The Hard Way

that,” Burke said. “Especially Recon Marines. They hate leaving guys behind. More than anyone. It’s their code.”
    “So why does
he
stick around?”
    “Same reason I do. Ours is not to reason why. That’s also a code.”
    “Maybe in the service,” Reacher said. “Not necessarily in some half-assed private company.”
    “I don’t see a difference.”
    “Well, you ought to, soldier.”
    “Watch your mouth, pal. I’m helping you out here. I’m earning you a million bucks. You find Hobart and Knight, you find Kate and Jade, too.”
    “You think?”
    “Dollars to doughnuts. A
million
dollars to doughnuts. So watch your mouth.”
    “I don’t need to watch my mouth,” Reacher said. “If you’ve still got a code, then I’m still an officer. I can say what I like and you can stand there and take it and salute.”
    Burke turned away from the swirling river of traffic in front of him and headed back north. Reacher let him get five yards away and then caught up and fell in beside him. Nothing more was said. Ten minutes later they turned onto 72nd Street. Reacher glanced up and to his left. Patti’s Joseph’s window was blazing with light.

CHAPTER 21
    REACHER SAID, “YOU go on ahead. I’m going to walk some more.”
    “Why?” Burke asked.
    “You gave me things to think about.”
    “You can’t think unless you’re walking?”
    “No point looking for Hobart and Knight inside the apartment.”
    “That’s for sure. They were erased.”
    “One more thing,” Reacher said. “When did Lane and Kate get together?”
    “Soon after Anne died. Lane doesn’t like to be alone.”
    “Do they get along OK?”
    “They’re still married,” Burke said.
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means they get along OK.”
    “How well?”
    “Well enough.”
    “As well as he got along with Anne? The first time around?”
    Burke nodded. “About the same.”
    “I’ll see you later,” Reacher said.

----

    Reacher watched Burke disappear inside the Dakota and then moved on west, away from Patti Joseph’s place. Routine caution, which paid off big time when he glanced back and saw Burke coming after him. Clearly Burke had turned around inside the Dakota’s lobby and was trying a pretty poor imitation of a clandestine tail. He was sneaking along in the shadows, his black skin and his black clothes mostly invisible but lit up like a superstar every time he passed under a streetlight.
    He doesn’t trust me,
Reacher thought.
    A Delta noncom doesn’t trust an MP.
    Well, there’s a big surprise.
    Reacher walked to the end of the block and took the stairs down to the subway. To the northbound platform. Used his Metrocard at the turnstile. He figured Burke wouldn’t have a Metrocard. Lane’s people drove everywhere. In which case Burke would be hung up at the machine, swiping his credit card or feeding creased bills into the slot. In which case the tail would fail at the first hurdle. If a train came soon.
    Which it didn’t.
    It was midnight, and the trains were well into their off-peak schedules. Average wait time was probably fifteen or twenty minutes. Reacher was ready to get lucky, but he didn’t. He turned and saw Burke collect a brand-new card from the machine and hang back, just waiting.
    Reacher thought:
He doesn’t want to be on the platform with me. He’s going to come through the turnstile at the last possible minute.
    Reacher waited. There were twelve people waiting with him. A knot of three, a knot of two, seven people on their own. Mostly they were well dressed. They were folks going home after movies or restaurant meals, heading back to cheaper rents in the hundreds or all the way up in Hudson Heights.
    The tunnel stayed quiet. The air was warm. Reacher leaned on a pillar and waited. Then he heard the rails start their strange metallic keening. A train, half a mile away. He saw a faint light in the darkness and felt the push of hot air. Then the noise built and twelve people on the platform shuffled forward.
    Reacher shuffled backward.
    He pressed himself into a maintenance recess the size of a phone booth. Stood still. A train rolled in, fast, long, loud, hissing and squealing. A 1 train, local. Shiny aluminum, bright windows. It stopped. People got off, people got on. Then Burke came through the turnstile and made it through the doors just before they closed. The train moved away, left to right, and Reacher saw Burke through the windows. He was walking forward, eyes front, hunting his