Page 108 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

“Finish up what? Chang has disappeared. We have zero leads to figure out whatever the hellthisis.” Russell paused and added, “Let’s find a hotel. I need a shower, clean clothes, a meal, and a few hours’ sleep. We can attack it again afterward if you want.”

Kim reached over and turned the navigation system on again. “If you had a secret drone, some new kind of weapon, and you wanted to make sure it was ready, what kind of place would you look for to run a few tests?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Somewhere it wasn’t likely to be noticed.” Russell scowled. “Open spaces. No people. No power lines. No CCTV cameras.”

Kim nodded. She touched the screen to zoom in on the map, pointing. “The blue dot is us right now. Hamilton is north of our current position. Between here and there, what do you see?”

Russell looked at the image. “Yeah. A big hole in the ground. What did Gaspar call it? The Devil’s Punchbowl. No wires, no people, no CCTV.”

“Exactly,” Kim replied, handing her cell phone across the console as she drove along the county road. “Gaspar sent the satellite images shot thirty minutes ago. See the parking lot at Devil’s Punchbowl? No cars there.”

“So what are you saying? Stuart isn’t there? Or he is? Or?” Russell asked, handing the phone back. She didn’t accept it.

Kim touched the navigation system again, zooming a bit wider than before. “Here’s the place where that sedan turned off the road into the vineyard. What if they turned there intentionally? See how that farm road comes out at another road on the west side of the Devil’s Punchbowl? What if the sedan was headed there?”

“Panicked when we turned off behind them and improvised themselves into a no-win situation, you mean?” Russell moved the maps and the images around on the navigation system for a couple of seconds. “Yeah. There’s a road that approaches the visitor parking lot from the west.”

Kim nodded. “I asked Gaspar to pull satellite images all around that area. He found a cabin deep in the woods about a mile west of the gorge. Thumb through those shots on my phone. You can’t see the cabin now because the trees are leafed out. But in the winter, images show the place clearly.”

“You’re thinking the cabin is a rendezvous point?” Russell asked, handing the phone back. “Can Gaspar see anyone at that cabin now?”

She shook her head, pulled up another image on her phone and passed it to Russell. “Earlier today, a man was flying a drone in the clearing between the cabin and the gorge.”

Russell adjusted and enlarged the image. “Not possible to identify the guy based on these photos. But the location looks perfect for clandestine test flights. Depending on the cloud ceiling, which has been low the past couple of days.”

“Meaning someone could have seen him flying the drone because he’s been flying low. Except this drone is allegedly close to invisible,” Kim reminded him. “Less visible than a stealth bomber. More powerful radar or closer range radar will detect it.”

Russell shook his head. “I don’t get why Reacher would be angry about all of this. He’s an army guy. He understands weapons. Knows why a drone like Stuart’s could be a game changer. What’s his beef?”

Kim sped up to pass a slow moving mini-van and returned to her lane. “Chang said Reacher was not happy about how the drone will be used.”

“It’s a war weapon. It’ll be used to kill. Or to deter attacks by others. Same thing all weapons are used for,” Russell replied. “Reacher knows all of that. Hell, he was a soldier for thirteen years. Served in combat. From all accounts, still enjoys knocking heads and eliminating enemies. So again, where’s the beef?”

Kim shrugged and slowed the SUV. She turned left onto a smaller county road. Following the navigation system’s route around the north side of the cabin in the woods.

“Gaspar sent images of the Devil’s Punchbowl, too. You can pull them up on my phone. See what we’ll be dealing with once we get there,” Kim instructed.

Russell thumbed the images, talking as he flipped through. “Two running waterfalls. A big drop from the rim. More than a hundred feet down. Rocky at the bottom. The pool beneath the waterfall isn’t deep enough. You fall in there, you’re dead.”

“The road’s on the east side. The parking lot is a few hundred feet from the gorge along a paved trail. And that big lighted cross at the edge is used as a marker of some sort,” Kim said.

As they traveled along the narrow road, the woods became thicker and the area darker. Kim tried the high beams, which helped to illuminate the thick tree cover. She imagined wildlife living here and slowed the SUV to a speed that would allow her to stop well short before hitting a deer or a bear.

The road curved and twisted through the trees, growing narrower as they traveled closer to the cabin.

“This road eventually comes out at the parking lot near the rim of the gorge. There are hiking trails along here, too,” she said.

“What are we looking for?” Russell asked, peering into the gloom.

“A small two-track on the right side. It runs about three hundred feet into the woods and stops near the cabin,” she replied. “Gaspar says infrared shows at least three people in the cabin.”

“Three?”

“One’s probably Stuart,” Kim said.

Russell swiped a palm over his face. “Let me guess. You think the other two are Chang and Reacher.”

“More likely these three are the ones Reacher’s after,” Kim replied. “One was probably the guy flying the drone earlier today. Probably Liam Stuart. Makes sense that he’d have a team.”

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