Free Foreign and Domestic: A Get Reacher Novel by Scott Blade Page B

information.
    “The guy got suddenly very interested in who you are. He started asking questions about you. I mean he was very interested.”
    “What sorts of questions?”
    “Your age and where you were born. What you thought of your father. What your relationship with him is like. Stuff like that.”
    Cameron said, “What else?”
    “The guy left a contact number. He wanted you to call him.”
    Weston paused a beat, and then he asked, “Do you want the number?”
    “Give it to me.”
    Weston asked, “Got a pen?”
    “I’m ready.”
    Weston told him the number. Cameron committed it to memory.
    “How’re you out there?”
    Cameron said, “I’m good.”
    “Any luck finding Jack?”
    “Not so far, but the longer I’m out here, the more I start to think that my mother may not’ve ever expected me to find him.”
    Obviously, Cameron couldn’t see Weston, but he imagined a confused look on the guy’s face like it said, “ What the hell are you talking about?”
    Cameron didn’t wait for Weston to ask. He said, “I better get off the phone. It’s a pay phone.”
    Weston cleared his throat again quickly and asked, “Is there a way for me to contact you? The email thing isn’t efficient.”
    “No, I don’t think so. I’ll call you. Got to go.”
    And Cameron hung up the phone. Didn’t wait for an acknowledgment or anything else. He clicked the receiver back into its cradle and listened as his change rattled down into the stomach of the pay phone and was lost in the mechanism.
    He wasn’t interested in setting up some kind of long-term communication with Weston or anyone else from his old life or hometown because that was in the past, and Cameron wanted only to move forward, wanted only to get a lead on Jack Reacher and move on with his life.
    Nothing else.
    The delivery truck that had pulled up a little down the street had remained idle. No change. Cameron watched as the driver got out and walked to the back of the truck, opened it up, and went inside. He the exited with a dolly stacked with boxes. His partner came out of the store with a clipboard, and they hauled in the boxes.
    Cameron turned back to the pay phone and dug in his pocket for his last quarters, found them, and fed the phone. The quarters rattled again into the slot.
    He dialed the number and waited.
    “Hello,” a voice answered.
    “This is Cameron.”
    Silence fell across the line, and then a voice said, “Cameron? Seriously?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I’ve been looking for you.”
    “I know. I heard. So what’s the information you have about Jack Reacher?”
    The guy on the other end asked, “Jack Cameron?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Great. I want to talk to you, but I want to meet in person.”
    “Who is this? Exactly?”
    “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you that at the beginning of this conversation. My name is Sean Cord. I’m a Federal Agent.”
    Cameron paused a beat and then asked, “Special agent?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Special agent of what exactly?”
    The guy on the other end said nothing for a moment. Cameron counted down the seconds left on the phone line in his head.
    The guy came back on the line and said, “Sorry, I’m in the middle of something. I work for the United States Department of Treasury. I knew your uncle.”
    “You knew Joe?”
    Cameron felt hopeful for the first time in months that this was a break in finding Jack.
    Hope for the best, plan for the worst .
    “Yeah. I used to work for him.”
    Cameron said, “You work for the Secret Service?”
    “That’s right.”
    Cameron stayed quiet and heard the sounds of a busy street on the other end of the phone. A car motor. The heavy sounds of tires on pavement. And another voice that Cameron assumed was another agent said something.
    Cord came back on the line and asked, “I really can’t speak now anyway. Where are you?”
    “Seattle.”
    Cord said, “I’d love to talk to you. I’m sorry that I’m busy right now.”
    “You work the protection