to make a big decision I know you are if that picture hurts him more than it hurts me I'm going to have to release it no if it hurts him at all even a little bit you're going to have to release it and then you're going to have to suck it up and face the consequences where is it I didn't answer okay he said I have to watch your back but I know what you know and you figured it out which means I can figure it out but slower because it ain't rocket science which means the hoes can figure it out too are they going to be slower Maybe not maybe they're picking it up right now yes I said maybe they are and if they're going to suppress it maybe I should just go ahead and let them if they're going to suppress it that means it's a valuable weapon that could be used against them Sansom said nothing I said remember officer candidate School something about all enemies foreign and domestic we take the same oath in Congress so should you let the hoath suppress the picture he was quiet for a very long time then he spoke go he said go get the hoes before they get the picture I didn't go not right then not immediately I had things to think about and plans to make and deficiencies to overcome I wasn't equipped I was wearing rubber gardening clogs and blue pants I was unarmed none of those things was good I wanted to go in the dead of night properly dressed in black with proper shoes and weapons the more the merrier the outfit would be easy the weapons not so much New York City is not the best place on the planet to get hold of a private Arsenal at the drop of a hat there were probably places in the outer Burrows selling overpriced junk under the counter but there were places in the outer burrow selling used cars too and fastidious drivers were well advised to stay away from them problem I looked at Sansom and said you can't actively help me right he said no I looked at Springfield and said I'm heading out to a clothing store now I figure on getting black pants and a black T-shirt and black shoes with a black windbreaker maybe Tri XXL kind of baggy what do you think Springfield said we don't care we'll be gone when you get back I went to the store on Broadway where I bought the cocky shirt prior to the Sansom fundraiser lunch it was doing a little business and had plenty of items in stock I found everything I needed there apart from socks and shoes black jeans plain black T-shirt and a black cotton zip up windbreaker made for a guy with a much bigger gut than mine I tried it on and as expected it fit okay in the arms and the shoulders and ballooned way out in the front like a maternity smog perfect if Springfield had taken the hint I dressed in the changing cubicle and trashed my old stuff and paid the clerk $59 then I took her recommendation and moved on three blocks to a shoe store I bought a pair of sturdy black lace ups and a pair of black socks close to a 100 bucks I heard my my mother's voice in my head from long ago at a price like that you better make them last don't scuff them up I stepped out of the store and stamped down on the sidewalk a couple of times to settle the fit I stopped in at a drug store and bought a pair of generic white boxers I figured that since everything else was new I should complete The Ensemble then I started back to the hotel three Paces later the phone in my pocket started to buy Chapter 70 I backed up against a building on the corner of 55th Street and pulled the phone out of my pocket restricted call I opened the phone and raised it to my ear Leela H said Reacher I said yes I'm still standing out in the road I'm still waiting for the truck to hit me it's coming but when will it arrive you can sweat a spell I'll be with you inside a couple of days I can't wait I know where you are good that will simplify things and I know where the memory stick is too again good we'll keep you alive long enough for you to tell us and then maybe a few more hours just for the fun of it you're a babe in the woods Leela you should have stayed home in t your goats you're going to die and that photograph is going all around the world we have a fresh blank DVD she said the camera is charged up and ready for your starting roll you talk too much Leela she didn't answer I closed the phone and headed back through the Gathering evening Darkness to the hotel I went up in the elevator and unlocked my room and sat down on the bed to wait I waited for a long time time close to 4 hours I thought I was waiting for Springfield but in the end it was Thea Lee who showed up she knocked on the door 8 minutes before midnight I did the thing with the chain in the mirror again and let her in she was dressed in a version of the first outfit I'd ever seen her in pants and a silk short sleeve shirt untucked dark gray not midg gray less silvery more serious she was carrying a black gymnasium bag ballistic nylon the way it hung from her hand I guessed it held heavy items the way the heavy items moved and clinked I guessed they were made of metal she put the bag on the floor near the bathroom and asked are you okay are you she nodded it's like nothing ever happened we're all back on the job what's in the bag I have no idea idea a man I never saw before delivered it to the precinct Springfield no the name he gave was Browning he gave me the bag and said in the interests of crime prevention I should make sure you never got your hands on it but you brought it anyway I'm guarding it personally safer than leaving it around okay you would have to overpower me and assaulting police officers is against the law true she sat down on the bed a yard from me maybe less she said we raided those three old buildings on 58th Street Springfield told you about them he said his name was Browning our counterterrorism people went in 2 hours ago the hoes aren't there I know they were but they aren't anymore I know how do you know they turned in Leonid and his buddy therefore they've moved somewhere Leonid and his buddy don't know layers upon layers why did they turn in Leonid and his buddy to encourage the other 13 and to feed the machine we'll rough him up a little the Arab media will call it torture they'll get 10 new recruits net gain of eight and Leonid and his pal are no big loss anyway they were hopeless will the other 13 be better law of averages says yes 13 is an insane number 15 including the hosts themselves you shouldn't do it especially on armed she glanced at the bag then she looked back at me can you find them what are they doing from money we can't trace them that way they stopped using credit cards in ATM 6 days ago which makes sense which makes them hard to find I asked is Jacob Mark safely back in Jersey you think he shouldn't be involved no but I should you are I said you brought me the bag I'm guarding it what else you your counterterrorism people doing searching she said with the FBI and the Department of Defense there's 600 people on the street right now where are they looking anywhere bought or rented inside the last 3 months the city is cooperating plus they're inspecting hotel registers and business apartment leases and Warehouse operations across all five burrows okay word on the street is it's all about a pentagon file on a USB memory stick close enough do you know where it is close enough where is it nowhere between 9th Avenue and park and 30th Street and 45th I suppose I deserve that you'll figure it out do you really know doerty figures you don't he figures you're trying to Bluff your way out of trouble doerty is clearly a very cynical man cynical or right I know where it is so go get it leave the h for someone else I didn't answer that instead I said you spend time in the gym not much she said why I'm wondering how hard it would be to overpower you not very she said I didn't answer she asked when are you planning on setting out 2 hours I said then another 2 hours to find them an attack at 4 in the morning my favorite time something we learned from the Soviets they had doctors working on it people hit a low at 4 in the morning it's a universal truth you're making that up I'm not you won't find them in 2 hours I think I will the missing file is about Sansom right partially does he know you've got it I haven't got it but I know where it is does he know that I nodded Lee said so you made a bargain with him get me and doy and Jacob Mark out of trouble and you'll lead him to it the bar was designed to get myself out of trouble first and foremost didn't work for you you're still on the hook with the feds it worked for me as far as the NYPD is concerned and it worked for the rest of us all around for which I thank you you're welcome she asked how were the hes planning to get out of the country I don't think they are I think that option disappeared a few days ago I think they expected things to go more smoothly than they have now it's about finishing the job do or die like a suicide mission that's what they're good at which makes it worse for you if they like suicide I'm happy to help Lee moved on the bed and the tail of her shirt got trapped underneath her and the silk pulled tight over the shape of the gun on her hip a Glock 17 I figured in a pancake holster I asked her who knows you're here docky she said when's he expecting you back tomorrow she said I said nothing she said what do you want to do right now honest answer please I want to unbutton your shirt you say that to a lot of police officers I you used to police officers were all the people I knew danger makes you horny women make me horny all women no I said not all women she was quiet for a long moment and then she said not a good idea I said okay you're taking no for an answer aren't I supposed to she was quiet for another long moment and then she said I changed my mind about what about it not being a good idea excellent but I worked Vice for a year ENT trapment stings we needed proof that the guy had a reasonable expectation of what he thought he was going to get so we made him take his shirt off first as proof of intent I could do that I said I think you should you're going to arrest me no I peeled my new t-shirt off tossed it across the room it landed on the table Lee spent a moment staring at my scar the same way Susan Mark had on the train the awful raised tracery of stitches from the shrapnel from the truck bomb at the bayro barracks I let her look for a minute and then I said your turn with the shirt she said I'm a traditional kind of girl what does that mean you would have to kiss me first I could do that I said and I did slowly and gently and a little tentatively at first in a way that felt exploratory and in a way that gave me time to savor the new mouth the new taste the new teeth the new tongue it was all good then we passed some kind of a threshold and got into it harder a short minute later we were completely out of control afterward she showered and then I showered she dressed and I dressed she kissed me one more time and told me to call her if I needed her and wished me luck and walked out through the door she left the black bag on the floor near the bathroom chapter 71 I hefted the bag over to the bed about 8 lb I figured it hit the Ruck sheet and made a satisfying metallic sound I unzipped it and parted the flaps like a mouth and looked inside first thing I saw was a file folder it was legal sized and cocky in color and made of thick paper or thin card depending on your point of view it held 21 printed out sheets immigration records for 21 separate people two women 19 men citizens of Turkmenistan they had entered the United States from Tajikistan 3 months ago linked itineraries there were digital photographs and digital fingerprints from the immigration booths at JFK the photographs had a slight fishey Distortion they were in color I recognized Leela and Sedana easily and Leonid and his buddy I didn't know the other 17 four of them already had exit notations they were the four that had left I dropped their sheets in the trash and laid out the unknown 13 on the bed for a better look all 13 faces looked bored and tired local flights connections a long transatlantic flight jet lag a long wait in JFK's immigration Hall suen glances at the camera faces held level eyes swiveling up towards the lands which told me all 13 were somewhat short in stature I crosschecked with Leonid sheet his gaze was just as bored and tired as the others but it was level E was the tallest of the party I checked spet Lana Ho's sheet she was the shortest the others were all somewhere in between small wiry Middle Eastern men worn down to bone and muscle and senu by climate and D and culture I looked hard at them 1 through 13 over and over again until I had their expressions fixed firmly in my mind then I turned back to the bag at the minimum I was hoping for a decent handgun at best I was hoping for a short submachine gun my point to Springfield about the baggy jacket was to make him see that I would have room to carry something under it slung high on my chest on a shortened strap and then concealed by the excess fabric zipped over it I had hoped he would get the message he had he had gotten the message he'd come through in fine style better than the minimum better even than the best case he had given me a silenced short submachine gun a Heckler and [ __ ] MP5 SD the suppressed version of the classic MP5 no butt or St just a pistol grip a trigger a housing for a curved 30 round magazine and then a 6-in barrel radically fattened by a double layered silencer casing 9 mm fast accurate and quiet a fine weapon it was fitted with a black nylon strap the strap had already been tightened up and reduced in length to its practical minimum as if Springfield was saying I heard you pal I laid the gun on the bed he had supplied ammunition too it was right there in the bag a single curved magazine 30 rounds short and fat shiny brass cases winking in the light polished lead noses nearly as bright 9mm parabellums from the Latin motto see this pachim Parabellum if you wish for peace prepare for war a wise saying