Worth Dying For

This is farm country.’
    Reacher said, ‘I’d be happier if you heard the gun go off, John. At least once. I’d be happier if you knew what it was like to have abullet coming your way. It might help you with all that thinking. It might help you reach sensible conclusions.’
    ‘I won’t try anything.’
    ‘Do I have your word on that?’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    ‘So we’re bonded now, John. I’m trusting you. Am I wise to do that?’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    ‘OK, turn around and walk back to your truck.’ Reacher kept ten feet behind the guy all the way, around the back corner of the building, along the face of the south gable wall, across the old lot, back to the two-lane. Reacher said, ‘Now get in the truck the same way you got out of the car.’
    The guy closed the driver’s door and tracked around the hood and opened the passenger door. Reacher watched him all the way. The guy climbed into the passenger seat and lifted his feet one at a time into the driver’s foot well, and then he jacked himself up and over the console between the seats, on the heels of his hands, squirming, scraping, ducking his head. Reacher watched him all the way. When he was settled Reacher climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. He swapped the gun into his left hand for a second and put his seat belt on. Then he swapped the gun back to his right and said, ‘I’ve got my seat belt on, John, but you’re not going to put yours on, OK? Just in case you’re getting ideas. Just in case you’re thinking about driving into a telephone pole. See the point? You do that, and I’ll be fine, but you’ll be hurt bad, and then I’ll shoot you anyway. We clear on that?’
    The guy said, ‘Yes.’
    ‘Say it, John.’
    ‘I’m clear on that.’
    ‘How clear?’
    ‘Crystal.’
    ‘And we’re bonded, right? I have your word, don’t I?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Promise?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Where do you live?’
    ‘At the Duncan Transportation depot.’
    ‘Where is that?’
    ‘From here? About thirty miles, give or take, north and then west.’
    ‘OK, John,’ Reacher said. ‘Take me there.’

THIRTY-SEVEN
    M AHMEINI ’ S MAN WAS IN HIS ROOM AT THE C OURTYARD Marriott. He was on the phone with Mahmeini himself. The conversation had not started well. Mahmeini had been reluctant to accept that Sepehr had lit out. It was inconceivable to him. It was like being told the guy had grown a third arm. Just not humanly possible.
    Mahmeini’s man said, ‘He definitely wasn’t in the bar.’
    ‘By the time you got there.’
    ‘He was never there. It was a most unpleasant place. I didn’t like it at all. They looked at me like I was dirt. Like I was a terrorist. I doubt if they would even have served me. Asghar wouldn’t have lasted five minutes without getting in a fight. And there was no sign of trouble. There was no blood on the floor. Which there would have been. Asghar is armed, and he’s fast, and he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.’
    Mahmeini said, ‘Then he went somewhere else.’
    ‘I checked all over town. Which didn’t take long. The sidewalks roll up when it gets dark. There’s nowhere to hide. He isn’t here.’
    ‘Women?’
    ‘Are you kidding me? Here?’
    ‘Did you try his phone again?’
    ‘Over and over.’
    There was a long, long pause. Mahmeini, in his Las Vegas office, processing data, changing gears, improvising. He said, ‘OK, let’s move on. This business is important. It has to be taken care of tomorrow. So you’ll have to manage on your own. You can do that. You’re good enough.’
    ‘But I don’t have a car.’
    ‘Get a ride from Safir’s boys.’
    ‘I thought of that. But the dynamic would be weird. I wouldn’t be in charge. I would be a passenger, literally. And how would I explain why I let Asghar take off somewhere and leave me high and dry? We can’t afford to look like idiots here. Or weak. Not in front of these people.’
    ‘So get another car. Tell the others you told Asghar to go on ahead, or somewhere else entirely, for some other purpose.’
    ‘Get another car? From where?’
    Mahmeini said, ‘Rent one.’
    ‘Boss, this isn’t Vegas. They don’t even have room service here. The nearest Hertz is back at the airport. I’m sure it’s closed until the morning. And I can’t get there anyway.’
    Another long, long pause. Mahmeini, recalibrating, re-evaluating, reassessing, planning on the fly. He asked, ‘Did the others see the first car you were in?’
    His guy said,