A Wanted Man recap

Hitchhiking through Nebraska, Jack Reacher accepts a ride from Alan King, Don McQueen, and Karen Delfuenso as police investigate a killing at a pumping station. Apparent murders and abductions draw Reacher into an unsanctioned investigation with FBI agent Julia Sorenson. The case proves to be a concealed FBI operation against Wadiah: McQueen is undercover, Delfuenso is his secret backstop, and Alan King is dead. Tracking McQueen leads Reacher, Sorenson, and Delfuenso to a hidden former military installation, where a sniper kills Sorenson. Reacher infiltrates the site, discovers an illicit paper bank backed by stored nuclear waste, frees McQueen, and kills Peter King, Wadiah's second in command. Delfuenso saves both men from the remaining guards and drives them away before federal forces arrive. Wadiah's local operation is exposed, but its ultimate leader remains unknown.

Previously: Jack Reacher is a former Army military policeman.

Hitchhiking east through Nebraska with a broken nose, Jack Reacher accepts a ride from three people who identify themselves as Alan King, Don McQueen, and Karen Delfuenso. Nearby, Sheriff Victor Goodman is investigating an apparent professional killing at a rural pumping station. An eyewitness saw two suited men follow a man in a green coat inside, then leave in a red car before blood appeared. Goodman suspects the red car was a decoy and widens the search. At an isolated Iowa motel, McQueen fires at Reacher and escapes with King and Delfuenso. Reacher reports the incident to FBI agent Julia Sorenson and persuades her to pursue the trio rather than immediately return him to Nebraska. They soon find the Chevrolet burned out, with a body believed to be Delfuenso inside. Tire marks indicate that King and McQueen transferred to a waiting large sedan and headed south. The missing pumping-station eyewitness strengthens Reacher's belief that witnesses are being systematically removed. Although Sorenson arrests Reacher as a suspect, she preserves the tire evidence and follows his lead concerning Peter King, Alan's former-Army brother. The fugitives remain at large, their destination and purpose unknown.

Federal authorities abruptly close the pumping-station case, but Sorenson continues working with Reacher. Karen Delfuenso's daughter Lucy is abducted, and Goodman dies while investigating. Reacher and Sorenson evade an FBI pursuit long enough to receive a crucial forensic result: the burned body was male, not Delfuenso. A staged transfer takes Reacher to a secure Kansas City FBI compound, where he finds Delfuenso and Lucy alive. Alan King was the burned victim, while Don McQueen is an FBI agent who returned to his undercover assignment after protecting Delfuenso. Reacher then discovers that Delfuenso is also an FBI special agent, secretly assigned as McQueen's emergency backstop. Their target is Wadiah, an American organization allied with suspected Syrians. The pumping-station meeting was meant to be a handoff, but the third man attacked with a knife and McQueen killed him. When McQueen's tracking signals stop near a Wadiah location, the nearest tactical response is hours away. Reacher, Sorenson, and Delfuenso disarm the compound agents and leave to attempt a rescue. Peter King is confirmed as Alan's older brother and is suspected of leading Wadiah. The three head toward the Kansas City hideout with McQueen's survival uncertain.

Reacher, Sorenson, and Delfuenso search McQueen's vacated residence and use receipts and his tracking history to identify a second location about sixty miles away. The trail crosses a field to a camouflaged former military installation. A distant sniper kills Sorenson as the team approaches. Reacher sends Delfuenso to summon support, ambushes men sent to recover Sorenson's body, and enters the installation alone. The site contains armed guards, handwritten ledgers, and sixteen large containers marked as nuclear waste. Reacher locates McQueen alive and tied to a chair. His captor is Peter King, Alan's estranged brother. Reacher kills Peter before he can shoot McQueen, but surviving guards trap the two men during their escape. Delfuenso returns and kills the guards about to shoot Reacher, then drives Reacher and McQueen away before the federal tactical force arrives. Reacher concludes that Wadiah operates an illicit paper banking system. Its stored nuclear waste serves as visible capital behind an internal currency called gallons. The pumping-station victim's claimed State Department and CIA identity was false; Delfuenso and McQueen identify him as Wadiah's CIA mole. Peter was only the network's second in command, so the ultimate leader remains unknown. The FBI can seize the facility and records, while Reacher leaves before any debrief.

A sniper kills Julia Sorenson as she, Reacher, and Karen Delfuenso approach Wadiah's concealed former military installation. Reacher sends Delfuenso to summon support and enters alone. Inside, he finds handwritten financial records and containers of nuclear waste used as the visible reserve behind Wadiah's paper currency. He locates Don McQueen alive but bound and held by Peter King. Reacher kills Peter, frees McQueen, and fights toward an exit. Delfuenso returns in time to kill the guards about to shoot Reacher, then drives them away before the Quantico force arrives. McQueen and Delfuenso survive, while Sorenson and Peter are dead. The installation and its records remain for the incoming FBI operation, and the man who used the Lester identity is identified as Wadiah's mole within the CIA. Peter was only second in command, so Wadiah's ultimate leader and the wider reach of the network remain unresolved. Reacher leaves before the FBI can debrief him.