‘Specifically?’

‘The army is asking for a new sniper rifle. We’re giving evidence to some new pre-committee. Begging, basically. Our legislative overseers. Well, not really. They sent senior staffers instead. We’re not even talking to elected officials.’

‘Now you don’t sound very happy.’

‘I’m not here to be happy. The liaison officers are sitting in on these hearings, obviously. And one of them is leaking. Design criteria, load, range, size, shape, weight and budget.’

‘Leaking to who?’

‘A likely bidder located overseas, we assume. A foreign manufacturer, in other words. Someone that wants the business. Someone that likes a rigged game.’

‘Is the business worth it? How many sniper rifles do we buy? And how much do we pay for them?’

‘It’s the implied endorsement. They can sell copies for five grand each to the freak market. The price of a decent used car. As many as they want. Like selling crack.’

‘Who else is at these hearings?’

‘There’s our four liaison and the four staffers we’re pitching to, plus our procurement guy and the Marine procurement guy, plus a Ranger sniper and a Marine sniper for colour commentary.’

‘The Marines are involved?’

‘In a minority way. They didn’t bring their own liaison, for instance. But it’s definitely a joint project. No other way of doing a thing like this.’

‘So why wouldn’t it be the Marines leaking? Their procurement guy or their sniper? Why assume it’s our guys?’

‘The leaks are via a fax machine inside the Capitol Building. Which is where our liaison guys have their offices.’

‘How certain are you of that?’

‘Completely.’

‘Could be the staffers. They’re in the Capitol Building, presumably.’

‘Different phone network. Our legislative overseers are on some new super-duper thing. Our offices are still steam-powered.’

‘OK,’ Reacher said. ‘So it’s one of our guys.’