But Reacher hung up without answering, because another phone was ringing. Not Turner’s, but Shrago’s. Like Rickard’s had, with the crazy birdsong. The same kind of phone. Shrago’s was on the hotel dresser, loud and piercing, grinding away like a mechanical toy. The window on the front said:
The phone rang eight times, and then it stopped.
Reacher said nothing.
Turner said, ‘That was anxiety. Simple as that. We haven’t spent any more money, so we haven’t generated any new leads. So they’ve got nothing to tell him.’
‘I wonder how long they’ll stay anxious. Before they get real.’
‘Denial is a wonderful thing.’ Turner walked over to the window, and peered out between the drapes. She said, ‘When I get back I’m going to have my office steam-cleaned. I don’t want any trace of Morgan left behind.’
‘Why did Montague let Zadran go home to the mountains?’
‘You would want to say either political reasons or legal reasons.’
‘Both of which are possible. But what if it was something else?’
‘I can’t see what else. The guy was in his middle thirties at the time, and the youngest of five, which was two strikes against in a very hierarchical culture, and he was a screw-up and a failure, which was strike three, so the guy had no status and no value, and clearly no real talent either. So he was nobody’s number-one draft pick. This was not about recruiting an asset, either for the day job or the personal enthusiasm.’
Then Shrago’s phone rang again. Same birdsong, same grinding, same words on the screen. It rang eight times, and then it stopped.
Juliet came back into the room, and sat down on a daybed. From a second daybed six feet away Romeo said, ‘Well?’
Juliet said, ‘I tried twice.’
‘Gut feeling?’
‘He might have been busy. If he gets within a hundred feet of them he’s going to turn his phone off. I think that’s pretty obvious.’
‘How long would he remain in close proximity to them?’
‘Could be hours, theoretically.’
‘So we just wait for his call?’
‘I think we have to.’
‘Suppose it doesn’t come?’
‘Then we’re finished.’
Romeo breathed out, long and slow. He said, ‘Win or lose, it’s been a good ride.’
Turner’s phone rang a minute after Shrago’s stopped for the second time. She put it on speaker and Leach said, ‘It’s a prepaid burner probably bought at a Wal-Mart. If it was bought for cash it’s about as traceable as my sister’s ex-husband.’
Turner said, ‘Any details at all?’
‘Plenty. The only thing we don’t know is who owns it. We can see everything else. That phone has called only two numbers in its life, and it’s been called by only two numbers in its life, both of which are the same two numbers.’
‘Equally divided?’
‘Very lopsided.’
‘In favour of?’
Leach read out a number, and it wasn’t Shrago’s.
‘That’s got to be Romeo,’ Reacher said. ‘Sergeant, we need you to check that number next.’
‘I already took that liberty, major. It’s the same deal. A prepaid burner from Wal-Mart, but this one is even more lonely. The only number it ever called, and the only number that ever called it, is its mate. This is a very compartmentalized communications network. Their tradecraft and their discipline look exemplary to me. You’re dealing with very smart people. Permission to speak freely?’
Turner said, ‘Of course.’
‘You should proceed with extreme caution, majors. And you could start by tightening up a little.’
‘In what way?’
‘The other number the first guy called belongs to a phone currently immobile two blocks north of the White House. My guess is you’re in that fancy hotel, and either a bad guy is watching the building, or you already took the phone away from him, and it’s in your room. In which case you need to bear in mind, if I can see it, they can see it too. Until you switch it off, that is. Which you should think about doing.’
‘You can see it?’
‘Technology is a wonderful thing.’
‘Can you see the other two phones?’
