Page 90 of Bulletproof Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher

Sirens pierced the quiet, heading toward the hotel from the east. At least two vehicles, Kim guessed. Maybe more.

“We need to move. We don’t want to get stuck here. In addition to everything else, unlicensed guns are a serious problem here,” Kim deadpanned.

“Solid thinking.” Russell nodded, moved the transmission into drive, and punched the accelerator.

He took the corner too fast. The SUV fishtailed until he righted it on the main street. Then he pressed the accelerator again, speeding toward the sedan’s taillights growing ever smaller in the distance.

“Where are we going?” Russell asked.

“We’re driving along the southwest side of Lake Ontario. The next big town along this route is Hamilton. Which is about an hour away,” Kim said, looking at the map on the navigation system.

Russell kept his eyes on the road. “I think that sedan might have been watching us. Following us from Niagara Falls.”

Kim gave him a stare. “What?”

“That’s why it took me longer to park before I came up to Chang’s room. After you went into the hotel lobby, a dark sedan drove by. Slowly. The windows were tinted and it was dark on the street, so I couldn’t see who was driving or how many were inside.”

“Lots of slow-moving cars in a town like that. Speed limit was only twenty-five. What made you suspicious?”

“Just a feeling. The way it passed. Like they wanted a good look at me. I waited awhile but the sedan didn’t come back.”

“And no one else showed up. But they may have identified our SUV. So they might have been watching you.”

“Could have been car thieves, I guess,” Russell nodded. “Took me a while to find a gated lot, which might have slowed them down a little.”

Kim nodded, keeping her eyes on the taillights ahead. “You didn’t notice the sedan until we pulled up to the hotel?”

“I wasn’t watching as carefully as I should have been.” Russell shook his head, disgusted with his sloppy work.

“Yeah, and maybe they didn’t follow us. They could have been following Chang. Or someone else. It’s also possible that Chang had a lookout posted,” Kim replied, talking it through. “She seemed okay to me, though.”

“You mean okay until she jumped up and ran out and we heard gunfire right afterward?” Russell arched his eyebrows just in case she didn’t catch the sarcasm.

“If the sedan dudes are part of Chang’s crew, why would they be shooting at her?” Kim said.

“What makes you say they were shooting at her? Could be she was shooting at them,” he replied.

“Which makes even less sense,” Kim said slowly, turning things over in her head.

“So there’s a third option. What is it?” Russell asked. “Someone else came along and coincidentally started a beef with the guys in the sedan just as Chang came outside andtheytook both the new dude and Chang?”

Kim didn’t say what she was thinking. But that sounded exactly like something Reacher would do.

Only thing was, if Reacher had a beef with the guys in the sedan, they wouldn’t be in any shape to drive away. More likely, Reacher had stuffed them both in the trunk and then drove off with Chang.

Kim reached into her pocket for the burner cell phone that connected her directly to Gaspar. He’d had plenty of time to work things out. Maybe he’d found useful intel by now.

Because she was floundering here and she knew it. What began as a desire to learn the identity of the man who had died on her doorstep had become something altogether different. She didn’t understand what was going on or why.

Her gut said Reacher was involved. She could be wrong. Not likely.

Russell was a solid partner. He’d been doing a good job.

But he wasn’t Gaspar. He didn’t have Gaspar’s knowledge of the Reacher case.

Beyond that, she’d tied both of Russell’s hands behind his back by insisting that he not contact Finlay.

Without Finlay or Cooper, Gaspar was the only resource she had. No reason not to utilize him.

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