Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary

Chapter 7 - After a shouted conversation on the street with Scott, Bill goes into a large office building, is handed a visitor's badge, and is shown upstairs into the office of his old friend and editor Charlie Everson. After reminiscing about the glory days of their friendship, Charlie explains why he wanted Bill to contact him. There is, Charlie says, a young poet being held hostage by a group of terrorists in Athens. An international group of free speech advocates (of which Charlie is a leading member) has been working to achieve the poet's release, and is close to doing so. In the meanwhile, Charlie has been planning a public, media-oriented presentation speaking to the value of both free speech and his group's work, with an announcement of the poet's release serving as the event's climax. He then asks Bill to...