Part 26 (1/2)

His guy said, 'She wasn't in the house.'

Plato said, 'Find her.'

Heading back put the westerly wind on Reacher's other cheek, which was a wash in terms of comfort. Otherwise the inbound trip compared to the outbound was both better and worse. Better, because they were moving away from the populated areas, and fewer people meant fewer threats. Worse, because whatever threats remained were behind Reacher's back. He couldn't easily check over his shoulder. His torso tended to move independently inside the giant coat. A backward glance merely put his whole face inside his hood. So he was forced to rely on Peterson's vigilance behind him. He walked on, regarding each completed safe step as a separate minor triumph.

Janet Salter said, 'I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

'I was inconsiderate. I've put you all to a lot of trouble.'

'All part of a day's work. No reason why you shouldn't go out once in a while.'

They crunched onward, slipping and sliding occasionally, forming up in single file where the footstep trail narrowed around obstacles. Reacher had a high pile of ploughed snow between himself and the roadway. After most steps his left foot came down on its lower slope. It was like limping. He kept his eyes on the oncoming traffic. There wasn't much. A few pick-up trucks, a few old-model SUVs, a few salt-caked cars. Nothing to worry about. Then Lowell drove by in his squad car, and slowed in surprise, and waved. Janet Salter waved back. Lowell speeded up again. Then came nothing for a spell, and then came a big dark sedan, heading north towards them. A Ford Crown Victoria. Navy blue. Easy to be sure in the bright clear light. Chief Holland's car. The guy stopped the width of a traffic lane away and rolled down his window. He ignored Reacher completely. Looked straight at Janet Salter, some kind of concern in his face. She stopped and faced him. She said, 'I'm out for a walk. That's all. Nothing to worry about. Mr Peterson is doing a fine job.'

Holland said, 'You heading home now?'

'We're on our way.'

'Can I offer you a ride?'

'Thank you, but I would rather walk. A measure of fresh air and exercise was the point of this little adventure.'

'OK.'

'But please join us back at the house, for coffee, if you like.'

'OK,' Holland said again.

He checked his mirrors and U-turned across the width of the road. Frozen ruts splintered under his wheels. He got lined up in the southbound lane but didn't race on ahead. He kept pace instead, crawling slowly, holding a lateral line with himself on the left behind the wheel, then his empty pa.s.senger seat, then the berm of ploughed snow, then Reacher, then Janet Salter. His front tyres were made of hard winter compound, and they crunched and scrabbled slowly. He had chains on the back. Each link rotated into position and made its own distinct sound. He put his flas.h.i.+ng lights on, to warn the traffic behind him of his low speed. He had strobes concealed in the rear parcel shelf, matched by more behind the radiator grille. Reacher guessed they would do the job. From a distance the unmarked car would look like a regular police cruiser.

Janet Salter said, 'This is ridiculous.'

Reacher said, 'He's just doing his job.'

'I don't like the attention.'

'You're important to him.'

'Only because he can use me.'

'You're a prominent citizen. You're the kind of person a chief of police worries about.'

Janet Salter said, 'The only prominent citizens in this town are the prison staff. Believe me. That's how it works now.'

They walked on, with the idling car crunching slowly alongside them. Where there were no buildings on their right the wind blew in hard and strong and uninterrupted, a ma.s.s of frozen air whistling relentlessly over the flat land, with nothing in its path to roil it up or make it turbulent. It was still carrying tiny spicules of ice. They came in horizontal and pattered against the side of Reacher's hood. They could have been airborne for hundreds of miles, maybe all the way from the Rocky Mountains.

Janet Salter asked, 'Are you cold?'

Reacher smiled, as much as his numb face would let him.

'I know,' he said. 'This is nothing.'

They got back in the house and peeled off layers and endured the pain of thawing. Reacher's ears burned and his nose and chin p.r.i.c.kled and itched. Peterson and the two women cops had to have been feeling the same, but they showed no signs of distress. Probably a matter of local South Dakota pride. Chief Holland was entirely OK. He had been riding in a heated car, out of the wind. But still he gave a theatrical s.h.i.+ver as soon as he stepped into the hallway. Relief, Reacher figured, now that Janet Salter's exposure was over and they had gotten away with it.

The two women cops took up their established positions. Janet Salter went to work with her percolator. Reacher and Peterson and Holland watched her from the hallway. Then the phone rang. Janet Salter asked someone to pick it up. Peterson got it. He listened for a second and held the receiver out to Reacher.

'For you,' he said. 'It's the woman from the 110th MP.'

Reacher took the phone. Peterson and Holland trooped into the kitchen and left him alone. Instinctive politeness. Reacher put the phone to his ear and the voice from Virginia said, 'I called a guy in the air force.'

'And?'

'We're getting there. Slowly, but not because it's a secret. Quite the opposite. Because the place was abandoned and forgotten years ago. It fell off the active list when G.o.d's dog was still a puppy. n.o.body can remember a thing about it.'

'Not even what it was?'

'All the details are archived. All my guy has seen so far is a report about how hard it was to build. The design was compromised several times during construction because of the kind of terrain they found. Some kind of schist. You know what that is?'

'Bedrock, I guess,' Reacher said. 'Probably hard, if it caused difficulties.'

'It proves they were excavating underground.'

'That's for sure. Not a bad result, for the first two hours.'

'One hour,' the voice said. 'I took a nap first.'

'You're a bad person.'

'Last time I checked, you're not my boss.'

'Anything else?'

'I got a hit on a Florida cop called Kapler. Miami PD, born there thirty-six years ago, upped and quit two years ago for no apparent reason. No health issues, not in debt. I'll get more when I'm in the Miami PD records.'

'You can do that with Google?'

'No, I'm using a few other resources. I'll let you know.'

'Thanks,' Reacher said. 'Anything else?'

There was a pause. 'My guy isn't talking.'

'From Fort Hood?'