Past Tense (Jack Reacher #23)(88)

Chapter 33


Patty and Shorty had migrated to the main room, and were sitting on the bed. The blind was still down. They had skipped lunch. They couldn’t face it. Now they were hungry. But eating would be an act of will. The last two meals from the carton. The last two bottles of water.

They looked away.

The TV turned on.

All by itself.

The same as before. The same tiny rustle as the circuit came to life. The same bright blue picture, with the same line of code, like the screen you weren’t supposed to see.

It was replaced by a man’s face.

Peter.

The weasel who had screwed with their car.

He said, “Guys, you’ve been asking what’s going to happen, and we think now is the time to bring you up to speed. We’re going to give you as much information as we can, and then we’re going to let you think on it, and then we’ll come back later for questions and answers, just in case something wasn’t clear. Are you with me so far? Are you paying attention?”

Neither of them answered.

Peter said, “Guys, I need your attention. This is important.”

“Like fixing our car?” Shorty said.

“You fell for it, pal. That’s why you’re here. Your own fault. Since then you’ve been bitching and moaning about what we want with you, and now I’m going to tell you, so you need to face front and listen up.”

“I’m listening,” Patty said.

“Come sit side by side on the end of the bed. Show me how you’re paying attention. Watch my face on the screen.”

Patty was still for a second. Then she shuffled around. Shorty followed her. Didn’t want to, but he did all the same. They sat shoulder to shoulder, like the front row at the movies.

“Good,” Peter said. “Smart move. Are you ready to hear what happens next?”

“Yes,” Patty said.

Shorty said, “I guess.”

“Later this evening your door will unlock. At that point you will be free to walk away. But I mean that literally. No vehicles of any kind will be available. None at all. Every single key will be hidden where you won’t find it, except of course your own, which you still have, but your car doesn’t work anyway, as you mentioned. All the other vehicles here are too new to hot wire. So get used to it. You’ll be walking, literally, on your own two feet. Do not waste time trying to avoid it. Are you with me so far?”

“Why are you doing this?” Patty said. “Why keep us here and then just let us go?”

“I told you I would give you as much information as I could. I said you should think on it. I said you should save your questions for later. Are you with me so far?”

“Yes,” Patty said.

Shorty said, “I guess.”

“All around this piece of forest is what looks like a firebreak. It’s a hoop about sixty feet across, with no trees growing. Did you see it on the way in?”

There was a bar of bright pink open sky .

“I saw it,” Patty said.

“It’s not actually a firebreak. Mark’s grandfather cleared it for a different purpose. To keep the inner forest primeval. It’s a seed break, really, not a firebreak. It runs all the way around. Doesn’t matter which way the wind is blowing. Invasive species can’t make it across.”

“So what?” Shorty said.

“You walk all the way there, through the woods, in any direction, and you step out in that gap, in any location, and you’ve won the game.”

“What game?”

“Was that a question?”

“I call bullshit, man. You can’t tell us we’re in a game, and then not tell us what kind.”

“Think of it like a game of tag. You have to make it all the way to the seed break without getting tagged. Simple as that. Walking, running, creeping along, whatever works for you.”

“Tagged how?” Patty said. “By who?”

The TV turned off.

All by itself. The same dying rustle of circuits, the same blank gray screen, the same standby light glowing red.

—

Burke’s old phone showed a bar, but Reacher wanted to wait for two. He figured the signal might fluctuate, plus or minus. Starting with just one bar would be a problem, when it came to the minus part. His experience was with army comms, which always failed first and fastest. Presumably civilians had better stuff, as always, but presumably not radically better.

Burke ignored him and drove on south, and after five minutes of silence he asked, “How’s the back part of your brain doing now?”

Reacher checked the phone.

Still one bar.

He said, “The back part of my brain is worried about the organic jute carpets.”

“Why?”

“He said he was trying to be sustainable. He sounded partly proud, and partly apologetic, and partly defiant. A very typical tone, for people into things other people think are weird. But he was clearly sincere, because he was putting his money where his mouth was, by paying Boston prices for specialist cleaning. As if he really wanted to make the experiment work. At that point he presented a coherent picture.”

“But?”

“Later he said maybe the Canadian guy had dumped his car to avoid recycling fees at home. Or whatever. He said, I’m sure there are environmental regulations. He said it with a kind of smug sneer. Just very slightly. He sounded like a regular person. Not like a guy who would use organic jute. Or even know what it was. Then he showed up in an SUV with a V8 motor. And he drove it pretty fast. In a boyish way. He seemed to like thumping up and down over things. Not like a guy who would use organic jute. That guy would drive a hybrid car. Or electric. I felt the picture was no longer coherent. I felt now it was out of focus.”