Echo Burning by Lee Child Page A

anything about it. They’re all big buddies. You don’t know how it is here.”
    Reacher said nothing.
    â€œHe’s coming home,” she said. “Can you imagine what he’s going to do to me?”
    He said nothing.
    â€œI’m trapped, Reacher. I’m boxed in, because of Ellie. Do you see that?”
    He said nothing.
    â€œWhy won’t you help me? Is it the money? Is it because I can’t pay you?”
    He said nothing.
    â€œI’m desperate,” she said. “You’re my only chance. I’m begging you. Why won’t you do it? Is it because I’m Mexican?”
    He said nothing.
    â€œIt’s because I’m just a greaseball, right? A beaner? You’d do it for a white woman? Like your girlfriend? I bet she’s a white woman. Probably a blonde, right?”
    â€œYes, she’s a blonde,” he said.
    â€œSome guy was beating up on her, you’d kill him.”
    Yes, I would, he thought.
    â€œAnd she ran off to Europe without you. Didn’t want you to go with her. But you’d do it for her, and you won’t do it for me.”
    â€œIt’s not the same,” he said for the third time.
    â€œI know,” she said. “Because I’m just beaner trash. I’m not worth it.”
    He said nothing.
    â€œWhat’s her name?” she asked. “Your girlfriend?”
    â€œJodie,” he said.
    â€œO.K., imagine Jodie over there in Europe. She’s trapped in some bad situation, getting beat up every day by some maniac sadist. She tells you all about it. Bares her soul. Every horrible humiliating detail. What are you going to do?”
    Kill him, he thought.
    She nodded like she could read his mind. “But you won’t do that for me. You’d do it for the gringa, but not for me.”
    He paused a beat with his mouth halfway open. It was true. He would do it for Jodie Garber, but he wouldn’t do it for Carmen Greer. Why not? Because it comes in a rush. You can’t force it. It’s a hot-blooded thing, like a drug in your veins, and you go with it. If it’s not there, you can’t go with it. Simple as that. He’d gone with it before in his life, many times. People mess with him, they get what they get. They mess with Jodie, that’s the same thing as messing with him. Because Jodie was him. Or at least she used to be. In a way that Carmen wasn’t. And never would be. So it just wasn’t there .
    â€œIt’s not about gringas or latinas,” he said quietly.
    She said nothing.
    â€œPlease, Carmen,” he said. “You need to understand that.”
    â€œSo what is it about?”
    â€œIt’s about I know her and I don’t know you.”
    â€œAnd that makes a difference?”
    â€œOf course it does.”
    â€œThen get to know me,” she said. “We’ve got two days. You’re about to meet my daughter. Get to know us.”
    He said nothing. She drove on. Pecos 55 miles.
    â€œYou were a policeman,” she said. “You should want to help people. Or are you scared? Is that it? Are you a coward?”
    He said nothing.
    â€œYou could do it,” she said. “You’ve done it before. So you know how. You could do it and get clean away. You could dump his body where nobody would find it. Out in the desert. Nobody would ever know. It wouldn’t come back on you, if you were careful. You’d never get caught. You’re smart enough.”
    He said nothing.
    â€œAre you smart enough? Do you know how? Do you?”
    â€œOf course I know how,” he said. “But I won’t do it.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI told you why not. Because I’m not an assassin.”
    â€œBut I’m desperate,” she said. “I need you to do this. I’m begging you. I’ll do anything if you’ll help me.”
    He said nothing.
    â€œWhat do you want, Reacher? You want sex? We could do