by Bill Granger
“All right,” Devereaux said.
He got down in the mud on his knees. The wind was cold. It was too early in the season to put out the tables. Ready came around the car and stood in front of him.
“Why did you wait at Chartres?”
“I wanted to understand something.”
“What?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Did you get it figured out?”
“Yes. In a way.”
“I go after the girl next,” Ready said. He smiled. “I don’t care about the nigger baby, but I owe the girl something.”
“She’s safe. She’s watched.”
“No one is safe,” Ready said.
It was perfectly true. They were apart from each other for a moment, listening to the North Sea wind howl over the brown, broken fields.
“Chop, chop, just like Nam,” Ready said. He smiled down at Devereaux on his knees. Madness glittered in his blue eyes.
“You want to die,” he said. “You have the look, the sleep look. You wait to die.” His voice was a little awed by what he saw in Devereaux’s face.
He took a step to Devereaux’s side.
Devereaux raised his right hand and touched him. “Please,” he said.
Ready half turned toward him.
It was the perfect position.
Devereaux drove the blade of the Swiss army knife high into Ready’s liver, through flesh and bowel. The knife pierced the pancreas in that demonic thrust. It was all shoulder, arm, hand, leveraged into the body from the man on his knees.
Ready blinked and saw blood-red at the edge of blackness. He blinked again and fired.
The shot made a thump through the silencer and tore a bloody chunk from Devereaux’s shoulder. He fell back, toward the ditch, but he held the knife and it snagged at the ribcage and he dragged Ready on top of him.
They were falling in a dream. They fell around and around, fell to earth and beneath the earth, and could not touch the sides.
In this dream of falling, Devereaux raises the knife above his head and plunges it into Ready’s right eye and Ready begins to scream. The scream rises and Devereaux, so slowly, pulls the knife out of the blood-soaked eye and the other eye is staring and he plunges the knife into his neck, slowly, beneath the chin, rending the voice box. The scream becomes a slow, gurgling bubble of blood foaming on his lips, but the face stares at him, judges him, and Ready is laughing still in silence as they fall together.
In the dream, Devereaux raises his knife again and again, slashing at the dread beneath him. Ready holds him as they fall and if he can cut him away, perhaps the falling will stop. He plunges the knife down and it is covered with blood, his hand is covered with blood, their blood comingles.
His breath comes in sobs and he opens his eyes and there is no dream. The dread is beneath his body, is covered with blood. Ready’s mouth is covered with blood and his mortality can be seen in the one staring eye which sees nothing.
Devereaux rose in the ditch, covered with blood and mud. He stood in the mud and looked across the empty fields. Some of the fields were turned for planting and others covered with the brown haze of rotting stalks. He stared across the fields, dumb and in pain, and he saw them. At the horizon were the twin spires of the great church against the low sky. It was the view of the peasant eight hundred years ago; it was the vision of the pilgrim, coming to Chartres to find his faith. He stared at the spires of the church in the distance and then, after a long moment, turned and climbed up to the road.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An award-winning novelist and reporter, Bill Granger was raised in a working-class neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. He began his extraordinary career in 1963 when, while still in college, he joined the staff of United Press International. He later worked for the Chicago Tribune, writing about crime, cops, and politics, and covering such events as the race riots of the late 1960s and the 1968 Democratic Convention. In 1969, he joined the staff of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he won an Associated Press award for his story of a participant in the My Lai Massacre. He also wrote a series of stories on Northern Ireland for Newsday—and unwittingly added to a wealth of information and experiences that would form the foundations of future spy thrillers and mystery novels. By 1978, Bill Granger had contributed articles to Time, the New Republic, and other magazines; and become a daily columnist, television critic, and teacher of journalism at Columbia College in Chicago.
He began his literary career in 1979 with Code Name November (originally published as The November Man), the book that became an international sensation and introduced the cool American spy who later gave rise to a whole series. His second novel, Public Murders, a Chicago police procedural, won the Edgar® Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1981.
