Many Happy Returns is a Short Story written by Lee Child and was written for The Spectator newspaper, and published there on December 16, 2023. It is the 2nd Reacher Christmas story after The Christmas Scorpion, and is currently the only Reacher story solely written by Lee Child since his brother took over in 2020.
The story is bundled with In Too Deep as a Waterstone's Exclusive.[1]
Synopsis[]
Not long before Christmas, MI5 notices someone acting strangely on a CCTV camera at Heathrow Airport
Plot[]
Tony Jackson, an Assistant Director working for MI5, is contacted by a duty officer Ann Cassidy who asks him to look at her newfound discovery. Upon arriving at the MI5 office, Jackson meets Cassidy alongside the duty analyst and technical operator. He is briefed of a routine note via British Airways from US Homeland Security about an American passenger travelling with a passport issued by the State Department. They are initially confused about the circumstances that led to him getting a State Department-issued passport 8 years ago as he is not a federal employee. Additionally, Jackson is informed the passenger traveled with few possessions. As they are waiting for his name and background, the technical operator continues to track him. The man is currently outside Paddington Station after departing from Heathrow Airport and appears to be following someone. They review CCTV footage and notice he is subconsciously mimicking his target's movement and notice he strains his neck to see ahead, with the analyst believing he is worried of losing his target in the crowd. However, Cassidy believes he had noticed the cameras and revealed his face to every one of them in order to be quickly identified.
Shortly after, Cassidy receives the man's background information and reveals the man to be Jack Reacher a retired US MP investigator who had been to London 8 years prior at the behest of State Department, CIA ,and military intelligence to stop an assassination attempt at the G8 Summit. Initially, Jackson is skeptical as nothing had happened at the summit. However, the analyst reveals the assassin, alongside local east London gangsters were killed around that time with no word on the culprit. With this new information, Cassidy realizes Reacher knows he is a person of interest and had been signalling them he was following someone by exaggerating his movement and wonders who is his target.
Shortly after, they track him to Westbourne Terrace where the operator thinks Reacher might have lost his target. He retraces his movements and notices he is tracking an old man in a short brown coat holding a briefcase. He is shortly picked up by a taxi but not before Reacher briefly talked to them. Reacher went back, with the analyst thinking the old man had gotten away and the pursuit was terminated and theorizes Reacher had asked the driver for the address but the latter didn't disclose information. They track the taxi which is traveling north. Meanwhile, Reacher beckons the camera and sits at Chilworth Street where he signals he will be waiting for 20 minutes with the gesture recognized by Jackson.
After traveling to Reacher's location, Jackson sits nearby and introduces himself. He asks about the old man and Reacher reveals he was a man code-named The Pistol, naming after his hands miming a gun as his forefinger didn’t work. Jackson calls Cassidy and tells her to search the database for The Pistol, she reveals he was an arms dealer with MI6 still pique him as an interest due to his involvement in an MI6 operation in which they lost 3 people. Reacher speculates The Pistol got spooked when he saw the surveyors as there were usually no street repairs on Christmas Eve and asks for SO15 intervention. However, Jackson tells Reacher it will take them 25 minutes to intervene. Additionally, Reacher theorizes the man had already arrived at his destination but fled due to paranoia. Jackson calls SO15 to have several agents in civilian disguises be ready in 15 minutes. Jackson asks Reacher what he would have done if he wasn't contacted. Reacher states he would wait 1 hour before brutally interrogating the man in a secluded area as a friend of his had died due to The Pistol. After talking to him, Reacher wishes Jackson well before departing.
12 hours later, Reacher watches the news on the airplane the old man, who is a terrorist leader, was arrested in the Paddington area of London. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said Britain’s counter-terrorism experts had given the world’s intelligence agencies an early Christmas present.
Appearances[]
- Tony Jackson - An 30-year long Assistant Director for MI5. He was informed and asked to investigate of Reacher's arrival in London due to a routine notice sent by US State Department. He was asked by Reacher to help capture The Pistol as his operations had killed a friend of his and 3 MI6 agents.
- Ann Cassidy - A MI5 duty officer. She assisted Jackson in tracking Reacher's movements and behaviour throughout London.
- The Pistol - An old arms dealer and terrorist leader going by The Pistol due to his disability and and hand miming after a gun. Reacher tracks him down after learning a friend of his had been killed in his operation.
Locations[]
- London
- Heathrow Airport
References[]
Links[]
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