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"No, I know I don't see an alternative "

Stuyvesant said nothing

"I'm not happy about it," Froelich said "Believe ment call "

The office went quiet Stuyvesant said nothing

"So will you authorize it?" Froelich asked

Stuyvesant shrugged "You shouldn't be asking You should have just gone ahead and done it regardless "

"Not my way," Froelich said

"So don't tell anybody else And don't put anything on paper "

"I wouldn't anyway It would compromise effectiveness "

Stuyvesant nodded vaguely Then, like the good bureaucrat he had become, he arrived at the most important question of all

"How much would this person cost?" he asked

"Notat all Maybe expenses only We've got soether Theoretically Of a sort "

"This could stall your career No more promotions "

"The alternative would finish my career "

"You werethat daes me, too "

"I understand that, sir "

"So take a deep breath and count to ten Then tell me that it's really necessary "

Froelich nodded, and took a breath and kept quiet, ten or eleven seconds

"It's really necessary," she said

Stuyvesant picked up his file

"OK, do it," he said

She started i, suddenly aware that doing it was the hard part Asking for permission had seemed like such a hurdle that she had characterized it in her e of the whole project But now that felt like nothing at all coet All she had was a last naht not have been accurate and up to date eight years ago If she even remembered the details correctly They had been ht, by her lover, part of some drowsy pillow talk She couldn't even be sure she had been paying full attention So she decided not to rely on the details She would rely solely on the name itself

She wrote it in large capital letters at the top of a sheet of yellow paper It brought back a lot ofmoment, and then she crossed it out and wrote UNSUB instead That would help her concentration, because it roove, took her right back to basic training An unknown subject was soless

Her e was computer power She had ets UNSUB was military, she knew that for sure, so she went to the National Personnel Records Center's database It was compiled in St Louis, Missouri, and listed literally every man or woman who had served in a U S military uniform, anywhere, ever She typed in the last name and waited and the inquiry software came back with just three short responses One she eliiven name I know for sure it's not hieneration too old So the third had to be UNSUB No other possibility She stared at the full name for a second and copied the date of birth and the Social Security number onto her yellow paper Then she hit the icon for details and entered her password The screen redrew and came up with an abbreviated career summary

Bad news UNSUB wasn't military anyo with an honorable discharge after thirteen years of service Final rank wasa Silver Star and a Purple Heart She read the citations and wrote down the details and drew a line across the yellow paper to signify the end of one era and the start of another Then she plowed on

Next logical step was to look at Social Security's Master Death Index Basic training No point trying to chase down somebody as already dead She entered the nu her breath But the inquiry caovernment knew Next step was to check in with the National Cri to sign up so tiht it was remotely likely, not in UNSUB's case But you never knew There was a fine line, with some personality types The NCIC database was always slow, so she shoved drifts of accumulated paperwork into drawers and then left her desk and refilled her coffee cup Strolled back to find a negative arrest-or-conviction record waiting on her screen Plus a short note to say UNSUB had an FBI file so She closed NCIC and went straight to the FBI's database She found the file and couldn't open it But she knew enough about the Bureau's classification systes It was a si , wasn't currently in trouble

She wrote it all down, and then clicked her way into the nationwide DMV database Bad news again UNSUB didn't have a driver's license Which was very weird And which was a very big pain in the butt Because no driver's licenseShe clicked her way into the Veterans'Ado Searched by name, rank, and nu federal benefits and hadn't offered a forwarding address Why not? Where the hell are you? She went back into Social Security and asked for contributions records There weren't any UNSUB hadn't been eally She tried the IRS for confirmation Same story UNSUB hadn't paid taxes in five years Hadn't even filed

OK, so let's get serious She hitched straighter in her chair and quit the government sites and fired up so industry's private world Strictly speaking she shouldn't be using it for this purpose Or for any purpose It was an obvious breach of official protocol But she didn't expect to get any coet a result If UNSUB had even a single bank account anywhere in the fifty states, it would show up Even a hu account Even an eot by without bank accounts, she knew that, but she felt in her gut UNSUB wouldn't be one of them Not somebody who had been a U S Army major With medals

She entered the Social Security number twice, once in the SSN field and once in the taxpayer ID field She entered the name She hit search

One hundred and eighty miles away, Jack Reacher shivered Atlantic City in the middle of November wasn't the warmest spot on earth Not by any h salt to keep everything perusted and blew trash around and flattened his pants against his legs Five days ago he had been in Los Angeles, and he was pretty sure he should have stayed there Noas pretty sure he should go back Sou

thern California was a very attractive place in November The air arm down there, and the ocean breezes were soft bal salt cold He should go back there He should go somewhere, that was for damn sure

Or maybe he should stick around like he'd been asked to, and buy a coat

He had come back east with an old black wo rides east out of L A in order to take a one-day look at the Mojave Desert The old couple had picked him up in an ancient Buick Roadmaster He saw a microphone and a pri the suitcases in the load space and the old lady told hi for a short residency all the way over in Atlantic City Told him her brother accompanied her on the keyboard and drove the car, but he wasn't much of a talker anymore, and he wasn't much of a driver anymore, and the Roadmaster wasn't uy was coer several ti to calave it a few bars of Dawn Penn's "You Don't Love Me" and Reacher io all the way east with her just to hearchores She kept on singing She had the kind of sweet so, except she was probably in the wrong place too many times and it had never happened for her The old car had failed power steering to wrestle with and all kinds of ticks and rattles and whines under the hammer-heavy V-8 beat, and at about fifty ether and sounded like a backing track The radio eak and picked up an endless succession of local AM stations for about twenty uy kept completely quiet and slept hteen hours a day for three solid days, and arrived in New Jersey feeling like he'd been on vacation

The residency was at a fifth-rate lounge eight blocks frouy you would necessarily trust to respect a contract So Reachertotal of the cash that should show up in the pay envelope at the end of the week He rowshort cryptic phone calls with his hand shielding the receiver and his eyes locked on Reacher's face Reacher looked straight back at hiaze and stayed put He sat through all three sets teekend nights running, but then he started to get restless And cold The Mamas and the Papas were in his head: I'd be safe and war he was about to change his et back on the road when the old keyboard player walked him back from breakfast and finally broke his silence

"I want to ask you to stick around," he said He pronounced it wanna ax, and there was some kind of hope in the rheumy old eyes Reacher didn't answer

"You don't stick around, that uy said, like getting stiffed forthat just happened to et paid, we got gasfro in Times Square, resurrect our careers Guy like you coulddifference in that department, count on it "

Reacher said nothing

"Of course, I can see you being worried," the old guy said "Manage in the background "

Reacher smiled at the subtlety

"What are you, anyway?" the old guy asked "Some kind of a boxer?"

"No," Reacher said "No kind of a boxer "

"Wrestler?" the old guy asked He said it wrassler "Like on cable television?"

"No "

"You're big enough, that's for dah to help us out, if you wanted to "

He said it he'p No front teeth Reacher said nothing

"What are you, anyway?" the old guy asked again

"I was a military cop," Reacher said "In the Army, thirteen years "

"You quit?"

"As near as makes no difference "

"No jobs for you folks afterward?"

"None that I want," Reacher said

"You live in L A ?"

"I don't live anywhere," Reacher said "I move around "

"So road folk should stick together," the old guy said "Si "

He'p each other

"It's very cold here," Reacher said

"That's for dauy said "But you could buy a coat "