Survival Read Online Free Page B

ours.”
    Lee’s response cut through all the background noise.
    “I’ll send the Enforcer .”
    Eva turned to Mitchell and read in his expression that hewas as mystified as she was. Within seconds, MissBennett was sliding in next to them.
    “What’s Mutam-ul-it?” Eva asked, not caring now thatMiss Bennett would know she’d been eavesdropping. “Andwho’s the enforcer – what did he mean?”
    “He means we’ve got work to do,” Miss Bennett repliedcalmly. Then a darker expression came over her face. “Hemeans we’re attacking the French.”

05 NASU MISO
    Felix Muzbeke’s fingers trembled on the glass of thedoor. Usually he had no doubts about walking into arestaurant, but tonight he hesitated. His arm seemedfrozen. He stared at his reflection: large brown eyes alittle too far apart and a chaos of black frizz on his head.But in his mind he was seeing something else.
    He was remembering another glass door just like thisone, nearly five thousand kilometres away in Chinatown,New York. And he could see the scene that he’d replayedin his imagination so many times. Hiding in the darknesswhen that long black car pulled up. The two huge men inblack suits who’d calmly stepped out, grabbed his parentsand forced them to the ground. His mother looking upfrom the pavement, signalling to him to escape.
    “It’s OK,” came a whisper from behind him, startlinghim out of his memories. “It’s not like Chinatown.” Itwas Georgie.
    Although he was a couple of years younger, these daysFelix felt almost as close to Georgie Coates as he alwayshad to her brother, Jimmy. And behind Georgie stood hermother, Helen. Both offered the same reassuring smile,lips pressed together, concern in their eyes.
    So Felix opened the door and entered one of thefew remaining sushi restaurants in Soho, in CentralLondon. There was a time when the place had beenpacked with them, when there would have beenhundreds of people around to eat in them as well –tourists, locals, shop workers. But Felix and Georgiehad never seen it in those days and tonight BrewerStreet was deserted. The buildings twisted abovethem, Victorian and Georgian styles butting edges likebrickwork pick ‘n’ mix.
    Before Georgie and Helen followed Felix in, they bothinstinctively glanced up and down the street. They allknew they were watched every moment by NJ7, eitheron camera or by field agents. Checking over hershoulder was an old habit for Helen and had become anew one for Georgie. A habit it was safer not to break.
    Just as Georgie stepped over the threshold of therestaurant, a man swept along the street so fast hewas already past them. But Georgie heard the echoof his whisper:
    “Nasu Miso.”
    Nasu Miso ? Georgie repeated the words in herhead. Was it some kind of message, or just a foreignersaying “excuse me”? She watched the man’s silhouettemarching away along the street. His body and headwere both round – like a satsuma balanced on a melon.
    Her mother hurried her into the restaurant.
    It was only a small room, with a low bar and aboutthirty stools, all of them empty. A conveyor belt snakedits way through the place, carrying dozens of smalldishes, each loaded with different morsels. Japanesewaiters with crisp white coats and stern expressionshovered about, their arms behind their backs.
    “Three green teas, please,” announced Felixnervously, perching on the nearest stool.
    They all knew they weren’t there to have a meal. Theyjust had to look like they were, for the sake of the NJ7surveillance. Georgie knew they were all thinking aboutthe same thing: whether the man they would bemeeting could find Felix’s parents. He was from aFrench charity that specialised in tracking down peoplewho had been made to disappear by the BritishGovernment. It all made Georgie feel sick, not hungry.
    She’d hardly sat down when her mother announced,“OK, let’s go.”
    “Wait,” Felix blurted. “Aren’t we…” He looked around atthe waiters. They were all