‘Only in the labs. Their left hand doesn’t know what their
right hand is doing.’
‘You need their help.’
‘And I’ll ask for it. Soon as we’ve gotten names I’m going to
give them to the Bureau on a silver platter. But I’m not going
to tell them where they came from. I’m not going to tell them
we were internally compromised. And I’m sure as hell not
bringing them in while we still are internally compromised.’
‘Is it that big a deal?’
‘Are you kidding? CIA had a problem with that Ames guy,
remember? The Bureau got hold of it and they laughed up their
sleeves for years. Then they had their own problems with
Hanssen, and they didn’t look so smart after all. This is the big
leagues, Reacher. Right now the Secret Service is number one,
by a very healthy margin. We’ve only recorded one defeat in our
entire history, and that was almost forty years ago. So we’re not
about to take a dive down the league table just for the fun of it.’
Reacher said nothing.
‘And don’t get all superior with me,’ Stuyvesant said. ‘Don’t
tell me the army reacted any different. I don’t recall you
guys running to the Bureau for assistance. I don’t recall your
embarrassing little secrets all over the Washington Post.’
Reacher nodded. Most of the army’s embarrassments were
cremated. Or six feet under. Or sitting in a stockade somewhere,
too scared evento open their mouths. Or back home,
too scared to tell their own mothers why. He had arranged
some of those circumstances himself.
‘So we’ll take it a step at a time,’ Stuyvesant said. ‘Prove these
guys are outsiders. Get their names from the cleaners. Lawyers
or no lawyers.’
Froelich shook her head. ‘First priority is getting Armstrong
to midnight alive.’
154
‘It’s only going to be a demonstration,’ Reacher said.
‘I heard you before,’ she said. ‘But it’s my call. And you’re
just guessing. All we’ve got is nine words on a piece of paper.
And your interpretation might be plain wrong. I mean, what
better demonstration would there be than actually doing it? Really getting to him would demonstrate his vulnerability,
wouldn’t it? I mean, what better way is there of demonstrating
it?’
Neagley nodded. ‘And it would be a way of hedging their
bets, also. An attempt that fails could be passed off as a demonstration,
maybe. You know, to save face.’
‘If you’re right to begin with,’ Stuyvesant said.
Reacher said nothing. The meeting came to an end a couple
of minutes later. Stuyvesant made Froelich run through
Armstrong’s schedule for the day. It was an amalgam of familiar
parts. First, intelligence briefings from the CIA at home, like on
Friday morning. Then afternoon transition meetings on the Hill,
the same as most days. Then the evening reception at the same
hotel as Thursday. Stuyvesant noted it all down and went home
just before two thirty in the morning. Left Froelich on her own
at the long table in the bright light and the silence, opposite
Reacher and Neagley.
‘Advice?’ she said.
‘Go home and sleep,’ Reacher said.
‘Great.’
‘And then do exactly what you,’ve been doing,’ Neagley said.
‘He’s OK in his house. He’s OK in his office. Keep the tents in
place and the transfers are OK too.’
‘What about the hotel reception?’
‘Keep it short and take a lot of care:’
Froelich nodded. ‘All I can do, I guess.’
‘Are you good at your job?’ Neagley asked.
Froelich paused.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m pretty good.’
‘No, you’re not,’ Reacher said. You’re the best. The absolute
best there has ever been. You’re so damn good it’s unbelievable.’
qhat’s how you’ve got to think,’ Neagley said. ‘Pump yourself
up. Get to the point where it’s impossible to imagine that these
155
jerky guys with their silly notes are going to get within a million
miles of you.’
Froelich smiled, briefly. ‘Is this military-style training?’
‘For me it was,’ Neagley said. ‘Reacher was born thinking that
way.’
Froelich smiled again.
‘OK,’ she said. ‘Home and sleep. Big day tomorrow.’
Washington D.C. is quiet and empty in the middle of the night
and it took just two minutes to reach Neagley’s hotel and only