by Dan Ames
Finally, the road opened up and to the right, Torrance spotted a 4x4 parked with its front facing forward. The windows were tinted and he couldn’t see inside.
He guided the big coach off the dirt road until it was halfway into the space near the SUV and then parked.
Torrance waited until the cloud of dust he’d kicked up passed, and then he opened the motor home’s doors. The two men in the back of the vehicle exited after him.
“Wait here,” he told them.
It felt good to be out and walking. He was tempted to stretch but thought better of it. The man in the 4x4 was not someone to be treated casually.
Torrance walked toward the SUV, stepped up to the driver’s door and knocked gently on the window. There was no reaction. Maybe the man had parked and was in the woods taking a piss– Behind him, he heard two quick coughs that he recognized as not coming from a human being, but rather, a suppressed handgun.
He turned, and saw his two men facedown in the dirt, blood seeping from bullet holes in their heads into the dirt and gravel of the parking space.
Behind them, he saw a man with a pistol and a huge sound suppressor at the end.
“Hello, Bravo,” Torrance said.
27
“Shit, you’re not going to believe this,” Wyman said.
She had rushed into Steele’s office with a computer printout in hand.
“This better be good,” Steele growled at her. He’d been on the phone with a Bureau attorney in DC, trying to gain access to classified records, so far, to no avail.
“It is,” Wyman said. Her face was flushed.
Steele scanned the document.
“What the hell?” he nearly shouted, getting to his feet. He studied the paperwork in his hand, which was a detailed synopsis of the crime scene found at Henry Lee’s murder. Wyman had placed an alert on anything that included references to details of the Giles case, including the word “Reacher.”
The alert had popped up less than five minutes ago on her computer.
“Atlanta?” Steele shouted. “What the hell does Atlanta have to do with Giles and who the hell is Henry Lee?”
“I’m working on it,” Wyman said. She was pumped with adrenaline, excited that Option C – all cases not directly involving Giles – had been under her domain, which was the reason she’d received the alert first.
“For Reacher,” had clearly been described by the first responders on the scene at the murder site of one Henry Lee.
“Find out everything you can about Henry Lee. Somewhere there has to be a connection between him, Giles and Reacher. Do it now,” Steele barked at her.
As Wyman left the office, she heard Steele giving urgent orders to his administrative assistant.
The gist was that Steele wanted to be on a plane to Atlanta, immediately.
28
“Joe worked in Treasury.”
Pauling remembered Reacher telling her those words. Officially, U.S. Department of Treasury.
Joe Reacher worked for Treasury.
Pauling bounded from her bed and practically ran to her computer. She could barely stop her hands from shaking.
Treasury.
The FBI.
Edward Giles.
Joe Reacher.
Had they ever worked together? All of her searches had been for Jack Reacher, not Joe.
Pauling double-clicked on the folder she’d created on her desktop, now full of all of the information she’d copied regarding Giles’ cases. She’d focused her attention on all of his FBI cases, and had largely ignored the few times he’d been loaned out as a liaison to other government entities.
But Giles had been. The question was, had he ever been loaned to Treasury, where he might have rubbed shoulders with Joe Reacher?
She remembered noticing that during the Edward Lane case, Pauling had discovered Giles had been working as a liaison for a different government agency.
Now, she raced through the files.
In one case, Giles had been sent to Los Angeles to help organize a massive raid on an illegal immigration operation. He’d been more of a consultant on that one, tasked with helping the DEA and Homeland Security.
Pauling found another instance where Giles had briefly been transferred to a diplomatic office in Europe. Something about a threat to kill an employee of the American Embassy.
That definitely was not the one she was looking for.
Her last chance was a case Giles had been assigned to where he’d been tasked with helping a man code named “Polo.”
Polo was with Treasury.
Pauling smiled.
Jack Reacher had told her that his brother Joe had been born in Palo, somewhere in the Philippine Islands.
Joe Reacher was Polo.
Pauling was sure of it.
She skimmed the details of the case and learned that “Polo” had been working on a counterfeiting case that had eventually involved Giles.
For Reacher.
Pauling shook her head.
They’d been looking for the wrong Reacher.
29
Bravo gestured at the dead bodies on the ground, then spoke to Torrance.
“Get rid of them, and then follow me.”
He walked back to his 4x4, climbed inside and waited.
Torrance went to the back of the motor home, found a shovel and some plastic tarp and came back to the two dead men.
He rolled their bodies onto the tarp, and then dragged them off the shoulder of the road into the forest.
When he was at least fifty yards from the dirt road and totally blocked from any line of sight, he started digging the graves.
30
The ambush was set.
Pauling had staked out the coffee shop she knew Wyman always stopped at before work. It was just after seven in the morning and Pauling knew she had to get the information she’d discovered into the Bureau’s hands, but she didn’t want to just call up and offer it.
