Le Secret de l'Espadon - 2

The capture of Mortimer, on the cliffs of Makran, is only a partial success for Olrik. Indeed, the professor, seeing the inevitability of his capture approaching, and despite a fierce struggle, managed to conceal the plans. Colonel Olrik is then backed into a corner, ordered by Lhassa to force the scientist to reveal everything he knows about the Espadon, by any means.

Mortimer is therefore subjected to interrogation. As he bravely resists and refuses to speak, he begins to weaken dangerously. An interrogation carried too far could cost him his life. This is a cause of grave concern for Captain Blake who, with the help of Nasir, sergeant of the Makran Levy Corps, has managed to reach the resistance's secret base in the Strait of Hormuz. Blake refuses to abandon Mortimer to his grim fate. He sends Nasir to Karachi where he succeeds in getting himself employed in the prison where the professor is being held. He manages to make the latter understand that he must pretend to collaborate with the enemy. Feigning to give in under torture, Mortimer makes Olrik believe that he has lost the plans, but that he agrees to cooperate in reconstructing them... He thus succeeds in buying precious time that Blake uses to search for the real plans of the Espadon. Mortimer then plays a dangerous game, feeding false information to his captors while trying to warn his friends of the place where the real plans are hidden. But Basam Damdu's patience is short-lived and Nasir soon warns Blake that Mortimer's release is, like the recovery of the lost plans, a matter of life or death...