but 30 rounds was not a lot not against 15 people but New York City is not easy not for me not for Springfield I lined up the magazine next to the gun checked the bag again in case there was more there wasn't but there was a bonus of a Kind a knife a Benchmade 3300 a black machine handle an auto opening mechanism illegal in all 50 states unless you were active service military or law enforcement which I wasn't I thumbed the release and the blade snicked out fast and hard a double-edged dagger with a spear point 4 in long I'm no kind of a knife fetishist I don't have favorites I don't really like any of them but if you asked me to rely on one for combat I'd pick something close to what Springfield had say implied the automatic mechanism the point the two-edged blade ambidextrous good for stabbing good for slashing either coming or going I closed it up and put it on the bed next to the H&K there were two final items in the bag a single leather glove black sized and shaped for a large man's left hand and a roll of black duct tape I put them on the bed in line with the gun and the magazine and the knife 30 minutes later I was all dressed up and locked and loaded and riding south on the R Train chapter 72 the R Train uses older cars with some front and rear-facing seats but I was on the side bench all alone it was 2:00 in the morning there were three other passengers I had my elbows on my knees and I was staring at my myself in the glass opposite I was counting bullet points inappropriate clothing check the windbreaker was zipped to my chin and looked way too hot and way too big on me under it the MP5 strap was looped around my neck and the gun itself was resting diagonally grip high and Barrel low across my body and it didn't show at all a robotic walk not immediately applicable with a seated suspect on public transportation points 3 through six irritability sweating ticks and nervous Behavior I was sweating for sure maybe a little more than the temperature in the jacket called for I was feeling irritable too maybe even a little more than usual but I looked at myself hard in the glass and saw no ticks my eyes were steady and my face was composed I saw no nervous Behavior either but behavior is about about external display I was a little nervous inside that was for damn sure point seven breathing I wasn't panting but I was prepared to accept that I was breathing a little harder and steadier than normal most of the time I'm not aware of breathing at all it just happens automatically an involuntary reflex deep in the brain but now I could feel a Relentless in through the nose out through the mouth rhythm in out in out like a machine like a man using equipment underwater I couldn't slow it down I wasn't feeling much oxygen in the air it was going in and coming out like an inert gas like argon or Xenon it wasn't doing me any good at all point8 a rigid forward stare check but I excused myself because I was using it to assess all the other points or because it was a symbol of pure Focus or concentration normally I'd be gazing around and not rigidly n mumbled prayers not happening I was still and silent my mouth was closed and not moving at all in fact my mouth was closed so hard my back teeth were hurting and the muscles in the corners of my jaw were standing out like golf balls 10 a large bag not present 11 hands in the bag not relevant 12 a fresh shave hadn't happened I hadn't shaved for days so 6'2 I might or might not be a suicide bomber and I might or might not be a suicide I stared at my reflection and thought back to my first sight of Susan Mark a woman heading for the end of her life as surely and certainly as the train was heading for the end of the line I took my elbows off my knees and sat back I looked at my fellow passengers two men one woman nothing special about any of them the train rocked on South with all its sounds the rushing air the clatter of Expansion Joints under the wheels the scrape of the current collector the whine of the motors the squeals as the cars lurched one after the other through the long gentle curves I looked back at myself in the dark window opposite and smiled me against them not the first time and not the last I got out at 34th Street and stayed in the station just sat in the heat on a wooden bench and walked myself through my theories one more time I replayed Leela Ho's history lesson from the days of the British Empire when contemplating an offensive the very first thing you must plan is your inevitable Retreat had her superiors back home followed that excellent advice I was betting not for two reasons first fanaticism ideological organizations can't afford rational considerations start thinking rationally and the whole thing falls apart and ideological organizations like to force their foot soldiers into No Way Out operations to encourage persistence the same way explosive belts are sewn together behind not zippered or snapped and second a plan for retreat carried with it the seeds of its own destruction inevitably a third or a fourth or a fifth bolt hole bought or rented 3 months ago would show up in the City Records just in case reservations at hotels would show up too same day reservations would show up 600 agents were combing the streets I guess they would find nothing at all because the planners back in the Hills would have anticipated their moves they would have known that all Trails would be exhausted as soon as the scent was caught they would have known that by definition the only safe destination is an unplanned destination so now the hes were out in the cold with their whole crew two women 13 men they'd quit their place on 58th Street and they were scuffling and improvising and crawling below the radar which was exactly where I lived they were in my world it takes one to find one I came up from under the ground into Herold Square which is where 6th Avenue and Broadway and 34th Street all meet by day it's a zoo Macy's is there at night it's not deserted but it's quiet I walked South on 6th and West on 33rd and came up along the flank of The Faded old pile where I'd bought my only uninterrupted night of the week the MP5 was hard and heavy against my chest the hoath had only two choices sleep on the street or pay off a night Porter Manhattan has hundreds of hotels but they break down quite easily into separate categories most of them are midmarket or better where staffs are large and scams don't work most of the down Market dumps are small and the HS had 15 people to accommodate five rooms minimum to find five empty unobtrusive rooms called for a big place with a bent nightporter working alone I know New York reasonably well I I can make sense of the city especially from the kind of angles most normal people don't consider and I can count the number of big old Manhattan hotels with bent night Porters working alone on my thumbs one was way west on 23rd Street far from the action which was an advantage but also a disadvantage more of a disadvantage than an advantage overall second choice I figured I was standing right next to the only other option the clock in my head was ticking past 2:30 in the morning I stood in the shadows and waited I wanted to be neither early nor late I wanted to time it right left and right I could see traffic heading up on Sixth and down on Seventh taxis trucks some civilians some cop cars some dark sedans the cross street itself was quiet at A4 to 3 I pushed off the wall and turned the corner and walked to the hotel door chapter 73 the same night Porter was on duty alone he was slumped on a chair behind the desk staring morosely into space there were fogged old mirrors in the lobby my jacket was puffed out in front of me I felt I could see the shape of the mp5s pistol grip and the curve of its magazine and the tip of its muzzle but I knew what I was looking at I assumed the night Porter didn't I walked up to him and said remember me he didn't say yes didn't say no just gave a kind of all-purpose shrug that I took to be an invitation to open negotiations I don't need a room I said so what do you need I took 520s out of my pocket a 100 bucks most of what I had left I fanned the bills so he could see all five double digits and laid them on his counter I said I need to know the room numbers where you put the people who came in around midnight what people two women 13 men nobody came in around midnight one of the women was a babe young bright blue eyes not easy to forget nobody came in you sure nobody came in I pushed the five bills towards him you totally sure he pushed the bills right back he said I'd like to take your money believe me but nobody came in tonight I didn't take the subway I walked instead a calculated risk it exposed me to however many of the 600 federal agents happen to be in the vicinity but I wanted my cell phone to work work I had concluded that cell phones don't work in the subway I'd never seen anyone using one down there presumably not because of etiquette presumably because of a lack of signal so I walked I used 32nd Street to get over to Broadway and then I followed Broadway South past luggage outlets and Junk Jewelry stores and counterfeit perfume wholesalers all of them closed up and shuttered for the night it was dark down there and messy a micro neighborhood I could have been in Lagos or Saigon I paused at the corner at 28th Street to let a taxi Slide by the phone in my pocket started to vibrate I backed into 28th and sat down on a shadowed stoop and opened the phone Leela hot said well I said I can't find you I know so I'll deal you will how much cash have you got how much do you want all of it have you got the stick I can tell you exactly where it is but you don't actually have it no so what was the thing you showed us in the hotel a decoy $50,000 100 I don't have $100,000 I said you can't get on a bus or a train or a plane you can't get out you're trapped Leela you're going to die here don't you want to die of success don't you want to be able to send that coded email home mission accomplished 75,000 100 okay but only half tonight I don't trust you you'll have to I said 75 all of it tonight 60 deal where are you way up town I lied but I'm on the move I'll meet you in Union Square in 40 minutes where is that Broadway between 14th Street and 17th is it safe safe enough I'll be there she said just you I said alone she clicked off I moved on two blocks to the North End of Madison Square Park and sat on a bench a yard from from a homeless woman who had a shopping cart piled high like a dump truck I fished in my pocket for Theresa Lee's NYPD business card I read it in the dim glow of the streetlight I dialed her cell number she answered after five rings Mrs rer I said he told me to call you if I needed you what can I do for you am I still off the hook with the NYPD absolutely so tell your counterterrorism people at 40 minutes from now I'll I'll be in Union Square and I'll be approached by a minimum of two and a maximum of maybe six of leelah hot's crew tell your guys they're theirs for the taking but tell them to leave me alone descriptions you looked in the bag right before you delivered it of course then you've seen their pictures where in the Square I'll aim for the southwest corner so you found her first place I looked she's in a hotel she paid off the night Porter and put us scare in him he denied everything and called her room from the desk the minute I was out of the lobby how do you know because she called me less than a minute later I like coincidences as much as the next guy but that kind of timing is too good to be true why are you meeting with her crew I set up a deal with her I told her to come alone but she'll double cross me and send some of her people instead it will help me if your guys grab them up I don't want to have to shoot them all conscience no I've got 30 rounds of ammunition which isn't really enough I need to parcel it out nine blocks later I entered union square I walked all around at once and crossed it on both diagonals saw nothing that worried me just selent shapes on benches one of New York City's zll hotels I sat down near the statue of Gandy and waited for the rats to come out chapter 74 20 minutes into my 40 I saw the nypd's counterterrorism squad began to assemble good moves they came and beat up unmarked sedans and confiscated minivans full of dents and scrapes I saw an off-duty taxi cab park outside a coffee shop on 16th Street I saw two guys climb out of the back and cross the road altogether I counted 16 men and I was prepared to accept that I had missed maybe four or five others if I didn't know better I would have suspected that a long late session in a martial arts gym had just let out all the guys were young and fit and bulky and moved like trained athletes they were all carrying gym bags they were all inappropriately dressed they had on Yankees warm-up jackets or dark windbreakers like mine or thin fleece parkas like it was already November to hide their Kevlar vests I guessed and maybe their badges which would be on chains around their necks none of them eyeballed me directly but I could tell they'd spotted me and identified me they formed up in ones and twos and threes all around me and then they stepped back in the dark and disappeared they just melted into the scenery some sat on benches some lay in nearby doorways some went places I didn't see good moves 30 minutes into my 40 I was feeling pretty optimistic 5 minutes later I wasn't because the FED showed up two more cars stopped right on Union Square West Black Crown Vick waxed and bright and shiny eight men stepped out I sense the NYPD guys stirring sense them staring through the dark sense them glancing at each other sense them asking why the hell are those guys here I was good with the NY PD not so with the FBI and the Department of Defense I glanced at Gandy he told me nothing at all I pulled out the phone again and hit the green button to bring up Theresa Lee's number she was the last call I had made I hit the green