Never Go Back: (Jack Reacher 18)

deck in the centre was a North Carolina driver’s licence, with the guy’s face in the picture, and the name Peter Paul Lozano. Behind the DL was a stack of credit cards, Visa and MasterCard and Discover and American Express, with more in the slots on the left and the right, all of them current, in-date and unexpired, all of them in the name of Peter P. Lozano.
    There was no military ID.
    ‘Is he a civilian?’ Turner said. ‘Or sanitized?’
    ‘I’m guessing sanitized,’ Reacher said. ‘But Captain Edmonds can tell us. I’ll give her the name. She’s working with HRC.’
    ‘Are you going to get the other guy’s name?’
    ‘Two would triangulate better than one.’
    ‘How are you going to do it?’
    ‘I’ll think of something.’

    Four rows ahead the guy named Lozano was hunched over and rocking back and forth in his seat, as if he had his hands clamped up under his arms to manage the pain. A stewardess came by, and he glanced at her, as if he wanted to speak, but then he looked away again. Because what was he going to say? A bad man came by and hurt me? Like a little girl? Like a snitch in the principal’s office? Clearly not his style. Not in front of a hundred other people.
    ‘Military,’ Reacher said. ‘Don’t you think? Boot camp taught him to keep his mouth shut.’
    Then the other guy squeezed out past the old lady next to him. The guy from the first night, with all the verbal chit-chat. He stepped forward a row and bent down to talk to his buddy. It turned into a regular little conference. There was discussion, there was exhibition of injuries, there were hostile glances over the shoulder. The woman in the business suit looked away, her face blank and frozen.
    Turner said, ‘It won’t work twice. Forewarned is forearmed. The guy is getting a damn play by play.’
    ‘And hoping his seatmate has a strong bladder.’
    ‘Do you really think Edmonds will get us the file on 3435?’
    ‘She either will or she won’t. It’s about fifty-fifty. Like the toss of a coin.’
    ‘And either way is OK with you, right?’
    ‘I’d prefer to have the file.’
    ‘But you’re not going to be heartbroken if you don’t get it. Because just asking for it was enough. Asking for it was like telling them we’re one step away. Like our breath on their necks.’
    ‘I’d prefer to have the file,’ Reacher said again.
    ‘Like these guys on the plane. You’re sending them back walking wounded. You’re sending a message, aren’t you?’
    Reacher said nothing.

    Reacher kept one eye on the guy from the first night, three rows ahead on the left. The woman next to him at the window seemed to be asleep. From behind she looked young, and she was dressed like a homeless person. Definitely no summer frock, and no gloves. But she was clean. A movie person, probably. Junior, to be flying coach. Not an A-lister. Maybe an intern, or an assistant to an assistant. Perhaps she had been scouting locations, or organizing office space. The older woman on the aisle looked like a grandma. Maybe she was heading out to visit her grandkids. Maybe her ancestors had worked for Carnegie and Frick, in their brutal mills, and then when the city hit hard times maybe her children had joined the rustbelt diaspora and headed for sunnier climes. Maybe they were living the dream, in the warmth of southern California.
    Reacher waited.
    And in the end it was the guy himself who proved to have a bladder issue. Too much morning coffee, perhaps. Or orange juice. Or water. But whichever, the guy stood up and squeezed out past grandma, and oriented himself in the aisle, and locked eyes with Reacher, and took hesitant steps towards the back of the plane, watching Reacher all the way, one row, two, three, and then as he came alongside he turned and walked backward the rest of the way, his eyes still on Reacher’s, exaggerated, as if to say no way you’re getting a jump on me , and he fumbled behind himself for the door, and he backed ass-first into the bathroom, his eyes still locked on Reacher’s until the last possible second, and then the door closed and the bolt shot home.
    How long do men take in the bathroom?
    Not as long as women, generally.
    Reacher unclipped his belt and stood up.

FORTY-SIX

    REACHER WAITED OUTSIDE the bathroom, patiently, lik a regular passenger, like the next man in line. The door was a standard bi-fold contraption, hinged on the right, cream in colour, and a little grimy. No surprises. Then he heard the