In all, Bill Granger published twenty-two novels, including thirteen in the November Man series, and three nonfiction books. In 1980, he began weekly columns in the Chicago Tribune on everyday life (he was voted best Illinois columnist by UPI), which were collected in the book Chicago Pieces. His books have been translated into ten languages.
Bill Granger passed away in 2012.
Also by Bill Granger
The November Man series
Code Name November (previously published as The November Man)
Schism
The Shattered Eye
The British Cross
The Zurich Numbers
Hemingway’s Notebook
The November Man (previously published as There Are No Spies)
The Infant of Prague
Henry McGee Is Not Dead
The Man Who Heard Too Much
League of Terror
The Last Good German
Burning the Apostle
Other Novels
Drover
Drover and the Zebras
Public Murders
Newspaper Murders
Priestly Murders
The El Murders
Time for Frankie Coolin
Sweeps
Queen’s Crossing
Nonfiction
Chicago Pieces
The Magic Feather
Fighting Jane
Lords of the Last Machine (with Lori Granger)
PRAISE FOR BILL GRANGER AND THE NOVEMBER MAN SERIES
THE NOVEMBER MAN
“Chilling… seems to move with the speed of light.”
—Pittsburgh Press
“Should keep you reading to the end… an engrossing book about the world of computers, treachery, slow or sudden death, and ‘doing things wrong for all the right reasons.’ ”
—Chicago Tribune
“Crisp style, well-mannered prose, and inexorable tension characterize this worthy addition to the successful November Man series. Granger once again displays his winning talent for manipulating traditional elements of intrigue… highly recommended.”
—Library Journal
“Granger’s November Man series has been consistently entertaining and interesting, far surpassing much of the work done in the espionage genre. This addition to the list maintains that consistency… builds almost perfectly to an exciting finish… on the mark.”
—Publishers Weekly
“First-rate… This gripping novel provides further proof that November Man has grown into one of the most complex fictional spies on the current scene.”
—Booklist
CODE NAME NOVEMBER
“Mr. Granger has combined Ian Fleming, John le Carré, and Trevanian in a heady mix… He handles all the elements with real virtuosity.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Granger is one of our premier spy novelists. His Devereaux is the perfect spy for these less than perfect times.”
—People
“A novelist of superb talent who has mastered the genre and brought to it a distinctly American viewpoint.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“A serious American writer of the first rank… Like Hemingway, Gra
nger learned the technical aspects of his craft through newspaper work. The result is lean and uniquely American.”
—National Review
SCHISM
“An intelligently crafted thriller… lean prose and intricate plotting.”
—Los Angeles Times
“The mysteries and motives here turn out to be suitably momentous… all of the characters are vulnerably likeable… solid entertainment.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“True and dramatic and entertaining… Schism stands on its own.”
—Chicago Tribune
THE SHATTERED EYE
“The Shattered Eye is a page-turner of the first order.”
—Denver Post
“It catches you on the first page and propels you through to the end at an accelerating speed.”
—Chicago Tribune Book World
THE BRITISH CROSS
“Sharp and suspenseful… A fine piece of work.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Never lets readers relax. This one belongs on the top shelf.”
—New York Daily News
“Granger handles all the elements of real virtuosity.”
—New York Times
THE ZURICH NUMBERS
“An invigorating thriller. Granger is a fine, serious storyteller… His simple, meaty prose is a perfect complement to the intricacies of the plot.”
—Publishers Weekly
“An ingenious, imaginative plot… The November Man has a steely, indomitable quality that raises him to Bond’s superstar status.”
—Kansas City Star
HEMINGWAY’S NOTEBOOK
“Granger writes like a shooting star. His plots and characters and dialogue are so good… It’s chilling stuff… a single page will grip the reader with an impact that other writers would use a chapter to pull off.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Fast-moving, action-packed, violent, and ultimately very satisfying.”
—Christian Science Monitor
“This lean, suspenseful tale, peopled with compelling characters, has a drive and signature all its own.”
