condensed master

Will Bonner
in about ten minutes. Will you be ready?"
"That's plenty of time," Will replied, as he busied himself connecting up the
equipment. At precisely the time, Will started to check the pairs, and counting in
his head - 49 left, 48 left, 47 left and so on - Bingo! on the 5th pair there was the
flashing amber light. He had a connection! Quickly clipping in the hand set he
pressed the activate button.
"Is that you Tony?"
"Yes, I didn't expect you to answer."
"Put the phone down, wait two minutes and then dial again."
Will turned to Ed. "Go round to the other corridor and listen outside their
office for the phone to ring, then come back."
Will waited until it had rung at least four or five times and then answered the
call. "That's it Tony, no more," and then disconnected the equipment.
Ed was back waiting outside the door. "Yes I heard it, that's the right one, you
clever devil!"
Will was far from feeling clever however. Technically, everything had gone
perfectly, but every moment they remained there spelt danger for him, and he was
scared. Ed made for the elevator. "No, down the stairs, there may be someone
waiting to come up."
Back out on the street the rain was still pelting on to the pavement, if anything,
the intensity had increased. By the time Ed dropped Will off in Hawksburn
however, the storm had abated and as he stepped out of the car the wind had died
away leaving only the sound of rushing water as it disappeared down the
overloaded drains. Ed leaned out of the car window as Will was retrieving the
handset. "God was with us tonight Will."
"With the bad things you get up to, believe me Ed, God will never be with
you." He watched as Ed's car sped away, the butterflies were still flying around in
his stomach, a preview of what was to come, and perhaps even worse.
The conference involving the two parties between Melbourne and Sydney was
to commence around 5 p.m. on the following Saturday. All shopping and offices
closed down around mid-day leaving the city progressively dying, until around 7
or 8 p.m. as the theatres, night clubs etc. opened, and it sprang back to life again -
at least on the streets anyway.
Will's nerves began to build as the day approached. Since starting at the
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