Deep Down_A Jack Reacher short story
Page 6
The guy in the front passenger seat was shorter but wider. Not fat, but hamburgers more than once a week might push him over the edge. His face was tight and pink. His hair was fairer than the driver’s, cut equally recently and equally short and brushed to the side like a schoolboy’s. His shirt was long in the arms, small in the waist, and loose in the shoulders. Its collar was still triangular from the packet, and the wings were resting tight against the flesh of his neck.
Up close the woman looked maybe a year or two younger than the men. Early forties, possibly, rather than mid. She had jet black hair piled high on her head and tied in a bun. Or a chignon. Or something. Reacher didn’t know the correct hairdressing term. She looked to be medium height and lean. Her shirt was clearly a smaller size than the men’s, but it was still loose on her. She was pretty, in a rather severe and no-nonsense kind of a way. Pale face, large eyes, plenty of make up. She looked tired and a little ill at ease. Possibly not entirely enchanted with the corporate bullshit. Which made her the best of the three, in Reacher’s opinion.
The guy in the front passenger seat twisted around again and offered his smooth round hand. He said, ‘I’m Alan King, by the way.’
Reacher shook his hand and said, ‘Jack Reacher.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Reacher.’
‘Likewise, Mr King.’
The driver said, ‘Don McQueen,’ but he didn’t try to shake hands.
‘What were the odds?’ Reacher said. ‘King and McQueen.’
King said, ‘I know, right?’
The woman offered her hand, smaller and paler and bonier than King’s.
She said, ‘I’m Karen Delfuenso.’
‘I’m pleased to meet you, Karen,’ Reacher said, and shook. She held on a split second longer than he had expected. Then McQueen got off the gas in a hurry and they all pitched forward a little. Up ahead brake lights were flaring red. Like a solid wall.
And way far in the distance there was rapid blue and red strobing from a gaggle of cop cars.
A Wanted Man, Lee Child’s brand new thriller, is published in hardcover on 30 August 2012
Have you read them all?
The Jack Reacher thrillers by Lee Child – in the order in which they first appeared.
KILLING FLOOR
Jack Reacher gets off a bus in a small town in Georgia. And is thrown into the county jail, for a murder he didn’t commit.
DIE TRYING
Reacher is locked in a van with a woman claiming to be FBI. And ferried right across America into a brand new country.
TRIPWIRE
Reacher is digging swimming pools in Key West when a detective comes round asking questions. Then the detective turns up dead.
THE VISITOR
Two naked women found dead in a bath filled with paint. Both victims of a man just like Reacher.
ECHO BURNING
In the heat of Texas, Reacher meets a young woman whose husband is in jail. When he is released, he will kill her.
WITHOUT FAIL
A Washington woman asks Reacher for help. Her job? Protecting the Vice-President.
PERSUADER
A kidnapping in Boston. A cop dies. Has Reacher lost his sense of right and wrong?
THE ENEMY
Back in Reacher’s army days, a general is found dead on his watch.
ONE SHOT
A lone sniper shoots five people dead in a heartland city. But the accused guy says, ‘Get Reacher’.
THE HARD WAY
A coffee on a busy New York street leads to a shoot-out three thousand miles away in the Norfolk countryside.
BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE
One of Reacher’s buddies has shown up dead in the California desert, and Reacher must put his old army unit back together.
NOTHING TO LOSE
Reacher crosses the line between a town called Hope and one named despair.
GONE TOMORROW
On the New York subway, Reacher counts down the twelve tell-tale signs of a suicide bomber.
61 HOURS
In freezing South Dakota, Reacher hitches a lift on a bus heading for trouble.
WORTH DYING FOR
Reacher runs into a clan that’s terrifying the Nebraska locals, but it’s the unsolved case of a missing child that he can’t let go.
THE AFFAIR
Six months before the events in Killing Floor, Major Jack Reacher of the US Military Police goes undercover in Mississippi, to investigate a murder.
A WANTED MAN
A freshly-busted nose makes it difficult for Reacher to hitch a ride. When at last he’s picked up by two men and a woman, it soon becomes clear they have something to hide…
SECOND SON (A Jack Reacher Short Story)
On an island in the Pacific, the teenage Reacher, younger son of a tough US Marine, encounters a situation that will shape his future as butt-kicker supreme.
Jack Reacher: CV
Name:
Jack Reacher (no middle name)
Born:
29 October
Height:
6 foot 5 inches/1.95 metres
Weight:
220-250 lbs/100-113 kg
Size:
50-inch/127cm chest, 3XLT coat, 37-inch/95cm inside leg
Eyes:
Blue
Distinguishing marks:
Scar on corner of left eye, scar on upper lip
Education:
US Army base schools in Europe and the Far East; West Point Military Academy
Service:
US Military Police, thirteen years; first CO of the 110th Division; demoted from Major to Captain after six years, mustered out with rank of Major after seven
Service awards:
Top row: Silver Star, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit
Middle row: Soldier’s Medal, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Bottom row: ‘Junk awards’
Last known address:
Unknown
Family:
Mother, Josephine Moutier Reacher, French national; Father, Career US Marine, served in Korea and Vietnam; Brother, Joe, five years in US Military Intelligence, Treasury Dept.
Special skills:
Small arms expert, outstanding on all man-portable weaponry and hand-to-hand combat
Languages:
Fluent English and French, passable Spanish
What he doesn’t have:
Driver’s licence; credit cards; Federal benefits; tax returns; dependents
About the Author
Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. His novels consistently achieve the number one slot in hardback and paperback on bestsellers lists on both sides of the Atlantic, and are translated into over forty languages. Born in Coventry, he now lives in America.
Visit www.leechild.com
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DEEP DOWN
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781448153879
First published in Great Britain
in 2012 by Transworld Digital
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Lee Child 2012
Lee Child has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
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