—Publishers Weekly
THE INFANT OF PRAGUE
“Fascinating… compelling… Devereaux, The November Man, is back, and we’re all a little richer for it.”
—Chicago Tribune
“The characters are lively; the plot is as rapidly and smoothly paced as it is complex; the humor arrives without warning, and Granger continues to juggle the pieces while producing a unique spy thriller.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Colorful… wonderfully complex… readers will delight in Granger’s deft unraveling of the skeins in this terrific page-turner.”
—Publishers Weekly
HENRY MCGEE IS NOT DEAD
“The plot moves smoothly… Granger writes crisply… Devereaux provides a satisfactory ending.”
—San Antonio Express-News
THE MAN WHO HEARD TOO MUCH
“The action is swift and brutal… his sense of characters is powerful. As ever with Granger, the prose is the opposite of the bloodless stuff of techno-thrillers.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Granger’s plots can be as intricate as the best le Carré… Granger is a master of fooling the unwary reader.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Bill Granger is a rarity among writers of serious novels. Each of his books seems better than before.”
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
LEAGUE OF TERROR
“Granger writes a very, very good espionage thriller.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Granger is a pro, with polished writing skills… [that] spur the reader on.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Snappily paced thriller… Staccato stylist Granger delivers easy-reading entertainment via plot and counterplot.”
—Publishers Weekly
THE LAST GOOD GERMAN
“The Last Good German is the twelfth November Man novel, and may be one of the best… The characters are complex and the plot is an unusual wheels-within-wheels puzzle.”
—Baltimore Sun
BURNING THE APOSTLE
“Granger’s icy Devereaux has entered into the halls of legendary thriller characters… electrifying… the narrative races along, snappily paced with wickedly effective dialogue. Devereaux remains the most believable character in current spy fiction.”
—Tampa Tribune Times
“With their eerily plausible plots and intriguingly complex protagonist, Granger’s November Man novels rank among the finest examples of espionage fiction.”
—Publishers Weekly
Don’t miss the other exciting books in the bestselling November Man series
Code Name November (previously published as The November Man)
Schism
The Shattered Eye
The British Cross
The Zurich Numbers
Hemingway’s Notebook
The November Man (previously published as There Are No Spies)
The Infant of Prague
Henry McGee Is Not Dead
The Man Who Heard Too Much
League of Terror
The Last Good German
Burning the Apostle
And look for the major motion picture The November Man!
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Epigraph
Author’s Note
1. The Age of Faith
2. The Age of Reason
3. Miki’s Train
4. Julie on Line 2
5. The Neumann Solution
6. Prague Has No Tears
7. The Messenger
8. Ways of Persuasion
9. Ready or Not
10. In Kafka’s Land
11. Varieties of Religious Experience
12. The Man Who Limped Away
13. The Drowning Sailor
14. Train Moving East
15. Coincidences
16. The Price of a Spy
17. The American Prisoners
18. One Morning in Brussels
19. The Infant of Prague
20. Life for a Life
21. Looking for Anna
22. Bargain
23. Methods
24. The California Message
25. Devereaux Goes Home
26. Damme
27. Out of Control
28. This Little Fishy
29. Competition
30. Illusions of Faith
31. The Slavic Soul
32. Night Call
33. Operation
34. Cernan’s Game
35. Mannekin-Pis
36. Run
37. Targets
38. The Sick Man
39. Safe Conducts
40. Without Illusions
41. The Untouchables
42. The Last Thing
About the Author
Also by Bill Granger
Praise for Bill Granger and the November Man Series
Don’t Miss the Bestselling November Man Series
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 1987 by Granger and Granger, Inc.
Cover design by Elizabeth Connor
Photo of man © Sergey Mironov/Shutter
stock
Photo of Prague © Boris Stroujko/Shutterstock
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Originally published by Warner Books.
First ebook edition: October 2014
Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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ISBN 978-1-4555-3028-1
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