condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
"Didn't Ed tell you that I had warned him to be careful?"
"No, he didn't."
"The bloody fool, and you're a bloody fool too!"
Tony was now sitting bolt upright in his seat, his body noticeably stiff. "Don't
you understand that this is the way they do it. They caught him, killed him by
running over him, and then dumped him next to his car to make it look like an
accident."
The gruesome nature of Will's last statement was just too much for Tony, and
he slumped over the steering-wheel again. Will waited awhile before continuing
with the conversation. "These people are way out of your league, there's an
element of thugs and killers amongst them. You're just information gatherers, you'll
never be able to cope with the likes of them. Would you be able to kill anyone
Tony?"
"No way!"
"You should know then that you can't compete."
"Where do we go from here?"
"Go straight to Ed's office right now and collect all his things. Leave the office
bare. Tell the old man that if anyone asks any questions he's to tell them that the
police removed the contents. Then don't ever go back there again."
"Will you tell the others what you've told me tonight?"
Will thought long and hard before answering. It would be an ideal opportunity
to look them all over and a chance to perhaps find out more about the organization
here in Australia from Tony, now that he was vulnerable.
"Pick them all up and bring them to Heathmont Station car-park tomorrow
night at 7 p.m. It's only a couple of miles down the road from here."
"Yes, I know where it is."
Will watched until the car turned down Mitcham Road towards Donvale and
then walked slowly down the hill to his house. The shock of Ed's death had taken
every ounce of energy away from him and his gait was unsteady. He would have
to recover before he walked into the house.
What had possessed Ed to go back to the pier that day? The recorder would
have been collected earlier. Perhaps he intended to be there when the boat
returned after the meeting? I wonder if he waited to take photographs for
identification purposes? Whatever he was up to it was a fatal mistake to be without
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