Page 99 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

“Already tried. Interior cameras are disabled. Microphones, too. We can’t see them or hear them talking. The whole vehicle seems to be blacked out.” Gaspar inhaled deeply. “You think Reacher is savvy enough to have done that?”

She knew what he meant. Reacher was more tech-phobic than any man she’d met in the twenty-first century. He barely used a cell phone. Disabling tracking devices in a vehicle was well beyond his wheelhouse. If he’d wanted to take everything offline, he’d have simply destroyed the sedan.

“Reacher couldn’t do it. But I guess Chang could,” Kim replied.

“Or she’s got help from somewhere,” Gaspar said. “Another partner. Maybe even Westwood before he died. He seemed to be tech sophisticated.”

“What’s in Hamilton that caught Reacher’s interest?” Russell muttered. “It’s a sleepy place. Once a manufacturing town, if I recall correctly. But isn’t it mostly a bedroom community now?”

“Pretty much,” Gaspar said, clacking computer keys as he researched Hamilton. “Not too far from Toronto. And a little farther from Ottawa. Which, as you know, is the seat of Canadian government.”

“Are Chang and Reacher headed there?” Kim wondered aloud.

“There’s a big parade in Ottawa tomorrow,” Gaspar replied as if he were reading the screen. “Celebration of local business and industry. The Prime Minister is expected to make a speech. Several bigwigs from government and private businesses are slated to attend.”

“Reacher say anything about that when you talked to him?” Russell asked.

“Not specifically, no.”

Kim cocked her head. “What is this thing Liam Stuart has developed that Reacher’s so worried about?”

“A new drone. Reacher got wind of it somehow.”

Russell snorted. “There’s lots of drones out there and every engineer interested in weapons thinks they have a better idea.”

“Yeah, well, it seems like Liam Stuart did actually have a better idea. And on top of that, his design apparently works,” Gaspar said. “Reacher says this one’s a game changer. And he’s a guy who knows weapons.”

“Maybe Stuart’s planning to demonstrate the drone live in Ottawa tomorrow,” Kim mused.

“Demonstrate what, exactly?” Russell asked.

“Probably not how well the drone captures video,” Gaspar replied with sarcasm.

Kim noticed the sedan had slowed. “Russell. Heads up.”

He lifted his foot from the accelerator.

“Where’s he going, Gaspar?” Kim asked. “Is there a side road up ahead?”

“Not on the maps I’ve got here,” he replied. “You’re driving through farmland. Vineyards and wineries, mostly. Approaching an area outside of Hamilton called Devil’s Punchbowl.”

“What is that?” Russell asked, gaze firmly focused on the sedan still slowing ahead.

“Looks like a nature park. There’s a road that runs along one edge. The driver might be searching for the turnoff,” Gaspar said.

“Can you see the road from your satellite?” Kim asked, leaning forward in the seat.

“Too much cloud cover. But I can pull up an image from another day,” he said, amid more keyboard clacking. “Okay. Got it.”

“What’s out there?”

“Not much. Some rough terrain. Looks like a few hiking trails. A big gorge. two waterfalls. Maybe some interesting rock formations,” Gaspar said, as if he were reading the images like a magazine. “A giant cross that lights up on the overlook.”

“Nothing specific to interest Reacher or Chang at this particular moment, then,” Kim said slowly.

Without using a turn signal, the sedan veered off the roadway up ahead.

“If they’ve turned onto an actual road, it’s not showing on the maps,” Gaspar said.

---