Deep Down_A Jack Reacher short story Read online

  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

  TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

  61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

  A Random House Group Company

  www.transworldbooks.co.uk

  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.

  This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement o
f the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies outside the UK can be found at:

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009