A Wanted Man Quotes
"The eyewitness said he didn’t actually see it happen. But how else could it have gone down?"
"Hitchhiking had been getting harder for years."
"Two schools of thought. One went for the fast rip. The other advocated a slow peel."
"Maybe the late hour was helping. People were more compassionate at midnight than midday."
"Like lieutenant colonels, maybe, in army terms. Solid achievers, but not superstars."
"Smart enough, certainly, to check and re-check his prior decisions before moving on."
"There were so many of them and they were blinking so fast that they looked continuous."
"Reacher smiled. A team, standing ready to solve problems big or small."
"If two semi trucks backed up and got their trailers tangled, it was useful to know which one had moved first."
"The night was cold, which helped his face. Numbness dulled the ache."
"Sometimes silence is the loudest kind of noise."
"Everyone assumes we all knew each other. I don’t know why."
"Reacher had never been hypnotized, but in his opinion driving empty highways at night came close."
"But numbers called to him, twisting and turning and revealing their hidden facets."
"Specifically four words, spoken by Alan King: Plus whatever Karen wants."
"Reacher felt he could drive a thousand hours and never catch them."
"The rest of the world seemed to be somewhere else, far away, irrelevant, unimportant."
"They were not a trio. King and McQueen were a duo, barely tolerating an interloper."
"The coffee order. Two with cream and sugar, Plus whatever Karen wants."
"A circle could be drawn through any three points not on a straight line."
"If I’m the good guy you’ll help me because you’re on my side."
"I’m going to have to come at this from a different direction."
"Management reserves the right to refuse service."
"Civilian marksmanship was appalling, for a population obsessed with guns."
"I’m not going to tell you my name. Not yet, anyway."
"You won’t shoot because you don’t want to do the paperwork."
"I’m just saying there’s very little point in rushing back to Nebraska when Karen Delfuenso was last seen heading in the opposite direction."
"Either break eye contact and walk away, or don’t."
"His instinct was to double down, not back down."
"I’m perpetually disappointed. It’s a disappointing world."
"Paperwork. Arresting people is such a pain in the ass."
"A hitherto unnoticed condition became readily apparent."
"No one could walk around with a shattered elbow. Not even for a minute."
"No one knows. She drove her own car to a neighboring state."
"People drowning in ponds, kids choking on things, you get four minutes after the heart stops."
"Do you think the security of our nation is a joke?"
"You don’t want to go rogue. I can’t disobey direct orders."
"Nothing in the distance. No sign of Dawson and Mitchell. Not yet."
"Three minutes, he figured. Maybe three minutes and ten seconds."
"Silence. Nothing but the faithful idle of the engine, and clicks and ticks as stressed components cooled back down."
"Reacher could picture the scene. A pair of institutional doors, a short flight of concrete steps, a parking lot."
"Pelvises didn’t lie. They couldn’t be confused one for the other."
"Then either Dawson or Mitchell said, 'Turn around.'"
"The guy said, 'You want me to be honest?' 'You usually are.'"
"She said, 'You’re the two who brought me here. From Paula’s house.'"
"They passed Sin City, and they passed the empty bean fields."
"There was a neat rectangle of new blue paint on it, not quite the same shade as the old blue paint."
"It was a security fence, maybe eight or ten feet high, made of dense metal mesh painted flat black."
"Delfuenso said, 'We’re not supposed to communicate.'"
"I can’t help it," Reacher said. "You’re doing wrong, but you’re doing wrong right."
"But there’s a sound in those specific words, don’t you think? In charge?"
"A car, three phones, a Glock 19, two Glock 17s, and eighty-eight rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition."
"They slid out of Bale’s car, stealthy and quiet, guns in their hands."
"No point in wasting what little tree cover there was."
"Suburban pets were too pampered to spend the night outside."
"The satellite pictures," she said. "I looked at the neighbors."
"Shoot them in the face instead. Before they even say hello."
"Human nature. Relief. Anticlimax. Peace with honor."
"This way the rest of the world can sleep easy at night."
"They don’t know the meaning of the word. Not yet."
"Great against unsuspecting women in the dark. Otherwise, not so much."
"The sniper fired at him. Better this time. The round hit the hatch and clanged away, a giant ricochet that might have made it all the way to Lacey’s store."
"Reacher lay still, calm and quiet, and comfortable. He fired back. And hit the sniper."
"Maybe in the hip. Nothing but a flesh wound. Not fatal, but certainly a distraction."
"Soft, and vague. The sniper wasn’t moving. He looked hunched, head down, and inert."
"One in the chamber, nine in the box. Ten chances, a static target, four hundred feet."
"Reacher fired again. And again. One in the chamber, four in the box."
"Reacher started a low crawl north. Elbows and toes. Slow, and painful on the concrete."
"He stopped a hundred and fifty feet away. Just for a moment. To assess and evaluate."
"Reacher crawled onward. Slow and easy. He would hear the hatch behind him if a new player wanted to join in the fun."
"Reacher stopped again fifty feet out. There was no movement ahead. Nothing at all."
"Everyone knows what a good sniper rifle should be. It’s self-explanatory. It’s obvious."
"A wise man asked, what’s the best time to plant a tree? A wise man answered, fifty years ago."
"Nobody or somebody? That was the only question. And there is no bigger difference than nothing or something."
"Are you Jack Reacher?" "Who’s asking?" "We are."
"Reacher’s mantra was: Get your retaliation in first."
"I used to do this for a living," Reacher said. "But you know that, right?"
"You’re back in the army, major," Morgan said. "And your ass is mine."