Exit Strategy

Jack Reacher has a simple plan for his day in Baltimore, and it involves three stops. The first is a coffee shop, where he takes a corner seat facing the door and drinks black coffee, refilled twice. Two other customers try to interrupt him, and he deals with them quickly. On his way out, a young man bumps into him in the doorway. Reacher checks the pocket that holds his cash and passport, and everything is still there.

The second stop is a store, where he needs a coat. It doesn't have to be anything special, just something he can leave behind once he heads somewhere warmer, and big enough to fit a man built like a bank vault. When he reaches into his pocket to pay, he finds something that wasn't there before: a handwritten note begging for help.

The third stop is anyone's guess. Reacher admires the skill it took to slip the note into his pocket unnoticed, and the plea itself has caught his interest. He sets out to learn who wrote it and why, and the day takes him well off the route he had in mind.