The Hard Way

over there and picked them up.”
    “For this thing with Lane?”
    Jackson nodded. “It’s been a heavy few weeks. Lots of planning.”
    “Are they traceable?”
    “The Dutch guy’s paperwork shows they were destroyed in a training accident.”
    “Got ammunition?”
    Jackson moved across the room and opened another cupboard, lower down. Behind a row of muddy Wellington boots Reacher could see the glint of black metal. A lot of it.
    “Seventy magazines,” Jackson said. “Two thousand one hundred rounds.”
    “That should do the trick.”
    “We can’t use it. Not more than three or four rounds. Too noisy.”
    “How close are the cops?”
    “Not very. Norwich, I suppose, unless there happens to be a patrol car out. But people here have phones. Some of them even know how to use them.”
    “You can turn the bird scarer off for a day.”
    “Obviously. But I shouldn’t really be using that, either. An organic farm doesn’t need a bird scarer. No pesticides means plenty of insects for the birds to eat. They don’t go after the seed. Sooner or later people are going to realize that.”
    “So the bird scarer is new, too?”
    Jackson nodded. “Part of the planning. Set to start firing at dawn. That’s when we expect Lane to come.”
    “If I had a sister and a brother-in-law I’d want them to be like you and Susan.”
    “I go a long way back with Taylor. We were in Sierra Leone together. I’d do anything for him.”
    “I never went to Africa.”
    “Lucky you. We were fighting a bunch of rebels called the West Side Boys. I saw what they did to people. So I know what Hobart went through. Burkina Faso wasn’t far away.”
    “You OK with all of this? You’ve got roots here, literally.”
    “What’s the alternative?”
    “Take a vacation. All of you. I’ll stay.”
    Jackson shook his head. “We’ll be OK. One round might do it. The G-36 is a pretty accurate piece.”

----

    Jackson stayed in the mud room and closed and locked both cupboards. Reacher stepped back into the kitchen and sat down next to Taylor.
    “Tell me about Gregory,” he said.
    “What about him?”
    “Is he going to stand by Lane? Or you?”
    “Lane, I think.”
    “Even though you served together?”
    “Lane bought him. When he was in uniform Gregory always wanted an officer’s commission, but he never got it. It burned him up. And then Lane made him a kind of unofficial lieutenant. Status, at last. Meaningless bullshit, of course, but it’s the thought that counts. So I think Gregory will stick with him. Plus he’ll be offended that I didn’t share my secret. He seemed to think that two Brits abroad should share everything.”
    “Does he know this area?”
    Taylor shook his head. “He’s a Londoner, like me.”
    “What about the others? Will any of them turn?”
    “Not Kowalski,” Taylor said. “Not Perez. Turning would require some brain activity, and those two are room-temperature IQs at best. Probably not Addison, either. But Groom and Burke aren’t dumb. If they see the ship is sinking they’ll get off fast enough.”
    “That’s not the same thing as turning.”
    “None of them is going to come over to our side. You can forget about that. The best we can hope for is neutrality from Groom and Burke. And I wouldn’t bet the farm on that.”
    “How good are they? All of them, as a whole?”
    “They’re about as good as me. Which is to say they’re on a slippery slope. They used to be outstanding, but now they’re well on the way to average. Plenty of experience and ability, but they don’t train anymore. And training is important. Back in the day, training was ninety-nine percent of what we did.”
    “Why did you join them?”
    “The money,” Taylor said. “That’s why I joined them. Then I stayed with them because of Kate. I loved her from the first moment I saw her.”
    “Did she love you back?”
    “Eventually,” Taylor said.
    “Not eventually,” Kate said, from her chair by the fire. “Truth is it was really pretty quick. One day I asked him why he had never had his teeth fixed and he told me that he had never even thought about it. I like that kind of self-respect and self-confidence in a man.”
    “You see anything wrong with my teeth?” Taylor asked.
    “Plenty,” Reacher said. “I’m surprised you can eat. Maybe that’s why you’re so small.”
    Taylor said, “I am what I am.”

----

    Exactly one hour after they came in and lit the fire they drew lots for the first