Page 54 of The Secret

“You know, that makes me sad. We never got the chance to findout what Neilsen’s story was. He was a good agent. That was obvious. Even when he was four sheets to the wind. He couldn’t have been drinking like that from the start of his career. His liver wouldn’t have survived. And if he didn’t get killed he would have been kicked out. Something must have happened to him. Something traumatic. I wish I’d known him well enough for him to share what that was.”

Reacher said nothing.

Smith stifled a yawn and said, “Did you sleep?”

Reacher said, “I could have gotten more.” The truth was that his eyes had closed a minute after his head hit the pillow and he hadn’t stirred until a minute before it was time to get up, but he’d learned over the years that people aren’t generally looking for a positive answer to that kind of question.

Smith said, “I hardly got a wink. I’m wiped. This is really bad, Reacher. Neilsen’s death, Charles Stamoran, Typhon, a thousand corpses—I just kept thinking, what are we going to do with it all?”

“We’ll do what we would do if we were investigating any other person for any other crime. Follow the evidence. If it confirms that Stamoran’s guilty, then we take him down.”

“But he’s the Secretary of Defense.”

“Like I told Sarbotskiy, this is America. The law applies to him the same as everyone else.”

“Makes going after him harder, though.”

“So we work smarter.”

“Any thoughts?”

“My gut tells me Neilsen’s death starts with someone he spoke to at the CIA. He likely mentioned Typhon. Asked if it existed. If there was any proof. Who had run the program. Something that touched a raw nerve. From there I see three possible paths. One, Neilsen’s contact came and did the deed himself. Two, he sent someone elseto do it. Three, he reported Neilsen’s questions to another person and they arranged the murder.”

“Stamoran would fit scenario three?”

“Right.”

“How do we prove it?”

“We find out who Neilsen spoke to. I’ll contact them. I’ll let them know I worked with Neilsen and that I know what he knew. Then I’ll wait for someone to come snooping around my hotel room. And instead of me winding up on the bathroom floor, whoever shows up will give us a name. Then we’ll rinse and repeat as necessary until we get to the top of the food chain. We already know who Neilsen called from the hotel. Now we need a list of his calls from here. Do you think the Bureau could get that for us?”

Smith stretched out and grabbed the phone from the center of the table. She dialed a number, gave a couple of quick instructions that were mostly in jargon and acronyms that Reacher didn’t understand, then hung up. She pushed the phone back and just then the door opened. Gary Walsh hurried in. His face was flushed. He started toward his regular seat near the window then turned back and shuffled awkwardly on the spot for a moment. Then he said, “I heard about what happened. I’m really sorry. I guess you were getting close. If there’s anything I can do…”

The door opened again and the original security guard appeared. He said, “Message from Mr. Baglin. He can’t be present at the meeting this morning. He says you all know what you need to do.”

Walsh waited for the door to close then sat in Baglin’s place. He said, “What happened to Neilsen—was it to do with why he missed the meeting yesterday?”

Reacher and Smith exchanged a glance.

Walsh said, “I know I haven’t given you any reason to believe this, but you can trust me. I haven’t really been present because I’vebeen processing some stuff but I want to put that right. Please, let me in. I can help.”

Reacher said nothing. Smith looked down at the table.

Walsh said, “Reacher? I know your brother. In passing, at least. Call him. He’ll vouch for me. And Amber? Two years ago my team did some number crunching for Phil on a sting he was running. He told me—”

Smith said, “Neilsen went to meet a contact. He wasn’t back before we left and when we got to the hotel after dinner we found our rooms had been searched. We tried to check in with Neilsen but he was dead. It was staged to look like he’d fallen, but we’re not buying that.”

“The meeting with his contact. Was it about the Project?”

Smith didn’t pick up on the question. She was staring at the side wall.

Reacher said, “It seems that way.”

“Then the cops will do some window dressing but they’ll be kept well away from the business end. You’re trying to find Neilsen’s killer yourselves?”

Reacher nodded.

“Made any progress?”

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