The Unseen Read Online Free PDF Page A

down. He smelt her body, a sharp, rancid odour. A small rat dog lay beside her.

    “When did you last have a bath?” he asked.

    “Don’t get personal, mate. A quid will do.”

    The imperfections of this creature brought a sense of nausea. Was she a hostile or a potential recruit? He had to test her, change her and restore his faith in female perfection. He had two hours spare before work, also a place in which he could secure her and later practise his techniques in training and obedience. “Want to make real money?” He heard the tone of sincerity in his voice, sincerity gained from lessons at drama school. He felt confident in his ability to deceive.
     
    “I don’t do sex,” she said, her lip curled.

    “From where I’m standing, you don’t have sex to offer.”

    “Piss off.” She reached for the dog which growled in guttural menace.

    He would have kicked her, but at 8 a.m. the pavements were getting busy with early workers. He smiled a little and tried to keep his brain cool as he produced two, twenty-pound notes. Her punishment could wait. “I’m looking for eyes, not tits. I’m not interested in what’s under your clothes but what’s in your brain.”

    She drew up her legs and wrapped them with her arms, hiding what figure lay beneath two Tshirts and baggy jeans. “You’re standing on my patch, geezer. Either give, or fuck off.” She looked away.

    Mark dropped a twenty-pound note at her feet, nodding in satisfaction when she snatched it with the speed of a darting lizard. Her expression changed from bored indifference to cunning.

    “Plenty more where that came from. No sex, I just want you to beg, and watch.”

    “While you jerk off, bloody weirdo.”

    Mark felt the vacuum of a black void hollowing into his brain. Now he would make her suffer, truly suffer. She would end up screaming. He elevated the situation to live engagement. Objective one - penetration of hostile confidence. His smile widened. “Lady, I got a hard shell and you are rightly suspicious, that’s good. I wouldn’t be interested in a sucker. Truth is, I’m recruiting for MI5.”

    Then she laughed. The noise was a screech on stale breath that soiled the very air he stood in. For Mark it confirmed his suspicions, she was a hostile. No Brit woman would smell the way she did or foul the air with her stinking breath. Cindy’s breath was pure and sweet, the kiss of an angel. This smart arsed bitch was an alien whore. He let his smile grow wide.

    “Not so far-fetched as you think, miss. Street people are perfectly suited for unobtrusive surveillance. If you watched the building across the road, who would notice? If I stood here for even five minutes, I’d be sussed immediately. It’s twenty minutes walk to Thames House, Milbank, MI5 Headquarters. You get forty pounds for the walk. Fifty pounds for an interview. Your country needs you, lady.”

    “You kidding me?”

    Mark shook his head and held up the remaining twenty. “I kid you not. You any idea how many terrorist groups operate here?” he said, and watched her stand, watched her come up for the bait. She was maybe eighteen, maybe older, definitely female in a scrawny sort of way.

    “We’re gonna stay on the pavement, always in full view of everyone?”

    “Down Whitehall, past Parliament, past Lambeth Bridge to Thames House. Straight through the middle of law and democracy.”

    “Give, and you’re on.” She reached for the twenty.

    He drew the note backwards, enticing her hand to follow, ensnaring, playing her on the line. This was so easy. “When we get there. You’re not stupid, neither is MI5.”

    “Don’t mess with me. I want a tenner now before I go anywhere.”

    Mark tore the note in half and pushed the Queen’s head into the neck of her T-shirt. Would she scream as she died, would she not? “You get the other half on arrival, plus an extra twenty for expenses.”

    The rat dog shifted round to her feet, staring upward, one paw raised,