CHAPTER FOUR

Thursday, November 11

11:22 a.m.

Washington, DC

Gaspar said, “Reagan National, please.”

They settled into the back seat for the short drive along ice-slicked streets. Kim glanced at Gaspar and allowed her anger to surface. “He knew about O’Donnell when he called this morning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lit such a fire under us to get there. But no warning at all. Not a word. Why not?”

Gaspar nodded toward the taxi driver, reminding her of the dashboard camera before he replied, “Because he wanted us to stay on course.”

“Why? We didn’t learn a damn thing. Nothing but a waste of time.”

“Ours is not to reason why….” She glared at him. He shrugged. “You’re losing your perspective, Sunshine. This is just business as usual.”

Kim said nothing. She was no mind reader, and Gaspar wasn’t either. The Boss had his own agenda. Whatever that agenda was, it didn’t include sharing information vital to their assignment. She’d already learned that lesson the hard way. Still, she wasn’t used to working for a man she didn’t trust with a partner she didn’t know on a mystifyingly dangerous assignment where people attempted to thwart her at every opportunity. The assignment was more than a challenge. So far it had been a constant ten-day nightmare.

When the taxi dropped them off at the terminal, Gaspar paid the driver before joining her on the sidewalk, where they stood a moment in silence before he asked, “Now what, Suzy Wong?”

Their assignment was to be completed in as close to total secrecy as possible, revealing their identities when required but never the true nature of their mission. Which was okay because neither Kim nor Gaspar knew the truth anyway. Their cover story was difficult enough and they disclosed it only when unavoidable. Staying off the grid was a constant struggle, but it was the only piece of the job that made Kim feel safer.

Surveillance at Reagan National was perhaps the most comprehensive in the country. There was no way to stay off camera but they could slow the hunters down by refusing to provide audio instructions to go with the video. A weak grin lifted the right corner of her mouth. Whoever wanted to know where she was going next would have to do a bit of digging to figure things out. Keep ’em guessing as much as possible was not much of a plan, but it was the only one she’d come up with so far that occasionally worked.

Gaspar could figure things out. They entered the terminal building. He approached the ticket counter and returned saying, “We’re departing in twenty-minutes.”

They hustled through security, passing their guns and badges to the TSA officer, and were the last two passengers aboard the plane. As usual, Gaspar relaxed into seat 1A while Kim chose a seat a bit further back in the first class cabin where she couldn’t see and hear too much of what was going on with the flight crew. She popped two antacids, gripped the seat’s arms, and closed her eyes as if she might save herself from disaster only if she didn’t see it coming.

After they reached the appropriate altitude, the flight attendant announced electronic devices could be used. Kim loosened her death grip on the armrests and reached for her laptop. A bolt of panic stole her breath before she remembered she’d left everything she owned back at the DC hotel. She didn’t even have a charger for her phone, meaning she couldn’t afford to drain its remaining energy by working on the inadequate keyboard.

Which left her no choice but to do the one thing she avoided whenever possible while flying: think without the benefit of distraction.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, Gaspar was still sleeping when she tapped him on the shoulder to disembark. He yawned, stretching long arms and long legs across the entire bulkhead before he stood, slouched into his overcoat, and limped out behind her onto the jetway ramp.

New York’s JFK airport was no better place for a private conversation than Reagan National, so Kim saved the benefit of her flight wisdom for a safer location. The Boss, his enemies, and Reacher himself could all be listening or watching or both. They’d done it before.

The ice storm they’d left in DC was worse here. After another, much longer ride into the city in silence, the taxi driver deposited them a block away from Karla Dixon’s apartment. Again, Gaspar paid the fare in cash and was not offered a receipt. By tomorrow, there was an excellent chance the driver would have forgotten them completely.

Hours of pelting sleet coated New York in clear ice that glistened like cellophane gift wrap. They slipped and slid along the sidewalk toward Dixon’s apartment building, as alert as possible to their surroundings. Half a block away, Kim spied as good a briefing location as they were likely to find.

“Let’s stop in here for a couple of minutes,” Kim said, tilting her head toward the door of the café. She was chilled and wet and she wanted a chance to talk.

