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We repacked our bags and moved out of our VOQ rooms and paid a final courtesy visit to Swan in his office He had some news for us

"I&039;m supposed to arrest you both," he said

"Why?" I said

"You&039;re AWOL Willard put a hit out on you"

"What, ide?"

Swan shook his head "This post only They found your car at Andrews and Willard talked to Transportation Corps So he knew you were headed here"

"When did you get the telex?"

"An hour ago"

"When did we leave here?"

"An hour before that"

"Where did we go?"

"No idea You didn&039;t say I assu to base"

"Thanks," I said

"Better not tell "

"Paris," I said "Personal ti on?"

"I wish I knew"

"You want reat"

Tenback the e had come fifteen hours before

We had a choice of Lufthansa or Air France froured their coffee would be better, and I figured if Willard got around to checking civilian carriers he would hit on Lufthansa first I figured he was that kind of a sied travel vouchers for two seats in coach on the ten o&039;clock flight Waited in the gate lounge We were in BDUs, but we didn&039;t really stand out There were American military unifor in pairs But I wasn&039;t worried I figured they were on routine cooperation with the civilian cops They weren&039;t looking for us I had the feeling that Willard&039;s telex was going to stay on Swan&039;s desk for an hour or two

We boarded on tis in the overhead Buckled up and settled in There were a dozen military on the plane with us Paris alas a popular R amp;R destination for people stationed in Germany The weather was still h to delay us any We took off on tiray city and struck out south and west across pastel fields and huge tracts of forest Then we clih the cloud into the sun and we couldn&039;t see the ground anyht We started our descent duringjuice She looked nervous Part excited, and part worried I figured she had never been to Paris before And I figured she had never been AWOL before either I could see it eighing on her Truth is, it eighing onfactor I could have done without it But I wasn&039;t surprised to be hit with it It had always been the obvious next step for Willard to take Now I figured ere going to be chased around the world by BOLOto have a generalized all-points bulletin dumped on us

We landed at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and were off the plane and in the jetway by eleven-thirty in theThe airport was crowded The taxi line was a zoo, just like it had been when Joe and I arrived the last tiave up on it and walked to the navette station Waited in line and climbed into the little bus It was packed and uncomfortable But Paris armer than Frankfurt had been There was a watery sun out and I knew the city was going to look spectacular

"Been here before?" I said

"Never," Summer said

"Don&039;t look at the first twenty klicks," I said "Wait until we&039;re inside the Peripherique"

"What&039;s that?"

"Like a ring road Like the Beltway That&039;s where the good part starts"

"Your mom live inside it?"

I nodded "On one of the nicest avenues in town Where all the eoing straight there?"

"To to be tourists first"

"Why?"

"I have to wait until o together"

She said nothing to that Just glanced at me The bus started up and pulled away from the curb She watched out thethe whole way I could see by the reflection of her face in the glass that she agreed with ot out at the Place de l&039;Opera and stood on the sidewalk and let the rest of the passengers swarured we should choose a hotel and du else

We walked south on the Rue de la Paix, through the Place Vendôht and walked straight up the Chaht have been better places to ith a pretty woht then I couldn&039;t readily recall any We made a left onto the Rue Marbeuf and cae V Hotel

"OK for you?" I said

"Will they let us in?" Summer asked

"Only one way to find out"

We crossed the street and a guy in a top hat opened the door for us The girl at the desk had a bunch of little flags on her lapel, one for each language she spoke I used French, which pleased her I gave her two vouchers and asked for two rooave us keys just like I had paid with gold bullion, or a credit card The George V was one of those places There was nothing they hadn&039;t seen before Or if there was, they weren&039;t about to adirl gave us both faced south and both had a partial view of the Eiffel Tower One was decorated in shades of pale blue and had a sitting area and a bathroom the size of a tennis court The other was three doors down the hall It was done in parchment yellow and it had an iron Juliet balcony

"Your choice," I said

"I&039;ll take the one with the balcony," she said

We dus and washed up and met in the lobby fifteen minutes later I was ready for lunch, but Summer had other ideas

"I want to buy clothes," she said "Tourists don&039;t wear BDUs"

"This one does," I said

"So break out," she said "Live a little Where should we go?"

