"But what can he do?" Reacher said. "Talk me through it. "
"They're going to make some kind of demand," she said. "You know, do this or do that, or we hurt your girl. "
She spoke slowly and there was a tremor in her voice. Reacher let his hand drop into the space between them and found hers. He took it and squeezed gently.
"Doesn't make any sense," he said. "Think about it. What does your father do? He implements long-term policy, and he's responsible for short-term readiness. Congress and the President and the Defense Secretary thrash out the long-term policy, right? So if the Joint Chairman tried to stand in their way, they'd just replace him. Especially if they know he's under this kind of pressure, right?"
"What about short-term readiness?" she said.
"Same sort of a thing," Reache
