by Lee Child
The old blue Chevy pick-up was in the driveway. It was parked nose-in, tight to the garage door. It had glass in its windows again. The glass was still labeled with paper barcodes and it was crisp and clear except where it was smeared in places with wax and handprints. It looked very new against the faded old paint. The ladder and the wrecking bar and the flashlight were in the load bed. Reacher walked up the stepping-stone path to the door and rang the bell. He heard it sound inside the house. The neighborhood was still and silent. He stood on the step for thirty long seconds and then the door opened.
Vaughan looked out at him and said, “Hello.”
62
Vaughan was dressed in the same black clothes she had worn the night before. She looked still and calm and composed. And a little distant. A little preoccupied. Reacher said, “I was worried about you.”
Vaughan said, “Were you?”
“I tried to call you twice. Here, and in the car. Where were you?”
“Here and there. You better come in.”
The kitchen looked just the same as before. Neat, clean, decorated, three chairs at the table. There was a glass of water on the counter and coffee in the machine.
Reacher said, “I’m sorry I didn’t get right back.”
“Don’t apologize to me.”
“What’s wrong?”
“You want coffee?”
“After you tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong.”
“Like hell.”
“OK, we shouldn’t have done what we did the night before last.”
“Which part?”
“You know which part. You took advantage. I started to feel bad about it. So when you didn’t come back with the plane I switched off my phone and my radio and drove out to Colorado Springs and told David all about it.”
“In the middle of the night?”
Vaughan shrugged. “They let me in. They were very nice about it, actually. They treated me very well.”
“And what did David say?”
“That’s cruel.”
Reacher shook his head. “It isn’t cruel. It’s a simple question.”
“What’s your point?”
“That David no longer exists. Not as you knew him. Not in any meaningful sense. And that you’ve got a choice to make. And it’s not a new choice. There have been mass casualties from the Civil War onward. There have been tens of thousands of men in David’s position over more than a century. And therefore there have been tens of thousands of women in your position.”
“And?”
“They all made a choice.”
“David still exists.”
“In your memory. Not in the world.”
“He’s not dead.”
“He’s not alive, either.”
Vaughan said nothing. Just turned away and took a fine china mug from a cupboard and filled it with coffee from the machine. She handed the mug to Reacher and asked, “What was in Thurman’s little box?”
“You saw the box?”
“I was over the wall ten seconds after you. Did you really think I was going to wait in the car?”
“I didn’t see you.”
“That was the plan. But I saw you. I saw the whole thing. Fly with me tonight? He ditched you somewhere, didn’t he?”
Reacher nodded. “Fort Shaw, Oklahoma. An army base.”
“You fell for it.”
“I sure did.”
“You’re not as smart as you think.”
“I never claimed to be smart.”
“What was in the box?”
“A plastic jar.”
“What was in the jar?”
“Soot,” Reacher said. “People, after a fire. They scrape it off the metal.”
Vaughan sat down at her table.
“That’s terrible,” she said.
“Worse than terrible,” Reacher said. “Complicated.”
“How?”
Reacher sat down opposite her.
“You can breathe easy,” he said. “There are no wrecked Humvees at the plant. They go someplace else.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Humvees don’t burn like that. Mostly they bust open and people spill out.”
Vaughan nodded. “David wasn’t burned.”
Reacher said, “Only tanks burn like that. No way out of a burning tank. Soot is all that’s left.”
“I see.”
Reacher said nothing.
“But how is that complicated?” she asked.
“It’s the first in a series of conclusions. Like a logical chain reaction. We’re using main battle tanks over there. Which isn’t a huge surprise, I guess. But we’re losing some, which is a huge surprise. We always expected to lose a few, to the Soviets. But we sure as hell didn’t expect to lose any to a bunch of ragtag terrorists with improvised explosive devices. In less than four years they’ve figured out how to make shaped charges good enough to take out main battle tanks belonging to the U.S. Army. That doesn’t help our PR very much. I’m real glad the Cold War is over. The Red Army would be helpless with laughter. No wonder the Pentagon ships the wrecks in sealed containers to a secret location.”
Vaughan got up and walked over to her counter and picked up her glass of water. She emptied it in the sink and refilled it from a bottle in her refrigerator. Took a sip.
“I got a call this morning,” she said. “From the state lab. My tap water sample was very close to five parts per billion TCE. Borderline acceptable, but it’s going to get a lot worse if Thurman keeps on using as much of the stuff as he uses now.”
“He might stop,” Reacher said.
“Why would he?”
“That’s the final conclusion in the chain. We’re not there yet. And it’s only tentative.”
“So what was the second conclusion?”
“What does Thurman do with the wrecked tanks?”
“He recycles the steel.”
“Why would the Pentagon deploy MPs to guard recycled steel?”
“I don’t know.”
“The Pentagon wouldn’t. Nobody cares about steel. The MPs are there to guard something else.”
“Like what?”
