London Calling Read Online Free PDF Page A

our superiors. Given the choice, I would take the former alternative, but the decision is entirely—”
    With a sudden, sickening lurch, Susanna felt the crate she was standing on crack and then give way completely, sending her to the ground with a jolt that reverberated up her spine‌—‌and a crash that sounded as loud as a gunshot.
    Susanna dragged herself upright, ignoring the pain in her chest as the breath that had been knocked out of her rushed back into her lungs. But her foot was still trapped in between two of the broken slats of the crate, and she wasted several heart-pounding seconds in trying to tug it free. Inside, she could hear the sounds of the men’s alarm: chairs scraping backwards across the floor, cries of Who’s there? and What was that?
    James’s voice, sounding cool and faintly bored, cut across them all. “Probably some drunken beggar. You know how they come round, looking for a place to sleep for the night. Stay here and decide the time and place for our next meeting. I’ll go and drive the fellow off.”
    And then‌—‌just as Susanna at last managed to free herself from the broken crate and scramble to her feet‌—‌James was there, emerging from a door further along the alleyway and crossing to her in a few rapid strides.
    His face was in shadow, his expression impossible to read. Though there was light enough for her to make out the tension in the line of his shoulders, the rigid set of his jaw. For an instant he did not speak, only stood looking down at her. And Susanna, for her part, could only stare, as well.
    For days, now, she had been afraid for him, her every nerve strung tight with the fear that she might never see him again. And now he was here, standing before her, safe and alive. A part of her wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him, reassure herself that he truly was there. And part of her wanted to punch him in the jaw as hard as she could for the lies he had told her.
    At any rate, if she had been shocked to see James tonight, she had at least given him an equal shock with her presence. She could still recall that moment of absolute immobility that had struck him at the sight of her in the carriage. And now, even in the dark, he appeared as off-balance as she had ever seen him. His breathing sounded slightly uneven, and when he did move, it was to reach out and pull her into his arms.
    He held her tightly, so tightly that she could feel the hard planes of muscle in his arms and shoulders, the beat of his heart under the hand she had braced on his chest.
    “Good God, Susanna, what the devil’s chance was it that brought you here tonight? And what possessed you to follow me?” He drew back just enough that he could look down at her and spoke quickly, in a barely audible undertone. And before Susanna could answer, he went on, “You have to leave now‌—‌straight away. Get as far away from this place as you can.”
    Susanna’s head still spun. But she held onto him when he would have drawn away.
    “Not until you promise to tell me what this is all about, James.” She spoke in the same all-but-soundless whisper.
    She thought but could not be sure that a muscle jumped in James’s jaw. She knew at least that the arm she held felt abruptly as stiff‌—‌and as lifeless‌—‌as that of a stone statue. “I cannot.”
    “You cannot‌—‌or you will not?” Abruptly all the simmering fear and anger of the last days seemed to boil up inside her. “You lied to me, James! Deliberately lied. Who exactly is sending those false letters you wrote to me from Derbyshire? Your agent? Some friend at the War Office?”
    James ran a hand down his face. When he spoke his whispered voice was tight with control. “I had no choice. If you knew—”
    “That is just the point!” Susanna cut him off. “I did not know! I still do not.”
    “Those men in there—” James began.
    Susanna interrupted again. A distant voice in her mind informed her that when