The Sentinel (Jack Reacher #25)(88)

‘Don’t panic. The fat lady’s not singing yet. Let’s say I have another way to get the copying done.’

‘How?’

‘Doesn’t matter. There’s no security risk. That’s all you need to know.’

‘How will I get my hands on it? And make that look convincing?’

‘I’ll give it to you. In place of Rutherford.’

‘Reacher. You already stopped a kidnapping by me and five other people. I couldn’t grab you now with the three I have left. It wouldn’t be believable.’

‘You’re right. You couldn’t take it from me. But you could buy it.’

‘How would you come to be selling it?’

‘Here’s the story. It all began with the journalist. Convince your people I was working with her. She told me about the server. Not what was on it, specifically. Just that it was valuable. I came to town to get it from Rutherford because I’m greedy. I saved him from getting kidnapped. Buddied up to him until he let slip where it was. I stole it, thinking I could sell it to the newspaper. Only they hit me with a load of bull about being public-spirited and giving it to them for free. So I put it on the market. Via the dark web. Which you were monitoring because you’re so thorough. We set up a meet at the diner, because I insisted on a public place. At, say, 0800. Four hours before the new guy shows his face. You’re the hero, and he’s on the next plane back to Moscow.’

‘I don’t see it. Aside from foiling the last kidnap attempt you left two of my men unconscious in a dumpster and attacked the rest of us with improvised chemical weapons. No one’s going to believe you’re a journalist’s assistant.’

‘So sprinkle in some of the truth. Say I’m a former soldier, now working as an occasional bodyguard. Say the journalist hired me to look after her in Nashville. Where she was investigating those mob guys. The ones Klostermann warned her to stay away from.’

‘That could work. I guess. I might need to embellish it a little more. But it’s the best we’ve got so let’s try to make it happen. You get to work on the copying. Wallwork will call you at 0600 with a go / no go.’

‘Sounds good. See you at the diner. I hope.’

‘I hope so too. Oh, and Reacher? One other thing. Before 0600 – charge your damn phone.’

Fisher let herself out, then Reacher switched off the light and lay back down. He was annoyed with himself. He had just broken the soldier’s most basic rule. Never volunteer. He should have known better. But on the other hand, what choice did he have? It was either go himself, or leave Rutherford’s mother in the firing line. He didn’t know anything about her. Maybe she could handle herself. Maybe she was a former Marine, ready to teach this Moscow guy what happened to anyone who messed with her son. It was possible. But he didn’t know. So the safest thing was to take care of business himself.

Reacher turned the light back on, slid out of bed, and let himself into room nineteen to search for the bag with the phone charger in it. He tried to be quiet but Sands woke up anyway. He talked her through the developments and she agreed to take care of copying the server. She made a start right away. Reacher figured that since he and Sands were both awake he might as well make his way to the diner as soon as the server was ready. Then he changed his mind. Getting there ahead of time would be pointless. He had to go through with the exchange, come what may. Even if the Russians had replaced the entire wait staff with paratroopers and locked all the customers in the basement, he still had to make sure they got the server. Otherwise their attention would turn back to Rutherford’s mother. The path he’d already ruled out. And there was another reason for playing it dumb. Fisher knew who he was. But the rest of her cell didn’t. They needed to see a not-very-bright part-time bodyguard chasing an easy payday. Any hint that he was something different and the whole house of cards could collapse. So he went back to bed. Plugged in the phone. Took three deep breaths. And fell back to sleep.

Reacher opened his eyes thirty seconds before his phone rang. It was Wallwork, checking in as agreed.

‘We’re good to go,’ he said. ‘Fisher sold them on it. Should be a piece of cake. Better than the ambush, in the end. Less complicated. No need for the fake suicide.’

‘OK. Let’s keep radio silence from here on in, except for emergencies. I’ll call you when it’s done.’

Reacher hung up and swung his legs over the side of the bed just as Sands came through the connecting door.

‘How’s Rusty?’ Reacher said.

‘No change,’ she said. ‘He’s totally out of it. But the good news is the copying went without a hitch. The clone is on the bed, next to Rusty’s laptop.’

‘Thanks, Sarah. I appreciate it.’

‘Don’t thank me. Just be careful. Come back in one piece.’

Reacher paid a quick visit to the truck stop’s main building after he left the motel. He wanted something to carry the server in for the last part of his journey, when he would be on foot. The best he could find was a giant tote bag. It was made of coarse, brightly striped nylon with fluorescent yellow handles. The luggage equivalent of hiding in plain sight, Reacher thought. He picked up a cup of the extra-strong truckers’ coffee on his way out, continued to town, and parked four blocks behind Rutherford’s building.