condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
her up, heading off to meet Ed at his office in Donvale and eventual transfer to his
car. It would be at least half an hour before arriving at Point Ormond.
There had been a slight change of plan and Will would not have to plant the
recorder on the pier. He was thankful for that, less exposure meant less danger
to him. Very little conversation took place on the drive down, it was sporadic and
meaningless indicating the tension they were both feeling. Will's mind was a blank,
just waiting for some action to set it going, like the pendulum of a clock, and he
knew Ed was having the same experience.
The car came to a halt amongst the tee trees and Will looked through the
windshield down to the deserted pier below. To their right the red glow of the
rising sun was beginning to filter through the trees and there was no wind. It was
going to be an ideal day for recording sound.
Will fed the temporary antenna through the car window and pressed the button
several times to put the recorder through it's paces and then settled down to wait.
The scheduled time for the arrival of the boat was at least three hours away, a
good half an hour of that time was the delay, organized by Ed's agents at the other
end, in Port Melbourne.
As time passed the tensions grew and Will's joke with regard to the possibility
that they may have changed the venue didn't go down too well with Ed, bringing
on more silence and with it more tension. Time was now practically standing still
and instead of becoming more vigilant as the time approached, their minds
wandered, occasionally settling down into their seats to close their eyes.
Will sat up to stretch his arms and legs and observe the scene below. He was
shocked to see that a car had already arrived. Alerting Ed, they both watched for
some minutes, but no one got out. "Damn!" Ed exclaimed, "we've missed them,
they've already gone in, now we don't know how many got out of the car!"
At that moment all four doors opened wide and five men got out and after
locking the car walked towards the building on the pier. There were seats inside
and Will knew that's where they would go to await the boat's arrival. Will handed
the transmitter to Ed. "How would you like the privilege of opening the show?"
"I'd be delighted," Ed replied, as he crooked his finger like a dignitary about
to launch the city's illuminations at Christmas. Both men laughed, the tension was
to a large degree gone, and their minds were working again.
Very soon afterwards other cars arrived, until a total of twenty men had
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