I shrugged You couldn&039;t walk twenty yards in Paris without falling over at least three clothing stores But arment

"We could try Bon Marche," I said

"What&039;s that?"

"Department store," I said "It means cheap, literally"

"A department store called Cheap?"

"My kind of place," I said

"Anywhere else?"

"Samaritaine," I said "On the river, at the Pont Neuf There&039;s a terrace at the top with a view"

"Let&039;s go there"

It was a long walk along the river, all the way to the tip of the ile de la Cite It took us an hour, because we kept stopping to look at things We passed the Louvre We browsed the little green stalls set up on the river wall

"What does Pont Neuf e," I said

She looked ahead at the ancient stone structure

"It&039;s the oldest bridge in Paris," I said

"So why do they call it new?"

"Because it was new once"

We stepped into the warmth of the store Like all such places the cosmetics came first and filled the air with scent Summer led me up one floor to the women&039;s clothes I sat in a coood half hour She ca a coray-and-white Breton sweater, a gray wool jacket And a beret She looked like a million dollars Her BDUs and her boots were in a Sa in her hand

"You next," she said She took me up to the men&039;s department The only pants they had with ninety-five-centierian knockoffs of Aht blue sweatshirt and a black cotton bomber jacket I kept my army boots on They looked OK with the jeans and they matched the jacket

"Buy a beret," Suht a beret It was black with a leather binding I paid for the whole lot with Ae I dressed in the changing cubicle PutChecked the le and stepped out

Su

"Lunch now," I said

We went up to the ninth-floor cafe It was too cold to sit out on the terrace, but we sat at aand got pretty much the same view We could see the Notre-Dame cathedral to the east and the Montparnasse Tower all the way to the south The sun was still out It was a great city

"How did Willard find our car?" Summer said "Hoould he even knohere to look? The United States is a big country"

"He didn&039;t find it," I said "Not until someone told him where it was"

"Who?"

"Vassell," I said "Or Cooeant used my name on the phone, back at XII Corps So at the sa Marshall off the post they were calling Willard back in Rock Creek, telling hiain They were asking hi him to recall me"

"They can&039;t dictate where a special unit investigator goes"

"They can now, because of Willard They&039;re old buddies I just figured it out Swan as good as told us, but it didn&039;t click right away Willard has ties to Arence Who did he talk to all those years? About that Soviet fuel crap? Armored, that&039;s who There&039;s a relationship there That&039;s why he was so hot about Kramer He wasn&039;t worried about eeneral He orried about embarrassment for Armored Branch in particular"

"Because they&039;re his people"

"Correct And that&039;s why Vassel and Cooht They didn&039;t run, as such They&039;re just giving Willard time and space to deal with us"

"Willard knows he didn&039;t sign our travel vouchers"

I nodded "That&039;s for sure"

"So we&039;re in serious trouble now We&039;re AWOL and we&039;re traveling on stolen vouchers"

"We&039;ll be OK"

"How exactly?"

"When we get a result"

"Are we going to?"

I didn&039;t answer

After lunch we crossed the river and walked a long roundabout route back to the hotel We looked just like tourists, in our casual clothes, carrying our Sas All we needed was a camera We -shopped in the Boulevard St-Ger Gardens We saw Les Invalides and the ecole Militaire Then alked up the Avenue Bosquet, which took me within fifty yards of the back of my mother&039;s apartment house I didn&039;t tell Suo in and see her We crossed the Seine again at the Pont de l&039;Alot coffee in a bistro on the Avenue New-York Then we strolled up the hill to the hotel

"Siesta time," Suo for a nap I was pretty tired I lay down on the bed in the pale blue room and fell asleep within minutes

Su me on the phone from her room She wanted to know if I knew any restaurants Paris is full of restaurants, but I was dressed like an idiot and I had less than thirty bucks in ured I could go there in jeans and a sweatshirt without getting stared at and without paying a fortune And it was close enough to walk No cab fare