They entered a surprisingly busy eatery of indeterminate ethnicity. People packed the front, waiting out diners reluctant to leave the fragrant warmth inside for the inhospitable November storm.

Kim wiggled to the side of the crowded holding pen and leaned against the wall, allowing her to see toward Dixon’s apartment outside the plate glass window. Gaspar followed, leaned next to her with a view of the café’s entrance while he bent his head closer to hear her.

Quietly, beneath the chatter buzz, Kim offered the results of her mental heavy lifting while he’d napped on the plane.

“Given O’Donnell’s execution, I think we proceed under the assumption that both Dixon and Neagley are either dead or about to be, too. We could barge in and confirm that’s the case with Dixon, but that would only light us up on the radar.”

“Agreed,” Gaspar said.

She didn’t know who was watching Dixon and Neagley other than the Boss. But she knew it was safer to assume others were engaged in the same surveillance. Reacher could be watching, too. She’d seen him three times in the DC area recently, including the night O’Donnell was murdered. The last time, Reacher was headed north. It wasn’t foolish to consider that he’d come to New York for Dixon. It would be foolish to assume otherwise.

“Maybe Reacher killed them all,” she said. “Maybe not.”

“Agreed,” Gaspar said again.

“If he didn’t kill Dixon, he’ll want to see the crime scene for himself before he makes any decisions.”

Gaspar’s right eyebrow popped up. “You think so?”

“He was a homicide investigator. That’s what you and I would do.”

A group of four finally departed. They opened the door wide just as Kim inhaled, filling her lungs with cold New York fuel exhaust. She controlled her cough while she exhaled long and slow.

Gaspar shrugged. “And if Reacher shows up, knowing she’s dead or not, he could get pissed off.”

“Reacher gets pissed off?” she cracked. “What makes you say that?”

“Besides the dead bodies, not to mention the maimed and mangled? Ignoring fires, explosions, and various other forms of destruction we’ve found in his jet-stream over the past ten days alone?” Gaspar grinned, wagged his head. “Nah. No anger issues with this guy.”

Kim chuckled. “Maybe he is a little angry. Now and then. When provoked.”

Gaspar guffawed, which made Kim feel better. But his laughter also drew stares from the immediate crowd, which didn’t. They didn’t need to be remembered at a place so close to Dixon’s apartment. Maybe they weren’t that hungry. She stood quietly for a moment, allowing patrons to return to their private conversations, before she said, “Let’s go, okay?”

Outside, they faced the blustery ice showers once again as they slid along carefully toward their destination.

Karla Dixon’s business address was also her apartment, located in a tony area of midtown Manhattan. Normal Midtown traffic around the entrance; no official vehicles or other obvious indicia of criminal activity within the building. They stood shivering outside the entrance, simply processing this lack of abnormal activity. Which might be okay. Or not.

Gaspar stamped his feet in what she recognized as an effort to generate body heat. “We’re not going to learn anything standing out here, Sunshine. What’s your pleasure?”

Kim took a last look around the immediate area to confirm the surveillance camera locations she’d spotted and the absence of discernible human surveillance. If Reacher or anyone else was watching from between buildings or behind vehicles, she didn’t see any sign of it. She led the way through the heavy glass door into Dixon’s building.

A private security guard talked on the phone behind a desk twenty feet inside the entrance. He was about 5’9”, early 60s maybe. Gray hair, brown eyes, rimless glasses, and a growing paunch still comfortably covered by his uniform shirt without gaping spaces between buttons. He was unarmed, which might have rendered another man useless against threats more serious than tenants irate over delayed deliveries from Bloomies. But Kim’s quick appraisal revealed this guard wasn’t just another rent-a-cop.

She’d seen men like him all over New York, DC, Chicago, even Detroit and smaller cities, since the events of 9/11 and the wars that followed. A plastic nameplate pinned above his blue shirt’s left breast pocket said simply “H. Silver,” but his bearing and general appearance all but flashed the neon warning: “Col. US Army, Ret.”

Dixon would feel comfortable with an Army veteran manning the security desk for her building. Not that some regular Army retiree would represent a challenge for Reacher, should he decide to get past.

