"He's got lots of contact with foreigners," she said. "I've seen him with all kinds of people. Israelis, Lebanese, Iraqis, Syrians."
"He's supposed to," I said. "He's a Middle East specialist."
"He comes from California," she said. "His dad was a railroad worker. His mom stayed at home. They lived in a small house in the north of the state. He inherited it, and it's his only asset. And we can assume he's been on military pay since college."
"OK," I said.
"He's a poor boy, Reacher," she said. "So how come he rents a big house in MacLean, Virginia? How come he owns a yacht?"
"Is it a yacht?"
"It's a big sailboat with bedrooms. That's a yacht, right?"
"POV?"
"A brand-new Lexus."
I said nothing.
"Why don't his own people ask these kind of questions?" she said.
"They never do," I said. "Haven't you noticed that? Something can be plain as day and it passes them by."
"I really don't understand how that happens," she said.
I shrugged.
"They're human," I said. "We should cut them some slack. Preconceptions get in the way. They ask themselves how good he is, not how bad he is."
She nodded. "Like I spent two days watching the envelope, not the newspaper. Preconceptions."
"But they should know better."
"I guess."
"Military Intelligence," I said.
"The world's biggest oxymoron," she replied, in the familiar old ritual. "Like safe danger."
"Like dry water," I said.
"Did you enjoy it?" Elizabeth Beck asked me, ten years later.
I didn't answer. Preconceptions get in the way.
"Did you enjoy it?" she asked again.
I looked straight at her. Preconceptions.
"Sorry?" I said. Everything I had heard.
"Dinner," she said. "Did you enjoy it?"
I looked down. My plate was completely empty.
"It was fabulous," I said. Everything I had seen.
"Really?"
"No question," I said. You haven't found anything useful.
"I'm glad," she said.
"Forget Hopper and Pasternak," I said. "And Raymond Chandler. Your cook is a genius."
"You feeling OK?" Beck said. He had left half his meat on his plate.
"Terrific," I said. Not a thing.
"You sure?"
I paused. No evidence at all.
"Yes, I really mean it," I said.
And I really did mean it. Because I knew what was in the Saab. I knew for sure. No doubt about it. So I felt terrific. But I felt a little ashamed, too. Because I had been very, very slow. Painfully slow. Disgracefully slow. It had taken me eighty-six hours. More than three and a half days. I had been every bit as dumb as Quinn's old unit. Something can be plain as day and it passes them by. I turned my head and looked straight at Beck like I was seeing him for the very first time.
Chapter 11
I knew, but I calmed down fast during dessert and coffee. And I gave up on feeling terrific. Gave up on feeling ashamed, too. Those emotions were crowded out. I started to feel a little concerned instead. Because I started to see the exact dimensions of the tactical problem. And they were huge. They were going to force a whole new definition of working alone and undercover.
Dinner ended and everybody scraped their chairs back and stood up. I stayed in the dining room. I left the Saab's headliner undisturbed. I was in no hurry. I could get to it later. There was no point risking trouble to confirm something I already knew. I helped the cook clean up instead. It seemed polite. Maybe it was even expected. The Becks went off somewhere and I carried dishes through to the kitchen. The mechanic was in there, eating a bigger portion of beef than I had gotten. I looked at him and started to feel a little ashamed again. I hadn't paid him any attention at all. Hadn't thought much about him. I had never even asked myself what he was for. But now I knew.
I loaded the dishes into the machine. The cook did economical things with the leftovers and wiped off the counters and within about twenty minutes we had everything squared away. Then she told me she was headed for bed so I said good night to her and went out the back door and walked across the rocks. I wanted to look at the sea. Wanted to gauge the tide. I had no experience with the ocean. I knew the tides came in and out maybe twice a day. I didn't know when or why. Something to do with the moon's gravity, maybe. Possibly it turned the Atlantic into a giant bathtub sloshing east and west between Europe and America. Maybe when it was low tide in Portugal it was high tide in Maine, and vice versa. I had no idea. Right then the tide looked to be changing from high to low. From in to out. I watched the waves for five more minutes and then headed back to the kitchen. The mechanic had left. I used the bunch of keys Beck had given me to lock the inner door. I left the outer door open. Then I walked through the hallway and checked the front. I guessed I was supposed to do stuff like that now. It was locked and chained. The house was quiet. So I went upstairs to Duke's room and started planning the endgame.
There was a message from Duffy waiting for me in my shoe. It said: You OK? I replied: Sincere thanks for the phones. You saved my ass.
She came back with: Mine too. Equal element of self-interest.
I didn't reply to that. I couldn't think of anything to say. I just sat there in the silence. She had won a minor postponement, but that was all. Her ass was toast, whatever happened next. Nothing I could do about that.
Then she sent: Have searched all files and cannot repeat cannot find authorization for 2nd agent.
I sent: I know.
She came back with just two characters: ??
I sent: We need to meet. I will either call or just show up. Stand by.
Then I shut down the power and nailed the device back into my heel and wondered briefly whether I would ever take it out again. I checked my watch. It was nearly midnight. Day fourteen, a Friday, was nearly over. Day fifteen, a Saturday, was about to begin. Two weeks to the day since I had barged through the crowd outside Symphony Hall in Boston, on my way to a bar I never reached.
I lay down on the bed, fully dressed. I figured the next twenty-four or forty-eight hours were going to be crucial, and I wanted to spend five of the first six of them fast asleep. In my experience tiredness causes more foul-ups than carelessness or stupidity put together. Probably because tiredness itself creates carelessness and stupidity. So I got comfortable and closed my eyes. Set the alarm in my head for two o'clock in the morning. It worked, like it always does. I woke up after a two-hour nap, feeling OK.
I rolled off the bed and crept downstairs. Went through the hallway and the kitchen and unlocked the back door. I left all my metal stuff on the table. I didn't want the detector to make a noise. I stepped outside. It was very dark. There was no moon. No stars. The sea was loud. The air was cold. There was a breeze. It smelled of dampness. I walked around to the fourth garage and opened the doors. The Saab was still there, undisturbed. I eased the hatch open and pulled out my bundle. Carried it around and stowed it in its dip. Then I went back for the first bodyguard. He had been dead for several hours and the low temperature was bringing rigor on early. He was pretty stiff. I hauled him out and jacked him up on my shoulder. It was like carrying a two-hundred-pound tree trunk. His arms stuck out like branches.
I carried him to the V-shaped cleft that Harley had shown me. Laid him down next to it and started counting waves. Waited for the seventh. It rolled in and just before it got to me I nudged the body into the cleft. The water came in under it and pushed it right back up at me. It was like the guy was trying to grab me with his rigid arms and take me with him. Or like he wanted to kiss me good-bye. He floated there for a second quite lazily and then the wave receded and the cleft drained and he was gone.