Killing Floor

Picard and Reacher stop at Eno’s for breakfast. Reacher forces himself to eat while he consults a map of the surrounding area. While Picard is not looking, Reacher pockets his knife and fork. After an hour of staring at the map, they leave. Reacher notices a car following them on the highway and realizes Picard made him take Hubble’s Bentley because it was easy to track. Reacher says he plans to find Hubble’s friend Lennon in Augusta, and Picard thinks he is lying. Picard tells him that he, Kliner, and Kliner’s son killed the Morrisons. He thinks Reacher “did the world a favor” killing Kliner’s son, but Kliner enjoyed the cruelty of his killings, so Reacher should not lie, find Hubble, and save Roscoe. Picard shares details of the other killings: Kliner shot Joe, Kliner’s son gave the frenzied postmortem beating, and Morrison tried to cover it up. Picard was the FBI liaison to the New Orleans detective investigating Kliner, and he made sure the case went cold.

They stop for gas, and while Picard is talking to the men in the other car, Reacher subtly punctures the Bentley’s tire with his knife and fork from Eno’s. A few miles out from Augusta, the piece of broken fork falls out and the tire starts losing air. Reacher pulls over, and Picard has him stand to the side while the other two men join them and put on the spare tire. The air conditioner box full of money is still in the trunk. Reacher gets his jacket from the backseat, and Morrison’s switchblade and Gray’s handgun are both still in the pockets. As Picard checks the men’s work, Reacher cuts open the box and the high winds create a flurry of counterfeit bills in the air. Reacher shoots the two men and turns to find Picard aiming his own gun. They move towards one another in a stalemate, promising they will not shoot. Reacher waits until Picard slightly lowers his gun, then he fires. Reacher does not bother shooting again; he slams the trunk shut and speeds off to Augusta.

In Augusta, Reacher stops at a hotel. He borrows a city map from the clerk, and in his room, he uses the phonebook to look at other motels in the area. Reacher limits his search to cheap motels along the main streets. He starts calling the motels asking if they have a Paul Lennon staying there. The 15th motel he calls confirms a Paul Lennon is in room 120. Reacher drives to the motel, knocks on the door of room 120, and Paul Hubble answers. Reacher hustles Hubble to the Bentley and they hit the road. Reacher explains how he found Hubble: each day since he left Margrave, Hubble stayed at a cheap motel in a nearby city, not too close and not too far. He travelled by bus, paid in cash, and used a different member of the Beatles’ last name each time. Hubble asks how things are in Margrave, and Reacher reluctantly tells him the whole truth. Hubble explains how Kliner sought him out after he lost his job at the bank and how he trapped and intimidated Hubble into staying in line. They stop for gas, and Reacher fills a plastic water bottle with gasoline.

They arrive in Margrave five hours ahead of Kliner’s deadline. They go to Hubble’s house to pick up his other car. They drive separately to the stationhouse; Hubble parks farther back, facing the building. Reacher listens outside the front doors, then signals Hubble to reverse full speed into the firehouse doors across the street. Reacher fetches a pair of bolt-cutters from inside. Then, Hubble drives straight into the front of the police station, through the doors, and right into the bars of the holding cell. The bars fall clear of Finlay, who is handcuffed at the back wall. Reacher runs into the stationhouse, cuts Finlay’s handcuffs, and the three of them drive off in Reacher’s car.