Not only would it piss off a bunch of people, it might raise far too many questions concerning how Pauling had found the information. She had no intention of drawing the focus of the FBI toward herself. Plus, she knew that if Steele suspected she was snooping around on her own, all hell would break loose.
So instead, she decided to strategically intercept her friend on neutral territory.
She’d gotten herself a large coffee for both herself and Wyman, and now she waited.
As she sipped her dark brew, Pauling considered the implications of what she’d found.
Joe Reacher and Edward Giles.
A joint task force investigating a counterfeiting operation. It was the kind of case Treasury was designed for and the fact they’d asked the FBI for some assistance wasn’t surprising. It happened quite often, especially in the “new” culture of law enforcement where all agencies were supposed to work together. They’d definitely gotten better during Pauling’s tenure, but still had a ways to go.
So why now?
Why kill Giles? It had been years since that investigation was completed, with a bevy of convictions.
The door opened and Wyman stepped in. Her eyes seemed to immediately find Pauling who gestured she should join her by raising the second cup of coffee.
Wyman slid onto the high stool across from her. She had on her trademark gray steel glasses and a subdued blue power suit. Everything about Wyman screamed this was a woman not to be trifled with.
“Pauling, this is a pleasant surprise.”
Wyman cocked an eyebrow at her indicating she knew this was no accident.
“Yes, but we have to talk fast,” Pauling said. “I know you don’t want to be late for work and I don’t want to risk anyone else from the office spotting us.”
Wyman sipped her coffee and waited.
“The Reacher you’re looking for is not Jack Reacher. It’s Joe Reacher. Jack’s brother. Joe worked for the Treasury Department and the last case he worked on, Giles had been assigned afterward as a liaison.”
Wy
man’s jaw popped open slightly.
“Jesus, Pauling, how did you find this out?” She looked around the coffee shop as if someone from the Bureau might be listening.
“A little insider knowledge and a fair amount of detective work.”
“How did I miss that?” Pauling could tell that Wyman took it personally she hadn’t discovered the link. As if she were still the student and Pauling the master.
“Joe Reacher was using a code name for most of the operation. Polo. It’s probably why his name never appeared.”
Wyman shook her head. “Unbelievable.”
“There’s more,” Pauling said.
“Of course there is, you are always full of surprises, Lauren Pauling.”
“Jack Reacher actually was involved in that case, too, but there won’t be any mention of him, either.”
“Why not?”
“He’s a bit of a ghost. He covers his tracks well and then usually slips out of town unnoticed. I’m pretty sure that’s what happened here.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because Joe Reacher was murdered during that investigation. And Jack told me he found out who had killed him, and made them pay.”
“Pay? As in he arrested them?”
“No.”
Wyman blinked and then she understood.
“Oh.”
Pauling got to her feet.
“One last question,” Wyman said. “Where was this counterfeiting operation going on? Here in New York? DC?”
“No. In a place called Margrave, Georgia. Just outside of Atlanta.”
Wyman’s jaw popped open again. She pointed at Pauling’s chair, indicating she should sit back down.
“Hold on, Pauling, now it’s my turn for a surprise.”
31
Tallon heard the plane’s engines come to life at the same time he heard footsteps on the ladder leading to the fuselage door.
“Hey,” a man said as he clambered on board. He was dressed in civilian clothes, but had a military presence about him.
Tallon nodded back to him.
At the rear of the plane, the hatch door opened and someone began loading luggage into the rear bay.
Tallon was glad to see signs of life other than himself. He’d wondered if there’d been a logistical mistake and he was on the wrong plane. He checked his Ball NEDU watch and saw they were at least on schedule.
But now that there was someone else, he felt a little better. There was something about flying on a plane as the only passenger that was off-putting. He’d done it before and there was always the feeling someone would forget there was a person on board. A bit irrational, perhaps, but always a possibility.
With the complete lack of other aircraft activity, he figured once the bags were loaded and the pilot ready to go, they would take off pretty soon–
He had the briefest sensation of metal on the skin of his neck and then 50,000 volts shot through his body.
Tallon was tackled to the floor by the man who’d just gotten on board.
Tallon struggled but the man was now on top of him. A second man, from the back of the plane who’d been pretending to load the luggage, joined in.
Finally, the cockpit door opened and the pilot stepped out, a set of plastic zip ties in his hand.
The engines had been shut off.
Tallon’s face was pushed into the floor of the plane and he felt himself jerking and twitching, unable to move as his arms were pinned behind him. He closed his eyes and cursed himself.
Stupid, he thought. He remembered thinking earlier that maybe he’d gotten too comfortable with Pauling. Like he’d lost his edge.
Well, he’d ignored his intuition and now he was paying for it.
As if to confirm his bleak self-assessment, a cloth with chloroform was slapped over Tallon’s face.
And then all he saw was darkness.
