Page 69 of The Secret

“You’d shoot an unarmed prisoner in front of a witness? Hello, court-martial. Plus you’d still have to get out of here. How much time do you have before, boom?”

“What do you want?”

“If I make the device safe, I want you to listen. I want you to know the truth about my father. I want everyone to know. I want you to tell them.”

Reacher nodded. “Go.”

Veronica stood up. She moved across to a spot where three large pipes rose out of the floor, turned 90 degrees, and were fixed to another set with heavy bolts and flanges. Reacher covered Veronica with his gun. She leaned over, stretched down into an obscured area, and lifted out the goldfish bowl. She tiptoed toward Reacher. She was holding the bowl out in front. The grenade was still inside. The elastic band was intact. She crept closer. Then when she was ten feet away she flung the bowl at Reacher’s face. He stepped back. Gasoline sloshed over the front of his tunic. Veronica dived to the side. She hit the ground, rolled, scooped up the Sig that Roberta had been holding, and scrambled onto her feet. Reacher caught the bowl. He trapped it between his chest and right forearm. Thrust his left hand inside, into the dregs of the gasoline. It was a tight fit, like trying to cram a baseball mitt into a cookie jar. He pushed harder. Scrabbled for the grenade. Brushed it with his fingertips. And snapped the elastic band.

Chapter26

Reacher shook his head andset the bowl down. Veronica Sanson threw herself over another tangle of pipes and disappeared from view. Susan Kasluga started to scream.

“The hell are you doing?” Kasluga yelled. “The kill radius of that thing is only a few feet. Get it out of here. Get it outside. Or throw it as far as you can. Or there’s a control room. Over there. You could—”

Reacher stepped across so that he was standing between Kasluga and Veronica’s concealed position. “There’s no need. The grenade’s made of plastic. It’s a toy. You were tricked.”

“What? No.” Kasluga started to cry. “I thought it was real. I believed them. That’s the only reason I gave Charles up. They’re such liars. They promised not to hurt him. And now…”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. Those women were not playing games. They’d have made you talk some other way if you had seen through their bluff.”

“Correct,” Veronica called from behind her cover. “We’re notplaying. I’m not. So stand aside, Captain. I have no argument with you.”

Reacher figured it made sense for Veronica Sanson to need to kill Kasluga. She’d used her to lure her husband. Kasluga knew what had happened to him. Probably saw it happen. It would be crazy to leave a witness. So by the same token Reacher didn’t believe for a second that Veronica planned to let him walk away.

Reacher said, “You want to tell your father’s story? I can help you. Make sure people listen. But only if you put your gun down. Surrender now.”

“You don’t understand. Step aside.”

Reacher didn’t move.

The Sig’s muzzle poked out from between a pair of valves and Veronica fired. Dust kicked up a couple of inches from Reacher’s right foot. The bullet whined up and away past Kasluga’s head. There was a clank as it slammed into a pipe. Then silence.

The muzzle disappeared. Reacher couldn’t see Veronica. He couldn’t get a shot. But she could pick him off at will. Then there would be nothing to stop her from getting Kasluga. Reacher knew how many people Veronica and her sister had killed. He knew how ruthless she was. How relentless. Reacher had served temporarily with IDF personnel and had great respect for them. She would have been well trained so would have a degree of patience. But there would be a limit. She had no way of knowing if reinforcements were on their way. Any delay could compromise her chances of success. Which told Reacher he couldn’t afford to wait very long.

Reacher heard sounds behind him. A hiss, then a gushing noise. He glanced over his shoulder. The pipe that had been hit by Veronica’s ricochet had now burst. It was blue. And it was leaking water. Which gave Reacher an idea.

He turned back. There was still no sign of Veronica. Nothing toaim at. Not even a foot or an elbow or an ear. So he picked a different kind of target. A red pipe. He pulled the trigger. The pipe shattered. And the surrounding space was engulfed in clouds of scalding steam.

Veronica screamed. She dived out into the open, rolled to the side, and came up half sitting, half kneeling. She had the Sig lined up on Kasluga’s chest. Reacher could see tension in the ligaments of her wrists.

Reacher stepped closer. He said, “Stop. Don’t do it. Shoot her and your father’s story will never be told.”

He could see in her eyes that Veronica was not going to stop. She raised her Sig a fraction higher. Her ligaments tightened a notch more. Reacher pulled his trigger. He was never going to miss at that range. The bullet hit her in one temple and burst out from the other. All the electrical activity in her brain was shorted out. The signals to her nerves shut down. Her muscles relaxed and her tendons sagged and she tumbled sideways, landing like a mirror image of her sister.

Reacher kicked Veronica’s gun away and checked for a pulse, although that was just a formality. She was way beyond saving. He crossed to Kasluga and untied the rope from around her waist. She pushed past him and threw herself toward her husband. She knelt beside him and her tears flooded his chest and mixed with the blood on his shirt.

Reacher heard a sound from behind him. Footsteps. There were two sets. He spun around, gun raised, ready.

“Blue on blue.” It was a man’s voice. “Federal agents. Reinforcing Secretary Stamoran’s protection detail.”

“Clear,” Reacher called.

The agents stepped into view and stayed still, trying to make sense of the scene. The first one said, “Stamoran?”

Reacher shook his head. “I guess you’ll be needing another secretary to protect.”

Susan Kasluga stood up. Her tears were still flowing and she was trying to control her voice. She said, “I think the danger’s passed, don’t you? So I would like a moment alone with my husband now.”

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