One Shot

“Without a doubt. We could get into the stone place straight off the road and just hike through it. Then we could lie up as long as we wanted. Good concealment until the last minute.”
    “Can’t walk in from anywhere if they’ve got thermal cameras.”
    “We’ll worry about that later.”
    “OK, but they’ll anticipate the north.”
    Reacher nodded. “We’ll pass on the north. Too obvious.”
    “South or east would be next best. Because presumably the driveway comes in from the west. Probably too straight and too open.”
    “They’ll be thinking the same thing.”
    “Makes us both right.”
    “I kind of like the driveway,” Reacher said. “What will it be? Paved?”
    “Crushed limestone,” Yanni said. “They’ve got plenty to spare.”
    “Noisy,” Cash said.
    “It’ll have retained a little daytime heat,” Reacher said. “It’ll be warmer than the dirt. It’ll put a stripe of color down their thermal picture. If the contrast isn’t great it’ll give a shadow zone either side.”
    “Are you kidding?” Cash said. “You’re going to be forty or fifty degrees hotter than ambient temperature. You’re going to show up like a road flare.”
    “They’re going to be paying attention south and east.”
    “Not exclusively.”
    “You got a better idea?”
    “What about a full frontal assault? With vehicles?”
    Reacher smiled. “If it abso
lutely
posi
tively
has to be destroyed by morning, call the United States Marine Corps.”
    “Roger that,” Cash said.
    “Too dangerous,” Reacher said. “We can’t give them a second’s warning and we can’t turn the place into a free-fire zone. We’ve got Rosemary to think about.”
    Nobody spoke.
    “I like the driveway,” Reacher said again.
    Cash glanced at Helen Rodin.
    “We could just call in the cops,” he said. “You know, if it’s the DA who’s the bad guy here. A couple of SWAT teams could do it.”
    “Same problem,” Reacher said. “Rosemary would be dead before they got near the door.”
    “Cut the power lines? Kill the cameras?”
    “Same problem. It’s an announcement ahead of time.”
    “Your call.”
    “The driveway,” Reacher said. “I like the driveway.”
    “But what about the cameras?”
    “I’ll think of something,” Reacher said. He stepped over to the table. Stared down at the map. Then he turned back to Cash. “Does your truck have a CD player?”
    Cash nodded. “Part of the comfort package.”
    “Do you mind if Franklin drives it?”
    “Franklin can
have
it. I’d prefer a sedan.”
    “OK, your Humvee is our approach vehicle. Franklin can drive us there, let us out, and then get straight back here.”
    “Us?” Yanni said. “Are we all going?”
    “You bet your ass,” Reacher said. “Four of us there, with Franklin back here as the comms center.”
    “Good,” Yanni said.
    “We need cell phones,” Reacher said.
    “I’ve got one,” Yanni said.
    “Me too,” Cash said.
    “Me too,” Helen said.
    “I don’t,” Reacher said.
    Franklin took a small Nokia out of his pocket.
    “Take mine,” he said.
    Reacher took it. “Can you set up a conference call? Four cell phones and your desk phone? As soon as you get back here?”
    Franklin nodded. “Give me your numbers.”
    “And turn the ringers off,” Reacher said.
    “When are we doing this?” Cash asked.
    “Four o’clock in the morning is my favorite time,” Reacher said. “But they’ll be expecting that. We learned it from them. Four in the morning is when the KGB went knocking on doors. Least resistance. It’s a biorhythm thing. So we’ll surprise them. We’ll do it at two-thirty.”
    “If you surprise them you don’t have to hit them very hard?” Yanni said.
    Reacher shook his head. “In this situation if we surprise them they won’t hit
me
very hard.”
    “Where am I going to be?” Cash asked.
    “Southwest corner of the gravel plant,” Reacher said. “Looking south and east at the house. You can cover the west and the north sides simultaneously. With your rifle.”
    “OK.”
    “What did you bring for me?”
    Cash dug in the pocket of his windbreaker and came out with a knife in a sheath. He tossed it across the room. Reacher caught it. It was a standard-issue Navy SEAL SRK. Their survival-rescue knife. Carbon steel, black epoxy, seven-inch blade. Not new.
    “This is it?” Reacher said.
    “All I’ve got,” Cash said. “The only weapons I own are my rifle and that knife.”
    “You’re