Child, Lee – Without Fail

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construction was just about identical to the Bismarck roof.

There was soldered lead sheathing built up into a shallow box.

Drains in the corners. A substantial anchor for the flagpole and

the weathervane and the lightning rod. And a three-foot wall all

round the edge. He turned a circle on his stomach and leaned

down and took the louvre from Neagley. Then he got out of her

way and let her crawl up next to him. The wind was strong and

the air was bitterly cold.

‘Now we kind of kneel low,’ he said. ‘Close together, facing

west.’

They knelt together, shoulder to shoulder, hunched down.

He was on the left, she was on the right. He could still hear the

clock. He could feel it, through the lead and the heavy wooden

boards.

‘OK, like this,’ he said. He held the louvre in front of his face,

with his left hand holding the left end. She took the right end in

her right hand. They shuffled forward on their knees until they

were tight against the low wall. He eased his end of the louvre

level with the top of the wall. She did the same.

‘More,’ he said. ‘Until we’ve got a slit to see through.’

They raised it higher in concert until it was horizontal with an

inch of space between its lower edge and the top of the wall.

They gazed out through the gap. They would be visible if

somebody was watching the tower very carefully, but overall it

was a pretty unobtrusive tactic. As good as he could improvise,

anyway.

‘Look west,’ he said. ‘Maybe a little bit south of west.’

They squinted into the setting sun. They could see forty

miles of waving grass. It was like an ocean, bright and golden in

the evening backlight. Beyond it was the darkening snowstorm.

The area between was misty and sheets of late sunlight speared

backward through it right at them. There were shifting curtains

of sun and shadow and colour and rainbows that started

nowhere and ended nowhere.

‘Watch the grassland,’ he said.

‘What am I looking for?’

‘You’ll see it.’

They knelt there for minutes. The sun inched lower. The

last rays tilted flatter into their eyes. Then they saw it. They saw

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it together. About a mile out into the sea of grass the dying

sun flashed gold once on the roof of the Tahoe. It was crawling

east through the grassland, very slowly, coming directly

towards them, bouncing gently over the rough terrain, lurching

up and down through the dips and the hollows at walking

speed.

q’hey were smart,’ Reacher said. q’hey read the map and had

the same idea you did, to exit across open country to the west.

But then they looked at the town and knew they had to come in

that way too.’

The sun slid into the low clouds fifty miles west and the

resulting shadow raced east across the grassland and the

golden light died. Twilight came down like a circuit breaker

had popped open and then there was nothing more to be seen.

They lowered the louvre screen and ducked away flat to the

roof. Crawled across the lead and back down into the bell

chamber. Neagley threaded her way under the clock shaft and

picked up the Heckler & Koch.

‘Not yet,’ Reacher said.

‘So when?’

‘What will they do now?’

‘I guess they’ll get as close as they dare. Then they’ll set up

and wait.’

Reacher nodded, ff’hey’ll turn the truck round and park it

facing west in the best hollow they can find about a hundred,

two hundred yards out. They’ll check their sightlines to the east

and make sure they can see but can’t be seen. Then they’ll sit

tight and wait for Armstrong to show.’

q’hat’s fourteen hours.’

‘Exactly,’ Reacher said. ‘We’re going to leave them out there

all night. We’ll let them get cold and stiff and tired. Then the

sun will rise right in their eyes. We’ll be coming at them out of

the sun. They won’t even see us.’

They hid the long guns under the pew nearest the church door

and left the Yukon parked where it was. Walked up towards the

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