by now.’
‘Should be 201 by now, surely,’ Froelich said. ‘He’s been
doing it long enough.’
‘No, CIA stuff is awful complicated,’ the guy said. ‘For plain
folks, anyway.’
Froelich smiled and the guy walked away.. Took up station
again on the sidewalk. Froelich buzzed her window up and half
turned to face Reacher and Neagley equally.
‘Foot patrol?’ she said.
163
‘Why I wore my coat,’ Reacher said.
‘Four eyes are better than two,’ Neagley said.
They got out together and left Froelich in the warmth of the
car. The street side of the house was quiet and well covered so
they walked north and turned right to get a view of the back.
There were cop cars top and bottom of the alley. Nothing was
happening. Everything was buttoned up tight against the cold.
They walked onward to the next street. There were cop cars
there, too.
‘Waste of time,’ Neagley said. ‘Nobody’s going to get him in
his house. I assume the police would notice somebody hauling
in an artillery piece.’
‘So let’s get breakfast,’ Reacher said. They walked back to the
cross street and found a doughnut shop. Bought coffee and
crullers and perched on stools in front of a long counter built
inside the store window. The window was misted with condensation.
Neagley used a napkin and wiped crescent shapes to see
through.
‘Different tie,’ she said.
He glanced down at it.
‘Different suit,’ she said.
‘You like it?’
‘I would if we still lived in the 1990s,’ she said.
He said nothing. She smiled.
‘So,’ she said.
‘What?’
‘Ms Froelich collected the set.’
‘You could tell?’
‘Unmistakable.’
‘Free will on my part,’ Reacher said.
Neagley smiled again. ‘I didn’t think she raped you.’
‘You going to be all judgemental now?’
‘Hey, your call. She’s a nice lady. But so am I. And you never
come on to me.’
‘You ever wanted me to?’
‘No.’
q’hat’s the point. I like my interest to be welcome.’
‘Which must limit your options some.’
‘Some,’ he said. ‘But not completely.’
164
‘Apparently not,’ Neagley said.
‘You disapprove?’
‘Hell no. Be my guest. Why do you think I stayed on in the
hotel? I didn’t want to get in her way, is all.’ ‘Her way? Was it that obvious?’
‘Oh please,’ Neagley said.
Reacher sipped his coffee. Ate a cruller. He was hungry and it
tasted great. Iced hard on the outside, light in the middle. He
ate another and sucked his fingertips clean. Felt the caffeine
and the sugar hit his bloodstream.
‘So who are these guys?’ Neagley asked. ‘You got any feelings?’
‘Some,’ Reacher said. ‘I’d have to concentrate hard to line
them up. Not worth starting with that until we know if we’re
staying on the job.’
‘We won’t be,’ Neagley said. ‘Our job ends with the cleaners.
And that’s a waste of time in itself. No way will they have a name for us. Or if they do, it’ll be phony. Best we’ll get is
a description. Which is bound to be useless.’
Reacher nodded. Finished his coffee.
‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘Once round the block for form’s sake.’
They walked as slowly as they could bear to in the cold.
Nothing was happening. Everything was quiet. There were cop
cars or Secret Service vehicles on every street. Their exhaust
fumes clouded white and drifted in the still air. Apart from that
absolutely nothing was moving, They turned corners and came
up on Armstrong’s street from the south. The white tent was
ahead of them on the right. Froelich was out of her car, waving
to them urgently. They hurried up the sidewalk to meet her.
‘Change of plan,’ she said. q’here was a problem on the Hill.
He cut the CIA thing short and headed up there.’
‘He left already?’ Reacher asked. Froelich nodded. ‘He’s rolling now.’
Then she paused and listened to a voice in her earpiece.
‘He’s arriving,’ she said.
She lifted her wrist and spoke into her microphone.
‘Situation report, over,’ she said, and listened again.
There was a wait. Thirty seconds. Forty.
‘OK, he’s inside,’ she said. ‘Secure.’
165
‘So what now?’ Reacher said.
Froelich shrugged. ‘Now we wait. That’s what this job is. It’s