375
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
376
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