The Spy Read Online Free PDF Page B

booth is reserved where we can talk undisturbed, and our conversation must not be overheard. Do you have that?”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œNot a word of this to anyone, do you understand?”
    Valerie stared at the phone. “Yes, sir.”
    â€œFine. I know you can be trusted. See you tomorrow, then. Good-bye.”
    â€œThank you, Commander,” Valerie Sinclair said. “Good-bye for now.” She said it as an afterthought. It was more like a question. She turned then, and saw the safe already secured. Gathering up her purse—what in the world could he want?—she switched off the lights, locking the door. In the Administrative Offices of Grasshopper Bay, the upper windows were turning dark. She walked downstairs and made her way across the yard, digging out her pass....
    â€œâ€˜ello love, what we doin’ tonight?”
    â€œWe?”
    The guard wanted to chat. She left him hanging and entered the street. Wind flapped at her skirt. She crossed over, walking along the promenade to her flat. She had worked later than usual, and the long English day was at its best. Weymouth glowed in its beams of sunlight spearing in from the sea. Her thoughts went to the call from Commander Hamilton.
    Would he be on to her about the Lea Francis?
    Had he told Lieutenant Carrington? Could that explain why Carrington had been acting odd? In the cross-country, they’d told her to get there—they hadn’t told her how . That bloke who came in second had probably filed a complaint. See you, Harry. Valerie wadded her guilt up in her chewing gum and tossed it in a can.
    Twilight bathed the streets.
    Suddenly, she felt she was being followed: nothing concrete, just a feeling of apprehension. She looked back. Did she see a man in a dark coat, slipping behind a shelter on the promenade—just there, where the Queen Victoria clock stood? After that strange conversation with Commander Hamilton, one could imagine anything. She turned and continued walking. It was still a good fifteen minutes to her flat. Daylight, which had filled the streets, disappeared from the horizon.
    Darkness had come.
    There seemed to be fewer people around. A wind had risen. Actually, what with papers flying, all she could see was a man in a trench coat, walking, some distance ahead.
    She heard footsteps behind her—this time it was not imagination! She was definitely being followed. She must not continue walking along the front. It was too dangerous!
    Now, even the man in the trench coat had disappeared, probably into a side road, which led off the main one. She must do the same, before the follower caught her up. He must not discover where she lived!
    Trash rustled along the curb. She rounded the comer. Footsteps echoed from cribs of stone. She passed the man in the trench coat. He was wearing a wide-brimmed hat. Shadows concealed his face. Hurrying forward, she got an eerie feeling:
    He didn’t seem to have one!
    She reached an alcove, stepped inside, and looked back. Her pursuer had appeared at the corner, in a dark coat and tall. He was reaching for something in his pocket. Was it a gun? He would have to pass the other man before he could get to her. Instead, he donned his cap and opened the door of a limousine.
    A bus was coming. She pushed out of the alcove and crossed the street. The man without a face, standing amidst the stones and stairwells, seemed to have vanished.
    She boarded, and found a seat. The bus accelerated. Behind it, following at a safe distance, a silver and black limousine was keeping it in view. Her pulse was racing—she had to get her breath! She wiped at her hair, adjusted her clothes, and looked back...at empty streets. She felt such a fool! Five minutes from the downtown area, she was soon among happier surroundings.
    She stepped off the bus, and onto the esplanade, making her way back to the Gloucester Hotel. Adjacent to the Royal, the exquisite luxury of the place had not been