Retired Army or no, Mr. Silver didn’t seem at all concerned when a uniformed bike messenger slipped by Kim and Gaspar, waved and continued past his station toward the residence elevators without stopping. Dixon’s killer could easily have done the same.

Silver finished his call and asked Gaspar, “How can I help you today?”

Silver’s assumption that Gaspar was in charge because he was the male half of the duo might have rankled at another place and time. As it was, Kim recognized the value of the man-to-man approach and stood aside, giving Gaspar room to talk them past Dixon’s gatekeeper. It was a short, fruitful conversation. Silver waved them by as breezily as he had the messenger, which made Kim feel uneasy.

The elevator ride was express to the top floor, a distance they covered in forty-five seconds. Kim worried about airplanes, but never about elevators. Elevators were tethered by cables. They went straight up and straight down, and they were inspected regularly and maintained properly. If they fell, which rarely happened, well, they only dropped as far as the basement. She wasn’t claustrophobic or even particularly fearful. But she was aware of life’s risks. Riding elevators in city skyscrapers wasn’t risky enough to worry about. No elevator had ever crashed into an office tower and killed 3,000 civilians.

“What did Colonel Silver have to say?” Kim asked.

“Dixon isn’t home, but she left him a standing order to allow visitors up to her floor once he’d screened them.”

“That’s curious, isn’t it?”

“He said she’s running a business and her clients expect constant access. Sometimes, they meet here when she’s away.” Gaspar shrugged. “Maybe she’s expecting someone in particular. Anyway, she hasn’t been here for the past three weeks. He doesn’t know where she is. She travels on business.” Gaspar hesitated, glanced at her and finished his report. “We’re not the first ones to ask the question.”

“Who else was asking?”

Before Gaspar could respond, the elevator doors opened silently on the penthouse floor and the messenger Kim had seen pass through the lobby downstairs was waiting to enter for his return trip. He was lanky, Caucasian, brown eyes, brown hair. Maybe a little old to be riding a bike around the city in an ice storm, but fit enough. He wore a navy and white polo shirt with a Reliable logo across the front and back. He carried a bright yellow helmet, wore black bike pants, fitted bike gloves, and shoes with rubber soles. Kim wondered why he wasn’t dressed in heavier clothes, given the winter wonderland he was pedaling through. He nodded at them as they disembarked, but said nothing. They waited for the doors to close behind him and the elevator to begin its descent.

Kim counted six apartments on this floor; the messenger could have delivered to any of them.

Dixon’s apartment was to the right of the elevator. Like O’Donnell’s lobby, this hallway presented nothing to indicate a crime scene, fresh or otherwise, waited on the other side of the door.

Given how chummy Gaspar had become with Colonel Silver, she figured he’d probably have mentioned a murder in Dixon’s apartment.

Gaspar punched a code into the keypad on the wall above the doorbell. The front door clicked, he opened it, and they entered.

“How did you know the code?” Kim asked when the door was safely closed behind them.

“Think about it a minute,” Gaspar said.

“Silver told you?”

Gaspar frowned. “He was in Special Ops for forty-six years. Those guys don’t reveal much.”

Kim let the question go because at that moment she stepped into Dixon’s apartment and was knocked back by the breathtaking view of the New York skyline through the windows opposite the entrance.

“Wow,” she whispered.

Kim waited, admiring the vista’s glistening structures while Gaspar made a quick sweep through the pricey apartment decorated with expensive furnishings. He returned to stand in the middle of the room to stare at the magnificent view while Kim had a look around.

Karla Dixon lived literally and materially so far above anything Kim had expected that she couldn’t quite comprehend even as she walked from room to room, taking everything in like a child’s first experience with astonishing high-wire circus performers.

Kim pulled out her phone and captured a quick video, mindful of her rapidly dwindling battery power, as she made a second, slower trip around.

Although the decor was a bit too modern and minimalist for Kim’s taste, everything in the apartment was also relatively new and barely used.

Dixon’s bedroom was larger than Kim’s entire apartment in Detroit and Dixon’s shower was large enough to accommodate Reacher’s giant body engaged in all sorts of contortions. Surprising, unless she regularly entertained such giants, since Dixon was almost as petite as Kim.

