Part 7 (2/2)

'Did you discuss your superiors when you were in the army?'

'All the time. With people of equal rank.'

'Are we of equal rank?'

'Approximately.'

'So what were your superiors like?'

'Some of them were good, and some of them were a.s.sholes.'

'Holland's OK,' Peterson said. 'But he's tired. His wife died. Then his daughter grew up and left home. He's all alone, and he feels a little beaten down.'

'I saw the photograph in his office.'

'Happier days. They made a nice family.'

'So is he up to the job?'

'Enough to ask for help when he needs it.'

'Who's he asking?'

'You.'

Reacher finished his Miller. He was warm, and comfortable, and tired. He said, 'What could I possibly do for him?'

Peterson said, 'There was an old army facility where they built the construction camp.'

'You told me that already.'

'We need to understand exactly what it was.'

'Don't you know?'

Peterson shook his head. 'It was put in a long time ago. There's a single stone building, about the size of a house.'

'Is that all?'

Peterson nodded. 'A long straight road leading to a single small building all alone on the prairie.'

'And it's the size of a house?'

'Smaller than this one.'

'What shape?'

'Square. Rectangular. Like a house.'

'With a roof?'

'Of course.'

'Because I'm wondering if it was a missile silo. There are plenty of them in the Dakotas.'

'It's not a silo.'

'Then it could be anything. Could be something they started and didn't finish.'

'We don't think so. There's a kind of folk memory with the older people. They say there were hundreds of engineers out there for months. And a security cordon. And a lot of coming and going. That's a lot of effort for a thing the size of a house.'

'I've heard of stranger things.'

'We need to know. Chances are we're going to need to go out there and make a hundred arrests. We need to know what we're dealing with.'

'Call somebody. Call the Department of the Army.'

'We have. We've called, the county board has called, the state government has called.'

'And?'

'n.o.body ever got a reply.'

'How old are your older people?'

'Does that matter?'

'I'm asking when the place was built. Did they see all these engineers for themselves? Or just hear stories about them from their parents or grandparents?'

'The place is about fifty years old.'

'How long since soldiers were seen out there?'

'Never. The place was never used.'

Reacher shrugged. 'So it's an abandoned Cold War facility. Maybe never even completed. One day it seemed like a good idea, the next day it didn't. That kind of thing happened all the time, way back when, because strategy was fluid. Or because n.o.body had the faintest idea what they were doing. But it's no big deal. A stone house is going to be more resistant to small-arms fire than a hut or a trailer, but I'm a.s.suming you're not planning on a shooting war out there anyway.'

'We need to know for sure.'

'I can't help you. I never served here. Never heard any talk.'

'You could make some back-channel calls. Maybe you still know people.'

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