Home

The Hard Way Part 27

The Hard Way - novelonlinefull.com

You’re read light novel The Hard Way Part 27 online at NovelOnlineFull.com. Please use the follow button to get notification about the latest chapter next time when you visit NovelOnlineFull.com. Use F11 button to read novel in full-screen(PC only). Drop by anytime you want to read free – fast – latest novel. It’s great if you could leave a comment, share your opinion about the new chapters, new novel with others on the internet. We’ll do our best to bring you the finest, latest novel everyday. Enjoy

Reacher said, "We heard that Kate Lane had a visitor in the Hamptons."

Dee Marie said nothing.

"Was it you?" Reacher asked.

"I went to the Dakota first," she said. "But the doorman told me they were away."

"So then you went."

"Two days later. We decided that I should. It was a long day. Very expensive."

"You went there to warn Anne Lane's successor."

"We thought she should be told what her husband was capable of doing."

"How did she react?"

"She listened. We walked on the sand and she listened to what I had to say."

"That was all?"

"She took it all in. Didn't react much."

"How definite were you?"

"I said we had no proof. Equally I said we had no doubt."

"And she didn't react?"

"She just took it all in. Gave it a fair hearing."

"Did you tell her about your brother?"

"It's a part of the story. She listened to it. Didn't say much. She's beautiful and she's rich. People like that are different. If it's not happening to them, it's not happening at all."

"What happened to your husband?"

"Vinnie? Iraq happened to Vinnie. Fallujah. A roadside b.o.o.by-trap."

"I'm sorry."

"They told me he was killed instantly. But they always say that."

"Sometimes it's true."

"I hope it was. Just that one time."

"The Corps or private?"

"Vinnie? The Corps. Vinnie hated private contractors."

Reacher left Dee Marie in the kitchen and stepped back into the living room. Hobart's head was laid back and his lips were stretched in a grimace. His neck was thin and bulging with ligaments. His torso was painfully wasted and looked bizarrely long in proportion to the stumps of his limbs.

"You need anything?" Reacher asked him.

Hobart said, "Silly question."

"What would the three of clubs mean to you?"

"Knight."

"How so?"

"Three was his lucky number. Club was his nickname in the Corps. Because of how he liked to party, and because of the pun on his name. Knight Club, nightclub, like that. They called him Club, back in the day."

"He left a playing card on Anne Lane's body. The three of clubs."

"He did? He told me that. I didn't believe him. I thought it was embellishment. Like a book or a movie."

Reacher said nothing.

"I need the bathroom," Hobart said. "Tell Dee."

"I'll do it," Reacher said. "Let's give Dee a break."

He stepped over and bunched the front of Hobart's shirt and hauled him upright. Slipped an arm behind his shoulders. Ducked down and caught him under the knees and lifted him up off the sofa. He was incredibly light. Probably close to a hundred pounds. Not much of him left.

Reacher carried Hobart to the bathroom and grabbed the front of his shirt again one-handed and held him vertical in the air like a rag doll. Undid his pants and eased them down.

"You've done this before," Hobart said.

"I was an MP," Reacher said. "I've done everything before." Reacher put Hobart back on the sofa and Dee Marie fed him more soup. Used the same damp cloth to clean his chin.

Reacher said, "I need to ask you both one important question. I need to know where you've been and what you've been doing for the last four days."

Dee Marie answered. No guile, no hesitation, nothing phoney or over rehea.r.s.ed. Just a slightly incoherent and therefore completely convincing pieced-together narrative account of four random days from an ongoing nightmare. The four days had started with Hobart in Saint Vincent's hospital. Dee Marie had taken him to the ER the night before with a severe malaria relapse. The ER doctor had admitted him for forty-eight hours of IV medication. Dee Marie had stayed with him most of the time. Then she had brought him home in a taxi and carried him on her back up the four flights of stairs. They had been alone in the apartment since then, eating what was in the kitchen cupboards, doing nothing, seeing n.o.body, until their door had smashed open and Reacher had ended up in the middle of their living room.

"Why are you asking?" Hobart said.

"The new Mrs. Lane was kidnapped. And her kid."

"You thought I did it?"

"For a spell."

"Think again."

"I already have."

"Why would I?"

"For revenge. For money. The ransom was exactly half the Burkina Faso payment."

"I would have wanted all of it."

"Me too."

"But I wouldn't have gone after a woman and a kid."

"Me either."

"So why pick me out?"

"We got a basic report on you and Knight. We heard about mutilations. No specific details. Then we heard about a guy with no tongue. We put two and two together and made three. We thought it was you."

