The Hard Way

trained for close personal protection you’d have sent one of them out with Kate and Jade yesterday morning. Taylor driving, maybe Gregory riding shotgun. But you didn’t, which suggests that bodyguarding isn’t exactly the business you’re in.”
    “My business is confidential,” Lane said.
    “Not anymore. Not if you want your wife and daughter back.”
    No reply.
    “A Jaguar, a Mercedes, and a BMW,” Reacher said. “Plus more where they came from, I’m sure. Plus a co-op in the Dakota. Plus lots of cash lying around. Plus half a dozen guys on twenty-five grand a month. Altogether big bucks.”
    “All legal.”
    “Except you don’t want the cops involved.”
    Involuntarily Lane glanced at the photograph of the blonde woman.
    “No connection,” he said. “That’s not the reason.”
    Reacher followed Lane’s gaze.
    “Who is she?” he asked.
    “Was,” Lane said.
    “Was what?”
    “Anne,” Lane said. “She was my first wife.”
    “And?”
    Silence for a long moment.
    “You see, I’ve been through this before,” Lane said. “Five years ago. Anne was taken from me. In just the same way. But back then I followed procedure. I called the cops, even though the men on the phone had been very clear that I shouldn’t. The cops called the FBI.”
    “And what happened?”
    “The FBI screwed up somehow,” Lane said. “They must have been spotted at the ransom drop. Anne died. They found her body a month later in New Jersey.”
    Reacher said nothing.
    “That’s why there’s no cops this time,” Lane said.

CHAPTER 6
    REACHER AND LANE sat in silence for a long time. Then Reacher said, “Fifty-five minutes. You should be ready for the next call.”
    “You’re not wearing a watch,” Lane said.
    “I always know what time it is.”
    Reacher followed him back to the living room. Lane stood by the table again, with his fingers spread on the surface. Reacher guessed he wanted to take the call with his men all around him. Maybe he needed the comfort. Or the support.
    The phone rang right on time, at two o’clock in the morning exactly. Lane picked it up and listened. Reacher heard faint robot squawks from the earpiece. Lane said, “Put Kate on,” but his request must have been refused, because then he said, “Please don’t hurt her.” He listened for another minute and said, “OK.” Then he hung up.
    “Five hours from now,” he said. “Seven o’clock in the morning. Same place, same routine. The blue BMW. One person only.”
    “I’ll do it,” Gregory said.
    The other men in the room stirred with frustration. “We should all be there,” one of them said. He was a small dark American who looked like an accountant, except for his eyes, which were as flat and dead as a hammerhead shark’s. “Ten minutes later we would know where she is. I can promise you that.”
    “One man,” Lane said. “That was the instruction.”
    “This is New York City,” the guy with the shark’s eyes said. “There are always people around. They can’t be expecting deserted streets.”
    “Apparently they know us,” Lane said. “They would recognize you.”
    “I could go,” Reacher said. “They wouldn’t recognize me.”
    “You came in with Gregory. They might be watching the building.”
    “Conceivable,” Reacher said. “But unlikely.”
    Lane said nothing.
    “Your call,” Reacher said.
    “I’ll think about it,” Lane said.
    “Think fast. Better if I leave here well in advance.”
    “Decision in one hour,” Lane said. He moved away from the phone and headed back toward the office.
Gone to count out the money,
Reacher thought. He wondered briefly what five million dollars looked like.
The same as one million,
he guessed.
But with hundreds instead of twenties.
    “How much money has he got?” Reacher asked.
    “A lot,” Gregory said.
    “He’s down six million in two days.”
    The guy with the shark’s eyes smiled.
    “We’ll get it back,” he said. “You can count on that. As soon as Kate’s home safe we’ll make our move. Then we’ll see who’s down and who’s up. Someone poked a stick in the wrong hornets’ nest this time, that’s for damn sure. And they wasted Taylor. He was one of us. They’ll be sorry they were ever born.”
    Reacher glanced into the guy’s empty eyes and believed every word he said. Then the guy stuck out his hand, abruptly. And a little warily. “I’m Carter Groom,” he said. “I’m pleased to meet you. I think. I mean, as much as I can