Page 64 of Exit Strategy
‘No one else will do, Violeta. The world has seen your face. Everyone has heard your voice. It has to be you. You have to keep going.’
Vardanyan looked away. She said, ‘I won’t do it.’
Strickland stood up. He lowered his voice and said,‘Violeta, you are going to. You can agree here, now, where it’s warm and pleasant. Or you can agree somewhere else, later, where it’s neither of those things. So take a moment. Consider your options. Then make the smart choice.’
‘It makes no difference where you take me or when you ask me. The answer will be the same. No.’
‘Are you sure? Because I’d hate to see you … discomforted in any way.’
‘Save your threats for someone you can intimidate. I won’t lie for you anymore.’
‘So be it.’ Strickland took out his phone and hit a number on his favorites list. When the call was answered he said, ‘Is the next bed ready? Good. I’ll bring her there in a couple of minutes.’
THIRTY-SIX
Gilmour hit the brakes, pulled into the parking lot of a Target superstore, and coasted to a stop in a space that was well away from any other motorists. He said, ‘This is crazy. We can’t just drive around the city all day. We need a plan.’
Reacher said, ‘Call the FBI.’
Kasselwood said, ‘No.’
Reacher said, ‘Then we need to keep working on finding where Strickland took Vardanyan.’
Taylor brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and held up her phone. She said, ‘I’ve found another possible place.’
Reacher and Kasselwood turned to look at her screen. It showed another news article. This one was older. It was from four years ago. And it was much lighter on detail. It talked about the sale of a run-down limestone mine to aveteran turned entrepreneur from Kansas. It didn’t give the buyer’s name. It didn’t say what he planned to do with the place. It hinted at the possibility of providing storage for vehicles and other equipment due to the amount of underground space left by the exhausted mine workings. The reporter didn’t seem confident that the place had much of a future, though. He wrapped up with a rumor that the previous owner had been forced to sell due to the cost of bringing the facilities up to code. He hinted at multiple violations. The worst was said to be that there was only one way in or out, which could be disastrous if there was ever a fire. The piece was accompanied by a single photograph, which showed the entrance. It was set into a flat, semicircular section of cliff face and it actually had two doors, but they were right next to each other. There was probably a single, joined-up space behind them. One was for people, which looked like a regular house door. And one was for vehicles, like the kind you see at auto shops, only large enough for giant trucks.
Kasselwood said, ‘That write-up’s not very conclusive.’
Taylor said, ‘I kind of hope it’s not the place, actually. Look at that approach. Imagine assaulting it. It’s a massacre waiting to happen.’
Kasselwood took the phone and pinched the screen. She peered and squinted, then her head tipped back and she closed her eyes for a moment.
Taylor took the phone back to see what Kasselwood had found. She said, ‘Damn it,’ and passed the phone to Reacher.
Reacher said, ‘I see two guys shaking hands. Some kind of a staged pose. The buyer and seller, presumably.One guy has a missing arm. And an eye patch. He must be the vet. So what’s the big deal?’
Kasselwood said, ‘Strickland’s Humvee was hit by an IED in Iraq. He lost his left arm and left eye.’
Taylor said, ‘And guess where he was born. Topeka, Kansas.’
Kasselwood said, ‘Sorry, Ellie. It has to be the place. I wonder what he uses it for now. I can’t see Strickland settling for a glorified storage unit. Unless he keeps nuclear weapons down there. Or a bunch of Abrams tanks.’
‘I wonder if he’s changed it much since he bought it.’ Taylor took her phone back and called up a mapping app. She entered the address for the old mine and her screen filled with a three-dimensional version of the view from the old news report. There was still essentially only one entrance, but the doors had been painted olive green. A straggly tree that had somehow taken root on a flat spot above the cliff face had grown a little taller. A few new antennae had sprouted. And the hard-standing area outside the mine’s vehicle door had been extended so that more vehicles could park on it at the same time. ‘Nothing radical’s been done on the outside. I wonder about the inside.’
Kasselwood said, ‘It’s impossible to say from the picture.’
Taylor said, ‘It’s impossible to say, period. Because it’s impossible to get inside. The four of us couldn’t fight our way in. And we can’t bluff our way in. Strickland knows you and me. And one of his guys saw Reacher and Gilmour this morning.’
Reacher said, ‘There’s no such thing as impossible.Only inadequate planning. How long would it take to get to that place from the center of the city?’
Taylor checked her map. ‘Twenty-five minutes, give or take.’
Reacher turned to Gilmour. ‘The coffee shop where we met. Do you know its address?’
Gilmour nodded.
Reacher said, ‘Good. Now give me your phone. I need to call Patten.’
