Without Fail

is that we’re talking about two guys. Our assessment is that the thumbprint guy is an unknown associate of somebody who used to work here, who is the latex gloves guy. So we’re saying they and them purely as a convenience. We’re not saying they both worked here. We’re not suggesting you’ve got two renegades.”
    “Just one renegade.”
    “That’s our theory,” Bannon said. “But saying they and them is useful and instructive, too, because they’re a team. We need to look at them as a single unit. Because they share information. Therefore what I’m saying is, only one of them worked here, but they both know your secrets.”
    “This is a very big department,” Stuyvesant said. “Big turnover of people. Some quit. Some are fired. Some retire. Some get asked to.”
    “We’re checking now,” Bannon said. “We’re getting personnel lists direct from Treasury. We’re going back five years.”
    “You’ll get a long list.”
    “We’ve got the manpower.”
    Nobody spoke.
    “I’m real sorry, people,” Bannon said. “Nobody likes to hear their problem is close to home. But it’s the only conclusion there is. And it’s not good news for days like today. These people are here in town right now and they know exactly what you’re thinking and exactly what you’re doing. So my advice is to cancel. And if you’re not going to cancel, then my advice is to take a great deal of care.”
    Stuyvesant nodded in the silence.
    “We will,” he said. “You can count on that.”
    “My people will be in place two hours in advance,” Bannon said.
    “Ours will be in place an hour before that,” Froelich replied.
    Bannon smiled a tight little smile and pushed back his chair and stood up.
    “See you there,” he said.
    He left the room and closed the door behind him, firmly, but quietly.

    Stuyvesant checked his watch. “Well?”
    They had sat quiet for a moment, and then strolled out to the reception area and got coffee. Then they regrouped in the conference room, in the same seats, each of them looking at the place Bannon had vacated like he was still there.
    “Well?” Stuyvesant said again.
    Nobody spoke.
    “Inevitable, I guess,” Stuyvesant said. “They can’t pin the thumbprint guy on us, but the other one is definitely one of ours. It’ll be all smiles over at the Hoover Building. They’ll be grinning from ear to ear. Laughing up their sleeves at us.”
    “But does that make them wrong?” Neagley asked.
    “No,” Froelich said. “These guys know where I live. So I think Bannon’s right.”
    Stuyvesant flinched, like the umpire had called strike one .
    “And you?” he said to Neagley.
    “Worrying about DNA on envelopes sounds like insiders,” Neagley said. “But one thing bothers me. If they’re familiar with your procedures, then they didn’t interpret the Bismarck situation very well. They expected the cops would move toward the decoy rifle and Armstrong would move toward the cars, thereby traversing their field of fire. But that didn’t happen. Armstrong waited in the blind spot and the cars came to him.”
    Froelich shook her head.
    “No, I’m afraid their interpretation was correct,” she said. “Normally Armstrong would have been well out in the middle of the field, letting people get a good look at him. Right there in the center of things. We don’t usually make them skulk around the edges. It was a last-minute change to keep him near the church. Based on Reacher’s input. And normally there’s absolutely no way I would allow a rear-wheel-drive limo on the grass. Too easy to bog down and get stuck. That’s an article of faith. But I knew the ground was dry and hard. It was practically frozen. So I improvised. That maneuver would have struck an insider as completely off the wall. It would have been the very last thing they were expecting. They would have been totally surprised by it.”
    Silence for a beat.
    “Then Bannon’s theory is perfectly plausible,” Neagley said. “I’m very sorry.”
    Stuyvesant nodded, slowly. Strike two .
    “Reacher?” he said.
    “Can’t argue with a word of it.”
    Strike three . Stuyvesant’s head dropped, like his last hope was gone.
    “But I don’t believe it,” Reacher said.
    Stuyvesant’s head came up again.
    “I’m glad they’re pursuing it,” Reacher said. “Because it needs to be pursued, I guess. We need to eliminate all possibilities. And they’ll go at it like crazy. If they’re right, they’ll take