We, or I should say, Gianne-Franco, happens to control that particular person. So the tour is on hold for a couple of days, though he could easily go with the normal daily tours. We suspect that he's seeing the sights. We also believe that, should he catch sight of you, or Fraulein von Grusse, he will switch his plans and dispose of you either here or in Athens.' `So you think he'll definitely go to Athens?' `If his December timetable is going to work, he has to go to Athens, but, of course, it could all have changed by now.
`Because of Paris?' `Maybe. We sincerely hope not, but maybe.
No, he really has nowhere else to go.' `Not even back to Schloss Drache?' `Most certainly not back to Schloss Drache. The German police have that tied up, and his sister, the rose-growing Maeve Horton, is being questioned..
`Has she talked?' It was Tanner who replied. `Unfortunately she won't say a thing. I understand that she's screaming bloody murder and asking for lawyers.
She just will not say a word about her brother. By the way, there's one odd thing about Charles and William that you might not know.' `I know they were trained bodyguards.' `Yes, they were, but also trained nurses. They'd seen action in some of the best high-class mental institutions in the world.' Nobody spoke. The silence twisted around the room. Bond glanced at Fredericka, and she raised her eyebrows at him. Finally he opened his mouth.
`Basically, what you're saying is that you'd like us to do a trick that I've had to perform several times before?' `And what trick would that be, James?' Coolly, from M.
`The one where I go out and play at being a tethered goat. A target for the crazy Dragonpol.' M nodded like a Buddha. `That was the general idea. You won't, of course, be in any danger..
`Of course not.' `Gianne-Franco `5 ladies and gentlemen will always be near at hand.' He smiled his foxy smile.
`There's no danger at all.' `If you'll forgive the expression, sir, balls.' M grunted. `Ideally,' he continued as though Bond had never spoken, `ideally it would be nice for you and Fraulein von Grusse to take in a bit of sightseeing together, here in Milan, and then, when Gianne-Franco tips you the wink, in Athens.
But I cannot order you to do that. I can ask you, James, but I really can't even ask Fraulein von Grusse for she is a completely,free agent.' `With respect again, sir, there's no such thing as a free agent.
`Oh, there is in Fraulein von Grusse's case, but she probably doesn't even know about it yet.' He turned to Fredericka with the look of a saint. `Has your former service been in touch, Fraulein?' `No, sir.' `They will be. As of yesterday you ceased to work for them.
Discharged for acts prejudicial to good order and discipline, etc.
Fredericka gave a little, `Oh,' and looked as though she might burst into tears.
`However, I can offer you a job.' `A job? With your service?' `Naturally. My Chief of Staff brought along the necessary forms, just in case you fancied coming aboard.
`And if I took the job, I would remain on the current assignment with Captain Bond?' `Officially, Captain Bond is on leave awaiting the result of a board of enquiry, but as he well knows that's a bit of a bluff.' It was Bond's turn to grunt.
`Well, my dear, what do you say? You and Captain Bond seem to make a nice team. When this business is over, we have plans for reorganization. You could be a great asset to us.' `I would still work with Jam-Captain Bond?' `A consummation devoutly to be wished, to quote the Bard.' `Then I'll take the job, sir.' `Good. Then you'll both go and do some sightseeing, yes?' `Give us the guidebook, sir.' Bond knew it was no good arguing. `But what happens if we haven't got him after his stay in Athens?' `Do not even think about that, James.' M had gone deathly serious, all good humour dropping away like a snake shedding its skin. `If you have to go on to Paris, then we're all in trouble.
The target there is unmistakable, and refuses to alter plans.
We have four days before Mr Dragonpol's one possible kill on this particular outing.' `Don't you mean three possible kills?' Bill Tanner asked.
`One or three, it's all the same. If it came to that, we would face a terrible decision, and the target for Paris just will not budge.' `Then Fli Fraulein von Grusse and I will have to drag him out either here or in Athens, sir.' `Your head's in a noose if you don't, 007 M, Bond thought, was all heart.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
Before they left, Bill Tanner produced an expensive-looking briefcase, `With the armourer's compliments, James. He says there's nothing new or special. But he claimed you'd know what to do with it.' Bond nodded and treated the case as though it contained gold bullion.
M, looking very serious, delivered the final instructions. `We'll stay here until it's all over, but you must not attempt to contact anyone, unless there is another death, of course. This man is very dangerous and, if it weren't for the Security Service's involvement, we'd have left it all to the police. Give it three days here,' he said. `Three, and three only. In fact, I think you should reserve seats on a flight to Athens, and do it as openly as possible. Go about your business, loiter, behave as tourists, but do not look for our own people, or Gianne-Franco's ladies and gentlemen. They'll be there.
Just try to be unaware of them. Your focus must be on Dragonpol, and he's likely to be doing aLon Chaney.' `What is Lon Chaney?' Fredericka asked, and Bond explained that he was a famous movie actor of the twenties and thirties. `Man of a Thousand Faces.' `So, why don't you just say Dragonpol will probably be in disguise?' `You have a very literal mind, Fraulein von Grusse,' M smiled. `I like that in a woman.
All right, Dragonpol will probably be in disguise; and he's the only one you have to look out for. When, and if, you do spot him, your job is to lead him to a place of your choosing. Somewhere public, where Gianne-Franco's people can take him. I want him alive, James, you understand?' He understood all right. He also understood that Dragonpol would probably be harder to spot than Gianne-Franco Orsini's watchers.
Now Bond sat close to Fredericka in the back of a cab with the unopened briefcase between his knees. It was very late.
`I feel naked.' She leaned towards him, half whispering. The taxi was an ordinary saloon and had no partition, so the driver had already tried to make light conversation, first in Italian, and later in fractured English. They had pretended to know neither.
The Italian driver with the pickpocket's eyes had taken them along the lake, dropping them off in Como itself, where, for a few hours, they forgot the dangers lurking in the shadowy world in which they now found themselves. `I never thought I'd end up as some kind of superdetective,' Bond said with the hint of a smile.
`What they call a hardboiled dick, eh?' `If you say so.
Hand in hand they wandered around like young lovers, even buying the kind of souvenirs they would normally not touch with a barge pole: little pots and ashtrays with `Lake Como' printed on them, and a pen and ink drawing of Como.
At one point, Fredericka slipped away, returning with a small box containing a pair of exquisite cufflinks: narrow strips of what looked like woven gold with a large clasp at each end. Bond opened his gift as they sat outside a small bar. She sipped a Campari and he nursed his usual vodka martini.
His pleasure in the gift was like that of a small child on Christmas morning. `People don't often actually give me presents,' he said, then told her to stay where she was as he strolled off up the street.
He returned with a gold ring containing a magnificent sapphire, in a claw setting, surrounded by a circlet of diamonds.
`Oh, James, you darling man.' She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. `Please, you put it on my finger.' She stretched out her left hand and indicated the third finger. For a moment he hesitated, then took her right hand, whispering, `Not until this is all over.
Tenderly, almost erotically, he slipped it on to the third finger of her right hand. `I don't want to tempt fate. Women with whom I get deeply involved have a tendency to meet what bad novelists call an untimely end.
He kissed her gently, and they walked down to the lakeside where they found a small restaurant.
The sky was like velvet, speckled with stars. Out on the lake there seemed to be a thousand lights from the small coracle-like fishing boats which trawl the waters of Lake Como and the neighbouring Maggiore.
It was a night of magic, and during dinner they spoke to each other more with their eyes than voices.
Then, suddenly it was over, and they were haggling with a cab driver over the price of a ride back to Milan.
