Blood Red City by Justin Richards Page A

it.’ She left without looking back, pausing only to pay at the till on the way out.
    â€˜Charlie’ got up almost immediately. He handed a few coins to the girl at the till, not waiting for his change, and followed Sarah out into the street.
    As soon as he stepped through the door, a man appeared in front of him. Charlie made to step round him, but the man moved with him.
    â€˜Leave her,’ the man said.
    â€˜I beg your pardon?’ Charlie frowned, tried to push the man out of the way.
    But the man resisted, catching hold of his arm. ‘I said leave her. You had your chance, you did you best, and she didn’t fall for it.’
    â€˜I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    â€˜Yes you do. So don’t be a poor loser. She passed the test, she didn’t tell you anything about herself, did she? Probably not even her name.’
    Charlie’s silence gave the man his answer.
    â€˜So make your report and leave it at that.’
    â€˜Afraid she might crack if I keep at it?’ Charlie demanded. ‘Isn’t that the point?’
    The man smiled. ‘Usually, perhaps. But Sparrow Hawk is a very special case. I don’t want her upset or intimidated.’
    Charlie made to go, but the man’s hand clamped down on his shoulder, squeezing it painfully tight. The man’s eyes were flint-hard and there was an unpleasant edge to his voice. ‘Understand?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Charlie muttered. ‘Yes, you’ve made your point.’ He stared at the man for a moment as he tried to twist free, seeing him closely for the first time. ‘Hey – aren’t you…?’
    The man let go of his shoulder. ‘I get that a lot,’ he said.
    *   *   *
    Sarah’s suspicions were confirmed the next day. Summoned to Major Woolridge’s office, she was surprised to find that there were already two other men in the room.
    â€˜Come in, Sparrow Hawk,’ Woolridge said. ‘I believe you already know Captain Philcox, and Corporal Innes.’
    Sarah nodded. ‘Hello, Charlie,’ she said to Philcox. She turned to the corporal. ‘And I assume you’re the man who wanted to buy me a new coat. Or was it a pair of knickers?’
    Innes coloured and stammered a greeting.
    â€˜You did well,’ Woolridge told her. ‘Not many people spot they’re being tailed on the first outing. Even fewer manage to lose their minder.’
    â€˜And what about Charlie?’ Sarah asked.
    â€˜You’d be surprised how many of the ladies fall for a handsome young man with a plausible manner. Though I have to say a higher proportion of the men are taken in by a pretty young woman. It gives the secretaries here an amusing side line.’
    â€˜And if I had been taken in, as you put it?’ Sarah asked. She glanced at ‘Charlie’. It would have been easy to succumb, easy to tell him a bit of what she did to try to impress him.
    â€˜Well, you’re something of a special case, I gather,’ Woolridge said. ‘But for anyone else, it’s the end of any career they might have thought they had with SOE.’
    â€˜So, a lucky escape,’ Captain Philcox said with a smile.
    â€˜Or,’ she told him, ‘it’s just possible I know what I’m doing and wasn’t taken in for a second.’ She smiled back at him, as his own expression froze. ‘And anyway,’ she added, ‘you’re not my type.’
    *   *   *
    For weeks she drew similar pictures. Hoffman checked through them whenever he could, but the initial novelty had worn off, and both he and Kruger left the nurses to take shifts providing paper and pencil.
    Streets, people, cars and buildings. But the drawings were indistinct, with not enough detail, despite the quantity of images, to identify where the place was. Obviously somewhere industrialised and modern – but it could be Britain, the USA,