Page 61 of Exit Strategy
Kasselwood said, ‘You okay?’
The woman said, ‘Get me the hell out of here.’
Kasselwood took out her knife and cut the ties. The other woman rubbed her wrists, pulled back her hood,tucked a loose strand of hair behind her left ear, and climbed down. Now that Reacher had a clear view he could see that she was a passable double for Kasselwood. Not perfect, but close. She was an inch shorter. A little narrower across her shoulders. Her hair was the same length, but a lighter color – chestnut brown – and it had no traces of gray.
The woman said, ‘Is Violeta okay?’
Kasselwood shook her head.
‘Damn it. Did Strickland get her?’
‘It looks that way.’
‘What are we going to do?’
‘Get her back. Before it’s too late.’
‘How?’
‘Good question. Where are the keys?’
‘That security guy took them right after he trussed me up.’
‘He left?’
‘The minute after the bozos in the car figured out they’d been duped by the crate. Who are they, anyway?’
‘I don’t know their names. But it looks like we might have to play nice for a little while. At least till we get out of this place.’
Reacher, Gilmour, Kasselwood, and her lookalike – who was called Ellie Taylor – exchanged rapid introductions and agreed on a division of labor. Kasselwood and Taylor would wipe down the Toyota since they couldn’t move it and their prints would be all over it. Reacher and Gilmour would keep watch for replacement security guards, law enforcement, or angry mobs of dockworkers.
The women moved fast. They buzzed around the pickup, rubbing every surface they might have previously touched with alcohol wipes that they kept in the glovebox. Behind them, dockworkers swarmed around the stacks of containers. Cranes and forklifts hoisted and lowered and loaded. Engines roared. Transmissions rumbled. Metal crashed against metal. Rubber squealed on asphalt. But no one paid any attention to the activity at the gate. The two small vehicles and the people working on them were lost in a sea of noise and motion.
When they were satisfied that the Toyota was safe to leave, Kasselwood and Taylor piled into the back of Gilmour’s rental. Taylor said, ‘How do we get out? We could maybe open the gate, but those trucks are in the way, and they can’t get in. It’ll take all afternoon to sort out that mess.’
Gilmour said, ‘No problem.’ He turned the car around, more sedately than the last time, and set off toward the far corner of the terminal. He kept his speed low, and the dockworkers hardly noticed. By now most of them had turned their wrath against a forklift driver who was rumored to be having an affair with the wife of one of the late-shift supervisors. Gilmour cruised past and looped around the end of the row of containers and into the enclosed space. Taylor caught sight of the body lying near the red container. She gasped and said to Kasselwood, ‘Did you—’
Kasselwood said, ‘Don’t ask. He got what he deserved. That’s all that counts.’
Gilmour steered a little to the right and bumped the carthrough the gap that the panel van had torn in the fence. He paused at the street and said, ‘Which way?’
Reacher said, ‘Left.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s a rule. When in doubt, turn left.’
Gilmour turned left. No one spoke until the car had covered another hundred yards, as if someone at the port might hear them. Then Reacher said, ‘There’s an easy way out of this, you know.’
Kasselwood said, ‘We’re not abandoning Violeta. She’s done wrong, yes. But she was tricked into it, to some extent. She’s come here to put things right. I promised to protect her, and I intend to do that. We need to help her, and not just for her sake. For the sake of the soldiers – the contractors – and the Armenians who will be killed if this invasion goes ahead. It’s completely unjustified.’
Reacher said, ‘I’m not suggesting we abandon anyone. I’m just pointing out, kidnapping is a federal offense. You should call the FBI. Let them deal with it. They have the resources and the expertise. It’s dumb to ignore them.’
Kasselwood shook her head. ‘We can’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because Strickland has connections. Friends in high places. Taylor and I were at the Agency when I found out what Strickland was up to. I flagged it up the chain. Two nights later, a bunch of thugs were waiting in the parking lot for my building.’ Kasselwood pointed to the scar on her cheek. ‘See this? They didn’t steal my purse. They didn’t touch my car. They didn’t take my keys and rob my apartment. They just cut me. It was a warning. So Iquit. We both did. And now we need to take care of this our own way.’
