him to an air base in South Dakota and then take a short hop in an Air Force helicopter. We'll have eight people altogether, including me."
"He only wanted three."
"He can't object. We're all her friends."
"Can't you have a mechanical problem? Just stay in South Dakota?"
"He'd know. And the Air Force wouldn't play anyway. They wouldn't want to go down in history as the reason why he couldn't make it."
Reacher stood and looked out the window. "OK, so you'll see the church easy enough. You'll land across the street to the east. There's a good place right there. Then he's got about fifty yards to the church door. I can absolutely guarantee the immediate surroundings. We're going to be in the church all night. But you're going to hate what you see farther out. There's about a hundred-fifty-degree field of fire to the south and west. It's completely open. And there's plenty of concealment."
Silence in D.C.
"I can't do it," Stuyvesant said. "I can't bring him into that. Or any of my people. I'm not going to lose anybody else."
"So just hope for the best," Reacher said.
"Not my way. You're going to have to deliver."
"We will if we can."
"How will I know? You don't have radios. Cell phones won't work out there. And it's too cumbersome to keep on using this land line."
Reacher paused for a second.
"We've got a black Yukon," he said. "Right now it's parked on the road, right next to the church, to the east. If it's still there when you show up, then pull out and go home. Armstrong will just have to swallow it. But if it's gone, then we're gone, and we won't be gone unless we've delivered, you follow?"
"OK, understood," Stuyvesant said. "A black Yukon east of the church, we abort. No Yukon, we land. Have you searched the town?"
"We can't do a house-to-house. But it's a very small place. Strangers are going to stand out, believe me."
"Nendick came around. He's talking a little. He says the same as Andretti. He was approached by the two of them and took them to be cops."
"They are cops. We're definite about that. Did you get descriptions?"
"No. He's still thinking about his wife. Didn't seem right to tell him he probably didn't need to."
"Poor guy."
"I'd like to get some closure for him. At least find her body, maybe."
"I'm not planning an arrest here."
Silence in D.C.
"OK," Stuyvesant said. "I guess we won't be seeing you either way. So, good luck."
"You too," Reacher said.
He put the receiver back in the cradle and tidied the cord into a neat curl on the table. Looked out at the view. The window faced north and east across an empty ocean of waist-high grass. Then he turned away from it and saw Mr. Froelich watching him from the parlor doorway.
"They're coming here, aren't they?" the old man said. "The people who killed my daughter? Because Armstrong is coming here."
"They might be here already," Reacher said.
Mr. Froelich shook his head. "Everybody would be talking about it."
"Did you see that gold truck come through?"
The old man nodded. "It passed me, going real slow."
"Who was in it?"
"I didn't see. The windows were dark. I didn't like to stare."
"OK," Reacher said. "If you hear about anybody new in town, come and tell me."
The old man nodded again. "You'll know as soon as I do. And I'll know as soon as anybody new arrives. Word travels fast here."
"We'll be in the church tower," Reacher said.
"Are you here on behalf of Armstrong?"
Reacher said nothing.
"No," Mr. Froelich said. "You're here to take an eye for an eye, aren't you?"
Reacher nodded. "And a tooth for a tooth."
"A life for a life."
"Two for five, to be accurate," Reacher said. "They get the fat end of the deal."
"Are you comfortable with that?"
"Are you?"
The old guy's watery eyes flicked all around the sunless room and came to rest on his daughter's eighteen-year-old face.
"Do you have a child?" he asked.
"No," Reacher said. "I don't."
"Neither do I," the old man said. "Not anymore. So I'm comfortable with it."
Reacher walked back to the Yukon and took the hiker's map off the backseat. Then he climbed the church tower and found Neagley shuttling back and forth between the north and south side.
"All clear," she said, over the tick of the clock.
"Stuyvesant called," he said. "To the Froelichs' house. He's panicking. And Nendick woke up. Same approach as Andretti."
He unfolded the map and spread it out flat on the bell chamber floor. Put his finger on Grace. It was in