Foreign and Domestic: A Get Reacher Novel (23 page)

Then he looked forward out of Cord’s windshield and saw they were coming up to a subdivision on a huge piece of land—acres of land. Windsor Estates was spelled out in huge block letters on a brick sign out front.

They drove through the gates and past an abandoned guard post. Cameron wondered why there was no one there because the first couple of houses were huge and looked expensive. They were much newer than the houses in Rowley’s neighborhood and probably twice the price even though they were much further outside the district.

They drove the length of the main street and gazed at the houses. They were all large and had different designs. Some were white. Some red. All were brick with long driveways.

Cameron noticed something else. The driveways were empty. As they drove on and turned a corner and then took a curve to the right around a small but thick forest of trees, he realized why. He realized why Lane had picked this subdivision as a meeting place. It was because it was so new and expensive that the only street that was developed was the entrance. The rest of the place was a maze of unfinished mansions and large houses. Some were closer to completion than others, but none were inhabitable. Not yet.

Probably no one even lived in the first set of houses. There were yards with unmanned bulldozers and small cranes. There were piles of lumber and stacks of covered brick. One house was half-built and had a half-constructed fireplace protruding out of it but no roof. Another had a hole dug for an in-ground swimming pool but no driveway. None of the houses toward the end of this street had glass installed in the window slots.

And there wasn’t a construction worker or a person in sight.

Cameron looked forward and said nothing. He looked down at the NAV screen and saw that they had another turn to make, and then they would be at the location.

They made the last turn and came to a short street with several abandoned houses that were still under construction. The street was littered with vacant trucks and the same kinds of vehicles they’d seen in the previous yards. It looked like they’d run out of money while constructing the houses. Probably couldn’t sell any of the ones they’d already built, and that’s why construction had stopped. Maybe the finance company had pulled the plug because of the lack of sales. Or maybe the city had shut them down due to violations and fines that needed to be paid. Whatever the reason, it was impossible to imagine that they weren’t in danger in this location. There were countless hiding places. Rooftops. Abandoned vehicles. It was a Secret Service nightmare. Even without the military-style training from his mother, Cameron could still tell it was bad because of the looks on Cord and Lucas’s faces. They looked less than confident.

They reached the end of the NAV systems directions, and Cord pulled over to the side of the road. He put the SUV in park and left the engine running.

He turned to Cameron and said, “From here, we go on foot. It’s the house up ahead.”

Cord hadn’t pointed it out, but Cameron knew which one he meant because as soon as he stepped out of the SUV, the garage door to the house opened in a slow, somber movement. And he saw a dim light, probably hanging from a ceiling, creep out from under the lip of the door. Like a giant mouth opening wide to consume him, the garage door stopped when it was all the way open, and a voice from Graine, Cord, and Lucas’s past came out of the shadows.

John Lane said, “It’s good to see you fellas again.” He moved out of the garage onto the driveway and said, “Come forward.”

Cameron saw that Lane was a well-built guy, younger than Cord and the others but still in his fifties. He had thick gray hair and a beard to match. He wore a black windbreaker with a black shirt underneath and green camo pants. He had his hands out and up and far apart so that the agents could see he wasn’t carrying a gun.

Lucas didn’t wait any longer. He jumped out of the SUV. He pointed the MP5 over the door and lined Lane up in his sights. He shouted, “Where is she?”

Cord jumped out after him and backed him up even though this wasn’t a part of the plan. He didn’t want to leave Lucas out there alone, nor did he want to show any disunity between them in front of Lane. Standard SOP when confronted with the enemy.

Cameron was out in front of the SUV and already at the end of the driveway. He prepared his knees to make a leap in case he had to hit the deck.

Lane said, “Guys. This wasn’t a part of the deal.”

Lucas shouted, “
Where?
”

Cord called out just loud enough for Lucas to hear him. He said, “What’re you doing?”

Lucas ignored him and repeated his request. “
Where?
”

Lane said, “Would you shoot and kill an unarmed man? A man who’s not carrying a single weapon?”

Lucas raised his gun higher, stock in tight to his shoulder, and cheek tucked down. He stepped away from the SUV and walked out, covering Lane. He said, “I’m not going to ask again. I’m going to shoot you if you don’t tell us. Right here. Right now. No more games.”

Stupid move
, Cameron thought.

He looked around, scanning the house. The lights were out in every window. Depending on how many guys Lane had brought with him, every one of them could’ve had an armed bad guy positioned in it.

The only move Cameron had was one he hadn’t learned in his years studying military combat or from crime investigation tactics with his mother and her deputies. It was from elementary school. It was the fire safety rules they’d learned. When on fire, always
Stop! Drop! and Roll!
When the first bullet was fired, he figured he’d stop, drop, and roll to the right. Then he could fast-crawl to a tree stump that was big enough to hide behind.

Cord repeated, “What’re you doing?” This time, he said it loudly enough for Lane to hear it.

Lucas said, “
No more bullshit!
”

Cord didn’t question his friend anymore. This was the play they’d made, and he was committed.

Lane said, “I don’t have a weapon, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely unarmed. You know that there’re other guys here with guns. They’ll shoot you dead as soon as you fire one shot.”

Lucas said, “I don’t need more than one. You’re either going to walk out of here alive or not. One way or the other, this’ll end here.”

Graine was behind Lucas, back at the SUV. He also had his MP5 up to his chin and focused on Lane, eyes squinting through the glasses. He said, “Lucas! What da hell are you doing? You’re going to get her killed.”

