‘Hello, Colonel,’ Reacher said. ‘This is Agent Harper, from the FBI.’

  Trent was politer than his lieutenant. His rank meant he had to be. Or maybe he was just more impressed by tall damp blondes dressed like men. Either way, he shook hands. And maybe held onto the shake longer than was necessary. And maybe smiled, just a fraction.

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Colonel,’ Harper said. ‘And thanks in advance.’

  ‘I haven’t done anything yet,’ Trent said.

  ‘Well, we’re always grateful for co-operation anyplace we can get it, sir.’

  Trent released her hand. ‘Which is a strictly limited number of places, I expect.’

  ‘Fewer than we’d like,’ she said. ‘Considering we’re all on the same side.’

  Trent smiled again.

  ‘That’s an interesting concept,’ he said. ‘I’ll do what I can, but the co-operation will be limited. As I’m sure you anticipated. We’re going to be examining personnel records and deployment listings that I’m just not prepared to share with you. Reacher and I will do it on our own. There are issues of national and military security at stake. You’re going to have to wait out here.’

  ‘All day?’ she said.

  Trent nodded. ‘As long as it takes. You comfortable with that?’

  It was clear she wasn’t. She looked at the floor and said nothing.

  ‘You wouldn’t let me see confidential FBI stuff,’ Trent said. ‘I mean, you don’t really like us any more than we like you, right?’

  Harper glanced around the room. ‘I’m supposed to watch over him.’

  ‘I understand that. Your Mr Blake explained your role to me. But you’ll be right here, outside my office. There’s only one door. The sergeant will give you a desk.’

  A sergeant stood up unbidden and showed her to an empty desk with a clear view of the inner office door. She sat down slowly, unsure.

  ‘You’ll be OK there,’ Trent said. ‘This could take us some time. It’s a complicated business. I’m sure you know how paperwork can be.’

  Then he led Reacher into the inner office and closed the door. It was a large room, windows on two walls, bookcases, cabinets, a big wooden desk, comfortable leather chairs. Reacher sat down in front of the desk and leaned back.

  ‘Give it two minutes, OK?’ he said.

  Trent nodded. ‘Read this. Look busy.’

  He handed over a thick file in a faded green folder from a tall stack. Reacher opened it up and bent to examine it. There was a complicated chart inside, detailing projected aviation-fuel requirements for the coming six-month period. Trent walked back to the door. Opened it wide.

  ‘Ms Harper?’ he called. ‘Can I get you a cup of coffee?’

  Reacher glanced over his shoulder and saw her staring in at him, taking in the chairs, the desk, the stack of files.

  ‘I’m all set, right now,’ she called back.

  ‘OK,’ Trent said. ‘You want anything, just tell the sergeant.’

  He closed the door again. Walked to the window. Reacher took off his ID tag and laid it on the desk. Stood up. Trent unlatched the window and opened it as wide as it would go.

  ‘You didn’t give us much time,’ he whispered. ‘But I think we’re in business.’

  ‘They fell for it right away,’ Reacher whispered back. ‘A lot sooner than I thought they would.’

  ‘But how did you know you’d have the escort?’

  ‘Hope for the best, plan for the worst. You know how it is.’

  Trent nodded. Stuck his head out of the window and checked both directions.

  ‘OK, go for it,’ he said. ‘And good luck, my friend.’

  ‘I need a gun,’ Reacher whispered.

  Trent stared at him and shook his head firmly.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘That, I can’t do.’

  ‘You have to. I need one.’

  Trent paused. He was agitated. Getting nervous.

  ‘Christ, OK, a gun,’ he said. ‘But no ammunition. My ass is already way out on a limb on this thing.’

  He opened a drawer and took out a Beretta M9. Same weapon as Petrosian’s boys had carried, except Reacher could see this one still had its serial number intact. Trent took the clip out and thumbed the bullets back into the drawer, one by one.

  ‘Quiet,’ Reacher whispered urgently.

