Page 26 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

Friday, June 3

Cleveland, OH

An hour after she sent the text, the dead man’s phone rang. The ringtone was a loud buzzing sound which she heard across the room.

She sent Gaspar a quick text to be sure his trace was active on the call. He sent an immediate thumbs-up.

Kim pushed the speaker button, started the recording, and then picked up the call. She said nothing while waiting for his opening gambit.

The man’s voice traveled rapidly across the miles.

“Sorry I didn’t answer before, Lucas. I was in the shower.” The voice was mid-range and sounded middle-aged. He was somewhat breathless, as if he might have rushed through that shower. “How did it go with Agent Otto?”

Gaspar had asked her to keep the line active as long as possible, giving him time to work his magic and locate the other phone.

Kim paused a long moment before she spoke.

“Thank you for calling me back. This is Kim Otto,” she said. “We’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”

Her response seemed to startle him. Not surprisingly. He’d been expecting the dead man to answer, not an FBI Agent.

Kim waited for his reply.

After a few moments, he cleared his throat. “Agent Otto. Sorry. I was expecting Lucas. I’ve been traveling. Which is why I didn’t get your call earlier.”

“I have a lot of questions, as you can imagine,” she said, rapidly processing the facts he already confirmed.

He’d named the dead man.

He knew Kim was an FBI agent.

What else did he know?

“Reacher said you were thorough,” he replied. “Are you on your way?”

Reacher? How did this guy know Reacher? Why and how had Reacher been discussing her with him?

Kim glanced across the room toward Russell, raising her eyebrows. He shrugged and shook his head.

She took a deep breath. First things first. Find the man on the other end of the line. Go from there.

Gaspar hadn’t located the caller. He needed more time.

“Not on my way yet. Working on it,” she replied, stringing him along. “Is Reacher with you?”

“Lucas knows where to find me. You’re in Detroit. Not that far away. The witness is here. You can see what we have and talk to the witness yourself,” he said, ignoring her question about Reacher. “How soon can you get here?”

“I need to get paperwork and authorization,” she stalled, giving Gaspar as much time as possible to complete the trace.

“I can set up the interview for later tonight,” he said, dangling the bait.

“I’ll need to reserve a hotel room,” she said. “What’s the address there?”

“Lucas can give it to you,” he replied. “I’ve already got a suite we can work from.”

“Okay. I can probably convince my boss to let me do that, under the circumstances.” She took a pause and pushed the envelope just a bit. “What name did you use to register?”

“My real name. It’s not like the front desk subscribes to theLA Times, you know? No reason to make something up. Plus, I had to show them my passport. I don’t have a fake one to splash around,” he replied easily, as if he were not nervous at all. “Just ask reception to call up when you get here.”

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