condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
As the car sped away he wondered why no arrangements had been made, Ed
seemed eager to learn how to operate the instrument, but had changed his mind.
I wonder why?
Dorothy had Sunday dinner ready when he arrived. He realized that he had
just finished his first assignment and things had gone without a hitch. Something
could have gone wrong, as he had already experienced in the past, but sitting there
with Dorothy in the normality of the apartment, listening to her, completely took
the tension away, and he settled back to relax.
A week went by and he was called to the phone again. It was Ed.
"I've got a difficult location to try the instrument out. Could you help me?"
"Where and when?"
"Tomorrow night at 7.30 p.m. I will pick you up."
"It's too soon, I won't be able to make the arrangements."
"It must be tomorrow."
"I won't have you ordering me around Ed!" Will spoke in an agitated voice.
There was silence at the other end. "Did you hear me Ed?"
"Please Will, don't let me down."
"What's going on Ed?"
"I'll tell you when I see you. The pick-up will be where I dropped you off the
other day on Toorak Road." The phone went dead.
Blast! What the hell was going on? Will felt as though someone had him on the
end of a piece of string, manipulating his movements. He would have to tell
Dorothy tonight, he couldn't leave it until tomorrow.
He approached the subject whilst they were having their evening meal. "I have
to go back to the clinic tomorrow night, one of the treatment machines is playing
up."
"Can't you stay an extra hour at closing time instead?"
"No, I don't know how long it will take to repair, so I thought I would come
home for a bite to eat and leave around 7.15 p.m."
"So you have no idea how long it will take?"
"No, it could be quite late."
How could he tell her that he didn't even know himself where he was going
that night? He would have to keep telling himself that he was lying to her, for her
own good.
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