Page 29 of In Too Deep

“What if I told you that the FBI could be investigating Kane, after all? And they maybe lost a guy along the way?”

Knight leaned forward. “What makes you think that?”

“I’ll explain in a minute. But until I know if it’s true I’m not going to do anything that could spook these guys. I’m hoping that as a cop you’ll respect that. Agree to do the same.”

Knight took a moment. “Why should I trust you? You know a lot about cop tricks. Maybe a few have been used on you?”

Reacher shook his head. “Not used on me. Used by me.”

“You’re a cop? I don’t believe it.”

“Was. A military cop. For thirteen years.”

“Get out of town. Where were you based?”

“Pretty much everywhere in the world the army has a presence.”

“What rank?”

“Terminal at major.”

“OK then.” Knight nodded like she was acknowledging some kind of kinship. “So how are you going to find out if the FBI thing is true?”

“I know a guy at the Bureau. He’s looking into it. I should hear pretty soon.”

“That’s good. But I’m not going to do nothing while you sit around waiting for an email from this buddy of yours. Assuming you can even trust what he says. Assuming he won’t change his tune in ten minutes’ time.”

“We can trust him. He won’t be emailing. And I won’t be sitting around.”

“Then what will you be doing?”

“Learning more about Kane and whoever he’s in bed with.Making sure they don’t hurt anyone. Making sure none of them vanish. Then if the FBI thing turns out to be bogus, I’ll close them down.”

“I can get behind that. On one condition.”

“Go on.”

“I’m not going to wait on the sidelines while you do the heavy lifting. We’ll do it together.”

“No.”

“Yes. Look at you. Your arm is in a cast.”

“That makes no difference.”

“Of course it does. Listen. Finding Kane? I want to succeed. I have more skin in the game than you, I’m sure. But I’m not too proud to say I stand a better chance if I work with a partner. I’m hoping that as a former military cop you’ll respect that. And admit you’re in the same boat.”

Chapter14

Vidic ran the numbers inhis head, over and over. How long to get to the breakfast place. To stand in line. To place the order. For the food to come out. To pay. To drive back. And every time he came up with the same conclusion. Paris was taking far too long.

Every time he reached that conclusion his mind set out in a different direction. First, he got worried. He pictured Paris’s Land Rover fishtailing into one of the switchbacks. Rolling. Her neck breaking asshe slammed against the windshield, just like Gibson’s had. Then he got anxious. He imagined her speeding, or driving erratically. Getting pulled over. Giving herself away somehow and getting arrested. He ran through one possibility after another until he was left with nothing but raw fear. In that final scenario he saw her running, like Bowery must have done. But in Paris’s case the consequences were different. They weren’t irritating or inconvenient. They were catastrophic. Because she had a copy of the report. She could put it on the market. Undercut his price. Be more convincing when the questions started coming in about how the report had beenobtained. And be more credible when it came to establishing its provenance.

A car horn honked outside the cave’s entrance. Four times. One long beep. Two short. Another long. Vidic silently thanked God then set down the crate he had been carrying and said loudly, “That’ll be Paris. She’ll need help bringing in the food. I’ll go.”

Paris was standing at the side of the Land Rover when Vidic reached her. The rear door was open and she was trying to stack four cardboard carry-out boxes into a manageable pile in the footwell.

Vidic said, “What the hell happened? You were gone so long. Are you OK?”

---