Lee Child - Jack Reacher's Rules

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The perfect powder

…behind the bullet in the shell case has to explode perfectly, predictably, powerfully, instantly. It has to smash the projectile down the barrel at maximum speed. The powder has to explode fast, explode completely, and explode hard. Difficult chemistry. Weight for weight, that explosion has got to be the best explosion on the planet.

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The perfect shot

“He glanced at himself in an old spotted mirror. Six-five, two fifty, hands as big as frozen turkeys, hair all over the place, unshaven, torn shirt cuffs up on his forearms like Frankenstein’s monster. A bum.”

1. ALWAYS SHAVE AND GET A GOOD HAIRCUT

A whitewall. Leave an inch and a half on the top and use clippers to shave the bottom and the sides up toward it. Then flip the clippers over and square off the sideburns and clean the fuzz off the neck. Unless you’re going undercover.

2. DON’T SKIP THE SHOWER

Four kinds, depending on circumstances:

The straight shower (11 minutes)—shower and hair wash

The shave and shower (22 minutes)—shave, hair wash, shower

The special procedure (30 minutes +)—shower and hair wash, shave, shower, and second hair wash

The even longer one. When you’ve got company

“He knew he was out of step with the Western world in terms of how often he changed his clothes, but he tried to compensate by keeping his body scrupulously clean.”

3. ALWAYS CARRY A TOOTHBRUSH

Even for a man without luggage, it’s essential to have your own toothbrush, preferably a folding one that you can keep in your pocket. In the absence of toothpaste, freshen your mouth with gum.

If you can’t get time to sleep, a shower is a good substitute. If you can’t get time to shower, cleaning your teeth is the next best thing.

“His folding toothbrush was on the floor, stepped on and crushed.

‘Bastards,’ he said.”

4. HOW TO KEEP CLOTHES CLEAN ON THE ROAD

Option 1 : every three to four days soak or rinse clothes and place under mattress to press.

Option 2 : after up to nine days put clothes in trash and buy a new set.

Option 3 : if you dress in wet clothes you’ve got a built-in air conditioner that keeps you cool while they dry out.

“He folded his pants and his shirt very carefully and put them flat under the mattress. That was as close as he ever got to ironing.”

THINGS YOU’LL NEVER SEE REACHER DO

Take a suit to the dry cleaner’s

“A good coat is like a good lawyer. It covers your ass.”

5. CHANGING YOUR UNDERWEAR

Always buy the cheapest white underpants.

Remember that khaki socks will give you away if you’re going undercover.

Most people stick to underwear from their country of origin. It’s a big step putting on foreign underwear, like betrayal or emigration.

If caught short, go commando.

>>THE LONGEST TIME A TRAVELING MAN CAN GO WITHOUT …. A shower 4 days Changing his clothes 9 days Changing his underwear 9 days

THINGS YOU’LL NEVER HEAR REACHER SAY

My wife doesn’t understand me.

THE PENTAGON

WHAT

Headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Completed in January 1943, it covers 600,000 square meters of floor area—the world’s largest office building. About 31,000 military and civilian employees work there. It has five rings of corridor per floor on five floors—covering seventeen miles. There is a fiveacre pentagonal courtyard in the middle.

WHERE

Arlington County, Virginia, on the Potomac River flood plain

HOW

Departments within the DOD control the Army, Navy, Air Force, military technology, budget, and policy.

HOW FAST

There are ten radial hallways between the rings; traveling at Army marching pace of 4 mph, a person can make it between any two random points inside in a maximum of seven minutes.

“To escape into the Pentagon was no kind of a good idea.”

“I’m that guy … The only guy in the world who doesn’t have a cellphone.”

Remember that if the satellite can show you the way on your GPS, it can also pinpoint your exact location.

The guy who relies on his head clock has no use for a fancy watch.

“He came from a world where a sudden dive for a pocket was more likely to mean a gun than a phone.”

Put your brain first—electronic devices can affect your ability to process information, your concentration, and your sleep.

Why would you want to allow the world and his wife to track you down by phone?

If you’re constantly looking down at your phone, you’re not looking at the world around you.

“Text messaging.”

“What’s that?”

“You can send written messages by phone.”

“When did that start?”

THINGS YOU’LL NEVER HEAR REACHER SAY

Call me on my cell.

POTENTIAL ALIASES FOR USE WHEN BOOKING A MOTEL

“It helps if you can use a list of names embedded in your memory. Like the U.S. Presidents.”

George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William H. Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover

“If in doubt, use the names of obscure baseball players or dead musicians.”

“I like aliases. I like anonymity.”

“I don’t need to go hunting them. I already know I’m smarter than an armadillo.”

The basis of any scam is telling people what they want to hear. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.