Exit Strategy (Jack Reacher, #30)

by Lee Child

Inside, the setup was pretty basic, like the kind of thing Reacher would have expected at a remote third-world airport. There was a reception counter to the side. Its pale laminated surface was wearing thin in places. A guard was sitting behind it wearing a faux paramilitary uniform complete with all kinds of badges and patches and emblems. There was a metal detector arch in the center and a scarred conveyor belt feeding an X-ray machine on the other side. Beyond that, another uniformed guard sat and stared blankly at a screen. Gilmour dumped his keys, phone, wallet, and loose change in a rubber tub, sent it on its way to be scanned, and stepped through the arch. Reacher still had the borrowed phone in his pocket. He wanted to see how well the system worked, so he walked through the arch without removing it. No lights flashed. No alarm sounded. The guard didn’t seem to notice that anyone was there.