Worth Dying For_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child [104]
“As I said, Reacher’s in a safe place. Plus, in the end, if we do it Seth’s way, we’ll have been seen to have solved our own problems with our own hands, without any outside assistance at all, and therefore whatever small shred of vulnerability we displayed will evaporate completely.”
“Even so. It’s still risky.”
“There are other factors,” Jacob said.
The room went quiet again.
Jacob said, “We’ve never really known or cared what happens to our shipments once they’re in Mr. Rossi’s hands, except that I imagine we always vaguely supposed they pass down a lengthy chain of commerce, sale and resale, to an ultimate destination. And now that chain, or at least a large part of it, has become visible. As of tonight, it seems that three separate participants have representation here. Probably they’re all desperate. It’s clear to me they have agreed to work together to break up the logjam. And once that is done, it’s equally clear to me they will be under instructions to eliminate one another, so that the last man standing triples his profit.”
Jonas said, “That’s not relevant to us.”
“Except that Mr. Rossi’s boys seem to be jumping the gun. It was inevitable that one of them would seize the initiative. Our stooges on the phone tree tell me that two men are already dead. Mr. Rossi’s boys killed them outside Mr. Vincent’s motel. So my idea is to give Mr. Rossi’s boys enough time to shorten the chain a little more, so that by the end of tomorrow Mr. Rossi himself will be the last man standing, whereupon he and we can have a little talk about splitting the extra profit equally. The way it works mathematically is that we’ll all double our shares. Mr. Rossi will be happy to live with that, I imagine, and so will we, I’m sure.”
“Still risky.”
“You don’t like money, brother?”
“I don’t like risk.”
“Everything’s a risk. We know that, don’t we? We’ve lived with risk for a long time. It’s part of the thrill.”
A long silence.
Jonas said, “The doctor lied to us. He told us Reacher hitched a ride in a white sedan.”
Jacob nodded. “The doctor has apologized for that, most sincerely. I’m told he’s being a model of cooperation now. His wife is with him, of course. I’m sure that’s a factor. He also claims Reacher left Seth’s Cadillac sixty miles south of here, and that it was restolen quite independently by an operative from further up the chain. A small Middle Eastern person, according to reports on the phone tree. It appears he was the one who nearly ran Seth over.”
“Anything else?”
“The doctor says Reacher saw the police files.”
Silence in the room.
Then Jonas said, “And?”
“Inconclusive, the doctor says.”
“Conclusive enough to come back.”
“The doctor says he came back because of the men in the cars.”
Nobody spoke.
Jacob said, “But in the interests of full disclosure, the doctor also claims Reacher asked Mrs. Coe if she really wants to be told what happened to her daughter.”
“Reacher can’t possibly know. Not yet.”
“I agree. But he might be beginning to pull on threads.”
“Then we have to kill him now. We have to.”
“It’s just one more day. He’s locked up. Escape is impossible.”
More silence.
Nobody spoke.
Then Jonas asked, “Anything else?”
“Eleanor helped Reacher get past the sentry,” Jacob said. “She defied her husband and left his house, quite brazenly. She and Reacher conspired together to decoy the boy away from his post. He didn’t perform well. We’ll have to fire him, of course. We’ll leave Seth to decide what happens to his wife. And it seems that Seth has broken his hand. He’ll need some attention. It appears Reacher has a very hard head. And that’s all the news I have.”
Nobody spoke.
Jacob said, “We need to make a decision about the immediate matter at hand. Life and death. Always the ultimate choice.”
No reply.
Jacob asked, “Who wants to go first?”
Nobody spoke.
Jacob said, “Then I’ll go first. I vote to let my boy do it his way. I vote to keep Reacher concealed until our truck is close by. It’s a minor increase