The Invisible Assassin Read Online Free PDF

In that one stupid act he’d finished them.
    He’d tried to talk to her since, but she’d just hung up on him. He’d tried hanging around places he knew she went, but she had successfully avoided him, her friends had seen to that. The same when he’d tried calling on her at the university. Each time he’d received very firm instructions that ‘Ms Graham does not wish to see you’.
    And Robert the rugby player had called at Jake’s flat one day and warned him that if he didn’t lay off, then he, Robert, would make sure that Jake would be in no state to carry on chasing Lauren this way. Jake took the hint.
    Six weeks ago, he’d sent her a birthday card to mark her nineteenth birthday, and written ‘Sorry’ inside the card, but she hadn’t replied.
    He sipped at his coffee and checked his watch. Five past one. She wasn’t coming. She was paying him back. She was standing him up.
    And then he saw her, entering the precinct, looking around for him. Seeing her, her long coat swirling around her legs, her slim briefcase held under one arm, her long dark hair framing her face, he felt a pain inside and he wanted to rush to her and grab her, kiss her, hold her as he’d held her so many times before. Instead, he stood up and waved, and she walked slowly over. There was a look of wariness on her face.
    ‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Thanks for coming. Coffee? Tea?’
    ‘Nothing,’ she said.
    She sat down.
    ‘So,’ she said. ‘Unconventional science.’
    ‘Or maybe hallucination,’ said Jake. ‘At least, that’s what the doctor at the department said. Caused by a leak of toxic gas.’
    Lauren didn’t reply, just sat waiting for Jake to go on.
    ‘This isn’t easy for me,’ said Jake.
    ‘Nor for me,’ said Lauren. She hesitated, and looked as if she was about to say something personal. Her eyes still held that wounded look he’d seen in them at the wedding. But instead she sighed and said, ‘Let’s stick to the science, Jake.’
    Jake nodded, and he told her what had happened, starting with the protestors and the ‘fairy ring’, and then the actual events at the building site: the construction worker turning into something inhuman. And about his feelings that his department was trying to conceal something. All the while Lauren listened, and Jake was relieved to notice that her expression had softened as he talked, her eyes showing curiosity.
    ‘There was nothing on the news about this,’ she said, when he’d finished. ‘Or on the web.’
    ‘The department put a Schedule D notice on the story,’ said Jake. ‘A news blackout.’
    ‘And where do I come in?’ asked Lauren.
    ‘Because I thought it was your kind of thing,’ said Jake. ‘Odd stuff. I mean, say it wasn’t a hallucination but it was real. It felt real. It still feels real.’
    ‘And how would you know if it was?’
    Jake hesitated, then asked, ‘Have you ever heard of Sigma?’
    Lauren nodded.
    ‘It’s a letter of the Greek alphabet.’
    ‘Not the Greek alphabet one. It could be a code or something. Maybe a secret organisation.’
    Lauren shook her head.
    ‘How about Malichea . . . ?’
    ‘The Order of Malichea?’
    Jake could tell she was intrigued by his mentioning the word. He shrugged.
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Jake. ‘Possibly. It was a word written in a report about this incident in the files at the department.’
    ‘The reference might make sense, if it is,’ mused Lauren. ‘I wanted to write a thesis on the Order of Malichea, but my professor said the subject wasn’t academic enough. In fact, he said it was more suitable for science fiction.’
    ‘Why?’
    Lauren shrugged.
    ‘Narrow-minded, I guess, like much of the scientific establishment.’
    ‘Well . . . who are they? This . . . Order of Malichea?’
    ‘Were,’ corrected Lauren. ‘They were a religious order, or semi-religious, devoted to the study of science. In particular, what were called “heretical sciences”. Things that didn’t fit with what the