Page 50 of Exit Strategy
‘Is that a good thing?’
‘For most people, yes. It’s convenient. But for Weaver it was a great thing. It meant that if he left the house and wanted to stay on top of all his active jobs, he wouldn’t have to carry all the separate phones. Which is huge, because if the police stop you with a sack full of burners, they’re taking you downtown. There’s no question about that.’
‘Okay.’
Gilmour caught the expression on Reacher’s face. He hit the space bar to wake up Weaver’s laptop and said, ‘Come around here. I’ll show you.’
Reacher made his way around. Slowly.
Gilmour opened a document, copied a bunch of details, switched to a browser, and clicked and pasted his way through what Reacher took to be a complicated log-in process. Eventually a series of speech bubbles filled the screen. Gray ones on the left, blue ones on the right. Gilmour pointed to a blue bubble almost at the bottom of the screen and said, ‘See that one? That was sent this morning. Right after I sent Weaver that confirmation about the shipment details not having changed. He was updating his contact based on what I told him.’
Reacher said, ‘Then where’s your message?’
‘It doesn’t show up here because I use a dumb phone. Not a smartphone. They work differently. Anyway, the next message down is Weaver’s contact – Wait. What the hell?’ Gilmour sat up straighter in the chair.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Look at the very bottom of the screen. The last two messages – they’re new. They weren’t there five minutes ago when I first found the account.’
Reacher looked. He saw a blue message followed by a gray one. The blue message said:URGENT.Docking schedule impacted by medical emergency on vessel inbound from China. Package of interest delayed 24 hours. Window now opens 10:00 Thursday.The gray one was an acknowledgment of sorts.Understood. Advise if further developnents. The blue one had gone out four minutes ago. The gray one had arrived a minute later. Reacher said, ‘You didn’t send that update?’
Gilmour shook his head. ‘Of course I didn’t. It’s not true.’
Reacher said, ‘It looks like Weaver’s contact was in a hurry. His typing is as bad as mine.’
The computer made a sound like a wineglass being tapped with a fork. Gilmour stretched over. He did something with the touchpad and another string of messages appeared. These looked to be between Weaver and Arlon James. A message had been sent from Weaver’s account six minutes ago. It said:CRITICAL.Arrival delayed 24 hrs. Ensure you are on duty Thursday am.James’s reply, which had caused the computer to sound its alert, said:Will do. Prob 2 late 2 change officially so will trade with buddy.
Reacher perched on a clean corner of the desk. He said, ‘If a message is sent from a phone that’s on the same account, will it show up here, on the computer?’
Gilmour nodded.
‘Then it must be Kasselwood who sent the updates. That’s why she took the phone. And the file with you and Patten in it. Because she’s in it, too.’
‘How can she be in our file and her own? Could Weaver have been blackmailing her into two things at the same time?’
‘No. There is no other file. Only yours is missing.’
Gilmour was silent for a moment. His eyes flicked from side to side like he was reading an invisible book. Then he said, ‘Holy hell. It all fits. She took her personal file from Dr Martin’s office to shield herself from the police. She took Weaver’s file to hide her involvement in the shipment robbery, or the conspiracy, anyway. And she took the phone to send false intel to Weaver’s contact and Arlon James so the robbery will fail. She’s cleanedhouse. All the loose ends are tied up. The CIA, or the contractor, can retrieve their – whatever – unmolested. The thieves will show up a day late and there’ll be nothing there to steal. Kasselwood’s kind of a genius, if you think about it. I kind of want to meet her.’
Back in the car, Patten listened while Gilmour explained what had happened inside the house. When he was done, she said, ‘So that’s it? We’re in the clear? Are you sure?’
Gilmour said, ‘Absolutely. Can you believe it? The nightmare’s over.’
Patten shook her head. ‘It’s weird. I’ve prayed for this moment. I thought, when it came, I’d be overjoyed. I thought I’d be dancing and opening champagne. But I’m not. I feel … flat. Maybe it’s because two people had to die to buy our way out. I don’t know.’
‘Two assholes had to die.’
‘They were still humans. We shouldn’t lose sight of that.’
‘They were still assholes,’ Gilmour said under his breath.
Patten reached for the ignition, then pulled her hand back. ‘There’s one thing I don’t understand. How did Kasselwood wind up as part of the same conspiracy as us?’
Gilmour said, ‘The same way we did, I guess. Dr Martin uncovered some kind of vulnerability during therapy. Weaver used it to make her play along.’
‘Sure. I can see how that could happen. But what part did they make her play? Why did they need her? You,me, Arlon James, our roles are obvious. What was she supposed to do?’
‘Does it matter?’
