Chapter 4: A Change Of Scene At Last

Katie O'Brien had been locked out of her hotel when naked and somewhat drunk. Before she had been able to get back inside, she had been arrested by the local Police and taken to the station, where she had been chained out of doors for several weeks and with no shelter for her tender virginal young body from the increasingly hostile elements. The weather was getting colder and much, much wetter. Initial hopes that she would soon be released had faded by now. The British Consul had been to see her in the first few days of her ordeal and promised to do all he could, but she had never seen him again.

All her requests to be told when and if charges would be preferred and when would she have her court appearance, had been ignored. The woman police officer was her sole visitor now that the Captain was finding it too cold to venture out into the yard. This unpleasant lady had not become any more friendly - less so, in fact! All that Katie was aware of, by this time, was the unremitting daily struggle for survival. She was surprising herself more and more at just how good a survivor she was turning out to be!

The Captain spent much of his day in an upstairs room, photographing Miss O'Brien's daily life from behind a one-way window. On the fifth day of non-stop rain he had the photo session of a lifetime! The incessant downpour meant that poor Katie had forgotten what it was like to be dry.

The weather temporarily improved one day and she was sleeping in the welcome if anaemic sun when a hand on her shoulder caused her to wake up. A tall, smartly dressed man, with a very concerned look on his face, was standing over her, holding an overnight bag in one hand.

"Miss O'Brien, how can I ever apologise enough for what you have suffered and for our failure to help? My name is Travers, the British Consul in this fine city! I was up country on diplomatic business when my clerk woke me at three in the morning to tell me about you - first any of us knew about it - and I got straight over. Here, young lady, you'd better get into these and SOMEONE UNLOCK THIS CHAIN NOW!!"

The policewoman came scuttling out of the station and swiftly obeyed this man. From her chastened demeanour it was obvious that she was in a lot of trouble. Katie then put on the clothes - HER clothes that Mr Travers produced from the overnight bag.

"Lets get out of here. You need a meal and lots of rest. We'll get the Embassy doctor to give you the once over. You look pretty good, considering, but you never know after what you've been through."

As they passed into the station, whose interior she had glimpsed so briefly all those weeks ago, she saw the obese Captain in handcuffs, being led down to the cells, followed by the similarly shackled policewoman, all her former arrogance replaced by fear.