condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
himself struggling through another clandestine affair, in an effort to keep the family
out of that part of his life. Early the following year, Dorothy was pregnant again,
and throughout the whole nine months, no connections were made by either Tony
or Margaret.
Everything had gone well until the evening of 26th November 1957. It was
Tuesday and Dorothy suddenly went into labour. She was pottering in the garden
at the time and bending over with the pain. Panic stations developed and Will took
Louise up to Ivan's house to leave her there. Even at that age she took everything
seriously. She didn't say a word, but her little lower lip was quivering and it looked
for a moment that she was going to burst into tears. Will's heart skipped a beat,
but he had no other choice but to leave her.
Ivan followed close behind in his car as Will raced down the Maroondah
Highway, his foot flat down on the accelerator and with horn blazing as he ran
through the red traffic lights. Ivan said afterwards that there was a trail of sparks
shooting out of the vehicle's exhaust pipe!
Two maternity nurses were waiting at the front door of the Box Hill hospital
and they ushered Dorothy into the elevator. Will looked around for Ivan but he
had turned around and gone back. There was nothing more he could do so he
slowly made his way back home to pick up Louise.
It was only a seven mile drive but on arrival at Ivan's he came running out and
he was having a job to contain his excitement. "Dorothy's had the baby. It's a boy,
congratulations! They said if you go back you can see him."
Will high tailed it back to the hospital, and was leaving the elevator on the
maternity floor, just as they wheeled Dorothy and Mark Andrew out into the
corridor, on a trolley. He was a big baby - nine pounds, three and a half ozs, and
twenty-one inches long, born at 10.27 p.m. but he was screaming so loudly that
it was impossible to conduct any conversation other than to be told that Mark was
in pain and that a consultant was on his way in to see him. Dorothy was fine, but
as Will left to go home he could still hear those screams ringing in his ears for a
long time afterwards.
It was close to midnight when he arrived to pick up Louise. Instead of finding
her asleep she was sitting with a look of despair on her face. Ivan's wife looked
embarrassed. "She wouldn't let me put her to bed. She just sat and waited."
"Don't worry, it's good to know that she's been in safe hands." Inside however,
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