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.And Pendleton, who might normally be expected to hold the bag on it, got a promotion for rounding up a Soviet spy ring in the West.I never quite believed in that.I never trusted Pendleton.I still don’t.I’m experiencing déjà vu and I want to get out of the trap.”“Why is that?”“Mickey, I can’t get to Pendleton at all.The problem is with the blackmail.If I tell you the blackmail, then you’ve got it over me, too.I’ve got to have the blackmail destroyed.”“And what about Pendleton?”Devereaux stared at the man.Mickey’s eyes were mild behind the rimless glasses.The prayerful hands unfolded.“Kevin, take a walk.I want to talk to this fella alone.”Kevin got up.“You want a piece?”“I don’t need a piece, do I, Devereaux?”Devereaux shook his head but kept his eyes on Mickey.Kevin closed the door behind him.“The point is,” Mickey said.“If I do for you, what can you do for me?”“That’s the point,” Devereaux said.“Tell me.”“I can get you the code machine, first of all.The price is supposed to be fifteen million.”“It exists then, it really does?” Mickey couldn’t help the enthusiasm that suddenly colored his voice.The rumor of a year’s time, heard in a dozen places, was really true.“The price is supposed to be fifteen million,” Devereaux said.“Your Langley reports were right about Denisov.He’s waiting for it.”“How do you know?”“I just came from talking to him.”“Why’d you do that?”“Because you expected it,” Devereaux said.His gray eyes stared with the vacant intensity of a timber wolf watching its prey.Mickey Connors got up.It was too much.Nervous energy led him to the window.He looked out at the murky waters off the beach.“Let’s get out of here.I can’t sit in a room right now, I want to stretch out.Let’s take a ride along the beach and see where the road goes.”Devereaux led the way to the lobby and across to the entrance.It was cooler; the wind had shifted to the west and the wind carried the smell and feel of the water.The rental Cadillac was not a limousine.Mickey said, “You drive.”“Don’t you drive?”“I never learned,” Mickey said.Devereaux smiled.“You weren’t interested.”“Driving was never gonna make me a dime.A smart Irishman knows his pleasures and knows what’s for fun and what’s for money.Driving don’t seem much fun to me.”Devereaux got behind the wheel.Mickey settled in the passenger seat.They went east along Cabrillo Boulevard on the road toward Carpenteria.The traffic was very light; it was too early for anything.“You want me to ace the smoke for you,” Mickey Connors said.“That’s a very big favor.”“You can get the machine for nothing,” Devereaux said.“You gonna kill Denisov?”“It’s more complicated than that.This is a setup, Mickey, a setup against me and you.Pendleton again.”“Your favorite black fella,” Mickey Connors said.“Pendleton was in Zurich a long time ago.Just in time to take me to the hospital.I wondered about that for a long time, the head of Paris desk suddenly appearing in Zurich after a botched job he set me up in.He puts me out there to distract you.That’s got to be it.He isn’t going to deal with you, Mickey, and if it takes my life to stop you from getting the machine, well, that’s an acceptable loss.”“A nice fella,” Mickey said.Devereaux decided.It was an act of betrayal of Section.It was outside all the rules of the game.“I saw the middle man.Mr.Outside.The man dealing with Denisov.”Mickey caught his breath.He stared at the man with gray eyes and tried to see the truth in them.“Why would you tell me?”“Too much coincidence.Denisov to begin with.Denisov and I fought our good fights a long time ago.And now I saw the face of the middle man.”“Who is it?”“An ex-Stasi.A terrorist named Kurt Heinemann.The man I was sent to get out of Zurich a long time ago.Except I got shot and he got away and there was Pendleton on the scene.”“I don’t know about Zurich—”“You don’t have to.This is a trap, Mickey, some kind of fucking trap and I’m swimming right in it like fifteen years ago.Déjà vu.I don’t like any of it.”“Why are you telling me?”“To have a witness.In case I go down.How did Kurt Heinemann get inside Consortium International? Langley doesn’t know about him and Langley is backing off this in any case because Denisov was the spy turned by Section—not Langley.Denisov is getting a code machine.He thinks he’s dealing with Langley through Consortium.”Mickey understood then.“He’s really dealing with R Section.”“And you’re in the cold, Mickey.And so am I.” There was mist on the pavement, clinging like spider webs to trees and bushes on the roadside.“I called Hanley.”“Hanley.”“You know, my old clout inside Section.Pushed aside by Pendleton.I ran Kurt Heinemann’s name past him.Nothing in our files.This is Pendleton’s private stash and Kurt Heinemann is his secret.It has to be.”The mist became rain, light and flickering.The wipers clicked back and forth, keeping time for the separate thoughts of the men in the car.“You’re stepping outside the rules, Devereaux, aren’t you?”“Pendleton started it.He’s out of bounds, out of control.He’s trying to blackmail me into getting to you, getting to Langley, making you lose the machine and making you dirty to Langley.I want you to take care of it for me, Mickey.And I’ll get you the machine.”Silence.“What about it?” Devereaux finally said.“We’re talking killing here?”“You know what we’re talking about,” Devereaux said.He stared straight ahead.“You’re a bastard, right down deep, isn’t that right?”Devereaux said nothing.“What’s the blackmail?” Mickey asked again.“You’ll do it.”“Something will be done.”“I don’t think you’ve got a lot of time.When I get the machine away from Denisov, you’ll have to have the other thing done.”“It won’t cost me a dime?”“Not a dime.It’s going to cost Consortium International.That ought to make you happy.”Mickey Connors grinned.“Happy as a pig in shit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]