The Visitor (Jack Reacher #4)

by Lee Child

‘Last factor,’ Reacher said gently. ‘You need to understand, sooner or later you’ll tell me anyway. It’s just a question of timing. Your choice. You can tell me right now, or you can tell me in a half-hour, right after I’ve broken your arms and legs and I’m about to snap your spine.’ ‘He’s a bad guy,’ McGuire said. Reacher nodded. ‘I’m sure he’s real bad. But you need to prioritize. Whatever he says he’s going to do, that’s theoretical, way off in the future, and like I told you, it isn’t going to happen anyway. But what I’m going to do, it’s going to happen right now. Right here.’ ‘You ain’t going to do nothing,’ McGuire said. Reacher turned and picked up the wooden stool. Flipped it upside down and held it chest-high with his hands around two of the legs. Took a firm backhand grip and bunched his shoulders and pulled steadily. Then he breathed hard and snapped his elbows back and the legs tore away from the rungs. The rungs clattered to the floor. He reversed the stool and held the seat in his left hand and splintered a leg free with his right. Dropped the wreckage and retained the leg. It was about a yard long, the size and weight of a ball bat. ‘Now you do the same,’ he said. McGuire tried hard. He turned over his own stool and grasped the legs. His muscles bunched and the tattoos swelled, but he got nowhere with it. He just stood there, holding the stool upside down. ‘Too bad,’ Reacher said. ‘I tried to make it fair.’