going to lose repeatedly. You have to make mental adjustments,
or you couldn’t cope with it. And presidential protection is
exactly the same thing. That’s my point. We can’t win every day.
So we get used to it.’
‘You only lost once,’ Neagley said. ‘Back in 1963.’
‘No,’ Stuyvesant said. ‘We lose repeatedly. But not every loss
is significant. Just like baseball. Not every hit they get produces
a run against you, not every defeat they inflict loses you the
World Series. And with us, not every mistake kills our guy.’
‘So what are you saying?’ Neagley asked.
Stuyvesant sat forward. Tm saying that despite what your
audit might have revealed you should still have considerable
faith in us. Not every error costs us a run. Now, I completely
understand that kind of so-what self-confidence must seem very
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offhand to an outsider. But you must understand we’re forced to
think that way. Your audit showed up a few holes, and what we
have to do now is judge whether it’s possible to fill them.
Whether it’s reasonable. I’m going to leave that to Froelich’s
own judgement. It’s her show. But what I’m suggesting is that
you get rid of any sense of doubt you’re feeling about us. As
private citizens. Any sense of our failure. Because we’re not
failing. There are always going to be holes. Part of the job. This
is a democracy. Get used to it.’
Then he sat back, like he was finished.
‘What about this specific threat?’ Reacher asked him.
He paused, and then he shook his head. His face had
changed. The mood in the whole room had changed.
q?hat’s precisely where I stop being frank,’ he said. ‘I told you
it was a temporary indulgence. And it was a very serious lapse
on Froelich’s part to reveal the existence of any threat at all. All
I’m prepared to say is we intercept a lot of threats. Then we deal
with them. How we deal with them is entirely confidential.
Therefore I would ask you to understand you are now under an
absolute obligation never to mention this situation to anybody
after you leave here tonight. Or any aspect of our procedures.
That obligation is rooted in federal statute. There are sanctions
available to me.’
There was silence. Reacher said nothing. Neagley sat quiet.
Froelich looked upset. Stuyvesant ignored her completely
and gazed at Reacher and Neagley, at first hostile, and then
suddenly pensive. He started thinking hard again. He stood up
and walked over to the low cabinet with the telephones on it.
Squatted down in front of it. Opened the doors and took out two
yellow legal pads and two ballpoint pens. Walked back and
dropped one of each in front of Reacher and one of each in front
of Neagley. Circled round the head of the table again and sat
back down in his chair.
‘Write your full names,’ he said. ‘All and any aliases, dates
of birth, social security numbers, military ID numbers, and
current addresses.’
‘What for?’ Reacher asked.
‘Just do it,’ Stuyvesant said.
Reacher paused and picked up his pen. Froelich looked at
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him, anxiously. Neagley glanced at him and shrugged and
started writing on her pad. Reacher waited a second and then
followed her example. He was finished well before her. He had
no middle name and no current address. Stuyvesant walked
around behind them and scooped the pads off the table. Said
nothing and carried on walking straight out of the room with
the pads held tight under his arm. The door slammed loudly
behind him.
‘I’m in trouble,’ Froelich said. ‘And I’ve made trouble for you
guys, too.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Reacher said. ‘He’s going to make us
sign some kind of confidentiality agreement, is all. He’s gone to
get them typed up, I guess.’
‘But what’s he going to do to me?’
‘Nothing, probably.’
‘Demote me? Fire me?’
‘He authorized the audit. The audit was necessary because of
the threats. The two things were connected. We’ll tell him we
pushed you with questions.’
‘He’ll demote me,’ Froelich said. ‘He wasn’t happy about me
running the audit in the first place. Told me it indicated a lack of