Chapter 1The pain hit first, then the sound followed, the way lightning beats thunder in a storm.
The pain was in Jack Reacher’s right wrist. It was sharp and sudden and hot, and it was more than strong enough to eclipse the dull throbbing ache that filled his head. The sound was a single, round, lingering note. Metal on metal. Distinct, but inconsequential next to the ringing in his ears.
The pain and the sound came after he tried to move his arm. That was all Reacher knew. He had been asleep—no, somewhere deeper and darker than sleep—and when he floated to the surface he was rocked by waves of dizziness. He was lying on his back. Not in a bed. Not on the ground. On something smooth and artificial. And cold. The chill was seeping through his shirt and into his shoulder blades and down his spine. A sharp ridge was cutting into his calves. His head felt like it was being crushed against the hard surface. So he had drawn his right elbow back, ready to lever himself up. Or he had tried to. And it wasn’t just the discomfort that had stopped him. Something was fastened around his wrist, preventing it from moving more than a couple of inches. Something cinched in tight. It bit into his skin, but that wasn’t what hurt the most. It was one of the bones in his forearm. Maybe more than one. Some kind of major damage had been done beneath the skin. That was clear.
Reacher tried to move his left arm. There was no pain, but that wrist was also restrained by something sharp. So was his left ankle. So was his right. He couldn’t see what he was attached to, or what he was bound with, because there was no light. Not the slightest glimmer. The space he was in was completely dark. There was no noise, now that the metallic clink had died away. And no movement of the air. Reacher had no idea where he was. No idea how he had gotten there. But someone must have brought him. And shackled him. And whoever had done those things was going to rue the day. That was for damn sure.
The same time Reacher was slipping back into oblivion a man was standing at the side of the road, five miles away to the north, watching for smoke or flames. He had used plenty of names over the years but at that moment he was calling himself Ivan Vidic. He was heavyset and a little stooped, which made him look shorter than the six feet two he claimed on his driver’s license, and his bald head was all sharp angles and ridges, like it had been carved from stone by someone without much skill. His car was parked by the second of a set of three switchbacks. It was a notorious spot for accidents. The turns were sharp and close together and poorly lit. The road was separated from a steep drop by a wide shoulder and a rusty safety rail and the camber coming off the apex of the first bend was way out of whack. Something to do with ancient geological deposits deteriorating and undermining the layers of bedrock deep down, way below the surface. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed, given the right amount of money. But money was scarce in those parts so the local Department of Roads and Bridges had just thrown up a couple of warning signs. They didn’t help to keep vehicles from crashing, but the county lawyers said they might keep the department from getting sued in the aftermath.
An SUV had crashed there, a little earlier that day. A Lincoln Navigator. It had left the road, clipped a tree, rolled three times, and come to rest back on its wheels. Its roof was caved in. Its hood was dented. Its doors were bent and twisted and all its windows were starred and opaque. Vidic had watched the accident unfold. He’d had no alternative because he had been following, driving fast and sticking close behind. He had mashed his brakes the moment the Lincoln lost control and had skidded to a stop while the other vehicle was still moving. Then he had jumped out and crept closer to the wreck, sniffing the air for gasoline fumes and straining his ears for any hint of fuel dripping from a fractured line or cracked tank.
The Lincoln had wound up in bad shape, but its driver had come out even worse. He was dead. His neck was broken. There was no doubt about that. Vidic had smiled when he saw what had happened. It wasn’t the outcome he’d expected. But it was one he could use. More than that, it was like the answer to a prayer. An echo from his childhood floated into his head: God helps those who help themselves. His grin grew wider, then he turned his attention to the passenger. At first Vidic thought the guy was bound for the morgue, too, but when he checked he felt a pulse. So he adjusted his diagnosis: The guy just had a concussion and a broken wrist, judging by the sharp edge of the bone he could see jutting out beneath his skin. The guy’s size had saved him. He looked huge. Comfortably six feet five, even slumped against the door. Easily 250 pounds. And all bone and muscle. No fat.
Vidic had called a couple of guys for help and while he waited for them to arrive he had hauled the driver and the passenger out of the wreckage. That wasn’t easy. The driver’s head was flopping around all over the place and his body was slack and soft and difficult to grip. The passenger was worse because of his size and shape. His arms were bigger than the driver’s legs. His wrists were too broad for Vidic to wrap his fingers around. Vidic was out of breath and sweating despite the cool air when he heard wheels on the asphalt behind him, and he only just had time to finish rifling the passenger’s pockets and transferring the few possessions he found there to his own.
The new guys had shown up in a Ford pickup truck, which turned out to be a practical choice. There was no way they’d have been able to manhandle the passenger’s unconscious body onto the backseat of a regular car. He was too big. Too awkward. They wouldn’t have had enough room to maneuver. So the three of them heaved him up onto the load bed and tossed the driver’s corpse in next to him.
The guy who had been driving the pickup was called Darren Fletcher. He was a couple of inches taller than Vidic but slimmer and maybe twenty pounds lighter. He slammed the tailgate into place then turned to Vidic and said, “You saw it happen?”
Vidic nodded.
“When you called and said it was Gibson’s Lincoln I was hoping you were wrong.”
“Have you ever known me to be wrong?”
Fletcher grunted and said, “Walk me through it.”
Vidic shrugged. “Gibson was driving pretty slow. Pretty careful. I caught up to him by chance. I was heading back to base. Guess he was, too. He kept going the same speed for maybe a mile. His usual Steady Eddy self. Then he must have seen my car. Seen it, but not realized it was mine because all of a sudden he tried to lose me. He hit the gas, but at exactly the wrong time.” Vidic nodded at the wrecked vehicle. “As you can see. Exhibit A.”
“Did you flash your lights? Honk your horn? Make it look like you were up for a race?”
“No. Why would I? I’m not sixteen.”
“So why did he try to lose you? Or whoever he thought you were?”
Vidic shrugged again. “Paranoia is my guess. It’s in the air. It started when O’Connell died and it’s worse since Bowery disappeared.”
Fletcher was silent for a moment, then he said, “The big guy who was riding with Gibson. Who is he?”
“No idea.”
“He doesn’t have ID?”
“No.”
“Any luggage? A backpack, at least?”
“Just this.” Vidic took a pistol from his waistband and handed it to Fletcher. “A Glock 17. The FBI’s weapon of choice. Make of that what you will.”
Copyright © 2024 by Lee Child. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