button again to dial she answered immediately I said the feds are here how did that happen [ __ ] she said either they're monitoring our dispatcher or one of our guys is looking for a better job who takes precedent tonight they do always you should get the hell out of there I closed the phone and put it back in my pocket the eight guys from the crown Vick stepped into the Shadows the square went quiet there was a faulty letter and a lit up sign to my left it sputtered on and off at random intervals I heard rats in the mulch behind me I waited 2 minutes 3 then 39 minutes into into my 40 I sensed human movement far to my right footfalls Disturbed air holes in the darkness I watched and saw figures moving through shadows and dim light seven men which was good news the more now the fewer later and which was flattering lelu was risking more than half her Force because she thought I'd be hard to take all seven men were small and neat and wey they were all dressed like me in dark clothes baggy enough to conceal weapons but they weren't going to shoot me Leela's need to know was like body armor they saw me and paused 30 yards away I sat still in theory this should have been the easy part they approach me the NYPD guys move in I walk away and go about my business but not with the feds on the scene i' best they would want all of us at worst they would want me more than them I knew where the memory stick was Leela's people didn't I sat still 30 yards away the seven men separated two Stood Still anchored half right in my position two scooted left and looped around and headed for my other flank three walked on to get around behind me I stood up the two men on my right started to move in the two on my left were halfway through their flanking maneuver the three behind me were out of sight I guessed the NYPD guys were already on their feet I guess the feds were moving too a fluid situation I ran straight ahead to the subway gazebo 20 ft in front of me down the stairs I heard feet clattering after me loud Echoes a big crowd probably close to 40 people all strung out in a crazy Pied Piper Chase I made it into a tiled Corridor and out again into the underground Plaza no violinist this time just stale air and trash and one old guy pushing a broom with a threadbear head a yard wide I ran past him and stopped and skidded on my new souls and changed Direction and headed for the Uptown R train I jum jumped the Turn Style and ran onto the platform and all the way to the end and stopped and turned behind me three separate groups followed one after the other first came leelah Ho's seven men they raced towards me they saw I had nowhere to go they stopped I saw looks of wolfish satisfaction on their faces then I saw their inevitable conclusion too good to be true some thoughts are are clear in any language they turned suddenly and saw the NYPD counterterrorism Squad hustling right behind them and right behind the NYPD guys were four of the eight federal agents no one else on the platform no civilians on the downtown platform opposite was a lone guy on a bench young maybe drunk maybe worse he was staring across at the sudden commotion it was 20 minutes to 4 in the morning the guy looked dazed like he wasn't making much sense out of what he was seeing it looked like a gang war but what he was actually seeing was a fast and efficient takedown by the NYPD none of their guys stopped running they all piled in yelling with weapons drawn and badges visible and they exploited their big physiques and their 3 to1 numerical advantage and simply swamped the seven men no contest no contest at all they clubbed all seven to the ground and threw them on their fronts and slammed cuffs on their wrists and hauled them away no pauses no delays no Miranda warnings just maximum speed and brutality perfect tactics literally seconds later they were gone again Echoes clattered and died the station went quiet the guy opposite was still staring but suddenly he was seeing nothing except a silent platform with me standing alone at one end and the four federal agents about 30 ft from me nothing between us nothing at all just harsh white light and empty space nothing happened for the best part of a minute then across the tracks I saw the other four federal agents arrive on the downtown platform they took up position directly opposite me and Stood Still they all smiled a little like they'd made a smart move in a game of chess which they had no point in more cross trck expert exps the four agents on my side were between me and the exit at my back was a blank white wall and the mouth of the tunnel Checkmate I Stood Still breathed the tainted underground air and listened to the faint Roar of ventilation and the rumble of distant trains elsewhere in the system the agent nearest me took a gun out from under his coat he took a step towards me he said raise your hands chapter 75 nighttime schedules 20 minute gaps between trains we'd been down there maybe 4 minutes therefore arithmetically the maximum delay before the next train would be 16 minutes the minimum would be no delay at all the minimum delay didn't happen the tunnel stayed dark and quiet raise your hands the lead agent called again he was a white man of about 40 certainly exmilitary DOD not FBI similar type to the three I'd already met but maybe a little older maybe a little wiser maybe a little better maybe this was an A Team not a B Team I'll shoot the lead agent called but he wouldn't empty threat they wanted the memory stick I knew where it was they didn't median delay before the next train 8 minutes as likely to be more as less the guy with a gun took another step forward his three colleagues followed across the tracks the other four Stood Still the young guy on the bench was watching vacantly the tunnel stayed dark and quiet the lead agent said all this hassle could be over a minute from now just tell us where it is I said where what is you know what what has we're running out of patience and you're missing one important factor which is whatever intellectual gifts you have they're hardly likely to be unique in fact they're probably fairly ordinary which means that if you figured it out we can figure it out too which means your continued existence would become Surplus to requirements so go ahead I said figure it out he raised his gun higher and straighter it was a Glock 17 maybe 25 o fully loaded by far the lightest service pistol on the market made partly from plastic the guy had short thick arms he could probably hold the pose indefinitely last chance he said across the tracks the young guy got off his bench and walked away long inconsistent strides not entirely in a straight line he was prepared to waste a $2 metro card swipe in exchange for a quiet life he made it to the exit and disappeared from sight no Witnesses median delay before the next train maybe 6 minutes I said I don't know who you are the guy said federal agents prove it the guy kept his gun aimed at my Center MK but nodded over his shoulder at the agent behind him who stepped out and moved forward into the No Man's Land Between Us he paused there and put his hand in his inside jacket pocket and came back with a leather badge holder he held it ey height to me and let it fall open there were two separate pieces of ID in it I couldn't read either one of them they were too far away and both of them were behind scratched plastic windows I I stepped forward he stepped forward I got within 4T of him and saw a standard defense intelligence agency ID in the upper window of the wallet it looked genuine and it was in date in the lower window was some kind of a warrant or commission that stated the holder was to be afforded every assistance because he was acting directly for the president of the United States very nice I said beats working for a living I stepped back he stepped back the lead agent said no different than what you were doing back in the day back in prehistory I said what is this an ego thing median delay before the next train 5 minutes it's a practical thing I said if you want something done properly do it yourself the guy dropped the angle of his arm below the horizontal now he was aiming at my knees I'll shoot he said you don't think or talk or remember with your legs no Witnesses if all else fails start talking I asked why do you want it want what you know what national security offense or defense defense of course it would ruin our credibility it would set us back years you think we know I said keep working on those intellectual gifts he aimed his gun more precisely at my left shin he said I'll count to three I said good luck with that tell me if you get stuck along the way he said one then the rails hissed in the track bed next to me strange metallic harmonic sounds speeding ahead of a train way back in the tunnel the harmonics were chased all the way by the push of hot air and a deeper rumbling a curve in the tunnel wall was lit up by a headlight nothing happened for a long second then the train rushed into view moving fast caned over by the camber of the curve it rocked and straightened and came on at speed and then the brakes bit down and moaned and shrieked and the train slowed and pulled in right alongside us all bright shining stainless steel and hot light hissing grinding and groaning an uptown R train maybe 15 cars each one of them dotted with a small handful of passengers Witnesses I glanced back at the lead agent his Glock was back under his coat we were at the North end of the platform the R Train uses older cars each car has four sets of doors the lead car was halted right next to us I was more or less in line with the first set of doors the dod guys were closer to sets three and four the doors opened the whole length of the train way down at the back end two people got out they walked away and were gone the doors stayed open I turned to face the Train the dod guys turned to face the train I stepped forward they stepped forward I stopped they stopped choices I could get on through door one whereupon they would get on through doors three and four into the same car we could ride together all night long or I could let the train go without me and spend a minimum 20 more minutes try wrapped with them on the same platform as before the doors stayed open I stepped forward they stepped forward I stepped into the car they stepped into the car I paused a beat and backed right out again back to the platform they backed out we all Stood Still The Doors closed in front of me like a final curtain the rubber bumpers thumped together I felt the draw of electricity in the air bolts and amps massive demand the motors spun up and wind 500 tons of steel started to roll the R Train uses older cars they have toe boards and rain gutters I ducked forward and hooked my fingers into the gutter and jammed my right toes onto the board then my left I flattened myself against the metal in the glass I hugged the car's exterior curve like a starfish the MP5 dug into my chest I clung on fingers and toes the train moved Breeze tugged at me the hard edge of the tunnel came right at me I held my breath and spread my hands and feet wider and ducked my head and laid my cheek against the glass the train sucked me sideways into the tunnel with about 6 in to spare I glanced back past my locked elbow and saw the lead agent standing still on the platform one hand in his hair the other raising his Glock and then lowering it again chapter 76 it was a nightmare ride Incredible speed howling Blackness battering noise unseen obstructions hurling straight at me extreme physical violence the whole train swayed and bounced and bucked and jerked and rocked under me every single expansion joint threatened to tear me loose I dug all eight fingers hard into the shallow Gutter and pressed upward with the balls of my thumbs and downward with my toes and held on desperately wind tore at my clothes the door panels swayed and juted my head bounced against them like a jackhammer I rode nine blocks like that then we hit 23rd Street and the train breaked hard I was pitched forward against my left hand's grip and my right foot's resistance I hung on tight and was carried sideways straight into the station's dazzling brightness at 30 m an hour the platform rushed past I was clamped on the lead car like a limpet it stopped right at the North End of the station I arched my body and the doors slid open under me I stepped inside and collapsed into the nearest seat nine blocks maybe a minute enough to cure me a subway surfing for life there were three other passengers in my car none of them even looked at me the doors sucked shut the train moved on I got out at Herold Square where 34th Street meets Broadway and 6th 10: to 4: in the morning still on schedule I was 20 blocks and maybe 4 minutes north of where I got on the train at Union Square too far and too fast for organized DOD resistance I came up from under the to the ground and walked east to west along Macy's imposing flank then I headed south on Seventh all the way to the door of Leela hot's chosen Hotel the night Porter was behind the counter I didn't unzip my jacket for him I didn't think it' be necessary I just walked up to him and leaned over and slapped him on the ear he fell off his stool I vaulted over the counter and caught him by the throat and hauled him upright I said tell me the rum numbers and he did five separate rooms not adjacent all of them on the eighth floor he told me which one the women were in the men were spread out over the other four originally 13 guys and eight available beds five short straws or five on senty duty I took the roll of black duct tape out of my pocket and used about 8 yards of it to bind the Porter's arms and legs a dollar and a half from any hardware store but as much a part of standard issue Special Forces equipment as the Thousand rifles and the satellite radios and the navigation systems I stuck a final 6-in length across his mouth I stole his passcard just tore it right off its curly cord