The Hard Way

be, given the circumstances.”
    The four other men introduced themselves with a quiet cascade of names and handshakes. Each man was polite, nothing more. Each was full of reserve in front of a stranger. Reacher tried to tie the names to faces. Gregory he already knew. A guy with a big scar over his eye was called Addison. The shortest guy among them was a Latino called Perez. The tallest was called Kowalski. There was a black guy called Burke.
    “Lane told me you do bodyguarding and corporate security,” Reacher said.
    Sudden silence. No reply.
    “Don’t worry,” Reacher said. “I wasn’t convinced anyway. My guess is you guys were all operational noncoms. Fighting men. So I think your Mr. Lane is into something else entirely.”
    “Like what?” Gregory asked.
    “I think he’s pimping mercenaries,” Reacher said.
    The guy called Groom shook his head. “Wrong choice of words, pal.”
    “What would be the right choice?”
    “We’re a private military corporation,” Groom said. “You got a problem with that?”
    “I don’t really have an opinion.”
    “Well, you better get one, and it better be a good one. We’re legal. We work for the Pentagon, just like we always did, and just like you did, back in the day.”
    “Privatization,” Burke said. “The Pentagon loves it. It’s more efficient. The era of big government is over.”
    “How many guys have you got?” Reacher asked. “Just what’s here?”
    Groom shook his head again. “We’re the A-team. Like senior NCOs. Then there’s a Rolodex full of B-team squad members. We took a hundred guys to Iraq.”
    “Is that where you’ve been? Iraq?”
    “And Colombia and Panama and Afghanistan. We go anywhere Uncle Sam needs us.”
    “What about where Uncle Sam doesn’t need you?”
    Nobody spoke.
    “My guess is the Pentagon pays by check,” Reacher said. “But there seems to be an awful lot of cash around here, too.”
    No response.
    “Africa?” Reacher said.
    No response.
    “Whatever,” Reacher said. “Not my business where you’ve been. All I need to know is where Mrs. Lane has been. For the last couple of weeks.”
    “What difference does that make?” Kowalski asked.
    “There was some surveillance,” Reacher said. “Don’t you think? I don’t suppose the bad guys were just hanging out at Bloomingdale’s every day on the off chance.”
    “Mrs. Lane was in the Hamptons,” Gregory said. “With Jade, most of the summer. They only came back three days ago.”
    “Who drove them back?”
    “Taylor.”
    “And then they were based here?”
    “Correct.”
    “Anything happen out in the Hamptons?”
    “Like what?” Groom asked.
    “Like anything unusual,” Reacher said. “Anything out of the ordinary.”
    “Not really,” Groom said.
    “A woman showed up at the door one day,” Gregory said.
    “What kind of a woman?”
    “Just a woman. She was fat.”
    “Fat?”
    “Kind of heavyset. About forty. Long hair, center part. Mrs. Lane took her walking on the beach. Then the woman left. I figured it was a friend on a visit.”
    “Ever saw her before?”
    Gregory shook his head. “Maybe an old friend. From the past.”
    “What did Mrs. Lane and Jade do after they got back here to the city?”
    “I don’t think they did anything yet.”
    “No, she went out once,” Groom said. “Mrs. Lane, I mean. Not Jade. On her own, shopping. I drove her.”
    “Where?” Reacher asked.
    “Staples.”
    “The office supply store?” Reacher had seen them all over. A big chain, red and white décor, huge places full of stuff he had no need of. “What did she buy?”
    “Nothing,” Groom said. “I waited twenty minutes on the curb, and she didn’t bring anything out.”
    “Maybe she arranged a delivery,” Gregory said.
    “She could have done that on-line. No need to drag me out in the car.”
    “So maybe she was just browsing,” Gregory said.
    “Weird place to browse,” Reacher said. “Who does that?”
    “School is back soon,” Groom said. “Maybe Jade needed stuff.”
    “In which case she’d have gone along,” Reacher said. “Don’t you think? And she’d have bought something.”
    “Did she take something in?” Gregory asked. “Maybe she was returning something.”
    “She had her tote,” Groom said. “It’s possible.” Then he looked up, beyond Reacher’s shoulder. Edward Lane was back in the room. He was carrying a large leather duffel, and struggling with its bulk.
Five million dollars,
Reacher