condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
can I expect to be released back to my ship?"
"Don't be impertinent young man, we'll do our best but we can't promise
anything."
Typical! Will thought, as he was being taken back to his cell. That didn't go
down very well, and as the door once again clanged shut behind him he began to
imagine the consequences, if he were to be left behind.
The encounter with the Embassy official Forsyth, had built up a resentment that
was giving him some spark. What the hell! he thought. These government people
don't work in days, it takes them all of that to sign a piece of paper! Resigning
himself to the fact that he would have to wait it out, he decided that if nothing had
happened by the evening he would start complaining bitterly, making himself a
nuisance until they gave him better quarters and food, so he settled down to wait.
As the day went by the cell turned into an oven, and Will found himself lying
on the floor, both to conserve energy and to try to get away from the heat, which
was several degrees hotter closer to the ceiling.
It was early afternoon when he was aroused by loud English speaking voices
shouting in the reception area. His feeling of fatigue seemed suddenly to disappear
as the sounds inspired him. Leaping to his feet he placed his ear once again next
to the grating in the door, but before he had the chance to decipher what was
going on, he could hear multiple sets of footsteps approaching, along the short
corridor to his cell.
The door opened and he was confronted by Peter Bowles, one of the officers
from the ship, in full uniform. Immediately behind him, an entourage of just about
all the policemen on duty, including the Inspector who had interrogated him the
previous night.
"Bloody hell! he shouted looking at Will's condition, and turning to the
Inspector, Bowles continued, "you've tortured him, you've bloody well tortured
him!"
"No, we haven't," the Inspector replied, looking alarmed, not knowing how
to deal with the situation. Peter Bowles rage continued to rise and also the
amplitude of his voice.
"I'm going to have this man photographed for evidence, and I'll see to it that
you all get charged and court martialled. You'll all lose your jobs, and if I have my
way you'll get put in prison. Release this man immediately!"
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