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Chapter 1

They found out about hiust They tried to kill him in September It ay too soon They weren't ready The attempt was a failure It could have been a disaster, but it was actually a miracle Because nobody noticed

They used their usual et past security and set up a hundred feet fro They used a silencer and ht over his head Maybe even through his hair, because he immediately raised his hand and patted it back into place as if a gust of wind had disturbed it They saw it over and over again, afterward, on television He raised his hand and patted his hair He did nothing else He just kept on with his speech, unaware, because by definition a silenced bullet is too fast to see and too quiet to hear So itbehind hiht and true until its energy was spent and gravity hauled it to earth in the far distance where there was nothing except erassland There was no response No reaction Nobody noticed It was like the bullet had never been fired at all They didn't fire again They were too shaken up

So, a failure, but alike the professionals they were, starting over, cal for their second attempt It would be a better attempt, carefully planned and properly executed, built around technique and nuance and sophistication, and enhanced by unholy fear A worthy attempt A creative attempt Above all, an attempt that wouldn't fail

Then Noveed completely

Reacher's cup was empty but still warm He lifted it off the saucer and tilted it and watched the sludge in the bottom floard him, slow and brown, like river silt

"When does it need to be done?" he asked

"As soon as possible," she said

He nodded Slid out of the booth and stood up

"I'll call you in ten days," he said

"With a decision?"

He shook his head "To tell you hoent "

"I'll knoent "

"OK, to tell you where to send my money "

She closed her eyes and slanced down at her

"You thought I'd refuse?" he said

She opened her eyes "I thought you ht be a little harder to persuade "

He shrugged "Like Joe told you, I's like that He was usually right about a lot of things "

"Now I don't knohat to say, except thank you "

He didn't reply Just started to ht next to him and kept him where he was There was an aard pause They stood for a second face-to-face, trapped by the table She put out her hand and he shook it She held on a fraction too long, and then she stretched up tall and kissed him on the cheek Her lips were soft Their touch burned hie

"A handshake isn't enough," she said "You're going to do it for us " Then she paused "And you were nearly my brother-in-law "

He said nothing Just nodded and shuffled out frolanced back once Then he headed up the stairs and out to the street Her perfue and left a note for his friends in their dressing roohith ten whole days to find a way to kill the fourth-best-protected person on the planet

It had started eight hours earlier, like this: tea, thirteen days after the election, an hour before the second strategy , seven days after the word assassination had first been used, and made her final decision She set off in search of her immediate superior and found him in the secretarial pen outside his office, clearly on his way to somewhere else, clearly in a hurry He had a file under his arm and a definite stay back expression on his face But she took a deep breath and ently And off the record and in private, obviously So he paused a moment and turned abruptly and went back inside his office He let her step in after hih tofeel a little conspiratorial, but firh that she was in no doubt he was annoyed about the interruption to his routine It was just the click of a door latch, but it was also an une of office hierarchies everywhere: you better not be wasting my time with this

He was a twenty-five-year veteran well into his final lap before retirement, well into his middle fifties, the last echo of the old days He was still tall, still fairly lean and athletic, but graying fast and softening in so places His name was Stuyvesant Like the last Director-General of New A was questioned Then, acknowledging the arette He wore Brooks Brothers every day of his life without exception, but he was considered capable of flexibility in his tactics Best of all, he had never failed Not ever, and he had been around a long time, with more than his fair share of difficulties But there had been no failures, and no bad luck, either Therefore, in the anizations everywhere, he was considered a good guy to work for

"You look a little nervous," he said

"I am, a little," Froelich said back

His office was small, and quiet, and sparsely furnished, and very clean The walls were painted bright white and lit with halogen There was a ith white vertical blinds half closed against gray weather outside

"Why are you nervous?" he asked

"I need to ask your permission "

"For what?"

"For soer than Stuyvesant, exactly thirty-five Tall rather than short, but not excessively Maybe only an inch or two over the average for Aence and energy and vitality she radiated took the word ht out of the equation She was halfway between lithe and low in her skin and her eyes that made her look like an athlete Her hair was short and fair and casually unke hurriedly stepped into her street clothes after showering quickly after winning a golda crucial role in so deal, like she wanted to get out of the stadiuh with her teammates and started in on her She looked like a very competent person, but a very modest one

"What kind of so?" Stuyvesant asked He turned and placed the file he was carrying on his desk His desk was large, topped with a slab of gray coh-end modern office furniture, obsessively cleaned and polished like an antique He was fa his desktop clear of paperwork and completely empty The habit created an air of extreme efficiency

"I want an outsider to do it," Froelich said

Stuyvesant squared the file on the desk corner and ran his fingers along the spine and the adjacent edge, like he was checking the angle was exact

"You think that's a good idea?" he asked

Froelich said nothing

"I suppose you've got somebody in mind?" he asked

"An excellent prospect "

"Who?"

Froelich shook her head

"You should stay outside the loop," she said "Better that way "

"Was he recommended?"

"Or she "

Stuyvesant nodded again The modern world

"Was the person you have in mind recommended?"

"Yes, by an excellent source "

"In-house

?"

"Yes," Froelich said again

"So we're already in the loop "

"No, the source isn't in-house anymore "

Stuyvesant turned again and e of the desk Then back again parallel with the short edge

"Let me play devil's advocate," he said "I pro tiht be seen to betray a certain lack of self-confidence, htn't it? Wouldn't you say?"

"I can't worry about that "

"Maybe you should," Stuyvesant said "This could hurt you There were six guys anted your job So if you do this and it leaks, then you've got real proble told you so the whole rest of your career Because you started second-guessing your own abilities "

"Thing like this, I need to second-guess myself I think "

"You think?"