We reat Her skirt and jacket looked as good for the evening as they had for the afternoon She had abandoned her beret I had kept mine on We walked up the hill toward the Cha She tookdark and ere surrounded by strolling couples and I guessed it felt natural to her It felt natural to me too It took me a minute to realize she had done it Or, it tookwith it It took her the saot flustered and looked up at ain

"Sorry," she said

"Don&039;t be," I said "It felt good"

"It just happened," she said

We walked on and turned into the Rue Vernet Found the restaurant It was early in the evening in January and the owner found us a table right away It was in a corner There were flowers and a lit candle on it We ordered water and a pichet of red wine to drink while we thought about the food

"You&039;re at home here," Summer said to me

"Not really," I said "I&039;ood French"

"I speak pretty good English too Doesn&039;t mean I feel at home in North Carolina, for instance"

"But you like some places better than others"

I nodded "This one is OK"

"Done any long-ter?"

"You sound like my brother He wants e"

"They&039;ll always need cops," I said

"Cops who go AWOL?"

"All we need is a result," I said "Mrs Kraot three bites of the cherry Three chances"

She said nothing

"Relax," I said "We&039;re out of the world for forty-eight hours Let&039;s enjoy ourselves Worrying isn&039;t going to get us anywhere We&039;re in Paris"

She nodded I watched her face Watched her try to get past it Her eyes were expressive in the candlelight It was like she had troubles in front of her, h into stacks, like cartons I saw her shoulder her way around them, to the quiet place in the back of the closet

"Drink your wine," I said "Have fun"

My hand was resting on the table She reached out and squeezed it and picked up her glass

"We&039;ll always have North Carolina," she said

We ordered three courses each off the fixed-price page of the menu Then we took three hours to eat them We kept the conversation away fros instead She asked me about my family I told her a little about Joe, and not much about my mother She told h cousins that I lost track about ho Mostly I watched her face in the candlelight Her skin had a copper tone mixed behind pure ebony black Her eyes were like coal Her jaas delicate, like fine china She looked ientle, for a soldier But then I rees More than I had

"A to meet your mom?" she said

"If you want to," I said "But she&039;s very sick"

"Not just a broken leg?"

I shook my head

"She has cancer," I said

"Is it bad?"

"As bad as it gets"

Su like that You&039;ve been upset ever since you came over here the first time"

"Have I?"

"It&039;s bound to bother you"

I nodded in turn "More than I thought it would"

"Don&039;t you like her?"

"I like her fine But, you know, nobody lives forever Conceptually these things don&039;t come as a surprise"

"I should probably stay away It wouldn&039;t be appropriate if I cao with Joe Just the two of you"

"She likes ood"

"We should wait and see Maybe she&039;ll want to go out for lunch"

"How does she look?"

"Terrible," I said

"Then she won&039;t want to meet new people"

We sat in silence for a spell Our waiter brought the check We counted our cash and paid half each and left a decent tip We held hands all the way back to the hotel It felt like the obvious thing to do We were alone together in a sea of troubles, souy with the top hat opened the door for us and wished us bonne nuit Good night We rode up in the elevator, side by side, not touching When we got out on our floor Suht It was an aard moment We didn&039;t speak I could see she wanted to coo with her I could see her room in my ined lifting her neeater over her head Unzipping her new skirt and hearing it fall to the floor I figured it would have a silk lining I figured it wouldsound

I kneouldn&039;t be right But ere already AWOL We were already in all kinds of deep shit It would be comfort and consolation, apart from whatever else it would be

"What ti?" she said

"Early for me," I said "I have to be at the airport at six"

"I&039;ll come with you Keep you company"

"Thanks"

"My pleasure," she said

We stood there

"We&039;ll have to get up about four," she said

"I guess," I said "About four"

We stood there

"Good night then, I guess," she said

"Sleep well," I said

I turned right Didn&039;t look back I heard her door open and close a second after mine

It was eleven o&039;clock I went to bed but I didn&039;t sleep I just lay there and stared at the ceiling for an hour There was city light co in theIt was cold and yellow and hazy I could see the pulses froold, on and off, soed the pattern on the plaster above my head, once a second I heard the sound of brakes on a distant street, and the yap of a s, and lonely footsteps far belo, and the beep of a faraway horn Then the city went quiet and silence crowded in on me It howled all around me, like a siren I raised ht I dropped my wrist back down on the bed and was hit by a wave of loneliness so bad it left ht on and rolled over to the phone There were instructions printed on a little plate below the dial buttons To call another guest&039;s room, press three and enter the room number I pressed three and entered the roo

"You awake?" I said

"Yes," she said

"Want company?"

