Reacher in the Nebraska Night: A Hitchhiking Mishap with Mayhem on the Menu

So, picture this: Jack Reacher, a man built like a redwood in a world of termites, is stranded on a desolate Nebraska cloverleaf in the dead of winter. His nose, recently acquainted with a solid object, only adds to his “don’t pick me up, I bite” vibe. Traffic whooshes by like tumbleweeds, leaving Reacher colder than a politician’s heart. Ninety-three minutes, and seventy-five cars (and probably a gallon of internal antifreeze) later, a car with three folks pulls over–in suspiciously matching shirts. Are they on a corporate retreat, or is this the plot of a particularly low-budget horror film?

Meanwhile, a short jaunt up the road, a pumping station becomes the scene of a less-than-pumping homicide. The victim? Slashed and stabbed like a professional who knew what he was doing. The suspects? Two shadowy figures who vanished quicker than a politician’s promise. Local law rolls in, sirens blaring, but then – bam! The feds descend like vultures on a free buffet. Then counterterrorism squad. Then CIA itself. Turns out, this ain’t your mama’s roadside murder.

Now, Reacher, ever the hitchhiking hero (with a nose for trouble), finds himself entangled in a web of secrecy thicker than Nebraska corn chowder.