Hemingway's Notebook Read Free Page A

would kill Colonel Ready in Evian after he found out about Rita Macklin and where she was. It was possible that Ready had already killed her. But then she would not be “leverage” for him anymore.
    Devereaux would see that Rita was safe and then he would agree to whatever Colonel Ready wanted him to do. Then he would kill Ready near the Evian train station. It was not used much because summer was over and because most of the tourists who went to Evian drove cars or took the ferry across the lake from Lausanne.
    There were two hotels on the square across from the train station but they were always empty at this time of year. There was a bar in one hotel but the owner was deaf. Besides, Devereaux would get very close to Ready and Ready would know what it meant. Ready would reach for his pistol and Devereaux would shoot him. It didn’t matter very much where the bullets hit because they had exploding caps and the bullets blew apart when they hit their target.
    Devereaux came out of the bathroom, turned off the light, and checked the street through the window. “I wasn’t followed down here,” Ready said.
    Devereaux said nothing.
    “They followed me as far as the airport at Zurich. I think they were from Langley. They’re always watching me.”
    “You don’t work for Langley anymore.”
    “In a sense, that’s true,” Ready said.
    “Where is she?”
    “We’ll go down the metro to Ouchy and catch the two o’clock ferry. Don’t worry, Devereaux.”
    The ferry had begun service on Lac Léman in 1915. It was wooden and the side-wheels churned the cold waters as the ship pulled away from the dock at Ouchy beneath the sprawl of Lausanne. The paddles bit into the smooth water and the steam engine amidships chugged and vibrated as the boat struck for open water.
    Devereaux and Ready stood on the empty open deck on the first-class level: No one bought first-class tickets for the thirty-minute crossing. Devereaux’s face was chapped by the cold wind formed as the boat plowed into the long lake that threaded through the mountains. The French side was seven miles across from Lausanne.
    “She’s over there. Waiting. She’s safe enough. I don’t mean her any harm. Or you.”
    Devereaux stared at the sea and at the fog trailing down at the surface of the water. Fourteen months ago he had died in service in Zurich. He had been awarded a posthumous medal for valor. His 201 file in R Section had been consigned to the “Inactive Library.” Three people inside R Section knew he was not dead. And now Colonel Ready knew it as well and Devereaux could not understand why he wanted to open the secret. Except for once, he had not crossed Ready’s path since Vietnam, seventeen years ago.
    Except for the favor he had asked six years ago. For Rita.
    Devereaux winced. He had made himself vulnerable to Ready then.
    “I remembered the girl, you know,” Ready said at that moment, as though all of Devereaux’s thoughts were naked to him. “From when I was still at DIA, when I still had access clearance. You wanted to know about Rita Macklin’s brother, the missionary, whether he had been clean in Laos. And I told you. A little favor must have meant a lot to you.”
    Devereaux stared at Ready. “You shouldn’t have looked for me.”
    “Sleeping dogs and dead agents, then? Maybe. But I cleared up the matter for you six years ago and for your girl, and I think I can ask you for a little favor.”
    “Ask me. You can’t blackmail me with her. You know me better than that.”
    “I knew you. But you’ve changed, Devereaux.” The blue eyes were hard. “You’d have cut your grandmother if she was in the way, but you’ve changed. It’s made you softer, Devereaux, not that I blame you. She’s a good-looking girl. A lot younger than you are.”
    Devereaux would shoot Ready at the train station in Evian. He would shoot him only once, in the belly, and back away from him while Ready fell, his belly spilled open like a broken