"Yes," she said

I pulled my jeans and sweatshirt on and walked barefoot down the corridor Knocked at her door She opened it and reached out her hand and pulled me inside She was still fully dressed Still in her skirt and sweater She kissed me hard at the door and I kissed her back, harder The door swung shut behind us I heard the hiss of its closer and the click of its latch We headed for the bed

She wore dark red underwear It was made of silk, or satin I could smell her perfume everywhere It was in the room and on her body She was tiny and delicate and quick and strong The sa in theit bathed y I could see the Eiffel Tower&039;s lights on her ceiling We matched our rhythm to their rhythm, slow, fast, relentless Aftere turned away fro hard, close but not speaking, like eren&039;t sure exactly e had done

I slept an hour and woke up in the sa lost and so Summer stayed asleep She was nestled solidly into the curve of ood She felt war slow My left arht arm was draped across her waist Her hand was cupped in mine, half-open, half-curled

I turnedI heard the faint noise of a motorbike maybe a mile away, on the other side of the Arc de Trio bark in the distance Other than that the city was silent Two million people were asleep Joe was in the air, so in on Iceland I couldn&039;t picture ain

The alarm clock in my head went off at four Summer was still asleep I eased my arm out from under her and worked some kind of circulation back into my shoulder and slid out of bed and padded across the carpet to the bathrooed into my sweatshirt and woke Summer with a kiss

"Rise and shine, Lieutenant," I said

She stretched her arh and arched her back The sheet fell away to her waist

"Good ain

"I like Paris," she said "I had fun here"

"Me too"

"Lots of fun"

"Lobby in half an hour," I said

I went back to h shaving and showering before it arrived I took the tray at the door wearing just a towel Then I dressed in fresh BDUs and poured my first cup and checkedin Paris, whichon the East Coast, which made it well after the end of bankers&039; hours And whichon the West Coast, which was early enough that a hardworking guy ht still be at his desk I checked the plate on the phone again and hit nine for a line Dialed the only number I had ever permanently inia An operator answered on the first ring

"This is Reacher," I said "I need a number for Fort Irwin&039;s MP XO"

"Sir, there&039;s a standing order from Colonel Willard that you should return to base iht there, soon as I can But I need that number first"

"Sir, where are you now?"

"In a whorehouse in Sydney, Australia," I said "Give ave ain and dialed it Calvin Franz&039;s sergeant answered, second ring

"I need Franz," I said

There was a click and then silence and I was settling in for a long hen Franz ca for me," I said

"Like what?"

"You&039;ve got a XII Corps guy called Marshall there You know him?"

"No"

"I need hiet there myself It&039;s very i the post unless I arrest them"

"Just tell hi as he thinks I&039;m in Germany, he&039;ll stay in California"

"Why?"

"Because that&039;s what he&039;s been told to do"

"Does he know you?"

"Not personally"

"Then that&039;s an aard conversation for uy I never uy you never met called Reacher wants you to know he&039;s stuck in Berlin"

"So be subtle," I said "Tell him I asked you to ask hiet there myself"

"What question?"

"Ask hiton? What did he do the rest of the day? Why didn&039;t he drive his guys to North Carolina? What reason did they give hi to drive themselves?"

"That&039;s four questions"

"Whatever, juston my behalf because California isn&039;t in et back to you?"

I looked down at the phone and read out the George V&039;s number

"That&039;s France," he said "Not Germany"

"Marshall doesn&039;t need to know that," I said "I&039;ll be back here later"

"When are you coht hours, I hope"

"OK," he said "Anything else?"

"Yes," I said "Call Fort Bird for et histories on General Vassell and Colonel Coomer Specifically I want to know if either one of theinia Born there, grew up there, family there, any kind of connection that would indicate they ht knohat kind of retail outlet here Tell her to sit on the answers until I get in touch"

"OK," he said again "Is that it?"

