Contents
Chapter 28
Overview
In a West Hollywood motel, Reacher and Chang buy insider phone data and link Maloney to McCann through a burner sold next to Chicago’s Lincoln Park library. Westwood confirms call history. Planning to pursue McCann, they tip their enemies. The Mother’s Rest leader escalates, instructing Hackett to kill them before they reach Chicago.
Summary
Reacher and Chang check into a West Hollywood motel to research three numbers tied to Keever’s mysterious client. Chang contacts a covert phone-company source for subscriber and usage data while their adversaries, alerted by Hackett’s surveillance, prepare to monitor the results.
While waiting, Reacher and Chang grow closer. The source later reports: Louisiana and Mississippi numbers were prepaid burners registered and used locally—Shreveport and Oxford—calling Westwood repeatedly, then abandoned. The Arkansas-area-code number proves different: an old Wal-Mart batch unit, resold twelve weeks earlier to a Chicago mom-and-pop pharmacy next door to the Lincoln Park library.
Chang concludes Maloney is McCann, likely exploiting the library’s lines before switching to the adjacent pharmacy burner when blocked. Westwood confirms McCann called first, then Maloney called after the block. Reacher and Chang plan to obtain volunteer records from the library and pursue McCann in Chicago.
Meanwhile, the Mother’s Rest leader, briefed on their breakthrough and anticipating their trip to Chicago, decides surveillance is no longer enough. Over his contact’s caution, he issues a formal instruction: Hackett is to stop Reacher and Chang immediately and permanently.
Who Appears
- Jack ReacherInvestigates phone leads with Chang, deduces Maloney is McCann, plans to pursue him in Chicago.
- Michelle ChangSecures insider phone data, maps burner origins, links Chicago pharmacy to McCann, coordinates with Westwood.
- Thompson WestwoodLA Times reporter; confirms McCann’s earlier calls and Maloney’s later calls after being blocked.
- Man south of Mother’s RestAntagonist leader; tracks progress and orders Hackett to kill Reacher and Chang.
- HackettSurveillance operative in West Hollywood; reassigned to execute a permanent stop.
- Phone-company sourceConfidential contact who provides detailed burner phone purchase and usage data.
- McCann (alias Maloney)Caller linked to Keever; inferred to volunteer at Lincoln Park library; target in Chicago.