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The Pentagon is the world&039;s largest office building, six and a half million square feet, thirty thousand people, more than seventeen miles of corridors, but it was built with just three street doors, each one of theuarded pedestrian lobby I chose the southeast option, the main concourse entrance, the one nearest the Metro and the bus station, because it was the busiest and the most popular with civilian workers, and I wanted plenty of civilian workers around, preferably a whole long unending strea shot on sight Arrests go bad all the time, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose, so I wanted witnesses I wanted independent eyeballs onI remember the date, of course It was Tuesday, the eleventh of March, 1997, and it was the last day I walked into that place as a legal e tio

The eleventh of March 1997 was also by chance exactly four and a half years before the world changed, on that other future Tuesday, and so like a lot of things in the old days the security at thehysterical Not that I invited hysteria Not fro my Class A uniform, all of it clean, pressed, polished, and spit-shined, all of it covered with thirteen years&039; worth of nia, and citations I was thirty-six years old, standing tall and walking raht, a totally squared away US Army Military Policeand I hadn&039;t shaved for five days

Back then Pentagon security was run by the Defense Protective Service, and frouys in the lobby, which I thought was far too many, which made me wonder whether they were all theirs or whether so for me Most of our skilled work is done by Warrant Officers, and they do a lot of it by pretending to be soenerals and enlisted ood at it All in a day&039;s work for theet Fronize any of the institution, and they would have chosen men I had never met before

I walked on, part of a broad wash of people heading across the concourse to the doors, some men and women in uniform, either Class As like my own or the old woodland-pattern BDUs we had back then, and some men and women obviously military but out of uniform, in suits or work clothes, and sos or briefcases or packages, all of each category slowing and sidestepping and shuffling as the broad wash of people narrowed to a tight arrowhead and then narrowed further still to lonely single file or collegial two-by-two, as folks got ready to streale file, behind a wouy in a suit that had gone shiny at the elbows Civilians, both of them, desk workers, probably analysts of some kind, which was exactly what I wanted Independent eyeballs It was close to noon There was sun in the sky and the March air had a little warinia Across the river the cherry trees were about to wake up The famous blossom was about to break out All over the innocent nation airline tickets and SLR ca trips to the capital

I waited in line Way ahead of uys do Four of the an inquiry counter and two checking official badge holders and then waving the directly behind the glass inside the doors, looking out, heads high, eyes front, scanning the approaching crowd Four were hanging back in the shadows behind the turnstiles, just clu the shit All ten were armed

It was the four behind the turnstiles that worried me No question that back in 1997 the Department of Defense was seriously puffed up and overmanned in relation to the threats we faced then, but even so it was unusual to see four on-duty guys with absolutely nothing to do Most commands at least made their surplus personnel look busy But these four had no obvious role I stretched up tall and peered ahead and tried to get a look at their shoes You can learn a lot froet that far, especially in a uniformed environment The DPS was basically a beat cop role, so to the extent that a choice was available, DPS guys would go for cop shoes, big co all day Undercover MP Warrant Officers ht use their own shoes, which would be subtly different

But I couldn&039;t see their shoes It was too dark inside, and too far away

The line shuffled along, at a decent pre-9/11 clip No sullen impatience, no frustration, no fear Just old-style routine The wo perfu off the nape of her neck I liked it The two guys behind the glass noticed aze er than it needed to, and then it uy behind

Then it came back Both men looked me over quite openly, up and down, side to side, four or five seconds, and then I shuffled forward and their attentionto each other Didn&039;t say anything to anyone else, either No warnings, no alerts Two possible interpretations One, best case, I was just a guy they hadn&039;t seen before Or er and taller than anyone within a hundred yards Or because I earing a old oak leaves and ribbons for so a Silver Star, like a real poster boy, but because of the hair and the beard I also looked like a real caveh reason for the long second glance, just purely out of interest Sentry duty can be boring, and unusual sights are alelcome

Or torst case, they wereto themselves that so according to plan Like they had prepared and studied photographs and were saying to theht on time, so noe just wait two more minutes until he steps inside, and then we take hiht on time I had a twelve o&039;clock appointment and matters to discuss with a particular colonel in a third-floor office in the C ring, and I was certain I would never get there To walk head-on into a hard arrest was a pretty blunt tactic, but sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it

