Evil for Evil Read Online Free PDF

let her go through that again. I couldn’t go through it again.
    I knocked on her door. No answer. I called to her, rattled the door handle. Silence. I looked at my watch. Ten minutes. I ran to my room down the hall and threw my kit together, shaving gear, soap, and comb wrapped into a hotel towel and stuffed in my field bag with one good spare shirt and a few other articles of clothing. There was just enough room for a bottle of Bushmills Irish whiskey, half empty, and a paperback book I’d been reading, also about half done. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. It was a murder mystery about a detective working for a general. Seemed right up my alley.
    I buckled on my web belt with the .45 automatic snug in its holster. I patted the pouches for the extra clips and did a quick check around the room. I had my razor, toothbrush, clean shirt, booze, book, automatic, and ammo. Everything I needed for a long trip to Belfast. Five minutes to go.
    I began to write Diana a note, then realized I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure about anything. Not her, myself, or where the war might take us. After seeing Kay’s note from Uncle Ike, I wasn’t sure whom I could trust or if trust even mattered anymore. Maybe I was a fool. I thought about saying I was sorry but I wasn’t. I looked at my watch. Five minutes. I wrote fast.

    Diana— I’ve been called away. Ask the general for details. I can’t say anything. May be gone for a while. Let’s start over when I get back. Stay safe.
    Billy

    I’m no Raymond Chandler, that’s for sure. I thought “stay safe” was good, though. It might mean stay safe at headquarters or it could mean be safe on your SOE mission. I slipped it under her door, and then wished I’d signed it Love, Billy . I was a fool. Too late for love—that summed up the day so far. I stood in the hallway, waiting for a sound to come from within the room. It was quiet, so at least she wasn’t inside, ignoring me.
    Two minutes. I had to go. Where had all my fine Irish words gone when I needed them? No wonder they called it the gift of gab; mine had deserted me. I could blather the whole day and into the night but when it came to putting a few words on paper for the woman I loved, I was lost, tongue-tied, reduced to a few trite lines.
    I cursed myself as I ran through the lobby and out through the pink sandstone arches. Cypress trees shaded the walkway, lending swatches of green to the dusty pinks, beiges, and browns covering the landscape. I glanced back at the hotel, wondering if Diana had opened her door and found my note. Perhaps she was looking out a window and watching me leave, pack slung over my back. Part of me was glad to be going, I was ashamed to admit. It was a way out of my troubles. Not the best way but there was no denying it: I was off to another part of the world, and whatever was going to happen would happen without me. It might be the best thing for Diana and me, I told myself. Like I’d said in the note, when I got back, we could start over. And what if she wasn’t around when I got back? Well, I had a long plane ride to figure that one out. I felt the same about Uncle Ike and Kay. Now that I knew something was going on between them, I was secretly relieved that Major Cosgrove had showed up to rescue me from these crosscurrents of passion and deception.
    I didn’t like the way things had turned out on this little side trip to the Holy Land. It was supposed to have been fun, a break from the routine of war: the paperwork, the waiting, the moments of terror, the lousy food, and more sudden terror. Instead, the people I loved were acting in ways I didn’t understand, moving away from me, shifting and changing the few precious things I had counted on. Damned if it didn’t feel good to leave that hotel behind me.
    A British Army corporal gave me one of their backhanded salutes that always made me think they were slapping their foreheads. I gave him a snappy one in return and tossed him my