Page 4 of Chain Reaction

“Tell me about yourself first.”

“Nothing to tell. What you see is what you get. I haven’t changed much.”

“Are you happy?”

“Always. I go where I want. I have what I need. How many people can say that?”

“Still alone? Not met the right woman yet?”

“I meet them all the time. But I don’t club them on the head and drag them away by the hair. Obviously it’s got to be their decision. And they always decide no. I’m not what they’re looking for.”

Turner said nothing.

The waitress came back with the food. She refilled Reacher’s coffee and left. Turner speared a decorous forkful of omelet. Reacher poured syrup and cut a layered inch of egg white, bacon, and pancake. He said, “Found the right guy yet?”

“Three or four possibilities,” she said. “But no keepers.”

“Not what you were looking for?”

“Maybe my expectations were unrealistic.”

“It’s good to see you, Turner.”

“Likewise, Reacher, very much so.”

“You went to a lot of trouble.”

“A little.”

“Why now?”

She said, “We’ll talk about that later.”

“Later than what?”

“After you get the background.”

He nodded.

He said, “So tell me about the new command.”

“It’s a whole new thing,” she said. “The best of the Criminal Investigation Division, the best of counterintelligence command, and the best of the uniformed MP Corps all merged together and floated free. Effectively it’s a separate law enforcement operation inside the army. Like the army’s own FBI. It’s the best of the best, like fantasy football. In that regard it still feels exactly like the 110th, except now it’s a hundred times bigger and a thousand times more versatile. And it has a new name.”

“Which the chief you sent wouldn’t say.”

“My orders. Not just for you. I don’t want names and faces tied to the unit. I don’t want my people recognized. Better that way.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Reacher said.

“The new name is CSA G-99 Section.”

“Catchy,” Reacher said.

Then he paused a beat.

“CSA?” he said. “The Chief of Staff of the Army?”

“I report directly to him.”