“Only one possibility. A main battle tank’s front and side armor includes a thick layer of depleted uranium. It’s a byproduct from enriching natural uranium for nuclear reactors. It’s an incredibly strong and dense metal. Absolutely ideal for armor plate. So the second conclusion is that Thurman is a uranium specialist. And that’s what the MPs are there for. Because depleted uranium is toxic and somewhat radioactive. It’s the kind of thing you want to keep track of.”
“How toxic? How radioactive?”
“Tank crews don’t get sick from sitting behind it. But after a blast or an explosion, if it turns to dust or fragments or vapor, you can get very sick from breathing it, or by being hit by shrapnel made of it. That’s why they bring the wrecks back to the States. And that’s what the MPs are worried about, even here. Terrorists could steal it and break it up into small jagged pieces and pack them into an explosive device. It would make a perfect dirty bomb.”
“It’s heavy.”
“Incredibly.”
“They’d need a truck to steal it. Like you said.”
“A big truck.”
Reacher sipped his coffee and Vaughan sipped her water and said, “They’re cutting it up at the plant. With hammers and torches. That must make dust and fragments and vapor. No wonder everyone looks sick.”
Reacher nodded.
“The deputy died from it,” he said. “All those symptoms? Hair loss, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, blisters, sores, dehydration, organ failure? That wasn’t old age or TCE. It was radiation poisoning.”
“Are you sure?”
Reacher nodded again. “Very sure. Because he told me so. From his deathbed he said The, and then he stopped, and then he started again. He said, You did this to me. I thought it was a new sentence. I thought he was accusing me. But it was really a
ll the same sentence. He was pausing for breath, that’s all. He was saying, The U did this to me. Like some kind of a plea, or an explanation, or maybe a warning. He was using the chemical symbol for uranium. Metal-workers’ slang, I guess. He was saying, The uranium did this to me.”
Vaughan said, “The air at the plant must be thick with it. And we were right there.”
Reacher said, “Remember the way the wall glowed? On the infrared camera? It wasn’t hot. It was radioactive.”
63
Vaughan sipped her bottled water and stared into space, adjusting to a new situation that was in some ways better than she had imagined, and in some ways worse. She asked, “Why do you say there are no Humvees there?”
Reacher said, “Because the Pentagon specializes. Like I told you. It always has, and it always will. The plant in Despair is about uranium recycling. That’s all. Humvees go somewhere else. Somewhere cheaper. Because they’re easy. They’re just cars.”
“They send cars to Despair, too. We saw them. In the container. From Iraq or Iran.”
Reacher nodded.
“Exactly,” he said. “Which is the third conclusion. They sent those cars to Despair for a reason.”
“Which was what?”
“Only one logical possibility. Depleted uranium isn’t just for armor. They make artillery shells and tank shells out of it, too. Because it’s incredibly hard and dense.”
“So?”
“So the third conclusion is that those cars were hit with ammunition made from depleted uranium. They’re tainted, so they have to be processed appropriately. And they have to be hidden away. Because we’re using tanks and DU shells against thin-skinned civilian vehicles. That’s overkill. That’s very bad PR. Thurman said there are some things any government feels it politic to conceal, and he was right.”
“What the hell is happening over there?”
Reacher said, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Vaughan raised her glass halfway and stopped. She looked at it like she was having second thoughts about ingesting anything and put it back down on the table. She said, “Tell me what you know about dirty bombs.”
“They’re the same as clean bombs,” Reacher said. “Except they’re dirty. A bomb detonates and creates a massive spherical pressure wave that knocks things over and pulps anything soft, like people, and small fragments of the casing are flung outward on the wave like bullets, which does further damage. That effect can be enhanced by packing extra shrapnel inside the casing around the explosive charge, like nails or ball bearings. A dirty bomb uses contaminated metal for the extra shrapnel, usually radioactive waste.”
“How bad is the result?”
“That’s debatable. With depleted uranium, the powdered oxides after a high-temperature explosion are certainly bad news. There are fertility issues, miscarriages, and birth defects. Most people think the radiation itself isn’t really a huge problem. Except that, like I said, it’s debatable. Nobody really knows for sure. Which is the exact problem. Because you can bet your ass everyone will err on the side of caution. Which multiplies the effect, psychologically. It’s classic asymmetric warfare. If a dirty bomb goes off in a city, the city will be abandoned, whether it needs to be or not.”
“How big would the bomb need to be?”
“The bigger the better.”
“How much uranium would they need to steal?”
“The more the merrier.”
Vaughan said, “I think they’re already stealing it. That truck we photographed? The front of the load compartment was glowing just like the wall.”
Reacher shook his head.
“No,” he said. “That was something else entirely.”
64
Reacher said, “Walk to town with me. To the motel.”
Vaughan said, “I don’t know if I want to be seen with you. Especially at the motel. People are talking.”
“But not in a bad way.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Whatever, I’ll be gone tomorrow. So let them talk for one more day.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Maybe earlier. I might need to stick around to make a phone call. Apart from that, I’m done here.”
