Page 55 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

Audrey wondered how grapevines, or anything else for that matter, thrived in the frigid snow blanketing this area for months at a time. But she’d been served wines from the region and found them some of the best cool climate varieties around.

She shook her head. Krause had to be freezing his ass off up here. He’d had a solid and easy job down in New York. Why the hell did he leave it for this place? Ego? Pride?

“What a fool. Men can be so utterly and completely stupid,” she said aloud, driving a safe distance behind.

Audrey followed the tracker’s blue dot into town and along Main Street.

She spied the Ohio SUV parked across the street from the entrance to the Father Louis Hennepin Hotel.

The big man was sitting behind the steering wheel.

The Asian woman must have gone inside.

As if her thoughts had conjured Krause, his name flashed on the screen of her phone, casting an eerie blue light into the dark cabin.

Half a moment later, the special ring tone she’d assigned to Ira Krause sounded.

An involuntary shudder went through her.

As ifhe’dwalked onhergrave. Instead ofherwalking onhis.

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Chapter 23

Saturday, June 4

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, CA

The Father Louis Hennepin Hotel sounded impressive, and it was. The plaque out front proclaimed the whitewashed Georgian structure was established in 1832. Kim imagined gracious hospitality, architectural excellence, and probably a great restaurant.

Her stomach growled at the mere thought of room service. Food that wasn’t delivered in a paper bag through a drive-up window. Which she wasn’t likely to get at this time of night. The hotel looked closed for the evening.

Russell pulled into a no parking zone across from the entrance on Queen Street.

“We’re not sure about this key card,” he warned. “The dead guy had possession of it, but that doesn’t mean the room will be empty.”

“Copy that. Find a legal place to park. I’ll persuade the desk clerk to give me a room number. I’ll text you when I have it,” Kim said as she opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

“Wait for me. Don’t go in without backup,” Russell called out before she closed the door.

Kim scowled and said nothing.

“Seriously, Otto. We know nothing about that guy. He could have a date stashed in there. Or a partner. Or a zillion other things. You never know,” Russell replied.

“Right.” Kim closed the door to the SUV.

Russell couldn’t help himself. He was a trained agent. He knew the book inside and out. So did Kim. But she’d also learned that not everything unfolded according to the book. Especially in the hunt for Reacher.

The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees and a stiff breeze blew off the lake with the kind of clean smell she’d only experienced from the Great Lakes.

The cold sky was clear and the full moon added brilliant light as well as ambiance.

The place reminded her of home. Not surprising, perhaps. Niagara wasn’t that far from Michigan.

Kim looked both ways, saw no one loitering nearby, and hoofed across the street. Trotted up the steps to the front door.

She grabbed the heavy brass handle and yanked hard. She rushed across the threshold, chilled to the bone.

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