grasped the fact that he would probably serve some kind of a prison sentence for manslaughter, but that didn't seem to worry him.' At just before nine-thirty in the morning, several well-rested police officers were bused out to the facility from the centre of Milan. Two of these fresh men were immediately instructed to relieve the Dragonpol guards.
When they reached the outbuilding, they found the door open and the two police guards dead.
One had burns on his face, and had been garrotted with his own tie. The other had died from gunshot wounds, killed at close range with his own pistol.
In all probability this man was already unconscious when his killer had placed a pillow over his head and fired through it twice, thereby reducing the noise but in no way impeding the deadly progress of the bullets.
The strangled policeman had been stripped of his uniform. There was no trace of Dragonpol and few clues as to where he had gone.
Neither was there any way to determine the sequence of events. A spilled flask of coffee indicated that Dragonpol, most likely, had been allowed to pour his own beverage which he had flung into the face of one cop, turning and felling the second man with a blow to the head.
One thing had been proved definitely. When the strangled cop went down, his watch had struck the floor and smashed, giving investigators a time frame. The deaths, and following escape, had taken place at six-thirty, barely an hour after the interrogation finished. The only other certainty was that Daniel Dragonpol was loose and dangerous.
`Looks like our Daniel was really David,' Bond mused.
`We consider that an absolute certainty,' Tanner agreed. They had just come off the M4 motorway, and were heading into the centre of London.
`So who did Carmel think she was bringing to us?' Fredericka asked.
The bomb incident in Athens had shaken her considerably.
`Yes, what did Carmel think she was doing?' The scene on the rooftops of the Duomo replayed in Bond's mind. Carmel waving and calling. Then the lethal walking stick coming up. Carmel shouting, `No! James, no! He's.
He saw the stick again. Heard the shout in his head for a second time. Now, in retrospect, he wondered if the man lifting the stick was really only raising it in greeting, just before the shots crashed out.
`Maybe... he began. Then, `Maybe we all made some terrible mistake.' The more he thought the scene through, the more he became convinced that Carmel, and the man they thought was David, came in peace. Presently he asked, `And Maeve?' The Chief of Staff gave a long sigh. `The German police did not do as we asked. They did not even have one man watching Schloss Drache.
When the orders went out to pull Maeve, they found she had flown-probably two days ago.
`And one or the other of them took a shot at us by filling the Porsche with explosives, killing an unfortunate Greek boy instead.' Bond did not seem to be talking to anyone in particular.
`Did he have time to catch up with us?' Fredericka was now more animated.
Tanner sashayed the car between a bus and a taxi. The cabby did not like being cut up and made it clear. `And you, mate,' Tanner said quietly, then carried on as if nothing had happened. `If Daniel were really David then we can't rely on anything he's told us. The place behind La Scala, where David was supposed to be hiding out, for instance.
That's almost certainly a red herring. Yes, David probably could have caught up with you. It's even possible that he has another bolt hole, complete with the means for a disguise, and a cache of weapons and explosives. He might even have spotted you out at the aimort and decided to have a go a spur of the moment kind of thing.' `That's not his usual MO.' Bond still sounded distant.
`Who knows? He went for high-profile targets of opportunity and usually made longterm preparations. But in your case he would certainly have made an exception. Time is on his side. After all, he's got until Sunday morning before he pulls off the royal assassination.
`You still think he's going for that?' `It's the reason some of the best people in the business are sitting waiting for you in M's office at this very moment. And you, James, are the designated slayer of dragons.
Indeed, the group sitting and standing around the glass and chrome desk in M's office did consist of the best. He recognized a senior Special Air Service officer, and a commander from the Metropolitan Police. The latter, whose name he thought was Robb, controlled the Diplomatic Bodyguard Section, which included the so-called Royal Detectives. There was also a roly-poly little man with a constant smile-introduced simply as Ben who turned out to be Head of Security for the Euro Disney complex, some twenty miles east of Paris. Yet another member of the group had sham, chiselled features and looked distinctly French. He also did not seem at ease in civilian clothes.
`This is Colonel Fontaine, of GIGN,' M introduced them, and the Frenchman gave a little nod of recognition. `Captain Bond, you've worked with GIGN beJore I think. Colonel Veron speaks highly of you.
There was a slight release of tension in the room which Bond put down to the stiff attitude Fontaine had obviously been taking. The French Special Forces Unit-GIGN-is not known for willing cooperation, even with its allies, and particularly on its home ground.
`The French authorities have kindly agreed to members of the SAS and, of course, detectives from the royal bodyguard to assist in this operation.' In spite of this, M did not appear to be a happy man.
There had probably been a battle of wills before Bill Tanner had brought them into the office.
`Then Her Royal Highness is definitely taking the princes to France on Sunday?' Bond tried to make it sound matter-of-fact, but the news was worrying. `Doesn't she realize...?' `No, Captain Bond.' It was the policeman, Commander Robb, who answered. `We've put it to Princess Diana. Her answer was completely uncompromising. She says that they're always possible targets for terrorists and to quote her 'nut cases,' so why should this be any different? She also said she had complete faith in her detectives, the GIGN, and the SAS.' `The point is,' M sounded as though he were about to become highly sarcastic. `The point is, we have yet to ask her if she has faith in you, James.' `Me, sir?' `Mmmm. You see we've come to a kind of decision in your absence. You ever play that game Tag when you were at school?' `Yes, sir, only we called it He. There was a dangerous variation known as Chain He.' `Well, be that as it may, to quote from our various childhoods, you, James, are He or It, or whatever other designation. You're the one who's going to get us out of this.
`I don't suppose I have any right of appeal?' `None at all.
You're going to be the white knight who saves the beautiful princess.
After all, you know the man Dragonpol better than we do.
You've been close; sniffed his lair and all that. So you get the plum job.' `And what I am to do, sir? Specifically, I mean.
`Catch the blighter. Kill him if you have to.
`There are no alternatives?' `Tell me what else we can do if we're not going to see an assassination on Sunday morning?' `There is one other way, sir. We could remove the target.
`No. We try to remove the assassin.' `Everybody really believes this man Dragonpol will attempt an assassination?' Commander Robb sounded dubious. `I mean he must know that their Royal Highnesses'll be protected in an unprecedented..
`With all due respect,' Bond's eyes hardened, you could put every member of the NATo Forces, plus the SAS and GIGN into the theme park.
You could even dress Her Royal Highness, and the princes, in bullet-proof underwear, and Dragonpol would still probably hit them.
`With him it's a vocation. It's what he does best.
I've simply got to look at the thing logically. We know what he's done before. We had him though we didn't realize it at the time and we've let him go. He's a specialist, and he does this for the fun of it. It's his job, and he takes pride in it. The killing is a by-product. The main thrill for him is setting things up. For David Dragonpol this is better than any drug high, better than sex, better than anything. He's going to kill the Princess and the two young princes...
`Unless we stop him; or I should say, James, unless you stop him, and beat him at his own game. Now, do you think that can be done?' Bond heard himself, as though from a long way off, saying, `Possibly.' `Then we have some kind of a chance. As I said before, we came to an understanding before you arrived, James. If you cannot, or do not, take Dragonpol before the royal party actually arrives at Euro Disney, then we will force a change of