Lucas said, “I’m doing my duty. I swore allegiance to the president. Either they will release Raggie now, or they never planned to. We can’t let them push Rowley into doing this.”

Lane stayed quiet and stared into Cameron’s eyes, and then he looked him up and down, seemingly fixated on how much he looked like a picture of Jack he’d gotten hold of. Perhaps it was the same picture Cameron had memorized, Jack’s graduation picture from West Point.

Graine said, “He isn’t really going to go through with it. Rowley knows they’ll kill her anyway.”

Cord said, “No. He will.”

Graine looked over at Cord’s profile for a brief second and then back down his sights at Lane. He said, “What do you mean?”

“He’ll do it. If he thinks it’ll save Raggie, he’ll do it.”

Lucas said, “Enough. Where da hell is she?”

Lane said, “Shoot me. I won’t tell you. And you won’t get out of here alive.”

Lucas walked forward, farther from Cord and Graine. And farther from the protection of the SUV. There was no going back now. If there were guys stationed in the house, they had Lucas dead to rights. Cameron looked up at the windows and the second level where the roof was missing. He squinted his eyes and searched for any sign of a gun or movement. There was nothing. Either these guys were really, really good, or there was no one in the house.

He focused his vision on one hole in the upper wall. It was the perfect position for a sniper—up higher than the street, good cover. A sniper could snap out of cover and take a shot and then snap right back in.

He glanced back at the agents. Cord was moving forward now as well. He followed closer to Lucas’s position, but he stepped further out to the left. He kept his position wide from Lucas. This seemed logical to Cameron and was most likely some kind of Secret Service tactic.

The only one who seemed out of place was Graine. He trailed behind Lucas like a shadow, staying ten feet back from him. Cameron closed his eyes and imagined the different ways this could play out if they started shooting. He calculated two ways, then three, then four—and in none of them did Graine’s positioning make any sense.

He thought back to Li and then to Cord. Weston had told him that Cord was looking for him. What were the odds that Cameron would check his email in that very same twenty-four-hour period? The rain had caused him to go indoors. Seattle’s less than lenient position on loitering had forced him to go into an Internet café. Opportunity had forced him to check his email. John Lane’s history with Jack Reacher had caused Cord to seek him out.

One thing led to another. Cause and effect.

But what had caused Cord to know about Jack Reacher?

Cameron looked back at Cord and said, “How did you know to find me?”

Cord said, “What?”

“How did you know to find me? How did you even know about me?”

“What’re you talking about?”

Cameron turned back and stared at them, his hands down by his sides. He said, “How did you find me? You see, Jack doesn’t even know about me. He doesn’t know to look for me. How’d you know?”

Cord said, “We searched for Jack’s family when we couldn’t find him. And in his records, there was a file on your mother.”

Cameron said, “Even so. How did you know about
me?
I’m not in those files. I know that. My mother never told anyone who my father was. Not until she died. So how did you find me?”

“This isn’t the time!” said Lucas.

Cord said, “I told you. We looked for Jack and then found you by accident.”

“But how did you know to look for Jack?”

“Graine.”

“He’s the one who found me, right?” Cameron asked.

Cord nodded and said, “Yeah. He’s the cop.”

Cameron looked at Graine and said, “How did you know to look for Jack?”

Graine said, “Because Lane revealed himself. Simple background checks of his suspected activities since he got out of prison showed he’d been searching for his brother’s killer.”

“And how’d
you
find me?”

“I stumbled upon you. Your mother was involved with Jack. Her records showed that she’d died, and you were left alone. You had no father. Then I saw your picture. You’re the spitting image of him. So I put two and two together.”

Lucas asked, “What the hell does this have to do with anything?”

“So you stumbled upon Lane’s obsession with finding Jack?” Cameron asked.

Graine nodded from behind the stock of his MP5.

“And then you stumbled upon my mother?”

Graine nodded.

Cameron asked, “And then you stumbled upon me?”

This time, Graine said nothing.

Cord said, “What’re you implying?” He began to lower his weapon just enough for Cameron to see his whole face uncovered.

Cameron said, “I’ve known two types of people my whole life more than any other—soldiers and cops. I grew up with cops. And I never met a cop who was that lucky.”

Graine stayed quiet and looked through his thick glasses at Cameron.

Cord said, “And?”

Cameron said, “So either you’re the luckiest cop that ever lived, or you’re a regular Sherlock Holmes. But I don’t think it’s either. Because if you were so good or so lucky, then why’re you on the sidelines, babysitting the mother? Why not be out there looking?

“You found me. You told Cord about me in less than twenty-four hours of even knowing I existed. Of even knowing that
Jack
existed. I bet you told them within an hour. Less even. I bet you all found out about Raggie at the same time and then all of a sudden you came up with this harebrained scheme.”

Cord looked back over his shoulder at Graine. Lucas remained trained on Lane.

Cameron said, “These guys definitely didn’t have any faith in you. If they did, then why not let you off the leash? Why not go out there and find Raggie yourself?”

Graine stayed quiet.

Cameron said, “Because I think you aren’t a good cop. I think you weren’t good enough for Rowley to put you on his Secret Service detail. And those glasses…I don’t know much about glasses, but I’ve never seen glasses that thick on a person before unless he was virtually blind. Yet you were just driving, which isn’t a big deal in itself because plenty of people with strong prescription glasses drive. But right now, you’re looking down your MP5 the right way. You’re aimed at Lane, who’s a good thirty yards away from you. And you made it as detective in some department in Missouri. I don’t doubt that there are cops with bad vision, especially in some small town out in Missouri, but they don’t make detective very easy. To be a detective, you must be able to
detect
.