Episode 3: Danger Man gets into a bit of a scuffle

The story so far. Having been found to have raised cholesterol and above average blood pressure, John Drake has reluctantly agreed to further tests.

There was a man behind the curtain: no doubt about it. The purple fabric quivered unmistakably at head height, heaved in and out by the intruder’s deep breaths. Drake froze, and glanced round the hotel room. There, that would do: a heavy-bottomed glass vase, containing a single orchid stem. In one long feline movement, Drake swooped for the vase, and hurled himself at the fluid spot in the curtain, bringing the vase down hard where he judged the top of the intruder’s head to be.

There was a muffled yelp as Drake pulled the man towards him, enfolding him in the curtain, pulling it off its rings – ping, ping, ping – as he drew him to the floor, and launched five sharp blows to his body, two to the head. The intruder’s resistance ebbed, his stifled protestations changed to groans.

Drake began unwrapping the unsavoury bundle. As the head appeared, its words became clear: “Stop it, for God’s sake stop hitting me!”

Drake put his hands round the man’s throat: “Tell me who you’re working for,” he spat. “Who is the Cairo operative? And what did you do with the microfilm?”

“Stop it!” the man gurgled. “It’s me. Stop it.”

Drake was troubled, and his grasp slackened on the throat. There was something familiar about that sweaty, bloodied head. It looked like, like...

“Dr Sixsmith!” Drake let go, and started back as if hit by an electric shock.

“Ughh.”

“But what, what on earth are you doing here?”

Sixsmith managed to prop himself up on his elbows, and gently felt his reddened neck. His voice came out as a croak.

“Mist..Uggh Mr Drake. I.... I came to give you the results of your PSA test.”