BooksBarbecue
Back The Janson Directive
Chapters (54)
  1. Title Page
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Prologue
  4. PART ONE
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. PART TWO
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. PART THREE
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-one
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. PART FOUR
  39. Chapter Thirty-two
  40. Chapter Thirty-three
  41. Chapter Thirty-four
  42. Chapter Thirty-five
  43. Chapter Thirty-six
  44. Chapter Thirty-seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-one
  49. Chapter Forty-two
  50. Chapter Forty-three
  51. Epilogue
  52. ALSO BY ROBERT LUDLUM
  53. Critical Praise for Robert Ludlum
  54. Copyright Page

“We got a video store,” he volunteered. “Laundromat. This store right here. I can do special orders, if you need ’em. Do that once in a while for regular customers.”

“Have you, now?”

“Oh yeah. We got all kinds around here. There’s one cat—we’ve never seen him, but he sends a guy down here every few days to pick up groceries. Super-rich—gotta be. Owns a place somewhere up in the mountains, some kind of Lex Luthor hideaway, I like to think. People see a little plane touching down near there most every afternoon. But he still uses us for groceries. Ain’t that a way to live? Get somebody else to do your shopping!”

“And you do special orders for this guy?”

“Oh for sure,” the man said. “It’s all real, real secure. Maybe he’s Howard Hughes, afraid somebody going to poison him.” He chuckled at the thought. “Whatever he wants, it’s not a problem. I order it and a Sysco truck comes by and delivers it, and he has a guy come get it, he don’t care what it costs.”

“That right?”

“You bet. So, like I say, I’m happy to special-order whatever you like. And Mike Nugent at the video store, he’ll do the same for you. It’s not a problem. You’re going to have a great time here. No place like it. Some of the kids can get a little rowdy. But basically it’s as friendly as all get-out. You’re gonna have a great time here once you settle in. My bet? You’re never gonna leave.”

A gray-haired woman at the refrigerated section was calling to him. “Keith? Keith, dear?”

The man excused himself, and went over to her.

“Is this sole fresh or frozen?” she was asking.

“It’s fresh frozen,” Keith explained.

As the two carried on an earnest conversation about whether the designation signified a way of being fresh or a way of being frozen, Janson wandered over to the far end of the grocery store. The stockroom door was open, and he stepped into it, casually. At a small metal desk was a stack of pale blue Sysco inventory lists. He flipped through them quickly until he reached one stamped SPECIAL ORDER. Toward the bottom of a long row of foodstuffs in small print, he saw a bold check, from the grocer’s Sharpie marker. An order of buckwheat groats.