She tried to make the words count for more. She tried to make them like a long speech. Like a closely reasoned argument. She tried to make them say: OK, in the truck, we were close. OK, we kissed. Twice. The first time, it just happened. The second time, I asked you to, because I was looking for comfort and reassurance. But now we've been apart for an hour or two. Long enough for me to get to feeling a little silly about what we did. She tried to make those five words say all that, while she watched his eyes for his reaction.
"There's somebody else, right?" he said.
She saw that he said it as a joke, as a throwaway line to show her he agreed with her, that he understood, as a way to let them both off the hook without getting all heavy about it. But she didn't smile at him. Instead, she found herself nodding.
"Yes, there is somebody," she said. "What can I say? If there wasn't, maybe I would want to share."
She thought: He looks disappointed.
"In fact, I probably would want to," she added. "But there is somebody, and I'm sorry. It wouldn't be a good idea."
It showed in his face, and she felt she had to say more.
"I'm sorry," she said again. "It's not that I wouldn't want to."
She watched him. He just shrugged at her. She saw he was thinking: it's not the end of the world. And then he was thinking: it just feels like it. She blushed. She was absurdly gratified. But ready to change the subject.
"What's going on here?" she asked. "They tell you anything?"
"Who's the lucky guy?" Reacher asked.
"Just somebody," she said. "What's going on here?"
His eyes were clouded. He looked straight at her.
"Lucky somebody," he said.
"He doesn't even know," she said.
"That you're gone?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"That I feel this way," she said.
He stared at her. Didn't reply. There was a long silence in the room. Then she heard footsteps again. Hurrying, outside the building. Clattering inside. Coming up the stairs. They stopped outside the door. The key slid in. The door opened. Six guards clattered inside. Six machine guns. She took a painful step backward. They ignored her completely.
"The commander is ready for you, Reacher," the point man said.
He signaled him to turn around. He clicked handcuffs on, behind his back. Tightened them hard. Pushed him to the door with the barrel of his gun and out into the corridor. The door slammed and locked behind the gaggle of men.
FOWLER PULLED THE headphones off and stopped the tape recorder.
"Anything?" the commander asked him.
"No," Fowler said. "She said it's only a single bed, and he sounded pissed, like he wants to get in her pants. So she said she's got another boyfriend."
"I didn't know that," the commander said. "Did she say who?"
Fowler shook his head.
"But it works OK?" the commander asked him.
"Clear as a bell," Fowler said.
REACHER WAS PUSHED down the stairs and back out into the night. Back the way he had come, a mile up a stony path. The point man gripped his elbow and hustled him along. They were hurrying. Almost running. They were using their gun muzzles like cattle prods. They covered the distance in fifteen minutes. They crunched across the clearing to the small wooden hut. Reacher was pushed roughly inside.
Loder was still on the floor. But there was somebody new sitting at the plain wooden desk. The commander. Reacher was clear on that. He was an extraordinary figure. Maybe six feet tall, probably four hundred pounds. Maybe thirty-five years old, thick hair, so blond it was nearly white, cut short at the sides and brushed long across the top like a German schoolboy's. A smooth pink face, bloated tight by his bulk, bright red nickel-sized spots burning high up on the cheeks. Tiny colorless eyes forced into slits between the cheeks and the white eyebrows. Wet red lips pursed above a chin strong enough to hold its shape in the blubber.
He was wearing an enormous black uniform. An immaculate black shirt, military cut, no insignia except a pair of the same shoulder flashes everybody else was wearing. A wide leather belt, gleaming like a mirror. Crisp black riding pants, flared wide at the top, tucked into high black boots which matched the belt for shine.
"Come in and sit down," he said, quietly.
Reacher was pushed over to the chair he had occupied before. He sat, with his hands crushed behind him.