The Summer Soldier by Nicholas Guild Read Free Book Online Page B

sound so devastatingly simple.
    “How much risk?”
    “Considerable. Why? Does it matter?” Down’s
eyes were steady on his own now, as if the question were a
challenge. Which, of course, it was. Guinness simply smiled,
eventually forcing a smile from Down.
    “It depends.”
    “Look, young man,” Down began, in the manner
of someone making an incontrovertibly obvious statement, “we have
been watching you very carefully since you were brought to our
attention. We have checked into your background, and I mean from
the day you were born; research is one of our strong points. And
you look the type to do the kind of work we have in mind, and
believe me when I tell you that we know the type.”
    He picked up his cup again, and his manner
seemed to soften with his voice.
    “Besides, I have an idea you’d like to stay
in this country. You came over here to study, didn’t you? Well, we
can see to that.”
    “Just exactly what was it you had in
mind?”
    Down smiled his magic smile again and reached
over to pat Guinness on the arm.
    “That’s the lad.”
    The rain had let up for a while by the time
Guinness paid his check and left. Down, who was a good psychologist
and knew that starvation is the handmaiden of fear, had given him
two one pound notes so he could think things over on a full
stomach. Two pounds—just enough to keep him comfortable through
tomorrow, but not enough to fill him with unreasonable hope. Well,
he wasn’t going to waste them on little cream cakes and watery tea.
He felt the need of some protein and had plans with reference to
something like a chophouse.
    Down had made it sound like the most obvious
thing in the world, just the sort of thing any well brought up
young American would do in an instant if he suddenly needed a few
bills to tide him over. Facilis descensus Averno.
    “There is a man who for various reasons which
need not greatly concern you has made himself objectionable to a
certain department of Her Majesty’s government. We would in fact,
as you so cleverly divined, like you to kill him for us.”
    “Are you kidding?”
    “Young man, I never kid about such
matters.”
    “Who is he?”
    “For the moment that needn’t concern you
either. You’ll be told everything you need to know if you decide to
take the job, and until then the less you know the better. You
should, however, in all fairness be warned that he is very
dangerous; it won’t be at all like robbing little girls of their
sweet shop money. It will require planning and intelligence.”
    Down sipped his tea as calmly as if he were
discussing Georgian furniture. “You will, of course, be paid in
advance, and you will have five days, no more, in which to do the
job.”
    “What would keep me from just taking the
money and cutting out?”
    Down’s eyes narrowed. No, he wasn’t kidding.
And, no, he wasn’t discussing Georgian furniture.
    “Young man, I have very unpleasant friends
all over the world, any one of whom would do a number on you just
as a professional courtesy. It’s a kind of rule we have: Human life
isn’t worth very much, almost nothing in fact, but money is sacred.
Everyone has to get full value. If you have any notions of doing a
flit, I suggest you just forget them. As I said, research is one of
our strong points—we’re frightfully good at finding people.”
    So there it was. He was given a telephone
number to call if he decided to go through with it, and he had
until eight the next morning to decide.
    “Don’t be shy, lad. You just call any time
you like. I live alone and I’m a light sleeper.”
    The sky was still the color of mud and looked
like it might break loose again any second, so Guinness made his
way back to the shop where he had pawned his coat and redeemed it
for six and six. He also stopped in at a chemist and bought a razor
for half a crown. There was no reason he should go around looking
like a vagrant, even if he was one. In the men’s room of one of the
big department stores