"No," I said "Also tell her to call Detective Clark in Green Valley and have hiht of New Year&039;s Eve She&039;ll knohat I&039;lad someone will," Franz said

He paused He riting stuff down

"So is that it?" he said

"For now," I said

I hung up and made it down to the lobby about fivethere She had been much faster than me But then, she didn&039;t have to shave and I don&039;t think she had made any calls or taken time for coffee Like me, she was back in BDUs Sootten the

We didn&039;t have h the predawn darkness to the Place de l&039;Opera and caught the bus It was less crowded than the last tili city and then we crossed the Peripherique and ground slowly through the disot to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle just before six It was busy there I guessed airports worked on floating ti than it would be in the middle of the afternoon There were crowds of people everywhere Cars and buses were loading and unloading, red-eyed travelers were cos It looked like the whole world was on the move

The arrivals screen showed that Joe&039;s flight was already on the ground We hiked around to the custo crowd of ured Joe would be one of the first passengers through He would have walked fast froe No delays

We saw a few stragglers coht They werechildren or individuals who had waited for odd-sized luggage People in the crowd turned toward theain when they realized they weren&039;t who they were looking for I watched the physical dynah to display interest, and then lack of interest Welcome, and then dismissal A half-turn inward, and then a half-turn away Soht frolers were ht There were business briefcases and suit carriers There were young wolasses, expensively dressed Models? Actresses? Call girls? There were government people, French and American I could pick them out by the way they looked Slasses, but their shoes and suits and coats weren&039;t the best quality Low-level diploht was from DC, after all

Joe came out about twelfth in line He was in the same overcoat I had seen before, but a different suit and a different tie He looked good He alking fast and carrying a black leather overnight bag He was a head taller than anyone else He came out of the door and stopped dead and scanned around

"He looks just like you," Summer said

"But I&039;ht away, because I was also a head taller than anyone else I pointed to a spot outside of the h the crowd and made his way toward it We looped around and joined him there

"Lieutenant Summer," he said "I&039;m very pleased to meet you"

I hadn&039;t seen him look at the tapes on her jacket, where it said Summer, US Army Or at the lieutenant&039;s bars on her collar He must have remembered her name and her rank from e had talked before

"You OK?" I asked him

"I&039;m tired," he said

"Want breakfast?"

"Let&039;s get it in town"

The taxi line was a ht for the navette again We missed one and were first in line for the next It ca Suave hiht I stood on the curb withthe eastern sky above the ter to be another sunny day It was the tenth of January, and the weather was the best I had seen in the new decade so far

We got in the bus and sat in three seats together that faced sideways opposite the luggage rack Summer sat in the middle seat Joe sat forward of her and I sat to the rear They were sroom Joe&039;s knees were up around his ears and his head aying frouessed putting hiht across the Atlantic I felt a little bad about it But then, I was the same size I had the saotten a whole lot of sleep either And I was broke And I guessed being on thein the taxi line for an hour

He brightened up some after we crossed the Peripherique and entered Haussmann&039;s urban splendor The sun ell up by then and the city was bathed in gold and honey The cafes were already busy and the sidewalks were already croith people uettes and newspapers Legislation limited Parisians to a thirty-five-hour eek, and they spent a lot of the rereat pleasure in not doing veryjust to watch theot out at the familiar spot in the Place de l&039;Opera Walked south the sa the river at the Pont de la Concorde, turning west on the Quai d&039;Orsay, turning south into the Avenue Rapp We got as far as the Rue de l&039;Universite, where the Eiffel Toas visible, and then Suo look at the tower," she said "You guys go on ahead and see your mom"

Joe looked at me Does she know? I nodded She knows

"Thanks, Lieutenant," he said "We&039;ll go see how she is If she&039;s up for it, maybe you could join us at lunch"

"Call me at the hotel," she said

"You knohere it is?" I said

She turned and pointed north along the avenue "Across the bridge right there and up the hill, on the left side Straight line"

I sraphy Joe looked a little puzzled He had seen the direction she had pointed, and he kneas up there

"The George V?" he said

"Why not?" I said