Page 86 of In Too Deep

“Not quite. There’s one piece missing. The most important piece.This all depends on Vidic not only being an agent, but also deciding to turn his back on the Bureau. On the law. On what’s right. That’s a lot to accuse a person of when you don’t have a shred of real evidence. We need to know more about his state of mind.”

“I don’t think we do. Here’s the clincher. If Vidic isn’t an agent, how did he know the code nameAlbatross?”

Knight didn’t reply.

Reacher said, “In a way revealing it was a smart play. He apparently watched me intervene when I saw some guys trying to steal a car so it was a decent bet that I’d drop a dime to let the Bureau know about a dead agent. Using the real code name made it more likely they’d take it seriously and follow up, which he wanted them to do, so that he’d be officially recorded as DOA. But how did he know the real name?”

Knight said, “He claimed he’d heard the handler say it to Gibson. But she couldn’t have. Gibson wasn’t with her. He was with the hooker in the next room.”

“There’s no other explanation. Vidic turned.”

“I was wrong before,” Knight said. “Vidic wasn’t under too long. He was in too deep. He couldn’t get back to the light. It’s kind of tragic, honestly.”

—

Knight handed herphone to Reacher and he dialed Devine’s number. She picked up after five rings. She said, “Detective?”

“It’s Reacher.”

“Oh. What do you need?”

“After we spoke back in the Ozarks, Knight sent you the picture she’d taken of Gibson’s face. I’m guessing you haven’t passed that on to his handler yet?”

“I’m not…I’d need to check on that. Lots of plates spinning here, Reacher.”

“You need to show it to her. Immediately.”

“Why?”

“Show her. Then pull the CCTV from the Oklahoma City or St.Louis airport. Find some footage of Vidic. Show that to the handler as well.”

“I don’t see where you’re going with this.”

“You will.”

“OK. Then I’ll get right on it.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

Devine didn’t answer.

Reacher said, “I’m not going on record as having drawn any kind of conclusion here. Or as having any knowledge of this situation. But you asked for my advice in that meeting. And my advice is that every investigation needs a solid foundation. You need to be sure of the identities of your principals. You should look to that. Right now. You have the tools. Knight sent them to you. Use them. Don’t waste any more time.”

“OK. Well, thanks for your advice. Now, if there isn’t anything—”

“There are four other things. First, the document you recovered in St. Louis isn’t all of Vidic’s material. He split the report, let you retrieve part of it to buy himself room to operate, and is going to sell the rest.”

The line went silent for a moment, then Devine said, “That’s a mighty big claim. Can you back it up?”

Reacher said, “Think about it. How hard was it to get wind of the sale? To track Vidic to St. Louis, and then the park? Why did he fly when he could have driven? How did he disappear so easily as soon as the memory stick was intercepted? And here’s the key. The reportwas supposed to be worth a fortune. You know what’s in it. I don’t. So tell me, is two million a fair price?”

“He was short of time and—”

“The price was two million because that’s all they could put their hands on. They stole it from the safe at the cave.”

“How can you be sure?”

“If I’m wrong, so what? You throw more resources at catching Vidic, who needs to be caught, anyway. You save a little time. If I’m right, he’s out there right now hawking the rest of that report. You can stop that from happening.”

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