then I left him out of sight on the floor behind the counter and headed for the elevator bank got in and pressed the highest number available which was 11 the door slid shut and the car bore me Upward at that point point I unzi my jacket I settled the gun at a nice angle on its strap and I took the leather glove out of my other pocket and slipped it on my left hand the MP5 SD has no forgrip not like the stubby K variant which has a fat little handle under the muzzle with the SD you use your right hand on the pistol grip and your left hand supports the barrel casing the inner barrel has 30 holes drilled in it the powder in the round neither Burns nor explodes it does both it defrates it creates a bubble of superheated gas some of the gas escapes through the 30 holes which quiets the noise and slows the bullet to a subsonic velocity no point in silencing a gun if its bullet is going to create a supersonic snap all its own a slow bullet is a quiet bullet just like the Val silent sniper the escaping gas comes through the Third dirty holes and expands and swirls around in the inner silencer chamber then it passes to the second chamber and expands some more and swirls some more expanding cools the gas basic physics but not by much maybe it reduces from superheated to extremely hot and the outer Barrel casing is metal hence the glove no one uses an MP5 SD without one spring Springfield was the kind of guy who thinks of everything on the left side of the gun was a combined safety and fire selector switch the older versions of the SD that I remembered had a three position lever s e and f s for safe e for single shots and F for automatic fire German abbreviations presumably e for in and so on and so forth even though Heckler and [ __ ] had been owned by a British Corporation for many years I guess they decided that tradition counts but Springfield had given me a newer model the sd4 it had a four position selector switch no abbreviations just pictograms for foreign convenience or illiterate users a plain white dot for safe one little white bullet shape for single shots three bullet shapes for three round bursts and a long string of bullet shapes for continuous automatic fire I chose three round bursts my favorite one pull of the trigger three 9 mm rounds inside a quarter of a second an inevitable degree of muzzle climb minimized by careful control and the weight of the silencer resulting in a neat little Stitch of three fatal wounds climbing a vertical line maybe an inch and a half High works for me 30 rounds 10 bursts eight targets one burst each plus two over for emergencies the elevator chimed open on the 11th floor and I heard Leela hot's voice in my head talking about old campaigns long ago in the corang gal you must save the last bullet for yourself because you do not want to be taken alive especially by the women I stepped out of the elevator into a silent Corridor standard tactical Doctrine for any assault attack from the high ground the eighth floor was three below me two ways down stairs or elevator I preferred the stairs especially with a silenced weapon the smart defensive tactic would be to put a man in the stairwell early warning for them easy pickings for me he could be dealt with quietly and at leisure the stairwell had a battered door set next to the elevator core I eased it open and started down the stairs were done y concrete each floor was marked with a large number painted by hand in green paint I was quiet all the way down to nine super silent after that I paused and peered over the metal rail no Sentry in the stairwell The Landing inside the eighth floor door was empty which was a disappointment it made the job on the other side of the door 25% harder five men in the corridor not not four and the way the rooms were distributed meant that some of them would be on my left and some of them on my right three and two were two and three a long second spent facing the wrong way and then a crucial spin not easy but it was 4 in the morning the lowest e a universal truth the Soviets had studied it with doctors I paused on the stairwell side of the door and took a deep breath then another I put my gloved hand on the handle I took the slack out of the mp5s trigger I pulled the door I held it at 45° with my foot cradled the mp5s Barrel in my glove looked and listened no sound nothing to see I stepped into the corridor whipped One Way Whi the other no one there no sentries no guards no nothing just the length of dirty matted carpet and dim yellow light and two rows of closed doors nothing to hear except the subliminal hum and shudder of the city and muted far away Sirens I closed the stairwell door behind me I checked numbers and walked quickly to Leela's door put my ear on the crack and listened hard I heard nothing I waited five whole minutes 10 no sound no one can stay still and Silent longer than me I dipped the Porter's passcard into the slot a tiny light flashed red then green there was a click I smashed the handle down and was inside a split second later the room was empty the bathroom was empty there were signs of recent occupation the toilet roll was loose and ragged the sink was was wet a towel was used the bed was rucked the chairs were out of position I checked the other four rooms all empty all abandoned Nothing Left Behind no evidence pointing towards an imminent return Lea Ho One Step Ahead Jack Reacher one step behind I took my glove off and zipped up again and rode down to the lobby I hauled the night Porter into a sitting position against the back of his counter and tore the tape off his mouth he said don't hit me again I said why shouldn't I not my fault he said I told you the truth you asked what rooms I put them in past tense when did they leave about 10 minutes after you came the first time you called them I had to man where'd they go I have no idea what did they pay you a th000 he said not bad per room insane I said which it was for that kind of money they could have gone back to the Four Seasons except they couldn't which was the point I paused In the Shadows on the 7th Avenue sidewalk where did they go but first how did they go not in cars on the way in they had 15 people they would have needed three cars minimum and Faded old piles with night Porters working alone don't have ballet parking taxis possible on the way in late in the evening from Midtown going out again at 3: in the morning on 7th Avenue eight people would have required at least two simultaneous empty cabs unlikely Subway possible probably even there were three Lines within a Block's walk nighttime schedules a maximum 20 minute wait on the platform but then Escape either Uptown or downtown but to where nowhere that needed a long walk at the other end a gaggle of eight people hustling hard on the sidewalk was very noticeable there was 600 agents on the streets the only other Hotel option I knew was way west of even the e8th Avenue line a 15-minute walk maybe more too big a risk of exposure so the subway but to where New York City 320 square miles 205,000 Acres 8 million separate addresses I stood there and sorted possibilities like a machine I drew a blank then I smiled you talk too much Leela I heard her voice in my head again again from the t- room at the Four Seasons she was talking about the old Afghan Fighters complaining about them from her pretended perspective in reality she was boasting about her own people and the red Army's fruitless back and forth skirmishing against them she had said the mujahedin were intelligent they had a habit of doubling back to positions we had previously written off as abandoned I set off back to Harold Square to the R Train I could get out at 5th and 59th from there it was a short walk to the old buildings on 58th Street chapter 77 the old buildings on 58 Street were all dark and quiet 4:30 in the morning in a neighborhood that does little business before 10: I was watching from 50 yard away from a shadowed doorway on the far sidewalk across Madison Avenue there was crime scene tape across the door with a single Bell push the left hand building of the three the one with the abandoned restaurant on the ground floor no lights in the windows no signs of activity the crime scene tape looked unbroken and inevitably it would have been accompanied by an official NYPD seal a small rectangle of paper flewed across the gap between door and jam at Keyhole height it was probably still there untorn which meant there was a back door which was likely with a restaurant on the premises restaurants generate all kinds of unpleasant garbage all day long it smells and it attracts rats not acceptable to pile it on the sidewalk better to dump it and sealed cans outside the kitchen door and then wheel the cans to the curb for the nighttime pickup I moved 20 yard South to widen my angle saw no open alleys the buildings were all cheek by jowl All Along The Block next to the door with the crime scene tape was the old restaurant's window but next to that was another door architecturally it was part of the restaurant building's neighbor it was set into the ground floor the next building along but it was plain it was black it was unlabeled it was was a little scarred it had no step and it was a lot wider than a normal door it had no handle on the outside just a keyhole without a key it opened only from the inside I made a bet with myself that it let out of a covered alley I figured that the restaurant's neighbor was two rooms wide on the ground floor and three rooms wide above at the second floor level the block was solid but below that at street level there were passageways leading to rear entrances all of them discreetly boxed in and built over air rights in Manhattan are worth a fortune the city sells itself up and down as well as side to side I moved back to my shadowed doorway I was counting time in my head 44 minutes from the time Leela's guys had been due to grab me up maybe 34 from the time Lea had expected their mission accomplished call maybe 24 from the time she had finally accepted the thing had not gone well maybe 14 from the time she had first been tempted to call me Leela you talk too much I pressed back in the darkness and waited the scene in front of me was absolutely deserted occasional cars or taxi cabs on Madison no traffic at all on 58th no pedestrians anywhere no dog walkers no partygoers staggering home garbage collection was over Bagel deliveries hadn't started the dead of night the city that doesn't sleep was at least resting comfortably I waited 3 minutes later the phone in my pocket started to vibrate I kept my eyes on the restaurant building and opened the phone raised it to my ear and said yes she asked what happened you didn't show did you expect me to I didn't give it much thought what happened to my people they're in the system we can still deal ah you can't afford to lose any more men we can work something out okay but the price just went up how much 75 where are you now right outside your house there was a pause there was a movement at a window fourth floor the left hand of the two a darkened room faint ghostly barely perceptible from 50 yards maybe the shift of a drape maybe a white shirt maybe imaginary she said no you're not outside my house but she didn't sound sure she said where do you want to meet I said what does it matter you won't show I'll send someone you can't afford to you're down to your last six guys she started to say something and stopped I said Time Square okay tomorrow morning at 10: why I want people around that's too late for what I want it now tomorrow at 10:00 take it or leave it she said stay on the line why I have to count my money to check that I have 75 I unzip my jacket I put my glove on I heard Leela ho breathing 50 yards away the black door opened the covered alley a man stepped out small dark wiry and wary he checked the sidewalk left and right he peered across the street I put the phone in my pocket still open still Al I raised the MP5 submachine guns were developed for Close Quarters combat but many of them are as accurate as rifles out to medium ranges certainly the hent K was reliable out to at least 100 yards mine was fitted with iron sights I moved the selector levered a single shot and put the front sight Square on the guy's Center Mass 50 yards away he stepped to the curb scanned right scanned left scanned ahead he saw the same nothing I was seeing just cool air and a thin night Mist he stepped back to the door a taxi cab passed spy in front of me 50 yard away the guy pushed the door I waited until I judged his momentum was all set to move forward then I pulled the trigger and shot him in the back Bullseye a slow bullet a perceptible delay fire hit the SD is advertised as silent it isn't it makes a sound louder than the polite little spit you'd get in a movie but not worse than the kind of thump you'd get from dropping a phone book on a table from about a yard noticeable in any environment but not remarkable in a city 50 yards away the guy pitched forward and went down with his torso in the alley and his legs on the sidewalk I put a second bullet into him for safety's sake and let the gun fall against its strap and took the phone back out of my pocket I said you still there she said we still counting you're one short I thought I zipped my jacket started walking I hugged the far side of Madison and overshot 58 by a couple of yards I crossed the Avenue and came around the corner with my shoulder tight against the frontage of the buildings I needed to keep below her line of sight I passed the first old building passed the second I said from 40 ft below her I have to go now I'm tired Time Square tomor tomorrow morning at 10: okay she answered from 40 ft above me she said okay I'll send someone I clicked off and put the phone back in my pocket and dragged the dead guy all the way back into the alley I closed the door behind us slowly and quietly chapter 78 there was a light in the alley a single dim bulb in a dirty bulkhead fixture I recog the dead