Hemingway's Notebook Read Online Free PDF Page A

in good shape, I could probably torture him until he couldn’t stand the pain. But I can’t take the chance.”
    “What’s in the notebook?”
    “Secrets, I think. I don’t know. I’ve heard about Hemingway’s notebook for years.”
    “What can one old man know?”
    “What did the old priest know in Florida that was worth it to you six years ago?”
    Ready stared suddenly at Rita and she trembled because he looked insane.
    “What would you do with the secrets?” Devereaux said. His voice was without inflection and was very gentle.
    Colonel Ready stared at Rita Macklin before he spoke. He felt her hatred shine like warmth on his face. He felt a stirring between his legs. She would not break her stare in return.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Ready said to Devereaux. “You’ll do the job for me to get me on the right side. Everyone talks about Harry’s notebook. Even Harry. Except he keeps calling himself Hemingway. I think Harry is a little crazy, which you might expect after all those years in the trade. The notebook might be nothing more substantial than the Holy Grail but that doesn’t stop everyone from looking for it. The notebook is power because knowledge is power.”
    “If Harry is on the island, you have all his knowledge now,” Devereaux said.
    “Harry is an old man and he drinks too much. He can’t take too much hurt. If I torture him again he might die out of stubbornness and then he’d be worthless, wouldn’t he? I have Harry and no notebook and that’s a bad deal and it doesn’t mean very much. But if I have a notebook, then I really don’t need Harry anymore.”
    “And you can use it,” Devereaux said. “How will you use it?”
    “That’s my business,” Ready said. “You don’t need to know that.”
    “I won’t do it,” Devereaux said.
    Ready looked at him. “Yes. For your own sake. You like to be free of the trade, don’t you? I know you, Devereaux. You slipped the traces and slipped both sides and your file is closed. But if it gets opened again with the kind of information I could plant at Langley, the Big Red Machine would have to acknowledge they had made a mistake about you, that you weren’t really dead. November is dead and it doesn’t matter who November is. The name is used once and never again. You’re November dead and I can make November alive and you know I can. So you’ll work for me, just a little job. I’ve tried my best with Harry, but I have a country to run.” He smiled. “I can’t spend all my time trying to find something that might not even exist.”
    “And if it doesn’t exist?”
    “Then you’ll have to prove that to me. The burden is on you. It isn’t fair, I know that, but it’s the way I have to operate.”
    “Just me.”
    “No. I want leverage. You could be dangerous in the old days, Devereaux. You’re slower now but so am I. And I’ll keep Rita near me just in case you want to change the rules of the game in the middle. I won’t harm her. In a little while, this will all be over for both of you.”
    “No,” he said.
    “What do you say, Rita?” Colonel Ready touched her hand and it was cold. “For his sake. For your sake.” He looked at Devereaux. “You put this scam together and you have to see it through. You kill me now and you will be hunted again, believe me.”
    “What do you want me to do?” Devereaux said and Rita stared at him and did not believe his words.
    “I am watched going in and coming out. I’ll leave at noon. The next direct flight connects through Paris and Guadeloupe to St. Michel at noon each day. I will be on the plane Wednesday. Miss Macklin will follow on Thursday. And you will follow on Friday.”
    “No,” Devereaux said. “I don’t know St. Michel, but there are too many coincidental passages to your… island… from the same European port. She can follow in two days but not from Paris.”
    “There’s a roundabout flight using Frankfurt to Miami—”
    “Yes. And in four days, I’ll