The guy ahead of the woe that was attached to his neck by a lanyard He aved onward The woht at that molass The woman paused in place and let the flow Then she resuuys stopped and stood exactly where she had been, three feet in front ofin the opposite direction, towardthe door They were looking right at enuine DPS personnel They earing cop shoes, and their uniforms had eased and stretched andperiod of tiuises, snatched fro I looked beyond the two guys, inside, at their four partners ere doing nothing, and I tried to judge the fit of their clothes, by way of comparison It was hard to tell

In front of ht said, "Sir, may we help you?"

I asked, "With what?"

"Where are you headed today?"

"Do I need to tell you that?"

"No sir, absolutely not," the guy said "But we could speed you along a little, if you like"

Probably via an inconspicuous door into a sured they had civilian witnesses on their mind too, the same way I did I said, "I&039;m happy to wait my turn I&039;uys said nothing in reply to that Stalemate Amateur hour To try to start the arrest outside was dumb I could push and shove and turn and run and be lost in the crowd in the blink of an eye And they wouldn&039;t shoot Not outside There were too e This was 1997, remember March eleventh Four and a half years before the new rules Much better to wait until I was inside the lobby The two stooges could close the doors behind me and for the bad news at the desk At that point theoretically I could turn back and fight ain, but it would take uys with nothing to do could shoot me in the back about a thousand tied forward they could shoot o anyway? To escape into the Pentagon was no kind of a good idea The world&039;s largest office building Thirty thousand people Five floors Two basements Seventeen miles of corridors There are ten radial hallways between the rings, and they say a person can make it between any two random points inside a maximum seven minutes, which was presumably calculated with reference to the army&039;s official quick- hard I could be anywhere within about threelunches and hold out a day or two, but that would be all Or I could take hostages and try to arguesucceed

So I waited

The DPS guy in front of ht said, "Sir, you be sure and have a nice day now," and then he moved past me, and his partnersloo guys happy to be out in the air, patrolling, varying their viewpoint Maybe not so du their plan They had tried to decoy me into a small locked room, but they had failed, no harht to plan B They would wait until I was inside and the doors were closed, and then they would ju people, keeping them safe in case shots had to be fired inside I assulass was supposed to be bulletproof, but the sotten exactly what it paid for

The door was right in front of me It was open I took a breath and stepped into the lobby Sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it

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The woman with the perfume and the pale hands was already deep into the corridor beyond the open turnstile She had been waved through Straight ahead of uys checking badges The open turnstile was between their hips The four spare guys were still doing nothing beyond it They were still clustered together, quiet and watchful, like an independent team I still couldn&039;t see their shoes

I took another breath and stepped up to the counter

Like a lauy on the left looked at nation in his voice A response, not a question, as if I had already spoken He looked young and reasonably smart Genuine DPS, presumably MP Warrant Officers are quick studies, but they wouldn&039;t be running a Pentagon inquiry desk, however deeply under they were supposed to be

The desk guy looked at ain, expectantly, and I said, "I have a twelve o&039;clock appointment"

"Who with?"

"Colonel Frazer," I said

The guy nize the na Thirty thousand people He leafed through a book the size of a telephone directory and asked, "Would that be Colonel John James Frazer? Senate Liaison?"

I said, "Yes"

Or: Guilty as charged

Way toYet

The guy at the desk didn&039;t ask my name Partly because he had been briefed, presuraphs, and partly because my Class A uniforulations on e exactly a quarter of an inch below the top seam

Seven letters: REACHER

Or, eleven letters: Arrest uy at the inquiry desk said, "Colonel John Jaet there?"