  Trent nodded and clicked the empty clip back into the grip. Handed the gun to Reacher, butt first. Reacher took it and put it in his coat pocket. Sat on the window ledge. Turned and swivelled his legs outside.

  ‘Have a nice day,’ he whispered.

  ‘You too. Take care,’ Trent whispered back.

  Reacher braced himself with his hands and dropped to the ground. He was in a narrow alley. It was still raining. The lieutenant was waiting in the Chevy, ten yards away, motor running. Reacher sprinted for the car and it was rolling before his door was closed. The mile back to McGuire took little over a minute. The car raced out onto the tarmac and headed straight for a Marine Corps helicopter. Its belly door was standing open and the rotor blade was turning fast. The rain in the air was whipping up into spiral patterns.

  ‘Thanks, kid,’ Reacher said.

  He stepped out of the car and across to the chopper’s ramp and ran up into the dark. The door whirred shut behind him and the engine noise built to a roar. He felt the machine come off the ground and two pairs of hands grabbed him and pushed him into his seat. He buckled his harness and a headset was thrust at him. He put it on and the intercom crackle started at the same time as the interior lights came on. He saw he was sitting in a canvas chair between two Marine loadmasters.

  ‘We’re going to the Coast Guard heliport in Brooklyn,’ the pilot called through. ‘Close as we can get without filing a flight plan, and filing a flight plan ain’t exactly on the agenda today, OK?’

  Reacher thumbed his mike. ‘Suits me, guys. And thanks.’

  ‘Colonel must owe you big,’ the pilot said.

  ‘No, he just likes me,’ Reacher said.

  The guy laughed and the helicopter swung in the air and settled to a bellowing cruise.

  ELEVEN

  The Coast Guard heliport in Brooklyn is situated on the eastern edge of Floyd Bennett Field, facing an island in Jamaica Bay called Ruffle Bar, exactly sixty air miles north and east from McGuire. The Marine pilot kept his foot on the loud pedal all the way and made the trip in thirty-seven minutes. He touched down in a circle with a giant letter H painted inside it and dropped the engines down to idle.

  ‘You’ve got four hours,’ he said. ‘Any longer than that, we’re out of here and you’re on your own, OK?’

  ‘OK,’ Reacher said. He unstrapped himself and slipped the headset off and followed the ramp down as it opened. There was a dark blue sedan with Navy markings waiting on the tarmac with its motor running and its front passenger door open.

  ‘You Reacher?’ the driver yelled.

  Reacher nodded and slid in alongside him. The guy stamped on the gas.

  ‘I’m Navy Reserve,’ he said. ‘We’re helping the colonel out. A little inter-service co-operation.’

  ‘I appreciate it,’ Reacher said.

  ‘Don’t think twice,’ the guy said. ‘So where we headed?’

  ‘Manhattan. Aim for Chinatown. You know where that is?’

  ‘Do I? I eat there, three times a week.’

  He took Flatbush Avenue and the Manhattan Bridge. Traffic was light, but ground transportation still seemed awful slow, after the Lear and the helicopter. It was thirty whole minutes before Reacher was anywhere near where he wanted to be. A whole eighth of his available time gone. The guy came off the bridge approach and stopped short on a hydrant.

  ‘I’ll be waiting right here,’ he said. ‘Facing the other direction, exactly three hours from now. So don’t be late, OK?’

  Reacher nodded.

  ‘I won’t,’ he said.

  He slid out of the car and slapped twice on the roof. Crossed the street and headed south. It was cold in New York, and damp, but it wasn’t actually raining. There was no sun visible. Just a vague sullen light in the sky where the sun ought to have been. He stopped walking and stood still for a moment. He was twenty minutes from Jodie’s office. He started walking again. It was twenty minutes he didn’t have. First things first. That was his rule. And maybe they’d be watching her place. No way could he be seen in New York today. He shook his head and walked on. Forced himself to concentrate. Glanced at his watch. It was late morning and he started worrying he was too early. On the other hand, he might be timing it just right. There was no way of telling. He had no experience.

