She was driven for ten minutes in the van,  two scowling police officers watching over her,  and dragged   roughly out when they arrived at the police station, none too gently, up the steps and out the other side into a yard.  Here she was fastened by her ankle to a chain  fixed to the ground.

"You can't leave me out here I'll freeze"

"We leave you where we damn well like.  You don't like it out why the hell you walk about like that. Bloody whore.  This decent country."

And so this dour and scowling upholder of public decency left Katie of "The Globe and Empire" chained   and shivering in the police station yard.  She tried to keep warm by exercising herself insofar as she could and managed to stop herself from getting too cold.  The light was improving and in a few hours the sun would be warm enough - too warm, if she was kept out here with no shade around.

Oh, hell!  I hope old Charlie Ford gets my message.  Come on, Charlie, come on! She and he were not exactly friends, more like rivals and Katie,  as a young and up and coming journalist was quicker at getting on to stories than the older and pedestrian Ford.  She guessed he did not like being outclassed by her and might just find this situation rather amusing. Schadenfreude.

It must have been two hours before any one came to see her and this was a young police woman, who brought out breakfast. Just a cup of coffee a bowl of yoghurt and some newly baked pitta bread.  The bread, the coffee and the yoghurt all tasted good and the hot drink brought a bit of life back into her.
She squatted on the ground to consume them and then resumed her exercises.

Two hours after this, Charlie Ford was escorted out to her and he crouched down beside her, with a police officer watching both of them closely.

"Hi Chas! You look even worse than I feel!  But am I glad to see you."

"Been up all night what with all that booze and something I ate that went through me like a dose of bloody salts. Up and bloody down to that loo for hours. Never would have thought there was that much inside to come out.  Only just recovered enough to get round here.  Here you'd better put this on"

With this he pulled off his top coat and offered it to Katie who was about to accept it with thanks when the policeman shouted "No No, she stay like she is till Captain come!"

There was something in this man's manner which compelled obedience - that and the little matter that he was armed and not, it would seem, the calm and reasonable type.

"Oh you poor, kid", Charlie said "I'm cold myself and I've got all this clobber on"

"I'm just about coping, thanks, Charlie. I'll be able to hang on until the Consul gets here and sorts this out.  You have got in touch with the Embassy, I hope?"

"First thing I did when I heard about all this.  Trouble is I only got hold of the Duty Clerk. Bad time of night to be trying to raise any of those desk-bound senior officials.  No one in authority expected until nine.  That's two more hours before they hear about this and then they have to apply for consular access - that could take days, although we'll move heaven and earth to get things moving sooner than that.  We're all brothers when this kind of thing happens. Don't fret sweetheart - you've a lot of friends here."

The Policeman started to look threatening and Charlie left with an encouraging grin and a thumbs-up sign.

Back to the aerobics and the arm swinging and trying to keep from freezing for another hour and then the air started warming up.  By ten, the sun was shining into the yard and by noon Katie was as uncomfortably hot as she had previously been cold. Noon brought a lunch, which was as edible as the breakfast had been.  At least they were feeding her well, even if she had to eat with her fingers.  She made the police woman understand her need to use the toilet and was released for long enough to do this, then reattached to the chain.

Where was the Police Captain and where was the Consul?  Hurry up and get me out of here.  The sun was burning her already and the boredom was driving her mad.  She hated inactivity!

Finally a portly, not to say obese officer with a generous covering of gold braid came out of the building  and stood over her.

"Young lady, you have been very unwise to defy the laws of our country.  You may be a member of the Press and that might mean you are above your country's laws, but you are not above our laws and you are going to become very painfully aware of this before you return home."

"But it was an accident. I went through the wrong door in my hotel room and couldn't get back in. I would never walk around naked likethis." She looked down at herself  - "not here and not at home, especially in those temperatures.  I'm not mad!"

The Captain shook his head.

"We'll investigate your case very thoroughly of course. We never proceed without getting all the evidence together.  We are very fair in this country."

"Do I have to stay out here? At least let me have some clothes, please, Captain"

He shook his head.

"No cells available, because they are all full. You will only wear what you had on when you got here. You should have though of all this before your foolish and very disgusting caper.  You will have a visit by one of our officers every two hours. The nights are not that cold yet.  I am sure you will survive the following few nights as you did the last.  Goodbye."

"The following few nights!"
 
The poor young redhead sank to the ground  in despair.  She would never survive another night - not the whole night!

Where was the Consul?  What did he think the taxpayer was funding his cushy lifestyle and lavish foreign allowances for?  Let him get his fat arse off his comfortable office chair and get things moving.

What did Charlie say?  Consular access can get days to arrange, especially if the Authorites get difficult.

The rest of the day dragged by and the girl was so relieved when the sun fell behind the yard walls and she got some relief from its rays.  Her shoulders had caught the worst of it and were sore and very red.  She felt dizzy from the heat and knew that she had at least third degree burns - or was it first ?- any way whichever is the less, she thought - don't exaggerate.

Once the sun had gone, the temperatures dropped sharply and kept on dropping.  She got to her feet and started the exercises going again.  Bends and stretches and arm exercises.  Then leg movements which made the chain rattle as if she were some kind of stage ghost.  She would drop off for a few minutes and the cold woke her and she would have to start moving about again. She was tired out when the daylight came and spent most of the next day asleep.

No visit from the Consul, just the regular visits from a police woman and regular and very satisfying meals. She was looking forward to them and would recommend the station's cuisine in her column when she returned home!  Tasty and nutritious!

Her column!  Gosh I hope too much of this doesn't get out!  I would be a laughing stock.  Where is old Charlie?  Gone home, I suppose.

No! Charlie's familiar avuncular form appeared on the third morning .  Doing my best old love. Process very slow out here. Can't rub these blighters up the wrong way. Only make things worse. Chin up old girl.  And with that he was gone.  He very kindly left her a couple of books,though which the guards did not object to, and these passed the next five days until she had read them from cover to cover twice.

At long last, on the eighth day of her confinement,  she had the visitor she had ben waiting for.  Mr Hubert Jenkyns- Browne, the Consul was standing over her as she awoke from her daytime sleep.

"Ah! Miss O'Brien, so sorry to have been so long geting access to you. Absolute disgrace and we'll be sending a pretty stiff note at the highest level, but things are realy moving now"