condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
"What's the matter?"
"There's a light on. There must be someone in the house."
"Could Paul have got things wrong?"
"No. Perhaps one of the family has arrived home early."
They both sat gazing out into the darkness. Will's thoughts were split right
down the middle. On the one hand aborting the mission would have been a relief,
on the other he knew it would be better to get it over and done with, rather than
postpone it. Alec was reaching for the door handle. "I'll go and have a look
around."
There was no point in asking him to be careful. This was his stock-in-trade and
Will watched him until he finally disappeared amongst the shrubbery. It seemed
forever, sitting and waiting, expecting any minute to be questioned by a police
patrol, but nothing happened until the light in the house was suddenly extinguished.
Will sat bolt upright in his seat, leaning forward to try and get a better view through
the windshield. He expected Alec to appear, and in a hurry, but when he
eventually hoved into sight it was more of an afternoon stroll. He opened the door
and reached inside for his bag.
"What are you doing? Didn't you see the activity in the house? Someone is in
there, they turned out the light!"
"There's no one in there - that was me! I thought it best to turn it off before I
left." Will swallowed hard. He had already broken in and had a look around. In
contrast to Will, his nervous state must have been hovering around Zero. He
followed Alec into the grounds and through the door at the end of the driveway,
where Paul had let him in. Once inside, Will's nerves rose a few more notches,
unlike the last time he could not be described as a visitor.
Alec spoke in a whisper. "Show me the way to the safe."
The silence seemed absolute as they made their way through the house. Their
footsteps were completely dampened by the deep pile of the carpet, but the mere
movement created a faint rustling sound, which seemed to get amplified in the mind
as the seconds ticked by. Will opened the door and walked into the room with the
large viewing window. It was emanating an eerie light which gave the objects in the
room a silvery hue. Alec watched as Will went through the motions to uncover the
safe. He was shining his pencil torch and the reflected light on his face revealed the
increasing excitement, peaking as the safe door finally came into view.
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