The Enemy

face-to-face.”
    “Major Calvin Franz,” she said. “That’s what they told me.”
    “Call them back,” I said. “Double-check.”
    She left my coffee on my desk and went back out to her phone. Came in again after another four minutes and confirmed that her information had been correct.
    “Major Calvin Franz,” she said again. “He’s been there since December twenty-ninth.”
    I looked down at my calendar.
January 5th.
    “And you’ve been
here
since December twenty-ninth,” she said.
    I looked straight at her.
    “Call some more posts,” I said. “The big ones only. Start with Fort Benning, and work through the alphabet. Get me the names of their MP XOs, and find out how long they’ve been there.”
    She nodded and went back out. The NCO from the dining room called me back. I asked him about Vassell and Coomer. He confirmed they had eaten dinner in the O Club. Vassell had gone with the halibut, and Coomer had opted for the steak.
    “Did they eat on their own?” I asked.
    “No, sir, they were with an assortment of senior officers,” the guy said.
    “Was it a date?”
    “No, sir, we had the impression it was impromptu. It was an odd collection of people. I think they all hooked up in the bar, over aperitifs. Certainly we had no reservation for the group.”
    “How long were they there?”
    “They were seated before seven-thirty, and they got up just before ten o’clock.”
    “Nobody left and came back?”
    “No, sir, they were under our eye throughout.”
    “All the time?”
    “We paid close attention to them, sir. It was a question of the general’s rank, really.”
    I hung up. Then I called the main gate. Asked who had actually eyeballed Vassell and Coomer in and out. They gave me a sergeant’s name. I told them to find the guy and have him call me back.
    I waited.
    The guy from the gate was the first to get back to me. He confirmed he had been on duty all through the previous evening, and he confirmed he had personally witnessed Vassell and Coomer arrive at six forty-five and leave again at ten.
    “Car?” I asked.
    “Big black sedan, sir,” he said. “A Pentagon staff car.”
    “Grand Marquis?” I asked.
    “I’m pretty sure, sir.”
    “Was there a driver?”
    “The colonel was driving,” the guy said. “Colonel Coomer, that is. General Vassell was in the front passenger seat.”
    “Just the two of them in the car?”
    “Affirmative, sir.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “That’s definite, sir. No question about it. At night we use flashlights. Black sedan, DoD plates, two officers in the front, proper IDs displayed, rear seat vacant.”
    “OK, thanks,” I said, and hung up. The phone rang again immediately. It was Calvin Franz, in California.
    “Reacher?” he said. “What the hell are you doing there?”
    “I could ask you the exact same question.”
    The phone went quiet for a beat.
    “No idea what the hell I’m doing here,” he said. “Irwin’s all quiet. It usually is, they tell me. Weather’s nice, though.”
    “Did you check your orders?”
    “Sure,” he said. “Didn’t you? Panama’s the most fun I’ve had since Grenada, and now I’m staring at the sands of the Mojave? Seems to have been Garber’s personal brainwave. I thought I must have upset him. Now I’m not so sure what’s going on. Unlikely that we both upset him.”
    “What exactly were your orders?” I said.
    “Temporary XO for the Provost Marshal.”
    “Is he there right now?”
    “No, actually. He got a temporary detachment the same day I got in.”
    “So you’re acting CO?”
    “Looks that way,” he said.
    “Me too.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “No idea,” I said. “If I ever find out, I’ll tell you. But first I need to ask you a question. I came across a bird colonel and a one-star over here, supposed to be heading out to you for an Armored conference on New Year’s Day. Vassell and Coomer. Did they ever show?”
    “That conference was canceled,” Franz said. “We heard their two-star bought the farm somewhere. Guy called Kramer. They seemed to think there was no point going ahead without him. Either that, or they can’t think at all without him. Or they’re all too busy fighting over who’s going to get his command.”
    “So Vassell and Coomer never came to California?”
    “They never came to Irwin,” Franz said. “That’s for sure. Can’t speak for California. It’s a big state.”
    “Who else was supposed to attend?”
    “Armored’s inner