Page 111 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

A woman was driving. Morin couldn’t see her clearly in the distance.

A big man, almost a giant, climbed out of the passenger side and slammed the door behind him.

He took a few long strides to cross the road, stepped over the guard rail, and approached the east edge of the gorge.

Morin realized he had run off course. He was too close to the gorge. Too far south of the parking lot.

Liam Stuart had made it almost to the base of the lookout.

The drone was already up there. Hovering. Waiting to be recalled to Stuart’s arms, like a falcon returning to perch on its master’s glove.

Morin stared incredulously upward.

Stuart was getting away. The drone would be gone.

Unacceptable.

Morin corrected his course and began to run again faster than before, but still too slow.

Just as a blast of gusty cold wind swooped in from the lake, Morin lifted his weapon and fired a warning shot toward Stuart.

Stuart stopped and turned, losing his focused attention on the Stiletto.

The wind gust caught the Stiletto and lifted it higher into the atmosphere.

A moment later, the downdraft plunged the drone down into the gorge.

“Stuart! Wait!” Morin yelled into the wind.

He moved toward Stuart’s position, failing to keep his eye on the ground.

Morin stumbled, weapon still pointed in Stuart’s direction. His finger twitched, firing off another shot toward Stuart.

The car sped along the road toward the parking lot where Morin’s operatives waited to capture Stuart and the Stiletto.

The big man started down the side of the gorge, as if he intended to climb all the way down and back up the opposite side to reach Stuart and Morin.

Which would be a stupid thing to do.

Maybe he wanted the drone.

Morin’s mouth fell open as he watched. The gorge was deep and steep and dangerous. No way the guy could make it before Stuart escaped. He’d be lucky not to tumble to his death.

The drone continued to drift downward, pushed by the wind.

Stuart furiously worked the controls on his tablet, but the wind gusts were too strong and the drone too light to overcome them.

Morin had lost control of the situation. Too many threats coming at him all at once.

A second vehicle entered the parking lot from the opposite direction.

Three vehicles up there now.

And one, Morin realized with amazement, was his Range Rover. “What the hell?”

-

Chapter 43

---