Contents
Chapter 58
Overview
Reacher and Chang pursue the fleeing rifleman and force him back against the hog pen. After a tense standoff and missed rifle shots, the man effectively surrenders and rationalizes using euthanasia victims, inadvertently revealing the bodies were fed to hogs and that Keever was buried only because the hogs had already eaten.
Chang executes him for Keever, and Reacher throws the body to the hogs, closing out the farm’s defense and confirming the operation’s brutality.
Summary
Reacher and Chang sprint from the studio, pursuing the surviving rifleman toward the driveway—the only viable escape route. The gunman, winded and inaccurate, fires his M16 from about sixty feet and misses. Reacher, feeling diminished but functional, plans to draw fire while Chang advances.
They step out together. The gunman keeps missing, and when Chang returns fire he retreats toward the hog pen. Unsure of his remaining ammunition, he hesitates, backs into the fence, and finally drops his rifle with hands raised. Reacher and Chang close the distance to about twenty feet.
Pressed, the man justifies using euthanasia volunteers as expendable subjects, claiming they had already chosen death. Reacher asks about the bodies, and the man’s involuntary glance at the hogs exposes their disposal method. He adds that Keever was buried because the hogs had already been fed and mentions a custom order from Japan.
Chang declares the killing is for Keever and fires, striking the man in the throat. As he collapses, Reacher hauls the body over the fence. The hogs rush in, confirming the farm’s method and closing the immediate threat.
Who Appears
- Jack ReacherPursues the fleeing gunman, gauges his poor marksmanship, presses for the bodies’ location, and dumps the corpse to the hogs.
- Michelle ChangAdvances under fire, returns shots, confronts the gunman, and executes him for Keever.
- Fleeing riflemanStocky gunman who retreats to the hog pen, hints bodies were fed to hogs, cites a Japan order, and is killed.