The footsteps ran back to the barn. The padlock rattled and the chain
came off. The crossbeam thumped to the ground. The door groaned open.
Loder stepped inside. He had the Clock in his hand and strain showing
in his face. He stood just inside the door. His eyes were flicking
back and forward between Reacher and Holly. The strain in his face was
edged by anger. Some kind of a cold light in his eyes. Then the jumpy
guy stepped in behind him. Stevie. He was carrying the driver’s
shotgun. And smiling. He crowded past Loder and ran down the central
cobbled aisle. Raised the shotgun and pointed it straight at Reacher.
Loder started after him. Stevie crunched a round into the chamber.
Reacher shifted a foot to his left, so the iron ring was hidden from
view behind him.
“What’s the problem?” he asked.
“You are, asshole,” Loder said. “Situation has changed. We’re a man
short. So you just became one person too many.”
Reacher was on his way to the floor as Stevie pulled the trigger. He
landed flat on the hard cobbles and hurled himself forward as the
shotgun boomed and the stall blew apart. The air was instantly thick
with splinters of damp wood and the stink of gunpowder. The plank
holding the iron ring fell out of the shattered wall and the chain
clattered to the floor. Reacher rolled over and glanced up. Stevie
lifted the shotgun vertical and crunched another round into the
chamber. Swung the barrel down and aimed again.
“Wait!” Holly screamed.
Stevie glanced at her. Impossible not to.
“Don’t be a damn fool,” she yelled. “Hell are you doing? You don’t
have the time for this.”
Loder turned to face her.
“He’s run, right?” she said. “Your driver? Is that what happened? He
bailed out and ran for it, right? So you need to get going. You don’t
have time for this.”
Loder stared at her.
“Right now you’re ahead of the game,” Holly said urgently. “But you
shoot this guy, you got the local cops a half-hour behind you. You
need to get going.”
Reacher gasped up at her from the floor. She was magnificent. She was
sucking all their attention her way. She was saving his life.
“Two of you, two of us,” she said urgently. “You can handle it,
right?”
There was silence. Dust and powder drifted in the air. Then Loder
stepped back, covering them both with his automatic. Reacher watched
the disappointment on Stevie’s face. He stood slowly and pulled the
chain clear of the wreckage. The iron ring fell out of the smashed
wood and clanked on the stones.
“Bitch is right,” Loder said. “We can handle it.”
He nodded to Stevie. Stevie ran for the door and Loder turned and
pulled his key and unlocked Holly’s wrist. Dropped her cuff on her
mattress. The weight of the chain pulled it back toward the wall. It
pulled off the edge of the mattress and slid onto the cobblestones with
a loud metallic sound.
“OK, asshole, real quick,” Loder said. “Before I change my mind.”
Reacher looped his chain into his hand. Ducked down and picked Holly
up, under her knees and shoulders. They heard the truck start up. It
slewed backward into the entrance. Jammed to a stop. Reacher ran
Holly to the truck. Laid her down inside. Climbed in after her. Loder
slammed the doors and shut them into darkness.
“Now I guess I owe you,” Reacher said quietly.
Holly just waved it away. An embarrassed little gesture. Reacher
stared at her. He liked her. Liked her face. He gazed at it.
Recalled it white and disgusted as the driver taunted her. Saw the
smooth swell of her breasts under his filthy drooling gaze. Then the
picture changed to Stevie smiling and shooting at him, chained to the
wall. Then he heard Loder say: the situation has changed.
Everything had changed. He had changed. He lay and felt the old anger
inside him grinding like gears. Cold, implacable anger.
Uncontrollable. They had made a mistake. They had changed him from a
spectator into an enemy. A bad mistake to make. They had pushed open