Page 72 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

Seconds mattered. She knew from experience.

Audrey crept to the front window and peered into the darkness. A boxy SUV was coming slowly along the driveway. She didn’t recognize the vehicle. Headlights blinded her temporarily. She couldn’t see the driver through the downpour.

Was it Liam Stuart? Could she possibly get that lucky?

The Range Rover pulled up too close to the garage door and parked. The same motion sensor Audrey had dealt with tripped again and floodlights burst through the dark.

A few seconds later, a man emerged from the driver’s side of the luxury SUV.

A man she recognized.

Nigel Morin.

Audrey grinned and whispered, “Morin, you’ve made it so easy.”

She watched as he moved around the far side of the garage toward the back entrance. Then she quickly, silently let herself out the front door.

She fired up her sedan and backed down the driveway, lights off.

Once she’d reached a safe distance, she used a fresh burner and dialed 9-1-1. The sleepy dispatcher answered with a yawn.

“What’s your emergency?”

Audrey screamed hysterically. “He’s in my house! He’s got a gun!”

“What’s the address ma’am?” The dispatcher, fully awake now, asked exactly the right question.

Audrey recited Krause’s address and then screamed. “Hurry! He gonna kill my husband!”

While the operator was still speaking, Audrey screamed again, lowered the window, and threw the burner phone into Krause’s bushes. They could trace the signal and confirm the phone’s location. Which would also confirm Krause’s address. Sirens should show up shortly.

Audrey wondered what the response time would be.

A few minutes, at least. Time to put some distance between her and the house.

Audrey raised the window and floored the accelerator.

When they got there, they’d find the body. Morin was probably armed, and Krause’s gun rested in plain sight. It would take time to process the scene and sort things out.

Time she could use to find Liam Stuart and the Stiletto 100.

Morin would be tied up with the local cops. Which would put him off the playing field for a while.

“Serves you right, jackass,” she said with a righteous nod.

She wondered how he’d try to explain that he didn’t shoot and kill Krause. Morin wasn’t all that clever. He’d probably just keep his mouth shut and call Brax.

Brax would be livid and blame Morin for the whole fiasco.

Audrey laughed out loud.

Her mirth was short lived. Mission status returned to top of mind.

How would she complete the assignment?

Four men, each of whom might have led her to Liam Stuart, were now dead.

Which was okay. Audrey rarely felt any sort of remorse and she tried to save it for situations that mattered to her. Empathy was overrated.

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