Informing the Mole

I just picked up the double issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and (given my reading speed) I read a truly short story by Arthur Porges called "Informing the Mole." For the 500 to one thousand word length, it is quite good. The difficulties are instructive however.

A terrorist is being interrogated about a dirty bomb. There is the interrogator, three officers from federal agencies and a Navy Commander. One of them is a mole. The difficulty in the story is that none of them is fully drawn. Of course, they can't be in so short a space. I wish the story were longer for this reason. For me, a good story hinges on the depiction of the characters -- if I care about them at the end, then it was a good story.

Still, a nice plot twist at the end made the story enjoyable overall.