condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
"No, only Ed. Make sure he understands that." Tony nodded his head and
disappeared through the door. There was nothing more to be done as far as the
device was concerned, except wait for Wednesday evening.
When Wednesday finally arrived Will took a tramcar into the city and walked
up Bourke to Spring Street and crossing over the road on to the Parliament House
side, waited there. He was at least half an hour early and knew where Ed would
park so he watched for his arrival. Fifteen minutes before seven o'clock the car
pulled in and parked, but to Will's surprise in addition to Ed, two other men got
out, one of them was Tony. A mini discussion seemed to take place and Tony
went inside the restaurant and the other man walked up the street in the direction
of the Carlton Gardens. Ed then followed Tony inside.
Will was in a dilemma. He immediately became suspicious. Who was the third
man? Probably one of Ed's agents. What was going on? Was what he had just
witnessed anything to do with his meeting with Ed, or was he reading things into
the situation? No, he now had that gut feeling telling him to be careful. There had
been no indication in the past that any connection with Ed could get rough, but
there was the pistol under the newspaper episode in Ed's office, and that gut
feeling was not going away.
He now realized the stupid mistake he had made by making arrangements on
Ed's own territory, and as the months rolled by Ed was becoming better equipped
to eavesdrop. The irony of it all was that Will himself was supplying him, giving him
the opportunity to listen in on even their own conversations! He had no other
reasonable option than to go in, but he had the device in a small, flat, leather bag,
the only thing he could use to bargain with. How could he temporarily get rid of
it?
Remembering a small hotel in Exhibition Street one block away, he ran
practically all the way there to avoid being late back at the restaurant. He
addressed the clerk at the reception desk. "Can I deposit this bag here for safe
keeping for a couple of hours?"
"Are you a guest here?"
"No, but I'm a bit early meeting someone who will probably be booking in
later."
"Has he reserved a room?"
"No, but he'll be here later."
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