He heard a low voice say, “Albanian.”
It was Hogan’s voice.
Barton’s voice whispered back, “How many?”
“Just one.”
“What does he want?”
“I was out sick the day they taught predicting the future.”
“What should we do?”
The knock came again, boom, boom, boom, heavy and wooden.
Reacher waited. Behind him Abby stirred and said, “What’s happening?”
“There’s an Albanian footsoldier at the door. Almost certainly looking for us.”
“What time is it?”
“Eight minutes to four.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Barton and Hogan are downstairs. They haven’t gone to bed yet. Hopefully they can deal with it.”
“I should put some clothes on.”
“Sad, but true.”
She dressed like he had, fast, pants, shirt, shoes. Then they waited. The knock came for a third time. Bang, boom, bang. The kind of knock you didn’t ignore. They heard Hogan offer to get it. They heard Barton accept. They heard Hogan’s footsteps across the hallway floor, solid, determined, implacable. The U.S. Marine. The drummer. Reacher wasn’t sure which counted for more.
They heard the door open.
They heard Hogan say, “What?”
Then a new voice. Quieter, because it was outside the structure, not inside, and because of its pitch, which was instantly two things in one, both conversational and mocking. Friendly, but not really.
The voice said, “Everything OK in there?”
Hogan said, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I saw the light inside,” the voice said. “I was worried you had been woken up in the night by a misfortune or a calamity.”
It was talking low, but even so it was a big voice, full of physical power, from a big chest and a thick neck, and also full of command and arrogance and entitlement. The guy was accustomed to getting his own way. He had the kind of voice that never said please and never heard no.
Deal with it, Reacher thought. Don’t make me come downstairs.
Hogan said, “We’re good in here. Nothing to worry about. No misfortunes. No calamities.”
“You sure? You know we like to help out when we can.”
“No help required,” Hogan said. “The light was on because not everyone sleeps at the same time. Not a hard concept to grasp.”
“Hey, I know all about that,” the Albanian guy said. “Here I am, working all night long, keeping the neighborhood safe. Actually, you could help me with that, if you like.”
Hogan didn’t answer.
The guy said, “Don’t you want to help me with that?”
Still no reply.
“What goes around comes around,” the guy said. “It’s that kind of thing. You help us now, we’ll help you, down the road. Could be important. Could be just what you need. Could solve a big problem. On the other hand, if you get in our way now, we could make things tough for you later. In the future, I mean. All kinds of different ways. For instance, what do you do for a living?”
“What help?” Hogan said.
“We’re looking for a man and a woman. He’s older, she’s younger. She’s petite and dark-haired, he’s big and ugly.”
Deal with it, Reacher thought. Don’t make me come downstairs.
“Why are you looking for them?” Hogan asked.
The guy at the door said, “We think they’re in terrible danger. We need to warn them. For their own sake. We’re trying to help. It’s what we do.”
“We haven’t seen them.”
“You sure?”
“Hundred percent.”
“One more thing you could do,” the guy said.
“What?”
“Call us if you see them. Would you do that for us?”
No answer from Hogan.
“It’s not much to ask,” the guy said. “Either you feel like helping us out with a ten-second phone call, or you don’t, I guess. Either way is fine. It’s a free country. We’ll make a note and move right along.”
“OK,” Hogan said. “We’ll call.”
“Thanks. Any time, night or day. Don’t delay.”
“OK,” Hogan said again.
“One last thing.”
“What?”
“Another way you could help me out.”
“How?”
“Obviously I’m going to report this address as what we call in our business a place of zero concern. Targets clearly not there, just regular folks going about their regular business, and so on and so forth.”
“Good,” Hogan said.
“But in our business we take process very seriously. We like numbers. At some point I’m sure to be asked, with what exact degree of confidence do I make that assessment?”
“Hundred percent,” Hogan said again.
“I hear you, but at the end of the day, that’s just a verbal report by an interested party.”
“All you got.”
“My point exactly,” the guy said. “It would really help me out if I could take a walk through your property and see for myself. Then we got a foundation of solid evidence to go on. Case closed. We wouldn’t need to bother you again. Maybe you would get an invitation to the July Fourth picnic. One of the family now. A solid guy who helps out.”
“It’s not my property,” Hogan said. “I rent a room. I don’t think I have the authority.”
“Maybe the other gentleman, in the living room.”
“You need to take our word for it, and you need to leave now.”
“Don’t worry about the weed,” the guy said. “Is that it? I could smell it down the street. I don’t care about weed. I’m not a cop. I’m not here to bust you. I’m a representative from the local mutual aid society. We work hard in the community. We achieve impressive results.”
“Take our word for it,” Hogan said again.
“Who else is in the house?”
“No one.”
“Been alone all night?”