self-confidence.’
‘Bullshit,’ Reacher said. ‘We did stuff like that all the time.’
‘Audits build self-confidence,’ Neagley said. q’hat was our
experience. Better to know something for sure than just hope
for the best.’
Froelich looked away. Didn’t reply. The room went quiet.
They all waited, five minutes, then ten, then fifteen. Reacher
stood up and stretched. Stepped over to the low cabinet and
looked at the red phone. He picked it up and held it to his
ear. There was no dial tone. He put it back and scanned the
confidential memos on the notice board. The ceiling was low
and he could feel heat on his head from the halogen lights.
He sat down again and turned his chair and tilted it back and
put his feet on the next one in line. Glanced at his watch.
Stuyvesant had been gone twenty minutes.
‘Hell is he doing?’ he said. q’yping them himself?’
‘Maybe he’s calling his agents,’ Neagley said. ‘Maybe we’re
all going to jail, to guarantee our everlasting silence for ever.’
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Reacher yawned and smiled. ‘We’ll give him ten more
minutes. Then we’re leaving. We’ll all go out and get some
dinner.’
Stuyvesant came back after five more. He walked into the
room and closed the door. He was carrying no papers. He
stepped over and sat down in his original seat and placed his
hands flat on the table. Drummed a staccato little rhythm with
his fingertips.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘Where were we? Reacher had a question, I
think.’
Reacher took his feet off the chair and turned to face front.
‘Did I?’ he said.
Stuyvesant nodded. ‘You asked about this specific threat.
Well, it’s either an inside job or it’s an outside job. It’s got to be
one or the other, obviously.’
‘We’re discussing this now?’
‘Yes, we are,’ Stuyvesant said.
‘Why? What changed?’
Stuyvesant ignored the question. ‘If it’s an outside job, should
we necessarily worry? Perhaps not, because that’s like baseball,
too. If the Yankees come to town saying they’re going to beat the Orioles, does that mean it’s true? Boasting about it is not
the same thing as actually doing it.’
Nobody spoke.
‘I’m asking for your input here,’ Stuyvesant said.
Reacher shrugged. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘You think it is an outside
threat?’
‘No, I think it’s inside intimidation intended to damage
Froelich’s career. Now ask me what I’m going to do about it.’
Reacher glanced at him. Glanced at his watch. Glanced at the
wall. Twenty-five minutes, a Sunday evening, deep inside the
D. C.-Maryland-Virginia triangle.
‘I know what you’re going to do about it,’ he said.
‘Do you?’
‘You’re going to hire me and Neagley for an internal investi
gation.’
‘Am
Reacher nodded. ‘If you’re worried about inside intimidation
then you need an internal investigation. That’s clear. And you
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can’t use one of your own people, because you might hit on the
bad guy by chance. And you don’t want to bring the FBI in,
because that’s not how Washington works. Nobody washes
their dirty linen in public. So you need some other outsider.
And you’ve got two of them sitting right in front of you. They’re
already involved, because Froelich just involved them. So either
you terminate that involvement, or you choose to expand on it.
You’d prefer to expand on it, because that way you don’t have to
find fault with an excellent agent you just promoted. So can
you use us? Of course you can. Who better than Joe Reacher’s
little brother? Inside Treasury, Joe Reacher is practically a
saint. So your ass is covered. And mine is too. Because of Joe
I’ll get automatic credibility from the start. And I was a good
investigator in the military. So was Neagley. You know that,
because you just checked. My guess is you just spent twenty
five minutes talking to the Pentagon and the National Security
Agency. That’s why you wanted those details. They ran us
through their computers and we came out clean. More than
clean, probably, because I’m sure our security clearances are
still on file, and I’m sure they’re still way higher than you
actually need them to be.’
Stuyvesant nodded. He looked satisfied.
‘An excellent analysis,’ he said. ‘You get the job, just as soon