Page 33 (1/2)
CHAPTER
1
JACK REACHER ORDERED espresso, double, no peel, no cube, foam cup, no china, and before it arrived at his table he saw a e forever Not that the waiter was slow Just that the move was slick So slick, Reacher had no idea what he atching It was just an urban scene, repeated everywhere in the world a billion tiot in and drove away That was all
But that was enough
The espresso had been close to perfect, so Reacher went back to the sahts in the sareat coffee orth a change in his routine The cafe was on the west side of Sixth Avenue in New York City, in the middle of the block between Bleecker and Houston It occupied the ground floor of an undistinguished four-story building The upper stories looked like anonymous rental apartments The cafe itself looked like a transplant froht and scarred wooden walls and a dented chro as a locole line of metal tables on the sidewalk behind a low canvas screen Reacher took the saht before and chose the saot cos That put his back against the cafe's outside wall and left hi east, across the sidewalk and the width of the avenue He liked to sit outside in the suht He liked the electric darkness and the hot dirty air and the blasts of noise and traffic and thesirens and the crush of people It helped a lonely man feel connected and isolated both at the same time
He was served by the saht before and ordered the saar, no spoon He paid for it as soon as it arrived and left his change on the table That way he could leave exactly when he wanted to without insulting the waiter or bilking the owner or stealing the china Reacher always arranged the smallest details in his life so he could move on at a split second's
notice It was an obsessive habit He owned nothing and carried nothing Physically he was a big man, but he cast a small shadow and left very little in his wake
He drank his coffee slowly and felt the night heat come up off the sidewalk He watched cars and people Watched taxis flow north and garbage trucks pause at the curbs Saw knots of strange young people heading for clubs Watched girls who had once been boys totter south Saw a blue Gerray suit get out and walk north Watched him thread between two sidewalk tables and head inside to where the cafe staff was clustered in back Watched him ask them questions
The guy was , not old, too solid to be called wiry, too slight to be called heavy His hair was gray at the temples and cut short and neat He kept himself balanced on the balls of his feet His mouth didn't move ht tirelessly The guy was about forty, Reacher guessed, and furtherotten to be about forty by staying relentlessly aware of everything that was happening around him Reacher had seen the sale tours
Then Reacher's waiter turned suddenly and pointed straight at hiray suit stared over Reacher stared back, over his shoulder, through theEye contact wasit the man in the suit mouthed thank you to the waiter and started back out the way he had entered He stepped through the door and ht inside the low canvas screen and threaded his way down to Reacher's table Reacher let him stand there mute for a moment while he made up his mind Then he said 'Yes" to him, like an answer, not a question
"Yes what?" the guy said back
"Yes whatever," Reacher said "Yes I', yes you can join me, yes you can ask me whatever it is you want to ask me"
The guy scraped a chair out and sat down, his back to the river of traffic, blocking Reacher's view
"Actually I do have a question," he said
"I know," Reacher said "About last night"
"How did you know that?" The guy's voice was low and quiet and his accent was flat and clipped and
British
"The waiter pointed uishes ht and they weren't"
"You're certain about that?"
"Turn your head away," Reacher said "Watch the traffic"
The guy turned his head away Watched the traffic
"Now tell ," Reacher said
"Green shirt," the British guy said "Cotton, baggy, cheap, doesn't look new, sleeves rolled to the elbow, over a green T-shirt, also cheap and not new, a little tight, untucked over flat-front khaki chinos, no socks, English shoes, pebbled leather, brown, not new, but not very old either, probably expensive Frayed laces, like you pull on them too hard when you tie them Maybe indicative of a self-discipline obsession"
"OK," Reacher said
"OK what?"
"You notice things," Reacher said "And I notice things We're two of a kind We're peas in a pod I'ht I'm certain of that And that's what you asked the staff Had to be That's the only reason the waiter would have pointed me out"
The guy turned back
"Did you see a car last night?" he asked
"I saw plenty of cars last night," Reacher said "This is Sixth Avenue"
"A Mercedes Benz Parked over there" The guy twisted again and pointed on a slight diagonal at a length of empty curb by a fire hydrant on the other side of the street
Reacher said, "Silver, four-door sedan, an S-420, New York vanity plates starting OSC, a lot of city ed rims, dents and scrapes on both bumpers"
The guy turned back again
"You saw it," he said
"It was right there," Reacher said "Obviously I saw it"
"Did you see it leave?"
Reacher nodded "Just before eleven forty-five a guy got in and drove it away"
"You're not wearing a watch"
"I always knohat time it is"
"It ht"
"Maybe," Reacher said "Whatever"
"Did you get a look at the driver?"
"I told you, I saw hiet in and drive away"
The guy stood up
"I need you to come with me," he said Then he put his hand in his pocket "I'll buy your coffee"
"I already paid for it"
"So let's go"
"Where?"
"To see my boss"
"Who's your boss?"
"A man called Lane"
"You're not a cop," Reacher said "That's uess Based on observation"
"Of what?"
"Your accent You're not American You're British The NYPD isn't that desperate"
"Most of us are Aht, we're not cops We're private citizens"
"What kind?"
"The kind that will ive them a description of the individual who drove that car away"
"Worth my while how?"
"Financially," the guy said "Is there any other way?"
"Lots of other ways," Reacher said "I think I'll stay right here"
"This is very serious"
"How?"
The guy in the suit sat down again
"I can't tell you that," he said
"Goodbye," Reacher said
"Not my ch