  After five minutes, he stopped walking again. If any street was going to do it for him, this was the one. It was lined both sides with Chinese restaurants, crowded together, bright gaudy facades in reds and yellows. There was a forest of signs in oriental script. Pagoda shapes everywhere. The sidewalks were crowded. Delivery trucks double-parked tight against cars. Crates of vegetables and drums of oil piled on the kerbs. He walked the length of the street twice, up and down, carefully inspecting the terrain, learning it. Looking at the alleys. Then he touched the gun in his pocket and set off strolling again, looking for his targets. They would be around somewhere. If he wasn’t too early. He leaned on a wall and watched. They would be in a pair. Two of them, together. He watched for a long time. There were plenty of people in pairs, but they weren’t the right people. They weren’t them. None of them. He was too early.

  He glanced at his watch and saw his time ticking away. He pushed off the wall and strolled again. He looked into doorways as he passed. Nothing. He watched the alleys. Nothing. Time ticked on. He walked a block south and a block west and tried another street. Nothing. He waited on a corner. Still nothing. He went another block south, another block west. Nothing. He leaned on a skinny tree and waited, with the watch on his wrist hammering like a machine. Nothing. He walked back to his starting point and leaned on his wall and watched the lunch crowd build to a peak. Then he watched it ebb away. Suddenly more people were coming out of the restaurants than were going in. His time was ebbing away with them. He moved to the end of the street. Checked his watch again. He had been waiting two whole hours. He had one hour left.

  Nothing happened. The lunch crowd died away to nothing and the street went quiet. Trucks drove in, stopped, unloaded, drove out again. A light drizzle started, and then it stopped. Low clouds moved across the narrow sky. Time ticked away. He walked east and south. Nothing there. He came back again and walked up one side of the street and down the other. Waited at the corner. Checked his watch, over and over. He had forty minutes left. Then thirty. Then twenty.

  Then he saw them. And he suddenly understood why it was now, and not before. They had been waiting for the lunch-hour cash flow to be neatly stashed in the registers. There were two guys. Chinese, of course, young, shiny black hair worn long on their collars. They wore dark pants and light windbreakers, with scarves at their necks, like a uniform.

  They were very blatant. One carried a satchel and the other carried a notebook with a pen trapped in the spiral binding. They strolled into each restaurant in turn, slow and casual. Then they strolled out again, with one guy zipping the satchel and the other guy noting something in his book. One restaurant, then two, then three, then four. Fifteen minutes ticked away. Reacher watched. He crossed the street and moved ahead of them. Waited near a restaurant door. Watched them go in. Watched them approach an old guy at the register. They just stood there. Said nothing. The old guy reached into the cash drawer and took out a wad of folded bills. The agreed amount, ready and waiting. The guy with the book took them and handed them to his partner. Wrote something in the book as the money disappeared into the satchel.

  Reacher stepped ahead, up to where a narrow alley separated two buildings. He ducked in and waited with his back to the wall, where they wouldn’t see him until it was too late. He checked his watch. He had less than five minutes. He timed the two guys in his head. He built a mental picture of their lazy, complacent pace. Followed their rhythm in his mind. Waited. Waited. Then he stepped out of the alley and met them head on. They bumped right into him. He seized a bunch of windbreaker in each hand and leaned backward and swung them through a complete explosive half-circle and smashed them back-first into the alley wall. The guy in his right hand followed the wider arc, and therefore hit harder, and therefore bounced further. Reacher caught him solidly with his elbow as he came forward off the wall and he went down on the floor. Didn’t come back up again. He was the guy with the satchel.

  The other guy dropped the book and went for his pocket, but Reacher had Trent’s Beretta out first. He stood close and held it angled low, down in the tails of his coat, down toward the guy’s kneecap.

  ‘Be smart, OK?’ he said.

  He reached down with his left and racked the slide. The sound was muffled by the cloth of his coat, but to his practised ear it sounded horribly empty. No final click of the shell case smacking home. But the Chinese guy didn’t notice. Too dizzy. Too shocked. He just pressed himself to the wall like he was trying to back right through it. Put all his weight on one foot, unconsciously preparing for the bullet that would blow his leg away.