guy from the photographs in Springfield's Homeland Security folder he'd been number seven of the original 19 I didn't remember his name I dragged him the length of the space the floor was old concrete worn to a shine I searched him nothing in his pockets no ID no weapon I left him by a small wheel trash receptacle covered in baked on Grime so old it didn't even smell anymore then I found the inner door to the building then unzipped my jacket and waited I wondered how long it would take for them to get worried about the missing guy less than 5 minutes I figured I wondered how many there would be in the search party just one probably but I hoped for more they waited 7 minutes and sent two men the inner door opened and the first guy stepped out number 14 on Springfield's list he took a pace towards the alley door and the second guy stepped out after him number eight on Springfield's list then three things happened first the first guy stopped he saw that the alley door was closed which did not compute it could not be opened from the outside without the key therefore the original Searcher would have left it standing open while he prowled the sidewalk but it was closed therefore the original Searcher was already back inside the first guy turned around second thing the second guy also turned around to close the inner door quietly and precisely I let him get it done then he raised his eyes and saw me the first guy saw me third thing I shot them both two three round bursts brief muted purring explosions each a quarter of a second long I aimed for the base of their throats and let the muzzle climb Stitch upward towards their chins they were small men their necks were narrow and mostly full of arteries and spinal cords ideal targets the noise of the gun was much louder in the roof alley than it had been out in the open loud enough for me to worry about it but the inner door was closed and it was a stout piece of wood Once Upon a Time it had been an outer door before some earlier owner had sold his air rights the two guys went down my Spence shell cases rattled way across the concrete I waited no immediate reaction eight rounds gone 22 remaining seven men captured three more down three still walking and talking plus the hoes themselves I searched the new dead guys no ID no weapons no keys which meant the inner door wasn't locked I left the two new bodies next to the first one in the shadow of the trash can then I waited I didn't expect anyone else to come through the door presumably the old Brits on the northwest Frontier had eventually gotten wise about sending out rescue parties presumably the Red Army had presumably the hoath knew their history they ought to have SED Lana had written some of it I waited the phone vibrated in my pocket I pulled it out and checked the window on the front restricted call Leela I ignored her I was all done talking I put the phone back in my pocket it stopped vibrating I put my gloved fingers on the inner door's handle I eased it down I felt the latch let go I was fairly relaxed three men had gone out conceivable that any one of them might return or all three of them if anyone was inside watching and waiting there would be a fatal split-second of delay for recognition and a decision Friend or Foe like a major league batter sorting a fast ball from a curveball a fifth of a second maybe more but no delay for me anyone I saw was my enemy anyone at all I opened the door no one there I was looking at an empty room the abandoned restaurant's kitchen it was dark and dismantled there were shells of old cabinets and gaps in the countertops where appliances had been hauled away to the secondhand stores on the Bowery there were old pipes in the walls where once faucets had been attached there were hooks in the ceiling where once saucepans had hung there was a large Stone table in the center of the room cool smooth slightly dished from years of wear maybe once pastry had been rolled on it more recently Peter Molina had been murdered on it there was no doubt in my mind that it was the table I had seen in the DVD no doubt at all I could see where the camera must have been positioned I could see where the lights had been set I could see knots of thred rope on the table legs where Peter's wrists and ankles had been tied the phone vibrated in my pocket I ignored it I moved on there were two Swinging Doors leading to the dining room one in one out out Standard Restaurant practice no collisions the doors had port hole Windows set eye High to an average man of 50 years ago I ducked down and peered through an empty room large and rectangular nothing in it except a lone orphan chair dust and Ratchet on the floor yellow light coming in from the street through the big filthy window I pushed the outdoor with my foot its hinges yelped a little but it opened I stepped into the dining room turned left and left again found a back hallway with restrooms two doors labeled ladies and gentlemen grass signs proper words no pictograms no stick figures and skirts or pants plus two more doors one in each of the side walls brass signs private one would lead back to the kitchen the other would lead to the stairwell and the upper floors the phone vibrated in my pocket I ignored it standard tactical Doctrine for any assault attack from The High Ground couldn't do it not an available option around the time the Israeli list was being written the S and Britain had been developing a tactic of repelling off roofs into upper story windows or smashing through the roof tile itself or blowing through directly from one adjacent attic to another fast dramatic and usually very successful nice work if you could get it I couldn't I was stuck with The Pedestrian approach for the time being at least I opened the stairwell door it swept an arc through a tiny 30in X 30-in ground floor hallway directly across from me close enough to touch was the door that led out to the residential entrance to the street door with the single Bell push and the crime scene tape directly out of the tiny hallway Rose a single narrow staircase it turned back on itself halfway up and Rose the rest of the way to the second floor out of sight the phone vibrated in my pocket I pulled it out and checked it restricted call I put it back in my pocket it stopped vibrating I started up the stairs chapter 79 the safest way up the first half of a dog-legged staircase is to walk backwards looking upward with your feet spread wide backwards and looking upward because if overhead resistance comes your way you need to be facing it feet spread wide because if stairs are going to Creak they're going to Creak most in the middle and least at the edges I shuffled up like that to the halfway break and then sidled sideways and went up the second half forwards I came out and a second floor hallway that was twice the size of the first floor version but still tiny 30 in by 60 one room to the left one to the right and two Dead Ahead doors all closed I Stood Still if I was Leela I'd have one guy in each of the two rooms Dead Ahead I would have them listening hard with their weapons drawn I would have them ready to fling open their doors and start up two parallel fields of fire they could get me going up or coming down but I wasn't Leela and she wasn't me I had no idea of her likely deployment except that as her numbers diminished I felt she would want to keep her remaining guys reasonably close which would put them on the third floor not the second because the flutter I had seen had been at a fourth floor window at the fourth floor window on the left to be precise looking at the building from the outside which meant her room was the room on the right looking at it from the inside I doubted that there would be any significant difference in the floor plans as I went up it was a cheap utilitarian structure no call for custom features therefore a walk through the second floor room on the right would be the same thing as a walk through Leela's room two floors above it would give me the lie of the land I squeezed the slack out of the mp5s trigger and put my gloved fingers on the door handle pushed down felt the latch let go I open the door an empty room in fact an empty and part demolished studio apartment it was as deep as but half the width of the restaurant dining room below a long narrow space a closet at the back a bathroom a kitchenet and a living in area I could see the layout at a single glance because all the Dividing Walls had been torn back to the studs the bathroom fitments were all still there odd and naked behind a vertical array of old 2 by tws like ribs like the spaced bars of a cage the kitchen equipment was intact the floors were Pine boards except for ragged edged old-fashioned Mosaic and the bathroom and lenium tile in the kitchen the whole place smelled of vermin and rotten plaster the window over the street was black with soot it was bisected diagonally by the bottom of the fire escape I walked quietly to the window the fire escape was a standard design a narrow iron ladder came down from the floor above and gave onto a narrow iron walkway under the windows themselves beyond the walkway a counterbalance section lay ready to fold down towards the sidewalk under the weight of a fleeing person the window was a s design the lower pane was designed to slide upward inside the upper pane where the panes met they were locked together with a simple brass tongue in a slot the lower pane had brass handles like the ones you see on Old file cabinets the handles had been painted over many times so with the window frames I undid the lock and put three fingers into each of the handles and heaved the frame moved an inch and stuck I increased the pressure I got close to the force I had used on the barred cages in the firehouse basement the frame shuttered upward an inch at a time sticking on the left sticking on the right fighting me all the way I got my shoulder under the bottom rail and straightened my legs the frame moved another 8 in and jamed solid I stepped back night air came in at me total Gap about 20 in more than enough I I got one leg out bent at the waist ducked through got the other leg out the phone vibrated in my pocket I ignored it I went up the iron ladder one slow quiet step after another halfway up my head was at the level of the third floor Sills and I could see both front room windows both had closed drapes old soot colored cotton material behind soot stained glass no apparent light inside no sounds no evidence of activity I turned and looked down at the street no pedestrians no passers by no traffic I moved on upward to the fourth story same result Dirty Glass closed drapes I paused a long time under the window where I'd seen movement or imagined movement I heard nothing and sensed nothing I moved up to the fifth floor the fifth floor was different no drapes empty rooms the floors were stained and the ceiling sagged and bowed rainwater leaks the fifth floor windows were locked the same simple brass tongue and Slot mechanisms I'd seen below but there was nothing I could do about them without busting the glass which would make noise which I was prepared to do but not yet I wanted to time it right I hauled the strap around until the MP5 hung down my back and I got a foot up on the window sill I stepped up and grabbed the crumbling cornice high above my head I heed myself over it not an elegant process I'm no kind of a graceful gymnast I finished up panting and sprawled face down on the roof with a face full of weeds I lay there for a second to get my breath and then I got to my knees and looked around for a trap door I found one about 40 ft back right above where I judged the stairwell hallway would be it was a simple shallow upside down wooden box sheathed in lead and hinged on one side presumably locked From Below probably with a hasp and a padlock the padlock would be strong but the hasp would be screwed into the frame and the frame would be weak from age and rot and water damage no contest standard tactical Doctrine for any assault attack from The High Ground found chapter 80 the lead sheath around the trapdoor lid had been beaten with felt hammers into gentle curves no sharp Corners I got my gloved fingers under the edge opposite the hinge and yanked hard no result so I got serious two hands eight fingers bent legs deep breath I closed my eyes I didn't want to think about Peter Molina so instead I pictured Leela Ho's insane smile at the camera right after she checked the cabul taxi driver's departed pulse I jerked the lid and the night started to unravel right there and then I had hoped that the hasp screws would pull out of either the door or the frame but they pulled out of both together the padlock with the hasp still attached free fell 10 ft and thumped hard on the bare wooden floor below a loud emphatic temp Panic sound deep resonant and clear followed immediately by the tinkle of the hasp itself and a patter of six separate screws not good not good at all I laid the trapdoor lid back and squatted on the roof and watched and listened nothing happened for a second then I heard a door open down on the fourth floor I aimed the MP5 nothing happened for another second then a head came into view up the stairs dark hair a man he had a gun in his hand he saw the padlock on the floor I saw the wheels turning in his head padlock floor screws vertical fall he peered upward I saw his face number 11 on Springfield's list he saw me the cloud above me was all lit up by the city's glow I guessed I was silhouetted quite clearly he hesitated I didn't I shot him more or less vertically through the top of his head a burst at three a triple tap a brief muted purr he went down with a loud clatter of shoes and hands and limbs with two final big thumps as first the remains of his head and then his gun hit the boards I watched the stairs for another long second and then vaulted through the open trap door and fell through the air and landed feet first next to the guy which made another loud