"No tongue?" Hobart said. "I wish. I'd take that deal." Then he said, "But no tongue is a South American thing. Brazil, Colombia, Peru. Maybe Sicily in Europe. Not Africa. You can't get a machete in somebody's mouth. Lips, maybe. I saw that, sometimes. Or ears. But not the tongue."

"We apologize," Pauling said.

"No harm, no foul," Hobart said.

"We'll have the door fixed."

"I'd appreciate that."

"And we'll help you if we can."

"I'd appreciate that, too. But see to the woman and the child first."

"We think we're already too late."

"Don't say that. It depends who took them. Where there's hope, there's life. Hope kept me going, five hard years." Reacher and Pauling left Hobart and Dee Marie right there, together on their battered sofa, the bowl of soup half-gone. They walked down four flights to the street and stepped out into the afternoon shadows of a fabulous late-summer day. Traffic ground past on the street, slow and angry. Horns blared and sirens barked. Fast pedestrians swerved by on the sidewalk.

Reacher said, "Eight million stories in the naked city."

Pauling said, "We're nowhere."

CHAPTER 43

REACHER LED PAULING north on Hudson, across Houston, to the block between Clarkson and Leroy. He said, "I think the man with no tongue lives near this spot."

"Twenty thousand people live near this spot," Pauling said.

Reacher didn't reply.

"What now?" Pauling said.

"Back to the hard way. We wasted some time, that's all. Wasted some energy. My fault entirely. I was stupid."

"How?"

"Did you see how Hobart was dressed?"

"Cheap new denims."

"The guy I saw driving the cars away was wearing old denims. Both times. Old, soft, washed, worn, faded, comfortable denims. The Soviet super said the same thing. And the old Chinese man. No way was the guy I saw just back from Africa. Or back from anywhere. It takes ages to get jeans and a shirt looking like that. The guy I saw has been safe at home for five years doing his laundry, not jammed up in some h.e.l.lhole jail."

Pauling said nothing.

"You can split now," Reacher said. "You got what you wanted. Anne Lane wasn't your fault. She was dead before you ever even heard of her. You can sleep at night."

"But not well. Because I can't touch Edward Lane. Hobart's testimony is meaningless."

"Because it's hearsay?"

"Hearsay is sometimes OK. Knight's dying declaration would be admissible, because the court would a.s.sume he had no motive to lie from his deathbed."

"So what's the problem?"

"There was no dying declaration. There were dozens of random fantasies spun over a four-year period. Hobart chose to back one of them, that's all. And he freely admits that both he and Knight were as good as insane most of the time. I'd be laughed out of court, literally."

"But you believed him."

Pauling nodded. "No question."

"So you can settle for half a loaf. Patti Joseph, too. I'll drop by and tell her."

"Would you be happy with half a loaf?"

"I said you can split. Not me. I'm not quitting yet. My agenda is getting longer and longer by the minute."

"I'll stick with it, too."

"Your choice."

"I know. You want me to?"

Reacher looked at her. Answered honestly. "Yes, I do."

"Then I will."

Please click Like and leave more comments to support and keep us alive.

RECENTLY UPDATED MANGA

Demon Sword Maiden

Demon Sword Maiden

Demon Sword Maiden Volume 12 - Yomi-no-kuni: Chapter 28 – Chiya Kasumi's Request Author(s) : Luo Jiang Shen, 罗将神, 罗酱, Carrot Sauce View : 308,331
I Beg You All, Please Shut Up

I Beg You All, Please Shut Up

I Beg You All, Please Shut Up Chapter 285 Author(s) : 天道不轮回, The Cycles Of Heaven Doesn't Exist View : 251,507
All My Disciples Suck!

All My Disciples Suck!

All My Disciples Suck! Chapter 655 Author(s) : Rotating Hot Pot, 回转火锅 View : 343,079
I Am the Fated Villain

I Am the Fated Villain

I Am the Fated Villain Chapter 1202 Author(s) : Fated Villain, 天命反派 View : 934,342
Martial Peak

Martial Peak

Martial Peak Chapter 5854: Void Guard Author(s) : Momo,莫默 View : 15,279,166
Naruto System in One Piece

Naruto System in One Piece

Naruto System in One Piece Chapter 531 Author(s) : Summer Night Spring Wind, 夏晚春风 View : 78,199

The Hard Way Part 27 summary

You're reading The Hard Way. This manga has been translated by Updating. Author(s): Lee Child. Already has 593 views.

It's great if you read and follow any novel on our website. We promise you that we'll bring you the latest, hottest novel everyday and FREE.

NovelOnlineFull.com is a most smartest website for reading manga online, it can automatic resize images to fit your pc screen, even on your mobile. Experience now by using your smartphone and access to NovelOnlineFull.com