Free Under Cover (Agent 21) by Chris Ryan Page B

ten metres as Felix walked in and out of department stores, up escalators and down quiet side streets. Every now and then, Ricky made the mistake of raising his eyes and looking at Felix’s body rather than just his shoes. It was as if Felix himself knew when this was going to happen. Without exception, Ricky’s mentor would turn and stare directly into his eyes, before making a gesture that Ricky found very unnerving: a slicing sign with his forefinger across the front of his throat. Ricky didn’t know quite what it meant, but it always encouraged him to redouble his efforts.
    Soon, Ricky found that he was starting to enjoy himself as Felix made things more difficult – changing direction halfway down a street, or jumping on a bus and forcing Ricky to follow as covertly as possible. It was a challenge that he was up to, he decided as he followed those scruffy Nike Airs along Piccadilly and into Green Park. He’d been good at following people even before he’d met Felix. Now he was—
    ‘
Ouch!
’
    Both Ricky and Felix said it at the same time, and with good reason. Ricky had walked straight into his mentor’s back, and the collision had hurt.
    Felix turned. ‘It was only a matter of time before you did that,’ he said.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘You were daydreaming, Coco. But even worse, you weren’t paying attention to how fast or slow I was walking. Sometimes you were ten metres behind me, sometimes more, sometimes less. That’s OK if it’s what you mean to do, but if you don’t . . .’ He slammed his two palms together, and Ricky blinked as he did it. ‘Bang! And if you’re following a professional . . .’
    ‘A professional what?’
    ‘. . . they’ll be adjusting their pace. Short strides, long strides – they’ll mix it up as a way of finding out if anyone’s tailing them. You need to follow their stride. That way,
you
control the distance between you both, not them.’ Felix pointed towards a nearby park bench. ‘Let’s sit down,’ he said. ‘My leg’s killing me.’
    ‘So what you’re saying,’ Ricky said as they sat down, ‘is that I didn’t do very well.’
    ‘Actually,’ Felix replied, ‘you did brilliantly. Pear drop?’
    ‘No thanks.’
    ‘You’re not one for sweets, are you?’
    ‘Not pear drops, anyway.’
    ‘What’s your favourite?’
    ‘I dunno. Smarties?’
    Felix made a face, as though Smarties were the most disgusting thing that had ever been invented, then popped a pear drop into his mouth. ‘Anyway, like I was saying, you did very well. But we need to take you to the next level. Following someone from behind is all very well, but if you’re conducting surveillance on a target who thinks someone might be watching, they’ll notice you sooner or later.’
    Ricky gave Felix a confused look. ‘Well, if I can’t follow someone from behind . . .’ His voice trailed off.
    ‘If you can’t follow someone from behind, Coco, then you have to follow them from in front.’
    ‘But that doesn’t make any sense.’
    ‘Sure it does. If you think you’re being followed, you’re going to look over your shoulder, not up ahead.’
    ‘But you’ve
got
to be behind someone to follow them. That’s what following
means
.’
    Felix smiled. ‘Not in our world,’ he said. He winced as he got to his feet and put pressure on his bad leg. ‘Come on, I’ll show you.’
    It was hard. Much harder than following from behind. Felix explained how to use the reflections in shop windows, or the wing mirrors of cars driving along the street, to keep an eye on his mark. But the shop windows were already filled with glittering Christmas displays, which made it difficult to focus on the reflections, and the vehicles moved in stops and starts, their mirrors obscured by the swarming crowds.
    Ricky kept complaining that this was an impossible task. Felix listened with a mild smile. Then he made him continue practising. He taught him how to cross the road and walk just in