Page 55 of In Too Deep

“Correct. And for a fair price, considering the hit they’ll take if the truth comes out.”

“All right. You know what? I think you’re half right. Bowery is involved. He did come back. But not voluntarily.”

“Why, then?”

“The guys you tried to blackmail didn’t want to pay. Or they didn’t want the message getting out there that it was OK to rip them off. Maybe both things. So they brought someone in to take care of the problem. Seventy-two hours is plenty of time to get the ball rolling.These problem-solvers had no intention of giving Bowery any gold. They lured him to a location they were familiar with. Captured him. Took him somewhere. And made him give you up.”

“No. I don’t believe it.”

“Everything fits. Bowery tells them who else was involved. Vidic. And you. A woman. Then who did they find in the house? Vidic. He was unconscious, but he’s a recognizable guy. And Knight. A woman. Who looks broadly like you. They took her in your place.”

“That’s awful.” Paris clutched her hands and twisted her fingers together. “Do you think they’ll come back?”

“It won’t take them long to figure out that Knight isn’t you.”

“Then I better go. Run. Like now.”

Reacher stepped across and pushed the door shut. He kept his palm flat against its surface and said, “Do you have a pen in your purse?”

“What? Yes. Why?”

“Leaving your friend to get tortured to death is one thing. He chose to be part of this. But Knight didn’t. Turning your back on her is unacceptable. So either you stay and help me figure out how to find her, or I’ll knock you out. Write your name on your forehead in massive letters and leave your body in the hallway. It’ll be the first thing those guys trip on when they come in here looking for you.”

Paris swallowed hard. “You wouldn’t do that. You’re bluffing.”

Reacher said, “Am I?”

Paris swallowed again. “And anyway, when I said run, I didn’t mean, like,run. I meant, take a moment. Regroup, perhaps in a more secure location. And absolutely figure out how to find your friend. And Ivan, too. No way would I abandon him in his hour of need.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“So what do we do next?”

Reacher thought about Knight and all her tricks for tracking people with their phones. He wondered about calling Wallwork and asking him to trace hers. If she had it with her. If it was switched on. But he decided against it. Even if it worked it would take too long. Then he remembered how she’d used Vidic’s phone to pinpoint Paris’s. Through location sharing, she’d said.Sharing.That implied a two-way street. He could use Paris’s phone to find Vidic’s. Except he couldn’t. Because Vidic didn’t have his phone. Reacher did. It was right there in his pocket. It was like he’d learned long ago. There are no shortcuts. So he said, “The property developer guy. How did you communicate with him?”

She said, “Email.”

“Does your phone send email?”

“Of course. This isn’t the Stone Age.”

“OK. Use it to contact the guy. Tell him you’re the fourth member of the group. A sleeping partner, brought on board to handle emergencies. Tell him we know his guys are nearby. That’s obvious. And now they need to release Bowery, Vidic, and Paris. They need to bring them to the cave. They need to be there in an hour or you’ll release the incriminating information to every newspaper and financial website in the western hemisphere.”

“I can’t. There’s no point. It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“It’s part of the concept we set out to prove. The information we sell is formatted in a special way. The best way I can describe it is that it’s similar to an NFT.”

“In English?”

“Similar to a non-fungible token. In layman’s terms, it means a unique computer file, like an original painting. There can only be one version. There’s no point if it can be copied. We could keep going back for more money. The marks would know that. They wouldn’t pay.”

“Did you use all the information you hacked? Or do you have any left? Even a tiny bit.”

“Maybe a snippet.”

“Good. Include that. Tell them you have a second tranche that you kept, for insurance. Tell them you’re giving them a taste, to prove you’re serious, and the rest will go out far and wide if you don’t get your people back.”

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