Page 1 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

Chapter 1

Thursday, June 2

Detroit, Michigan

Lucas Stuart sauntered along Woodward Avenue toward the crowd leaving the Fox Theater. Dressed in charcoal gray silk blazer, slacks, and a silk polo shirt, he blended easily with the theatergoers. No one gave him a second glance as the crowd moved toward the Detroit Athletic Club where Kim Otto was dining tonight with a friend.

Lucas remained acutely aware of his surroundings during the seven-minute walk. Valets ran to the parking lots to collect vehicles. Limo drivers waited halfway down the block. Patrons entered and exited businesses along the route.

He paid close attention to faces, clothes, and especially, behavior.

Which convinced him that he wasn’t being followed. No one seemed the least interested in him. Exactly as planned.

Lucas kept a steady pace until he completed the left turn onto East Adams Avenue. Two groups were walking behind him, chatting about the Broadway touring company’s performance.

At Witherell Street, Lucas turned right. So did the theatergoers behind him, seeming never to stop for breath as they chatted endlessly, comparing one actor to another in this role and the last.

Lucas turned left onto Aretha Franklin Way, a short walkway named after the Detroit native and musical powerhouse.

Straight ahead, the classic Italianate Detroit Athletic Club welcomed members and guests under a royal blue awning, just as it had done for more than a century.

The new entrance on the side of the building had been added during a renovation a few years back. Most evenings, visitors were funneled through what was once called the side door. But Lucas had confirmed the main door was open for a special event inside tonight.

He noticed no one paying particular attention to him, but he took another quick look across the street toward Detroit’s historic Music Hall to confirm.

No one was hiding in the shadows or sauntering nonchalantly out front.

Satisfied, he turned back and stepped inside with a group of others entering at the same time.

Lucas had never visited the Detroit Athletic Club building before, but he’d studied online images and read articles about the structure. He’d soaked up enough knowledge to pass as the guest of a legacy member.

Which should be good enough.

But he didn’t need to test that theory.

No one questioned him as he sauntered inside past the grand old entry.

He rode the elevator to the fourth floor with another group of visitors and approached the open double doors leading to the Grill, one of the building’s smaller dining rooms.

Lucas stopped at the entrance to scan the tables looking for Otto among the diners. The room was almost full.

No children present. Diners were adults only, males and females, mostly middle-aged, dressed casually but expensively.

Pricey baubles glittered from earlobes, wrists, and around slack-skinned throats. Had he been a thief, he could have lived several years on the proceeds from sale of the jewelry in the room.

He spotted Otto quickly. She was seated facing him. Another woman was seated on her left. A woman Lucas didn’t recognize or concern himself with.

Reacher said to convey the information to Otto alone.

Lucas had hoped to do that here surrounded by people she wouldn’t want to offend or alarm. Safety in numbers and all that.

But he couldn’t approach Otto as long as the other woman was there.

The two had finished their meal and seemed to be wrapping things up. Otto should be available soon enough.

Lucas retreated into a booth at the end of the hallway to wait amid Detroit’s glitterati. He’d barely settled into his seat when the burner phone began to vibrate.

He fished the phone from his jacket pocket and quietly murmured, “Yeah.”

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