noise we were all through with secrecy 11 rounds gone 19 remaining four men down two still up plus the hoes the phone vibrated in my pocket not now Leela I picked up the guy's gun and opened the door to the front room on the left and backed into the shadow rested my shoulder on the wall and looked out at the stairs no one came up stalemate the gun I'd taken from the dead guy was a Sig sour P22 20 with a fat silencer on it Swiss manufacturer 9mm Parabellum nine rounds and a detachable box magazine the same ammunition I was using I thumbed the rounds out and dropped them loose into my pocket I put the empty gun on the floor then I stepped back to the hallway and ducked into the front room on the right it was Bare and empty I paced out the studio layout as I remembered it from below closet bathroom kitchen living room I made it to what I guessed was the center of the living room room and stamped down hard one man's ceiling is another man's floor I figured Leela was directly below me listening I wanted to shake her up way back in the lizard part of her brain the scariest feeling of all there's something up there I stamped again I got a response the response came in the form of a bullet smashing up through the boards 3 ft to my right it tore a splintered hole and buried itself in the ceiling above me and left dust and traces of smoke in the air no gunshot they all had silencers I fired back a triple tap vertically downward straight through the same hole then I stepped away to where I guess their kitchen was 14 rounds gone 16 remaining nine loose in my pocket another shot came up through the floor 7 ft from me I fired back they fired back I fired back one more time and figured they were starting to understand the pattern so I crept out to the hallway on the head of the stairs where I found that they'd been figuring exactly the same thing that I was getting into the Rhythm a guy was sneaking up on me number two on Springfield's list he had another SIG P220 in his hand with a silencer he saw me first fired once and missed I didn't I put a triple tap into the bridge of his nose and it CL climbed to the middle of his forehead and blood and brain spattered on the wall behind him and he went back down where he'd come up from in a heap his gun went with him my spent brass tinkled away across the pine 23 rounds gone seven left plus nine loose one guy up plus the hoath themselves the phone vibrated in my pocket too late for bargains Leela I ignored her I pictured her crouching one floor below Sedana at her side one last guy between them and me how would they use him they weren't dumb they were the Airs of a long and tough tradition they had dodged and weaved and fainted through the hills for 200 years they knew what they were doing they wouldn't send the guy up the stairs not again that was fruitless they'd try to outflank me they would send the guy up the fire escape they would try to distract me with the phone and let the guy line up through the glass and shoot me in the back when either immediately or much later no middle ground they would want me either surprised or bored they chose immediately the phone vibrated in my pocket I stepped back into the left-hand room and checked the view the iron ladder rose right to left from my perspective I would see the guy's head as he came up from below which was good but my angle wasn't good the street was narrow 9mm parabellums are handgun rounds they're considered suitable for urban environments they're much more likely than a rifle round to stick in the Target and go no farther subsonic parabellums more likely still but nothing is guaranteed and there were innocent non-combatants across the street bedroom window Windows slumbering children through and through Bull's eyes could reach them wild deflections could reach them and ricochets or fragments certainly out andout misses could reach them collateral damage just waiting to happen I crept through the room and flattened myself against the window wall glanced out nothing there I extended my arm and flipped the window latch tried the handles the window I was stuck I glanced out again nothing there I stepped in front of the glass and grabbed the handles and heaved the window moved and stuck and moved again and then shot up in the frame and slammed open so hard the pain cracked end to end I backed up against the wall again listened hard heard the dull muted clang of rubber soles on iron a steady little rhythm he was coming up fast but he wasn't running I let him come I let him get all the way up I let him get his head and shoulders in the room dark hair dark skin he was number 15 on Springfield's list I lined up parallel with the front wall of the building he glanced left he glanced right he saw me I pulled the trigger a triple tap he moved his head I missed maybe the first or the last of the three bullets tore his ear off but he stayed Al alive and conscious and fired back wildly and then duck back outside I heard him fall against the narrow iron walkway Now or Never I went out after him he was scrambling head first down the stairs he made it back to the fourth floor and rolled on his back and raised his gun like it was 100 PB weight I came down the ladder after him and leaned away from the building and stitched a triple tap into the center of his face his guns spun and clanged end over end two floors down and lodged 10 ft above the sidewalk I breathed in I breathed out six men down seven arrested four back home two in a locked Ward 19 for 19 the fourth floor window was open the drapes were drawn back a studio apartment derelict but not demolished Leela and Sedana ho were standing together behind the kitchen Ed counter 29 rounds gone one left I heard Leela's voice in my head again you must save the last bullet for yourself because you do not want to be taken alive especially by the women I climbed over the sill and stepped into the room chapter 81 the apartment was laid out the same as the ruins place on the second floor living room at the front then the kitchenet then the bathroom then the closet at the back the walls were still up the plaster was all still in place there were two lights burning there was a folded up bed against the wall in the living room plus two hard chairs nothing else the kitchenet had two parallel counters and one wall covered a tiny space Leela and swetlana were crammed hip to hip in it swetlana on the left Leela on the right Sedana was in a brown house dress Leela was in black cargo pants and a white T-shirt the shirt was cotton the pants were made of rip stop nylon I guess they would rustle as she moved she looked as beautiful as ever long dark hair bright blue eyes Perfect Skin a quizzical half smile it was a bizarre scene like a radical fashion photographer had posed his best model in a gritty Urban setting I aimed the MP5 black and wicked it was hot it stank of gunpowder and oil and smoke I could smell it quite clearly I said put your hands on the counter they complied Four Hands appeared two brown and gnarled two paler and slim they spread them like starfish to blunt and square to longer and more delicate I said step back and Lan on them they complied it made them more immobile safer I said you're not mother and daughter Leela said no we are not so what are you teacher and pupil good I would wouldn't want to shoot a daughter in front of her mother or a mother in front of her daughter but you would shoot a pupil in front of her teacher maybe the teacher first so do it I Stood Still Leela said if you mean it this is where you do it I watched their hands watched for tension or effort or moving tendons or increased pressure on their fingertips for signs that they were about to go somewhere there were no such signs the phone vibrated in my pocket in the silent room it made a tiny sound a were a hum a grind a rhythmic little pulse it jumped and buzzed against my thigh I stared at Leela's hands flat still empty no phone she said perhaps you should answer that I juggled the mp5s grip into my left hand and pulled out the phone restricted call I opened it and put it to my ear L Lee said prer I said what where the hell have you been I've been trying to call you for 20 minutes I've been busy where are you how'd you get this number you called my cell remember your number's in the call log why has your number blocked Precinct switchboard I'm on the landline now where the hell are you what's up listen carefully you have bad information Homeland Security got back to us again one of the Tajikistan party missed a connection in istan buul he came in through London and Washington instead there are 20 men not 19 Leela ho moved and the 20th man stepped out of the bathroom chapter 82 scientists measured time all the way down to the Pico second a trillionth of a regular second they figure all kinds of things can happen in that small interval universes can be born particles can accelerate atoms can be split what happened to me in the first few Pico seconds was a whole bunch of different things first I dropped the phone still open still live but the time it was down level with my shoulder whole lines of conversation with Leela were screaming in my head on the same phone minutes ago from Madison Avenue I had said you're down to your last six guys she had started to reply and then she had stopped she had been about to say no I've got seven like earlier when she had started to say that's not close to me the voice Dental frickative but but she'd stopped herself she had learned but once she hadn't talked too much and I hadn't listened Enough by the time the phone was down level with my waist I was focusing on the 20th guy himself he looked just like the previous four or five he could have been their brother or their cousin and probably was certainly he looked familiar small seny dark hair line Skin Body Language bridging weariness and aggression he was dressed in a pair of darknet sweatpants a darknet sweatshirt he was right-handed he was holding a silenced handgun he was sweeping it through a long upward Arc he was aiming to bring it level his finger was tightening on the trigger he was going to shoot me in the chest I was holding the MP5 left-handed the magazine was empty the last round was already chambered it had to count I wanted to change hands I didn't want to fire from my weaker side under my weaker eye no choice to change hands would take half a second 500 billion Pico seconds too long the other guy's arm was nearly there by the time the phone was down around my knees my right palm was slapping upward to meet the barrel I was turning and straightening and tucking the grip back towards my chest my right palm stopped and cradled a barrel and my left index finger squeezed the trigger with exaggerated calm Leela was mov moving on my left she was stepping out into the room my finger completed its squeeze and the gun fired and my last round hit the 20th guy in the face the phone hit the floor sounded like the padlock a loud wooden thump my last spent shell case ejected and rattled away across the room the 20th guy went down in a clatter of Limbs and head and gun dead before he hit the boards shot through the base of the brain aead shot a hit not bad for my left hand except that I'd been aiming for his Center Mass Leela kept on moving gliding swooping ducking down she came back up with the dead guy's gun another SIG P220 another silencer Swiss manufacturer a nine round detachable box magazine if Leela was scrambling for the gun it was the only one in the apartment in which case it had been fired at least three times through the ceiling maximum six rounds left six versus zero Leela pointed the gun at me I pointed mine at her she said I'm faster I said you think way off to my left Sedana said your gun is empty I glanced at her you speak English fairly well I reloaded upstairs [ __ ] I can see from here you're set to three round bursts but you fired only once therefore that was your last bullet we stood like that for what seemed a long time the P220 was steady as a rock in Leela's hand she was 15 ft from me behind her the dead guy was leaking fluid all over the floor Sedana was in the kitchen there were all kinds of smells in the air there was a draft from the open window air was moving in and stirring through the room and funneling up the staircase and out through the hole in the roof Sedana said put your gun down I said you want the memory stick you don't have it but I know where it is so do we I said nothing spana said you don't have it but you know where it is therefore you employed a deductive process do you think you are uniquely talented do you think that deductive processes are unavailable to others we all share the same facts we can all arrive at the same conclusions I said nothing she said as soon as you told us you knew where it was we set about thinking you spurred us on you talked too much Reacher you made yourself disposable Leela said Put the gun down have a little dignity don't stand there like an idiot holding an empty gun I Stood Still Leela dropped her arm maybe 10° and fired into the floor between my feet she hit a spot level with and exactly equidistant between the toe caps of my shoes not an easy shot she was a great marks woman the floorboard splintered I flinched a little the Sig silencer was louder than the h& K's like a phone book smashdown not dropped a wisp of wood smoke drifted upward where the friction of the bullet had burned the pine the spent shell case ejected in a brassy Arc and tinkled away five rounds left Leela said Put the gun down I looked the strap up over my head held the gun by the I looked the strap up over my head held the gun by the grip down by my side it was no longer any use to me except as a 7lb metal club and I doubted that I would get near enough to either one of them for a club to be effective and if I did I'd prefer bare knuckle hand toand combat a 7lb metal Club is good but a 250lb human Club is better Sedana said throw it over here but carefully if you hit one of us you die I