I said, "Yes" Third floor, C ring, nearest to radial corridor nuon&039;s version of iven that it covered twenty-nine whole acres of floor space

The guy said, "Sir, you have a great day," and his guileless gaze moved past my shoulder to the next in line I stood still for ait perfect The general common law test for criminal culpability is expressed by the Latin actus non facit reus won&039;t necessarily get you in trouble unless you actually mean to do the forfor h the turnstile and into the labyrinth Which explained why the four spare guys were on their side of the gate, notthe line would make it real Maybe there were jurisdiction issues Maybe lawyers had been consulted Frazer wanted one for sure, but he wanted his own ass covered just as much

I took another breath and crossed the line and e checkers and squeezed between the cold alloy flanks of the turnstile The bar was retracted There was nothing to hit with hs I stepped out on the far side and paused The four spare guys were on ulations are surprisingly vague about shoes Plain black lace-up oxfords or close equivalents, conservative, no designs on them, minimum of three pairs of eyelets, closed toe, maximum two-inch heel That&039;s all the fine print says The four guys oncop shoes Not like the two guys outside They were sporting four variations on the sa and wear here and there Maybe they were genuine DPS Maybe they weren&039;t No way of telling Not right then

I was looking at the at me, but no one spoke I looped around the counterclockwise and turned left at the first radial hallway

The four guys followed

They stayed about sixty feet behind h back not to crowd me A maximum seven minutes between any two points I was the ured there would be another creaiting outside 3C315, or as close to it as they decided to let ht for them Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide

I used sohts to the third floor I changed to a clockwise direction, just for the fun of it, and passed radial corridor nu was busy People were bustling from place to place with armfuls of khaki files Blank-eyedsed and sidestepped and kept on going People looked at me every step of the way The hair, and the beard I stopped at a water fountain and bent down and took a drink People passed uys were nowhere to be seen But then, they didn&039;t really need to tail , and they knehat tihtened up and got going again and turned right into radial nu The air smelled of uniforars The paint on the walls was thick and institutional I looked left and right There were people in the corridor, but no big cluster outside bay fifteen Maybe they aiting for me inside I was already five minutes late

I didn&039;t turn I stuck with radial three and walked all the way across the B ring to the A ring The heart of the building, where the radial corridors finish Or start, depending on your rank and perspective Beyond the A ring is nothing but a five-acre pentagonal open courtyard, like the hole in an angular doughnut Back in the day people called it Ground Zero, because they figured the Soviets had their biggest and bestfat bull&039;s-eye I think they rong I think the Soviets had their five biggest and best h four didn&039;t work The set what they paid for, either

I waited in the A ring until I was tenMaybe they were already searching Maybe the four spare guys were already getting their butts kicked for losingbreath and pushed off a wall and tracked back along radial three, across the B ring, to the C I turned without breaking stride and headed for bay fifteen

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There was no one waiting outside bay fifteen No special crew No one at all The corridor was entirely empty, too, both ways, as far as the eye could see And quiet I guessed everyone else was already where they wanted to be Twelve o&039;clock

Bay fifteen&039;s door was open I knocked on it once, as a courtesy, as an announceinally on&039;s office space was open plan, boxed off by file cabinets and furniture into bays, hence the naone up and private spaces had been created Frazer&039;s billet in 3C315 was pretty typical It was a s on the floor, and photographs on the walls, and a metal DoD desk, and a chair with are unit

And it was a small square space entirely empty of people, apart from Frazer himself in the chair behind the desk He looked up at me and smiled

He said, "Hello, Reacher"

I looked left and right No one there No one at all There was no private bathrooe closet No other door of any kind The corridor behindwas quiet

Frazer said, "Close the door"

I closed the door

Frazer said, "Sit down, if you like"

I sat down

Frazer said, "You&039;re late"

"I apologize," I said "I got hung up"

Frazer nodded "This place is a nightes, you nao anywhere at twelve o&039;clock I just hunker down in here" He was about five-ten, h the chest, red-faced, black-haired, in his middle forties Plenty of old Scottish blood in his veins, filtered through the rich earth of Tennessee, which here he was froer and the Gulf as an older man He had combat pips all over him like a rash He was an old-fashioned warrior, but unfortunately for hiht, so he had been posted to Senate Liaison, because the guys with the purse strings were now the real eneot forto say I hadn&039;t expected to get that far

He said, "Good news, I hope"

"No news," I said

"Nothing?"