Nothing To Lose Part 48

"It's cla.s.sified," Connor said. "You can't put it in a register."

Reacher nodded. "We understand that. But we should have been made aware of it, privately."

"Sounds like you are aware of it."

"But now we want to verify some details. Once bitten, twice shy."

"Then you need to speak to the Department of Defense."

"Better if we don't. They'll wonder how we got wind of it. Your guys talking will be their first guess."

"My guys don't talk."

"I believe you. But do you want to take a chance on the Pentagon believing you?"

Connor said, "What details?"

"We think we're ent.i.tled to know when and how the sc.r.a.p DU gets transported out, and what route is used."

"Worried about it rolling down First Street?"

"You bet."

"Well, it doesn't."

"It all goes west?"

Connor said, "It goes nowhere."

Vaughan said, "What do you mean?"

"You guys aren't the only ones with your panties in a wad. Colorado's pretty uptight. They want to close the Interstate and use an armed convoy. Which they can't contemplate on a regular basis. Once every five years is what they're thinking."

"How long ago did the first convoy leave?"

"It didn't. The first convoy will happen about two years from now."

Reacher said, "So right now they're stockpiling the stuff at the plant?"

Connor nodded. "The steel moves out, the DU stays."

"How much have they got there?"

"As of right now, maybe twenty tons."

"Have you seen it?"

Connor shook his head. "Thurman reports monthly by mail."

"You like that?"

"What's not to like?"

"The guy is sitting on a mountain of dangerous stuff."

"And? What could he possibly do with it?"

68

Reacher and Vaughan got back in the truck and Vaughan said, "Was that answer a yes or a no?"

"Both," Reacher said. "No, it doesn't get moved out, yes, it's all still there."

"Is that a good both or a bad both?"

Reacher ducked his head and looked up through the screen. The sun was a dull glow behind the cloud, but it was still way above the horizon.

"Four hours until dark," he said. "We've got time for a considered decision."

"It's going to rain."

"Probably."

"Which will wash more TCE into the aquifer."

"Probably."

"We're not going to sit here until dark, in the rain."

"No, we're not. We're going to the Holiday Inn in Halfway again."

"Only if we get separate rooms."

"Shut up, Vaughan. We're going to get the same room we got before, and we're going to do all the same things."

The same room was not available, but they got one just like it. Same size, same decor, same colors. Indistinguishable. They did all the same things in it. Showered, went to bed, made love. Vaughan was a little reserved at first, but got into it later. Afterward she said that David had been better in bed. Reacher wasn't offended. She needed to believe it. And it was probably true.

They lay in the rucked sheets and Vaughan explored Reacher's scars. She had small hands. The bullet hole in his chest was too big for the tip of her little finger. Her ring finger fitted it better. Every woman he had been naked with was fascinated by it, except the woman he had gotten it for. She had preferred to forget. The rain started after an hour. It was heavy. It drummed on the hotel's roof and sheeted against the window. A cozy feeling, in Reacher's opinion. He liked being inside, in bed, listening to rain. After an hour Vaughan got up and went to shower. Reacher stayed in bed and leafed through the Bible that the Gideons had left in the nightstand.

Vaughan came back and asked, "Why does it matter?"

"Why does what matter?"

"That Thurman is stockpiling depleted uranium?"

Reacher said, "I don't like the combination. He's got twenty tons of radioactive waste and twenty tons of TNT. He's an End Times enthusiast. I spoke to a minister last night. He said that End Times people can't wait to get things started. Thurman himself said there might be precipitating events on the way. He said it kind of smugly, like he secretly knew it was true. And the whole town seems to be waiting for something to happen."

"Thurman can't start the Armaggedon. It'll happen when it happens."

"These people are fanatics. They seem to think they can nudge things along. They're trying to breed red cows in Israel."

"How would that help?"

"Don't ask me."

"Cows aren't dangerous."

"Another requirement seems to be a major war in the Middle East."

"We've already got one."

"Not major enough."

"How could it be worse?"

"Lots of ways."

"Personally I don't see any."

"Suppose another country joined in?"

"They'd be crazy to."

"Suppose someone fired the first shot for them?"

"How would they?"

Reacher said, "Suppose a dirty bomb went off in Manhattan or D.C. or Chicago. What would we do?"

"According to you, we'd evacuate the city."

"And then?"

"We'd investigate."

Reacher nodded. "We'd have people in hazmat suits crawling all over the wreckage. What would they find?"

"Evidence."

"For sure. They'd identify the materials involved. Suppose they found TNT and depleted uranium?"

"They'd make a list of possible sources."

"Correct. Everyone in the world can buy TNT, but DU is rarer. It's a byproduct of an enrichment process that occurs in maybe twenty places."

"Nuclear powers."

"Exactly."

"A list of twenty suspects wouldn't help."

"Exactly," Reacher said again. "And the intended victim isn't going to stand up and take responsibility, because the intended victim didn't know anything about anything in the first place. But suppose we were nudged in the preferred direction?"

"How?"

"Remember Oklahoma City? The Federal Building? That was a big explosion, but they knew it was a Ryder truck. Within hours. They're great at putting tiny fragments together."

"But presumably one uranium fragment is like another."

"But suppose you were a state-sponsored terrorist from overseas. You'd want maximum bang for the buck. So if you didn't have quite enough uranium when you were building your bomb, you might use other stuff to pack it out."

"What other stuff?"

"Maybe pieces of wrecked cars," Reacher said.

Vaughan said nothing.

Reacher said, "Suppose the guys in the hazmat suits found fragments of Peugeots and Toyotas sold only in certain markets. Suppose they found fragments of Iranian license plates."

Vaughan was quiet for a moment, working it out. "Iran is working with uranium. They're boasting about it."

"There you go," Reacher said. "What would happen next?"

"We'd make certain a.s.sumptions."

"And?"

"We'd attack Iran."

"And after that?"

"Iran would attack Israel, Israel would retaliate, everyone would be fighting."

"Precipitating events," Reacher said.

"That's insane."

"These are people that believe red cows signal the end of the world."

"These are people who care enough to make sure ash gets a proper burial."