The November Man Read Free

one-martini lunch finally gotten out of control after all these years?
    HANLEY: (garbled) has to be at the highest levels. Do you understand?
    VOICE: I am not in the trade. That was our agreement.
    (Garbled)
    HANLEY: The pills. I stopped taking them and I don’t feel as bad. Are the pills… something wrong? I sleep all the time and then I wake up and I can’t sleep. I never knew there was so much traffic, all day andnight, you can’t sleep. Where are all those people going?
    VOICE: Home. You go home, too.
    HANLEY: I am home.
    VOICE: Then have a drink and go to sleep.
    HANLEY: My lunch. They are going to tear down the place on Fourteenth Street. I went there every day of my life. A martini straight up and a cheeseburger with raw onion. One martini. I knew all the people there. And Mr. Sianis said to me, “Mr. Hanley, I have to sell the place because they are going to put up a trade center.”
    VOICE: Why are you calling me? Leave me alone. Everything is over.
    HANLEY: Damnit. You never leave the service. You know that. You’re in for life. And I’ve told you that.
    VOICE: November is going to Moscow. You said it. November does not exist.
    HANLEY: (portion missing) the secret, the point of the thing, when it comes down to it, it might just be that simple.
    VOICE: What are you talking about?
    HANLEY: I read Somerset Maugham over and over.
Ashenden.
About the secret agent in World War I, he reminded me that you were in Lausanne and that you probably took the same ferry boats between France and Switzerland that he did. All those years ago. When it was accepted finally. The need for spies. Reilly. Maugham. The people in BritIntell—I thought about you when I read those stories. Because of the location. You took that ferry.
    VOICE: Yes.
    HANLEY: I am not insane. I am not going insane. I am tired and I have time to think about things. I mean, sanity is understanding where your feet are planted, isn’t it? But I’m off my feet, I don’t have perspective anymore.
    VOICE: Seek professional help.
    HANLEY: Sarcasm. You have to help—
    VOICE: —no.
    HANLEY: (interrupted) secret. I think of one thing and think of another. I had a nutcracker when I was a child and—
    VOICE: Good-bye, Hanley.
    HANLEY: Wait. There are no spies. That’s what it means. There are no spies at all. But that’s not true. That’s the one thing I realize now. That’s not true.
    (Disconnect)
    February 28, time: 10:13 A.M. (Incoming call; location uncertain.)
    HANLEY: Hello? Hello?
    LYDIA NEUMANN: This is Lydia Neumann, Hanley. You’re still ill. I wanted to see how you were. Can I get you anything? I’m worried about you and we need you in Section.
    HANLEY: So we can pull our oars.
    NEUMANN: (Laughter)
    HANLEY: I need rest, that’s all I need.
    NEUMANN: Should I come over?
    HANLEY: … sleep at night. Traffic. Where are those people all rushing to?
    NEUMANN: Have you seen a doctor? Not Thompson. Don’t use Thompson.
    HANLEY: Thompson? He doesn’t know a damned thing. I understand his little game. Pills. I know all the secrets, you know, Mrs. Neumann. I know everything. You let me fool myself but you were onto the secret as well, weren’t you? This is a game in a computer and you’re the master of Tinkertoy. The mistress of Tinkertoy. So I’ll ask you: Where is my Nutcracker?
    NEUMANN: Hanley? Hanley? Are you all right?
    HANLEY: My Nutcracker. New Man knows, New Man (Neumann?) knows—
    NEUMANN: Hanley, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
    HANLEY: Spies, Neumann. I am talking about the whole business of spies. Of moles and sleepers and agents who come awake, of doubles and triples, of dogs who bark and dogs who bite, covert and overt, going into black and black bag operations, and the business of the trade. I am talking about goddamn bona fides and about software and I am telling you, I am going to get to the bottom of the whole damned business.
    NEUMANN: (garbled)
    HANLEY: Oh, you believe that. I know you do. There are no spies. But I