Page 32 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

“He’s heard disturbing rumors,” Audrey said quietly, offering an appropriate smile of gratitude to the bartender as he placed the martini on a cocktail napkin near her elbow. “Too disturbing to trust to electronic communication.”

But not too disturbing for pillow talk, her body language practically screamed. At least, any man who knew her as well as he did could read her like a children’s book.

Audrey raised the martini toward Morin in a quiet toast before she sipped. She closed her eyes and nodded. “Best martini in the world right there. Can’t get one even remotely close to it in Quan.”

“Best bartender on the planet. I agree,” Morin said shortly, annoyed with her affectations. “You’ve come all this way to tell me something. So let’s have it.”

“Actually, I came to ask you something. Specifically, where’s Stuart?”

“Which one?”

“What do you think?” Audrey snapped. “Both of them.”

Morin had been in the game a long, long time. The small hairs raised on the back of his neck sending a sharp electrical frisson of disquiet down his spine.

The feeling was familiar.

Comforting in its own way.

He’d learned to heed the warning. He cocked his head and narrowed his gaze to sharpen his thinking, which had been fuzzed by alcohol.

Jousting with Audrey Ruston hadn’t been on his agenda tonight. Not even remotely. He was unprepared. Which gave her another advantage.

Audrey had always been a spectacular liar.

She wouldn’t exclaim the truth even if it bit her on that very nice ass.

She was lying now. Morin had reported mission status appropriately through channels. Brax already knew the full situation.

They were running a little behind schedule, but the project was on track. Nothing to worry about here.

The test would take place as planned.

Krause. Ottawa. Two days hence.

The unimportant, meddling Stuart brother, Lucas, was dead.

The essential Stuart brother, Liam, was missing. Temporarily.

The journalist had interfered in Morin’s plans to find Liam Stuart, but Fox would eliminate that problem shortly.

Fox would find the missing brother and Morin would get him back on track. Liam Stuart would produce and test the prototype as planned.

Brax knew all of this. He’d approved the plan. Just this morning.

So why was Audrey Ruston really sitting here grilling him about it?

She must have intel that Morin didn’t.

Which was unacceptable.

And worrisome.

Give Audrey a nibble of anything and she gobbled everything in the whole kitchen, tossing carcasses aside as she went. He’d seen her do it too many times before.

“Fox has served us well. He’s half-finished already,” Morin told her through clenched teeth.

“Fox is out of his depth here. There are things about the situation that you don’t know.”

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