At two in the morning, Reacher assesses himself against the 12-point checklist for identifying suicide bombers, finding that he meets half the criteria. He reflects on his initial impression of Susan Mark as a woman consciously approaching an early death.

Reacher theorizes that Lila and her crew are now fugitives in the city and that their only viable shelter would be a large, dilapidated hotel with a single, corrupt night porter. He identifies a specific hotel near Herald Square as the most probable location and arrives there at 2:45 am.

The hotel’s night porter denies having seen a group matching the description of Lila Hoth and her associates. Reacher leaves, and less than a minute later, Hoth calls him, confirming that the porter warned her.

Reacher negotiates a deal with Hoth: He opens at $100,000, Hoth counters at $60,000, and Reacher accepts, agreeing to reveal the memory stick’s location. He arranges to meet her alone in Union Square. Immediately after, Reacher calls Detective Lee, informing her of the meeting and explaining that Hoth will send her crew instead. He directs Lee to have her counterterrorism unit ambush them, assuring her he is certain of Hoth’s location because of the porter’s immediate tip-off.