Dixon’s clothes were of the bought-this-season designer variety. Kim didn’t wear designer anything, but she recognized the costly stuff. What did a forensic accountant need those clothes for? And more importantly, how could Dixon afford them? Kim had been a double major, herself. Accounting and law. She knew the salary ranges accountants were paid. Dixon’s income level must have been well above normal because she didn’t come from a wealthy family, according to her Army personnel file.

Kim found a number of framed photographs on the walls in Dixon’s home office. She recognized a duplicate of the special investigative unit group photo she’d seen this morning on O’Donnell’s office ego wall.

Kim took still shots of the photo before she continued.

Dixon’s home office was as neat as the rest of her apartment. No computer or printer or phone. Only an open desk with no drawers. No visible papers of any kind. Kim realized she was actually standing amid the very first paperless office she’d ever seen. Until now, Kim had suspected a “paperless office” was akin to a golden unicorn. Everybody talked about such a beast, but nobody had ever laid eyes on one.

So Dixon was a neat freak of the highest order, too.

In the kitchen once more, Kim opened the big side-by-side refrigerator. The middle shelf held two cartons of Greek yogurt, two weeks out of date, a six-pack of still water and two large bottles of nice champagne. Otherwise, the refrigerator was as perfectly empty as the day it had been installed.

Quickly, Kim opened cabinet doors and closed them again. She moved through the remaining rooms opening every storage spot she found. She finished, returned the smartphone to her pocket, and joined Gaspar. Her entire apartment search lasted maybe ten minutes, max.

“No blood, no body, no sign of foul play, as they say in the old detective movies,” Kim said as she approached him. “Looks like O’Donnell’s killer failed to add Dixon to his resume.”

Gaspar continued staring out the window as if he could see answers on the enormous glass windows like words projected on a teleprompter. “Or he did the deed elsewhere.”

Kim’s stomach growled, reminding her that she’d had nothing to eat since the miniscule hotel breakfast hours ago. Gaspar must have heard, too, because he turned and said, “How about a cup of clam chowder? We’re not too far from the Oyster Bar at Grand Central. We can talk there, too.”

They let themselves out and rode the elevator to the lobby, where they found Colonel H. Silver, US Army, ret., occupied with another visitor. He barely waved when they walked past him out to the street.

“Next time, I’ll input the code to open Dixon’s front door,” Kim said.

Gaspar grinned, turned up the collar on his overcoat, and moved off the curb to hail a taxi.

Traffic was busier now and the weather was worse. Every cab that passed was occupied. Kim ducked further into her upturned collar, stuffed her hands deep into her overcoat’s pockets, moved from foot to foot to keep as warm as possible, and glanced at the surrounding buildings while she waited.

Street vendors had closed up for the day, if they’d ever opened. Parked cars lined the curbs. Pedestrians hurried along, shuffling across the slippery sidewalk, heads bent against razor-sharp sleet that slashed facial skin left unprotected for more than a brief moment.

As alert as she could be with cold wind gusting sleet into her watering eyes, Kim thought she recognized one pedestrian moving toward her.

She blinked away the ice forming on her lashes. She wasn’t sure. Could it be the same messenger who had passed them twice inside Dixon’s building?

He seemed to recognize her, too, because he turned away from Kim, hugging closely to the building, and headed back the way he’d come.

Gaspar continued attempting to flag a taxi. Kim called to him, but he’d stepped further into the street and didn’t seem to hear over the noise of afternoon traffic. The messenger was farther down the block. Soon, he’d be too far ahead. She gave up on capturing Gaspar’s attention and slid her feet along the sidewalk toward the messenger. He glanced back, saw her following, and shuffled faster. His foot slipped on the pavement. He grabbed for the building to steady himself, and kept moving. Kim slid along toward him with her hand also riding the building’s exterior for balance.

Glancing back, Kim was glad to see that Gaspar had either heard her call or simply checked and followed. Not that he was making much progress, slide-stepping along the sidewalk with his injured leg.

Returning her attention to the messenger just in time to see him duck into a crevice between two buildings, Kim reached inside her coat, located her gun, and moved into the grim slice of alley after him.