swung the gun slowly and let it go it cartwheeled lazily through the air and bounced off its muzzle and clattered against the far wall Sedana said now take off your your jacket leelo pointed her gun at my head I complied I Shrugged the jacket off and threw it across the room it landed next to the MP5 Sedana came out from behind the kitchen counter and rooted through the pockets she found the nine loose Parabellum rounds and the part used roll of duct tape she stood the nine loose rounds upright on the counter in a neat little line she put the roll of tape next to it she said glove I complied I bit the glove off and tossed it after the jacket shoes and socks I hopped from foot to foot and leaned back against the wall to steady myself and undid my laces and eased my shoes off and peeled my socks down I threw them one after the other towards the pile Leela said take your shirt off I said I will if you will she dropped her arm 10° and put another round into the floor between my feet the bang of the silencer the splintering wood the smoke the hard tinkle of the spent case four left Leela said next time I'll shoot you in the leg spet Lana said your shirt for the second time in 5 hours I peeled my t-shirt off at a woman's request I kept my back against the wall and threw the shirt overhand into the pile Leela and Sedana spent a moment looking at my scars they seemed to like them especially the shrapnel wound the tip of Leela's tongue came out pink and moist and pointed between her lips Sedana said now your Pence I looked at Leela and said I think your gun is empty she said it isn't I have four left two legs and two arms Sedana said take your pants off I unbuttoned I unzipped I pushed the stiff denim down I stepped out I kept my back against the wall and kicked the pants towards the pile Sedana picked them up went through the pockets made a mound of my possessions on the kitchen counter next to the nine loose rounds in the roll of tape my Cash Plus a a few coins my old expired passport my ATM card my Subway card the re NYPD business card and my clip together toothbrush not much Sedana said everything I need I said nothing I don't you're a poor man no I'm a rich man to have everything you need is the definition of affluence the American dream then to die rich opportunity for all we have more than you where we come from I don't like goats the room went quiet it felt damp and cold I stood there and nothing except my new white boxers the P220 was Rock Steady in Leela hand muscles like thin cords stood out in her arm next to the bathroom from the dead guy continued to leak outside the window it was 5:00 in the morning and the city was starting to stir swetlana bustled about and balled up my gun and my shoes and my clothes into a tidy bundle and threw it behind the kitchen counter she followed it with the two hard chairs she picked up my phone and shut it off and tossed it away she was clearing the space she was emptying it the living room part of the studio was about 20 ft by 12 I was backed up against the center of one of the long walls Leela tracked around in front of me keeping her distance pointing the gun she stopped in the far corner by the window now she was facing me at a shallow angle Sedana went into the kitchen I heard a drawer rattle open heard it close saw Sedana come back with two knives they were long butcher tools for gutting or filling or boning they had black handles steel blades Wicked wafer thin cutting edges Sedana threw one of them to Leela she caught it expertly by the handle with her free hand Sedana moved to the corner opposite her they had me triangulated Leela was 45° to my left Sedana was 45° to my right Leela Twisted her upper body and jammed the P220 silencer hard into the angle where the front wall met the side she found the catch at the heel of the butt with her thumb and dropped the magazine it fell out and hit the floor in the corner of the room three rounds showed in the slot therefore one was still chambered she threw the gun itself into the other corner behind Sedana the gun in the magazine were now 20 ft apart one behind one woman and the other behind the other like a treasure hunt Leela said the Gun Won't fire without the magazine in place to prevent an accidental discharge if a around is mistakenly left in the chamber the Swiss are very cautious people so you need to pick up the gun and then pick up the magazine or vice versa but first of course you need to get past us I said nothing she said if you should succeed in a mad wounded scramble then I recommend you use the first round on yourself and then she smiled and stepped forward at PACE Sedana did the same they held their knives low fingers below the handle thumbs above of like Street Fighters like experts the long blades winked in the light I Stood Still Leela said you're going to enjoy this more than you could possibly imagine I did nothing Leela said a delay is good it heightens the anticipation I Stood Still Leela said but if we get bored waiting we'll come and get you I said nothing stood still then I reached behind me and came out with my bench made 3300 from where it had been duct taped to the small of my back chapter 83 I thumbed the release and the blade snapped out with a sound that was halfway between a click and a thump a loud sound in the silent room and an unhappy sound I don't like knives I never have I have no real talent with them but I have as much of an instinct for self-preservation as any guy maybe more than most and by that point I've been scuffling since the age of five and all of my defeats had been minor and I'm the kind of guy who watches and learns I'd seen KN fights all over the world the far east Europe the Hard Scrabble scrub lands outside army bases in the Southern United States in streets in alleys outside bars and pool halls first rule don't get cut early nothing weakens you faster than blood loss Sedana was more than a foot shorter than me and she was thick and wide and her arms were proportional Leela was taller more loose limed more graceful but all in all I figured that even against blades 6 in longer than mine I still had the advantage plus I had just changed the game and they were still dealing with the surprise plus they were fighting for fun and I was fighting for my life I wanted to get to the kitchen so I danced towards Svetlana who was between me and it she was up on her toes knife down at her knees fainting left fainting right I kept my blade down low to match hers she swung I arched back her blade hissed past my thigh I jammed my ass back and my shoulders forward and clubbed her with an overarm left hook it grazed her eyebrow and then caught her full on the side of the nose she looked astonished like most knife Fighters she thought it was all about the steel she forgot that people have two hands she rocked back on her heels and Leela came in from my left blade low darting jabbing mouth open in Grimace concentrating hard she understood this was no longer a game no longer fun she ducked in she ducked out fainting backing off always working for a time we all danced like that frantic breathless abrupt abbreviated movements dust and sweat and fear in the air their eyes locked on my blade mine switching constantly between theirs Sedana stepped in stepped out Leela came at me balanced up on her toes I kept my hips back and my shoulders forward I swung my blade hard for Leela's face huge convulsive like I was aiming to throw a ball 400 ft Leela ducked back she knew the swing was going to miss because she was going to make it Miss Svetlana knew it was going to miss because she trusted Lea I knew it was going to miss because I planned not to let it hit I stopped the violent maneuver halfway through and revers Direction and aimed a vicious surprise backhand straight at SED Lana I sliced her forehead a solid blow I felt the blade hit bone a lock of her hair hit her chest the bench made worked exactly the way it should D2 steel he could have dropped a $10 bill on it and gotten two fives in exchange I put a 6-in horizontal gash halfway between SED Lana's hairline and her eyebrows open to the Bone she rocked back and stood still no pain not yet forehead cuts are never fatal but they bleed a lot within seconds blood was sheeting down into her eyes blinding her if I'd been wearing shoes I could have killed her there and then bring her down with a blow to the knees and then kick her head to pulp but I wasn't about to risk the bones of my feet against her fire plugged body lack of Mobility would have killed me just as fast I danced back Leela came straight after me I kept my hips back and dodged the hissing Arc of her blade left right I hit the wall behind me I timed it and waited until her arm was across her body and turned sideways and shoulder charged her and bounced her away I spun onward to where Sedana was tottering around trying to wipe the pouring blood from her eyes I swatted her knife arm away and stepped in and nicked her neck above her collar bone and dodged back out then Leela cut me she had figured out the reach issue she was holding her knife in her fingertips way at the end of the handle she lunged in her hair was flying her shoulders were hunched forward she was looking for every half inch of Advantage she could get she stopped on a stiff front leg and bent low and leaned in and slashed wildly at my stomach and hit it a bad cut a wild swing a strong arm a razor sharp blade very bad it was a long diagonal slice below my navl and above the waistband of my boxers no pain not yet just a brief strange signal from my skin telling me it was no longer all connected together I paused a beat disbelief then I did what I always do when someone hurts me I stepped in not away her momentum had carried her knife beyond my hip my blade was low I slashed back and at her thigh and cut her deep and then pushed off my back foot and hit her in the face with my left fist Bullseye a major stunning blow she spun away and I barged on towards Sedana her face was a mask of blood she swung her blade right then left she opened up I stepped in and slashed down on the inside of her right for arm I cut her to the Bone veins tendons ligaments she howled not from pain that would come later or not she howled from Fear because she was done her arm was useless I spun her around with a blow to the shoulder and stabbed her in the kidney All 4 Ines with a Savage sideways jerk safe to do no ribs in that region no chance of hitting bone and jamming the blade lots of blood flows through the kidneys all kinds of arteries ask any dialysis patient all of a person's blood passes through the kidneys many times a day pints of it gallons of it now in SED Lana's case it was going in and it wasn't coming back out she went down to her knees Leela was trying to clear her head her nose was broken her Flawless face was ruined she charged me I fainted left and moved right we danced around round spet Lana's kneeling form a whole circle I got back to where I had started and ducked away to the kitchenet stepped between the counters grabbed one of the hard chairs that Sedana had piled there I threw it left-handed at Leela she ducked away and hunched and it smashed against her back I came out of the kitchen and stepped behind sped Lana and put a hand in her hair and hauled her head back leaned around and cut her throat ear to ear hard work even with the bench maid's great blade I had to pull and tug and saw muscle fat hard flesh ligaments the steel scraped across bone weird tubercular sounds came up at me out of her severed windpipe wheezing and gasping there were Fountains of blood as her arteries went it pulsed and sprayed way out in front of her it hit the far wall it soaked my hand and made it slippery I let go of her hair and she pitched forward her face hit the boards with a thumb I stepped away panting Leela faced me panting the room felt burning hot and it smelled of coppery blood I said one down she said one still up I nodded looks like the pupil was better than the teacher she said who says I was the pupil her thigh was bleeding badly there was a neat slice in the black nylon of her pants and blood was running down her leg her shoe was already soaked my boxers were soaked they had turned from white to Red I looked down and saw blood Welling out of me a lot of it it was bad but my old scar saved me my shrapnel wound from Beirut long ago the ridged white skin from the clumsy Mash stitches was tough and gnarled and it had slowed Leela's blade and deflected it without it the tail of the cut would have been much longer and deeper for years I had resented the Hasty work by the emergency surgeons now I was grateful for it Leela's busted nose started to bleed the blood ran down to her mouth and she coughed and spat looked down at the floor saw sana's knife it was mired in a spreading pool of blood the blood was already thickening it was soaking into the old boards it was was running into the cracks between them Leela's left arm moved then it stopped to bend down and pick up fed Lana's knife would make her vulnerable likewise for me I was 5T from the P220 she was 5 ft from the magazine the pain started my head spun and buzzed my blood pressure was falling Leela said if you ask nicely I'll let you walk away I'm not asking you can't win dream on I'm prepared to fight to the death you don't have a choice in the matter that decision's already been taken you could kill a woman I just did one like me especially one like you she spat again and breathed hard through her mouth she coughed she looked down at her leg she nodded and said okay she looked up at me with her amazing eyes I Stood Still she said if you mean it this is will you do it I nodded I meant it so I did it I was weak but it was easy her leg was slowing her down she was having trouble with her breathing her sinuses were smashed blood was pulling in the back of her throat she was Dazed and dizzy from when I had hit her I took the second chair from the kitchen and charged her with it now my