Never Go Back

after.’
    ‘How long after?’
    ‘Most of that stuff stays secret for sixty years.’
    ‘That’s ridiculous.’
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Morgan said. ‘The fine print didn’t say you stay a reservist for sixty years.’
    ‘That’s good.’
    ‘It said worse than that. It said indefinitely. But as it happens the Supreme Court already screwed us on that. It mandated we respect the standard three bottom-line restrictions common to all cases in Title 10.’
    ‘Which are?’
    ‘To be successfully recalled, you have to be in good health, under the age of fifty-five years, and trainable.’
    Reacher said nothing.
    Morgan asked, ‘How’s your health?’
    ‘Pretty good.’
    ‘How old are you?’
    ‘I’m a long way from fifty-five.’
    ‘Are you trainable?’
    ‘I doubt it.’
    ‘Me too. But that’s an empirical determination we make on the job.’
    ‘Are you serious?’
    ‘Completely,’ Morgan said. ‘Jack Reacher, as of this moment on this day, you are formally recalled to military service.’
    Reacher said nothing.
    ‘You’re back in the army, major,’ Morgan said. ‘And your ass is mine.’

FOUR
    THERE WAS NO big ceremony. No processing-in, or reprocessing. Just Morgan’s words, and then the room darkened a little as a guy in the corridor took up station in front of the door and blocked the light coming through the reeded glass panel. Reacher saw him, all sliced up vertically, a tall, broad-shouldered sentry, standing easy, facing away.
    Morgan said, ‘I’m required to tell you there’s an appeals procedure. You’ll be given full access to it. You’ll be given a lawyer.’
    Reacher said, ‘I’ll be given?’
    ‘It’s a matter of simple logic. You’ll be trying to appeal your way out. Which implies you’re starting out in. Which means you’ll get what the army chooses to give you. But I imagine we’ll be reasonable.’
    ‘I don’t remember any Juan Rodriguez.’
    ‘You’ll be given a lawyer for that, too.’
    ‘What’s supposed to have happened to the guy?’
    ‘You tell me,’ Morgan said.
    ‘I can’t. I don’t remember him.’
    ‘You left him with a brain injury. It caught up with him eventually.’
    ‘Who was he?’
    ‘Denial won’t work for ever.’
    ‘I’m not denying anything. I’m telling you I don’t remember the guy.’
    ‘That’s a discussion you can have with your lawyer.’
    ‘And who is Candice Dayton?’
    ‘Likewise. But a different lawyer.’
    ‘Why different?’
    ‘Different type of case.’
    ‘Am I under arrest?’
    ‘No,’ Morgan said. ‘Not yet. The prosecutors will make that decision in their own good time. But until then you’re under orders, as of two minutes ago. You’ll retain your former rank, for the time being. Administratively you’re assigned to this unit, and your orders are to treat this building as your duty station and appear here every morning before 0800 hours. You are not to leave the area. The area is defined as a five-mile radius of this desk. You’ll be quartered in a place of the army’s choosing.’
    Reacher said nothing.
    Morgan said, ‘Are there any questions, major?’
    ‘Will I be required to wear a uniform?’
    ‘Not at this stage.’
    ‘That’s a relief.’
    ‘This is not a joke, Reacher. The potential downside here is considerable. For you personally, I mean. The worst case would be life in Leavenworth, for a homicide conviction. But more likely ten years for manslaughter, given the sixteen-year gap. And the best case is not very attractive either, given that we would have to look at the original crime. I would plan on conduct unbecoming, at the minimum, with a new discharge, this time without honour. But your lawyer will run it down for you.’
    ‘When?’
    ‘The relevant department has already been notified.’
    There were no cells in the old building. No secure facilities. There never had been. Just offices. Reacher was left where he was, in the visitor chair, not looked at, not spoken to, completely ignored. The sentry stood easy on the other side of the door. Morgan started tapping and typing and scrolling on the laptop computer. Reacher searched his memory for Juan Rodriguez. Sixteen years ago he had been twelve months into his command of the 110th. Early days. The name Rodriguez sounded Hispanic. Reacher had known many Hispanic people, both inside the service and out. He remembered hitting people on occasion, inside the service and out, some of them Hispanic, but none of them named