32
Wyman carried the stack of files and went directly to Director Tisdale’s office. She was met by a secretary who stopped her.
“It’s urgent I meet with him. It has to do with Agent Giles’ murder and the Director will definitely want to see this right away.”
Tisdale’s secretary went to the office, opened the door and peeked her head inside. She stepped back, and motioned for Wyman to enter.
She did so, and found Tisdale seated behind his desk in the process of hanging up his phone.
“Agent Wyman,” he said, in his reserved voice.
“Sir, I found a connection between Reacher and Giles, but Agent Steele is en route to Atlanta and I wanted to share it with you immediately.”
Tisdale glanced at the folders in her hand and then said, “Proceed.”
She put the folders on his desk and walked him through what she had learned after having been tipped off from Pauling.
The counterfeiting operation had taken Joe Reacher’s life, as well as many others, including a dirty FBI agent by the name of Picard. By the time Giles was involved, the case was nearly closed.
All that had been left was for Giles to put the original informant, a man named Paul Hubble, into witness protection.
“Where was Hubble placed?” Tisdale asked.
“I don’t know, sir, I’m working on that.”
Tisdale made a steeple of his fingers and peered over them at Wyman.
“I understand the connection, but how does this affect our search for Giles’ killer?”
Wyatt proceeded cautiously. “I’m working on that as well, sir. But the guilty party in the counterfeiting operation was a local Georgia family named Kliner. They were working with an operation in Venezuela, washing dollar bills and reprinting them as one-hundred dollar bills. Eventually, with the help of local police in Margrave, Georgia, the whole thing collapsed. The warehouses with all the money were burned to the ground.”
“I see.”
“However, one of the Kliners who survived, a cousin, was released from prison less than three weeks ago. Thomas Kliner. He was only eighteen at the time of the original case and had been working as a driver, nothing more.”
“So you think he was seeking revenge for his family? Seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?”
Wyman had to agree.
“I’ll keep looking, sir.”
“Do that,” Tisdale replied. “Be sure to fill in Steele and keep me up to speed.”
Wyman gathered up the folders and left Tisdale’s office.
She had a lot to do and wondered when Steele’s plane would be landing.
33
“I need you. Come to Margrave, Georgia. Now!”
Pauling looked at the message and read it again, even though she’d done so twice already.
It was from Tallon.
Come to Margrave, Georgia?
Pauling tapped out a reply.
“Why?” she asked. “I thought you were heading to Australia?”
There was no response.
She tried to call the number but it went straight to voicemail. All of Pauling’s warning signals kicked into high alert. This wasn’t right. Tallon had nothing to do with Joe Reacher, Edward Giles or a counterfeiting operation that had taken place years earlier.
Had someone hacked his phone? Or worse?
She doubted it, but the message made no sense.
Margrave, Georgia, was the location of the counterfeiting case where Joe Reacher had been murdered.
What the hell did it have to do with Tallon? How was he involved?
Pauling waited, but there was still no response.
Deep within her, she knew there wasn’t going to be one. Whoever had killed Giles and murdered that poor man Henry Lee outside Atlanta had struck again.
They had Michael Tallon.
34
Steele waited until he’d taken in the horrors of the Henry Lee crime scene before he listened to the message from Wyman.
What he’d seen inside the house outside of Buckhead, Georgia, corroborated his suspicions. It was no copycat crime. It was the same group
of killers who had butchered Edward Giles and his wife.
No doubt about it.
Unfortunately, he was left with more questions than answers. How had Henry Lee been connected with Giles or Jack Reacher?
He’d barely had time to contemplate the possible answers before Wyman’s message got to him. She had sent emails containing files to prove her point, but Steele wasn’t in a position to look at them on his laptop.
So he called her.
“Walk me through it,” he said.
Steele listened as Wyman explained the Joe Reacher connection, his role at Treasury, and Giles’ work with him on the counterfeiting organization in Margrave, Georgia.
“How did you figure this out?” he asked her.
There was only the briefest of hesitations before Wyman explained her deep dive into Giles’ efforts outside the FBI, when he acted as a liaison with other departments.
Steele wasn’t so sure.
He knew Wyman and Lauren Pauling had been supportive of each other’s careers and wondered if Wyman had gotten some assistance from her former mentor.
Well, it didn’t matter.
They had attracted a local crowd outside of Henry Lee’s home, despite the local police’s best efforts to keep everyone away. By now, a local news truck was set up half a block away.
It was time for Steele to bail on the scene. The local Atlanta FBI office had assigned him an agent to help assist in the investigation. He was waiting by an unmarked Bureau car, a four-door Ford with black painted wheels and an obvious antenna along with government plates. If the local news was any good, they would know this was more than just a garden-variety crime.
Steele walked up to the younger agent.
“We need to go to Margrave, Georgia. Right now.”
Steele got into the front passenger seat, dug out his laptop and connected to the Internet via his mobile hotspot.
