CHAPTER SIX
I AWOKE SUDDENLY TO A NIGHTMARE.
Specifically, I awoke on a huge, soft bed-with stars overhead. Tropical stars.
I'm no astronomer, but as a trained SADISTO agent (even on vacation) I know enough about the constellations to know when I'm south of the Equator. I raised my head and looked around. I was in a big, plainly furnished whitewashed room. The walls were made of what looked like sawn blocks of coral. The windows in the walls looked out on darkness. Barred windows, I noted. Overhead were more bars where the ceiling should be. At one end of the ceiling I could see a big roller rolled with canvas. Evidently, when it rained, the canvas was unrolled. When it wasn't raining the canvas was rolled back to reveal bars and the tropic sky.
The funny taste in my mouth told me that
