Free Hard Way by Lee Child

close yet."
    "They're calling the shots," Lane said.
    Nobody spoke.
    "So what do we do now?" Gregory asked.
    "We wait," Reacher said. "Fifty-six minutes."
    "I'm sick of waiting," Groom said.
    "It's all we can do," Lane said. "We wait for instructions and we obey them."
    "How much money?" Reacher asked. "Ten?"
    Lane looked right at him. "Guess again."
    "More?"
    "Four and a half," Lane said. "That's what they want. Four million five hundred thousand U.S. dollars. In a bag."

CHAPTER 13
    REACHER SPENT THE remaining fifty-five minutes puzzling over the choice of amount. It was a bizarre figure. A bizarre progression. One, five, four and a half. Altogether ten and a half million dollars. It felt like a destination figure. Like the end of a road. But it was a bizarre total. Why stop there? It made no kind of sense at all. Or did it?
    "They know you," he said to Lane. "But maybe not all that well. As it happens you could afford more, but maybe they don't fully appreciate that. So was there a time when ten and a half million was all the cash you had?"
    But Lane just said, "No."
    "Could someone out there have that impression?"
    "No," Lane said again. "I've had less and I've had more."
    "But you've never had exactly ten and a half?"
    "No," Lane said for the third time. "There's absolutely no reason for anyone to believe that they're cleaning me out at ten and a half."
    So Reacher gave it up and just waited for the phone to ring. It rang right on time, at six in the evening. Lane picked it up and listened. He didn't speak. He didn't ask for Kate. Reacher figured he had learned that the privilege of hearing his wife's voice was reserved for the first call in any given sequence. The demand call. Not the instruction call.
    This instruction call lasted less than two minutes. Then the electronic squawk cut off abruptly and Lane put the receiver back in the cradle and gave a bitter little half-smile, like he was reluctantly admiring a hated opponent's skill.
    "This is the final instalment," he said. "After this, it's over. They promise I get her back."
    Too soon, Reacher thought. Ain't going to happen.
    Gregory asked, "What do we do?"
    "One hour from now," Lane said. "One man leaves here alone with the money in the black BMW and cruises anywhere he wants. He'll be carrying my cell phone and he'll get a call anywhere between one and twenty minutes into the ride. He'll be given a destination. He's to keep the line open from that point on so they know he's not conversing with anyone else in the car or on any other phones or on any kind of a radio net. He'll drive to the destination he's been given. He'll find the Jaguar parked on the street there. The car that Taylor drove Kate in, the first morning. It'll be unlocked. He's to put the money on the back seat and drive away and not look back. Any chase cars, any coordination with anyone else, any tricks at all, and Kate dies."
    "They've got your cell phone number?" Reacher asked.
    "Kate will have given it to them."
    "I'll be the driver," Gregory said. "If you want."
    "No," Lane said. "I want you here."
    "I'll do it," Burke said. The black guy.
    Lane nodded. "Thank you."
    "Then what?" Reacher asked. "How do we get her back?"
    Lane said, "After they've counted the money, there'll be another call."
    "On the cell or here?"
    "Here," Lane said. "It will take some time. Counting large sums is an arduous process. Not for me at this end. The money is already bricked and banded and labelled. But they won't trust that. They'll break the bands and examine the bills and count them by hand."
    Reacher nodded. It was a problem he had never really considered before. If the money was in hundreds, that would give them forty-five thousand bills. If they could count to a hundred every sixty seconds, that would take them four hundred and fifty minutes, which was seven and a half hours. Maybe six hours drive time, and seven and a half counting time. A long night ahead, he thought. For them and for us.
    Lane said, "Why