reach was unbeatable I I backed her into the corner with it and hit her with it twice until she dropped her knife and fell I sat down beside her and strangled her slowly because I was fading fast but I didn't want to use the blade I don't like knives afterwards I crawled back to the kitchen and rinsed the bench maid under the tap then I used its dagger point to cut butterfly shapes out of the black duct tape I pinched my wound together with my fingers and used the butterflies to hold it together a dollar half any hardware store essential equipment I struggled back into my clothes I reloaded my pockets I put my shoes back on then I sat down on the floor just for a minute but it turned out longer a medical man would say I passed out I prefer to think think I just went to sleep chapter 84 I woke up in a hospital bed I was wearing a paper gown the clock in my head told me it was 4 in the afternoon 10 hours the taste in my mouth told me most of them had been chemically assisted I had a clip on my finger it had a wire the wire must have been connected to a nurse's station the clip must have detected some kind of an altered heartbeat pth pattern because about a minute after I woke up a whole bunch of people came in a doctor a nurse then Jacob Mark then Theresa Lee then Springfield then Sansom the doctor was a woman and the nurse was a man the doctor fussed around for a minute checking charts and staring at monitors then she picked up my wrist and checked my pulse which seemed a little Superfluous with all the high technology at her disposal then in answer to questions I hadn't asked she told me I was in Belleview hospital and that my condition was very satisfactory her ER people had cleaned the wound and sutured it and filled me full of antibiotics and tetanus injections and given me three units of blood she told me to avoid heavy lifting for a month and she left the nurse went with her I looked at Thea Lee and asked what happened to me you don't remember of course I remember but what's the official version you were found on the street in the East Village unexplained knif wound happens all the time they ran a talk screen and found traces of barbituate they put you down as a dope deal gone bad did they tell a cops I am the cops how did I get to the East Village you didn't we brought you straight here we me and Mr Springfield how did you find me we tried angulated the cell phone which led us to the general area the exact address was Mr Springfield's idea Springfield said a certain muine leader told us all about doubling back to abandon hideouts 25 years ago I asked is there going to be any comeback John Sansom said no simple as that I said are you sure there are nine corpses in that house the dod guys are there right now they'll issue a loud no comment with a knowing smirk designed to make everyone give them the credit suppose the wind changes direction that happens from time to time as you know as a crime scene it's a mess I left blood there there's a lot of blood there it's an old building if anyone runs tests they'll come up with rat DNA mostly there blood on my clothes Thea Lee said the hospital burned your clothes why biohazard they were brand new they were soaked with blood no one takes a risk with blood anymore right hand fingerprints I said inside the window handles and on the trap door old building Sansom said it'll be torn down and redeveloped before the wind changes shell cases I said Springfield said standard DOD issue I'm sure they're delighted they'll probably leak one to the media are they still looking for me they can't it would confuse the narrative turf wars I said which they just won apparently I nodded Sansom asked where's the memory stick I looked Jacob Mark you okay he said not really I said you're going to have to hear some stuff he said okay I hauled myself into a sitting position didn't hurt at all I guessed I was full of painkiller I pulled my knees up and tented the sheet and moved the Hem of my paper gown and took a peek at the cut couldn't see it I was wrapped with bandages from my hips to my rib cage Sansom said you told us you could get us within 15 ft I shook my head not anymore time has moved on we're going to have to do it by dead reckoning ah great you were bullshitting all along you don't know where it is we know the general shape of it I said they planned for the best part of 3 months and then executed during the final week they coerced Susan by using Peter as leverage she drove up from anandale got stuck in a 4-Hour traffic jam say from 900 in the evening until 1:00 in the morning and then she arrived in Manhattan just before 2: in the morning I assume we know exactly when she came out of the Holland Tunnel so what we have to do is work backwards and figure out exactly where her car was jammed up at midnight how does that help us because at midnight she threw the memory stick out her car window how can you possibly know that because when she arrived she didn't have a cell phone with her Sansom glanced at Lee Lee nodded said keys in a wallet that was all not in her car either the FBI inventoried the contents Sansom said not everyone uses a cell phone true I said and I'm that guy the only guy in the world without a cell phone certainly a person like Susan would have had one Jacob Mark said she had one Sansom said so the ho set a deadline almost certainly midnight Susan didn't show the hoes went to work they made a threat and They carried it out and they proved it they phoned through a cell phone picture maybe a live video clip Peter on the slab that long first cut Susan's life changed effectively on the stroke of midnight she was helpless in a traffic jam the phone in her hand was suddenly appalling and repugnant she threw it out the window followed it with a memory stick which was the symbol of all her troubles they're both still there in the trash on the side of I95 no other explanation nobody spoke I said the median probably subconsciously Susan would have put herself in the overtaking lane because she was in a hurry we could have triangulated the cell phone but I think it's too late now the battery will be dead silence in the room a whole minute just the hum and beep of medical equipment Sansom said that's insane the hosts must have known they were losing control of the stick as soon as they founded the picture through they were giving up their leverage Susan could have driven straight to the police two answers I said the hoes were insane in a way they were fundamentalists they could act a part in public but underneath it was all black and white for them no Nuance a threat was a threat midnight was midnight but anyway their risk was minimal they had a guy tailing Susan all the way he could have stopped her going off message who the 20th guy I don't think going away Washington was a mistake it wasn't a missed connection in istan buul it was a last minute change of plan they suddenly realized that for a thing like this they needed someone on the ground in DC or across the river more likely in one of the Pentagon dormitories so the 20th guy went straight there then he followed Susan all the way up five or 10 cars back like you do which was fine until the traffic jammed up but or 10 cars back in a traffic jam is as bad as a mile all boxed in maybe a big SUV in front of you blocking the view he didn't see what happened but he stayed with her he was on the train wearing an NBA shirt I thought he looked familiar when I saw him again but I couldn't confirm it because I shot him in the face a split second later he got all messed up more silence then Sansom asked so where was Susan at midnight I said you figure it out time distance average speed get a map and a ruler and a paper and pencil Jacob Mark was from Jersey he started talking about Troopers he knew and how the Troopers could help they patrolled I95 night and day they knew it like the backs of their hands they had traffic cameras their recorded pictures could calibrate the paper calculations the highway department would cooperate everyone got into a big conversation they paid me no more attention I lay back on my pillow and they all started edging out of the room last out was Springfield he paused in the doorway and looked back and asked how do you feel about Leela ho I said I feel fine really I wouldn't you nearly got taken down by two girls it was sloppy work things like that you do them properly or not at all I didn't have much ammunition you had 30 rounds you should have used single shots those triple Taps were all about anger you let emotion get in the way I warned you about that he looked at me for a long second with nothing in his face then he stepped out to the corridor and I never saw him again Thea Lee came back 2 hours later she had a shopping bag with her she told me the hospital wanted its bed so the NYPD was putting me in a hotel she had bought clothes for me she showed me shoes socks jeans boxers and a shirt all sized the same as the items the ER staff had burned the shoes and the socks and the jeans and the boxers were fine the shirt was weird it was made of soft worn white cotton it was almost furry down at microscopic level it was long sleeved and tight it had three buttons at the neck it was like an oldfashioned undershirt I was going to look like my grandfather or like a gold miner in California way back in 1849 thank you I said she told me the others were working on the math problem she told me they were arguing about the route Susan would have used from the turnpike to the Holland Tunnel locals used shortcuts through surface streets that looked wrong according to the road signs I said Susan wasn't a local she agreed she felt that Susan would have used the obvious signposted route then she said they won't find the picture you know I said you think oh they'll find the stick for sure but they'll say it was unreadable or run over or damaged or broken or there was nothing Minister on it after all I didn't answer count on it she said I know politicians and I know the government then she asked how do you feel about Leela ho I said all in all I'm regretting the approach on the train with Susan I wish I'd given her a couple more stops I was wrong she couldn't possibly have gotten over it the opposite I said was there a sock in her car Lee thought back to the FBI inventory nodded Lan I asked yes she said so think about Susan's setting out she's living a nightmare but she's not sure exactly how bad it is she can't bring herself to believe it's as bad as she suspects maybe it's all a sick joke or an empty thr r or a bluff but she's not sure she's dressed in what she wore for work black pants white blouse she's heading for an unknown situation in the big bad City she's a woman on her own she lives in Virginia she's been around the military for years so she takes her gun it's probably still wrapped in a sock like she stores it in her drawer she puts it in her bag she leaves she gets stuck in the jam she calls a maybe the hoes call her they won't listen they're Fanatics and they're foreign they don't understand they think a traffic jam is a dog ate my homework kind of thing then she gets the midnight message and she changes the point is she has time to change she's stuck in traffic she can't take off she can't go to the cops she can't drive into a telephone pole at 90 M hour she's trapped she has to sit there and think no alternative and she arrives at a decision she's going to avenge her son she makes a plan she takes the gun out of the sock stares at it she sees an old black jacket dumped on the back seat maybe it was there since the winter she wants dark clothing she puts it on eventually the traffic moves she drives on to New York what about the list she was a normal person maybe working around to killing someone else produces the same feelings as working around to killing yourself that's what she was doing she was climbing up on the plateau but she wasn't quite there yet I Disturbed her too early so she quit she took the other way out maybe by 59th Street she would have been ready better that she was spared that fight maybe she would have won Leela would have been expecting her to take something out of her pocket or a bag it would have been an element of surprise she had a six shooter there were 22 of them I nodded she'd have died for sure but maybe she would have died satisfied a day later in the hotel Thea Lee came back to visit visit she told me that Sansom had scoped out a likely Target area about half a mile long and the Jersey highway people had closed it off with orange barrels 3 hours into the search they found Susan's cell phone a second later 4 ft away they found the memory stick it had been run over it was crushed it was unreadable I left New York the next day I moved South I spent a large part of the next two weeks obsessing over what might have been in that picture I came up with all kinds of speculations some involving technical breaches of sharia law some involving domesticated animals alternating with the lued imagined scenarios from the coral tent were repeated flashback memories of hitting Leela ho in the face the straight left the crunch of bone and cartilage under my fist the ruined appearance the episode replayed constantly in my mind I didn't know why I just cut her with a knife and later I strangled her and I could barely remember those acts at all maybe hitting women ran counter to my subliminal values which was entirely illogical but eventually the images faded and I grew bored with imagining Osama Bin Laden having his way with goats by the time a month had passed I'd forgotten all of it my cut had healed very nicely the scar was thin and white the stitches were neat and Tiny my lower body was like a textbook illustration this one is how it should be done and that one is how it shouldn't but I never forgot how those earlier clumsier stitches had saved me what goes around comes around a benign Legacy from the truck bomb in beay planned and paid for and driven there by Persons [Music] Unknown for