  ‘You’re making a mistake, pal,’ he whispered.

  Reacher shook his head. ‘No, we’re making a move, asshole.’

  ‘Who’s we?’

  ‘Petrosian,’ Reacher said.

  ‘Petrosian? You’re kidding me.’

  ‘No way,’ Reacher said. ‘I’m serious. Real serious. This street is Petrosian’s now. As of today. As of right now. All of it. The whole street. You clear on that?’

  ‘This street is ours.’

  ‘Not any more. It’s Petrosian’s. He’s taking it over. You want to lose a leg arguing about it?’

  ‘Petrosian?’ the guy repeated.

  ‘Believe it,’ Reacher said, and slammed him left-handed in the stomach. The guy folded forward and Reacher tapped him above the ear with the butt of the gun and dropped him neatly on top of his partner. He clicked the trigger to free the slide and put the gun back in his pocket. Picked up the satchel and tucked it under his arm. Walked out of the alley and turned north.

  He was already late. If his watch was a minute slow and the Navy guy’s was a minute fast, then the rendezvous was already gone. But he didn’t run. Running in the city was too conspicuous. He walked away as fast as he could, stepping one pace to the side for every three paces forward, threading his way along the sidewalks. He turned a corner and saw the blue car, USNR painted discreetly on its flank. He saw it moving away from the kerb. Saw it lurching out into the traffic stream. Now he ran.

  He got to where it had been parked four seconds after it had left. Now it was three cars ahead, accelerating to catch the light. He stared after it. The light changed to red. The car accelerated faster. Then the guy chickened out and hit the brakes. The car slammed to a neat stop a foot into the crosswalk. Pedestrians swarmed out in front of it. Reacher breathed again and ran to the intersection and pulled open the passenger door. Dumped himself into the seat, panting. The driver nodded to him. Didn’t say a word. Didn’t offer any kind of an apology for not waiting. Reacher didn’t expect one. When the Navy says three hours, it means three hours. One hundred and eighty minutes, not a second more, not a second less. Time and tide wait for no man. The Navy was built on all kinds of bullshit like that.

  The journey back to Trent’s office at Dix was the exact reverse of the journey out. Thirty minutes in the car through Brooklyn, the waiting helicopter, the raucous flight back to McGuire, the lieutenant in the staff Chevy waiting on the tarmac. Reacher spent the flight time counting the money in the satchel. There was a total of twelve hundred dollars in there, six folded wads of two hundred each. He gave the money to the loadmasters for their next unit party. He tore the satchel along its seams and dropped the pieces through the flare hatch, two thousand feet above Lakewood, New Jersey.

  It was still raining at Dix. The lieutenant drove him back to the alley and he walked to Trent’s window and rapped softly on the glass. Trent opened it up and he climbed back inside the office.

  ‘We OK?’ he asked.

  Trent nodded. ‘She’s just been sitting out there, quiet as a mouse, all day. Must be real impressed with our dedication. We worked right through lunch.’

  Reacher nodded and handed back the empty gun. Took off his jacket. Sat down in his chair. Slipped his ID around his neck again and picked up a file. Trent had moved the stack right-to-left across the desk, like it had been minutely examined.

  ‘Success?’ Trent asked.

  ‘I think so. Time will tell, right?’

  Trent nodded and looked out at the weather. He was restless. He had been trapped in his office all day.

  ‘Let her in, if you want,’ Reacher said. ‘Show’s over now.’

  ‘You’re all wet,’ Trent said. ‘Show’s not over until you’re dried out.’

  It took twenty minutes to dry out. He used Trent’s phone and called Jodie’s numbers. The private office line, the apartment, the mobile. No reply, no reply, out of service. He stared at the wall. Then he read an unclassified file about proposed methods of getting mail to the Marines if they had to go serve in the Indian Ocean. The time he spent on it put him lower in his chair and put a glazed look on his face. When Trent finally opened the door and Harper got her second peek of the day, he was slumped and inert. Exactly like a man looks after an arduous day with paperwork.