Echo Burning by Lee Child

This isn’t the Wild West anymore.”
    â€œIsn’t it? Isn’t it still O.K. to kill a man who needs killing?”
    Then she went quiet, just driving, like she was waiting him out. He stared at the speeding landscape in front of him. They were heading for the distant mountains. The blazing afternoon sun made them red and purple. It changed the color of the air. The Trans-Pecos, she had called them.
    â€œPlease, Reacher,” she said. “Please. At least think about it.”
    He said nothing. Please? Think about it? He was beyond reaction. He dropped his eyes from the mountains and watched the highway. It was busy with traffic. A river of cars and trucks, crawling across the vastness. She was passing them all, one after another. Driving way too fast.
    â€œI’m not crazy,” she said. “Please. I tried to do this right. I really did. Soon as his lawyer told me about the deal, I saw a lawyer of my own, and then three more, and none of them could do anything for me as fast as a month. All they could do was tell me Ellie traps me exactly where I am. So then I looked for protection. I asked private detectives. They wouldn’t do anything for me. I went to a security firm in Austin and they said yes, they could guard me around the clock, but it would be six men and nearly ten thousand dollars a week. Which is the same thing as saying no. So I tried, Reacher. I tried to do it right. But it’s impossible.”
    He said nothing.
    â€œSo I bought a gun,” she said.
    â€œWonderful,” he said.
    â€œAnd bullets,” she said. “It took all the cash I had.”
    â€œYou picked the wrong guy,” he said.
    â€œBut why? You’ve killed people before. In the army. You told me that.”
    â€œThis is different.”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œThis would be murder. Cold-blooded murder. It would be an assassination.”
    â€œNo, it would be just the same. Just like the army.”
    He shook his head. “Carmen, it wouldn’t be the same.”
    â€œDon’t you take an oath or something? To protect people?”
    â€œIt’s not the same,” he said again.
    She passed an eighteen-wheeler bound for the coast, and the Cadillac rocked and shimmied through the superheated turbulent air.
    â€œSlow down,” he said.
    She shook her head. “I can’t slow down. I want to see Ellie.”
    He touched the dashboard in front of him, steadying himself. The freezing air from the vents blasted against his chest.
    â€œDon’t worry,” she said. “I’m not going to crash. Ellie needs me. If it wasn’t for Ellie, I’d have crashed a long time ago, believe me.”
    But she eased off a little, anyway. The big rig crept back alongside.
    â€œI know this is a difficult conversation,” she said.
    â€œYou think?”
    â€œBut you have to look at it from my point of view. Please, Reacher. I’ve been through it a million times. I’ve thought it through. I’ve been from A to B to C to D, all the way to Z. Then again, and again. And again. I’ve examined all the options. So this is all logical to me. And this is the only way. I know that. But it’s hard to talk about, because it’s new to you. You haven’t thought about it before. It comes out of the blue. So I sound crazy and cold-blooded to you. I know that. I appreciate that. But I’m not crazy or cold-blooded. It’s just that I’ve had the time to reach the conclusion, and you haven’t. And this is the only conclusion, I promise you.”
    â€œWhatever, I’m not killing a guy I never saw before.”
    â€œHe hits me, Reacher,” she said. “He beats me, badly. Punches me, kicks me, hurts me. He enjoys it. He laughs while he does it. I live in fear, all the time.”
    â€œSo go to the cops.”
    â€œThe cop. There’s only one. And he wouldn’t believe me. And even if he did, he wouldn’t do