“Who do you need to call?”
“Just a number. I don’t think anyone will answer.”
“What about all this other stuff going on?”
“So far all we’ve got is the Pentagon washing its dirty linen in private. That’s not a crime.”
“What’s at the motel?”
“I’m guessing we’ll find room four is empty.”
They walked together through the damp late-morning air, two blocks north from Fifth Street to Third, and then three blocks west to the motel. They bypassed the office and headed on down the row. Room four’s door was standing open. There was a maid’s cart parked outside. The bed was stripped and the bathroom towels were dumped in a pile on the floor. The closets were empty. The maid had a vacuum cleaner going.
Vaughan said, “Mrs. Rogers is gone.”
Reacher nodded. “Now let’s find out when and how.”
They backtracked to the office. The clerk was on her stool behind the counter. Room four’s key was back on its hook. Now only two keys were missing. Reacher’s own, for room twelve, and Maria’s, for room eight.
The clerk slid off her stool and stood with her hands spread on the counter. Attentive, and helpful. Reacher glanced at the phone beside her and asked, “Did Mrs. Rogers get a call?”
The clerk nodded. “Six o’clock last night.”
“Good news?”
“She seemed very happy.”
“What then?”
“She checked out.”
“And went where?”
“She called a cab to take her to Burlington.”
“What’s in Burlington?”
“Mostly the airport bus to Denver.”
Reacher nodded. “Thanks for your help.”
“Is anything wrong?”
“That depends on your point of view.”
Reacher was hungry and he needed more coffee, so he led Vaughan another block north and another block west to the diner. The place was practically empty. Too late for breakfast, too early for lunch. Reacher stood for a second and then slid into the booth that Lucy Anderson had used the night he had met her. Vaughan sat across from him, where Lucy had sat. The waitress delivered ice water and silverware. They ordered coffee, and then Vaughan asked, “What exactly is going on?”
“All those young guys,” Reacher said. “What did they have in common?”
“I don’t know.”
“They were young, and they were guys.”
“And?”
“They were from California.”
“So?”
“And the only white one we saw had a hell of a tan.”
“So?”
Reacher said, “I sat right here with Lucy Anderson. She was cautious and a little wary, but basically we were getting along. She asked to see my wallet, to check I wasn’t an investigator. Then later I said I had been a cop, and she panicked. I put two and two together and figured her husband was a fugitive. The more she thought about it, the more worried she got. She was very hostile the next day.”
“Figures.”
“Then I caught a glimpse of her husband in Despair and went back to check the rooming house where he was staying. It was empty, but it was very clean.”
“Is that important?”
“Crucial,” Reacher said. “Then I saw Lucy again, after her husband had moved on. She said they have lawyers. She talked about people in her position. She sounded like she was part of something organized. I said I could follow her to her husband and she said it wouldn’t do me any good.”
The waitress came over with the coffee. Two mugs, two spoons, a Bunn flask full of a brand-new brew. She poured and walked away and Reacher sniffed the steam and took a sip.
“But I was misremembering all along,” he said. “I didn’t tell Lucy And
erson that I had been a cop. I told her I had been a military cop. That’s why she panicked. And that’s why the rooming house was so clean. It was like a barracks ready for inspection. Old habits die hard. The people passing through it were all soldiers. Lucy thought I was tracking them.”
Vaughan said, “Deserters.”
Reacher nodded. “That’s why the Anderson guy had such a great tan. He had been in Iraq. But he didn’t want to go back.”
“Where is he now?”
“Canada,” Reacher said. “That’s why Lucy wasn’t worried about me following her. It wouldn’t do me any good. No jurisdiction. It’s a sovereign nation, and they’re offering asylum up there.”
“The truck,” Vaughan said. “It was from Ontario.”
Reacher nodded. “Like a taxi service. The glow on the camera wasn’t stolen uranium. It was Mrs. Rogers’s husband in a hidden compartment. Body heat, like the driver. The shade of green was the same.”
65
Vaughan sat still and quiet for a long time. The waitress came back and refilled Reacher’s mug twice. Vaughan didn’t touch hers.
She asked, “What was the California connection?”
Reacher said, “Some kind of an anti-war activist group out there must be running an escape line. Maybe local service families are involved. They figured out a system. They sent guys up here with legitimate metal deliveries, and then their Canadian friends took them north over the border. There was a couple at the Despair hotel seven months ago, from California. A buck gets ten they were the organizers, recruiting sympathizers. And the sympathizers policed the whole thing. They busted your truck’s windows. They thought I was getting too nosy, and they were trying to move me on.”
Vaughan pushed her mug out of the way and moved the salt and the pepper and the sugar in front of her. She put them in a neat line. She straightened her index finger and jabbed at the pepper shaker. Moved it out of place. Jabbed at it again, and knocked it over.
“A small subgroup,” she said. “The few left-hand people, working behind Thurman’s back. Helping deserters.”
Reacher said nothing.
Vaughan asked, “Do you know who they are?”