everybody else in the city. But talking about politics in late
November was pretty much impossible without mentioning the
new administration, which led back towards Armstrong, so they
generalized it away again towards personal views and beliefs.
That needed background information, and before long Froelich
was asking Neagley about her life and career.
Reacher tuned it out. He knew she wouldn’t answer questions
about her life. She never did. Never had. He had known her
many years, and had discovered absolutely nothing about
her background. He assumed there was some unhappiness
there. It was pretty common among army people. Some join
because they need a job or want to learn a trade, some join
because they want to shoot heavy weapons and blow things up.
Some, like Reacher himself, join because it’s preordained. But
most join because they’re looking for cohesion and trust and
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loyalty and camaraderie. They’re looking for the brothers and
the sisters and the parents they haven’t got anywhere else.
So Neagley skipped her early life and ran through her service
career for Froelich and Reacher ignored it and looked around
the restaurant. It was busy. Lots of couples and families. He
guessed people who were cooking big Thanksgiving meals
tomorrow didn’t want to cook tonight. There were a couple of
faces he almost recognized. Maybe they were politicians or
television reporters. He tuned the conversation back in again
when Neagley started talking about her new career in Chicago.
It sounded pretty good. She was partnered with a bunch of
people from law enforcement and the military. It was a big firm.
They offered a whole range of services from computer security
to kidnap protection for travelling executives overseas. If you
had to live in one place and go to work every day, that was
probably the way to do it. She sounded satisfied with her life.
They were about to order a fourth round of coffee when
Froelich’s cell phone rang. It was just after nine o’clock. The
restaurant had gotten noisy and they missed it at first. Then
they became aware of the low insistent trilling inside her purse.
Froelich got the phone out and answered the call. Reacher
watched her face. Saw puzzlement, and then a little concern.
‘OK,’ she said, and closed the phone. Looked across at
Reacher. ‘Stuyvesant wants you back in the office, right now,
immediately.’
The?’ Reacher said. ‘Why?’
‘He didn’t say.’
Stuyvesant was waiting for them behind one end of the reception
counter just inside the main door. The duty officer was
busy at the other end. Everything looked completely normal
except for a telephone directly in front of Stuyvesant. It had
been dragged up out of position and was sitting on the front
part of the counter, facing outward, trailing its wire behind it.
Stuyvesant was staring at it.
‘We got a call,’ he said.
‘Who from?’ Froelich asked.
‘Didn’t get a name. Or a number. Caller ID was blocked.
Male voice, no particular accent. He called the switchboard and
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asked to speak with the big guy. Something in the voice made
the duty officer take it seriously, so he patched it through,
thinking perhaps the big guy was me, you know, the boss. But
it wasn’t. The caller didn’t want to speak with me. He wanted
the big guy he’s been seeing around recently.’
The?’ Reacher said.
‘You’re the only big guy new on the scene.’
‘Why would he want to speak with me?’
‘We’re about to find out. He’s calling back at nine thirty.’
Reacher glanced at his watch. Twenty-two minutes past.
‘It’s them,’ Froelich saidl ffhey saw you in the church.’
Fhat’s my guess,’ Stuyvesant said. This is our first real
contact. We’ve got a recorder set up. We’ll get a voice print. And
we’ve got a trace on the line. You need to talk for as long as you
can.’
Reacher glanced at Neagley. She looked at her watch. Shook
her head.
‘Not enough time now,’ she said.
Reacher nodded. ‘Can we get a weather report for Chicago?’
‘I could call Andrews,’ Froelich said. ‘But why?’
‘Just do it, OK?’
She stepped away to use another line. The air force meteorological people took four minutes to tell .her Chicago was cold