was the “Snake” to Bassam Baradj’s “Viper”.
“Of course. All the incoming signals were dealt with. Nobody queried a thing.
Adwan scowled. “Except me. I query your judgment.”
Baradj smiled and fed more paper into the shredder. “Yes? I thought you were unhappy, though you played your part to perfection.
What really worried you, All?”
“You know what worried me. Bond should have been killed.
Here, on the spot, while we had him. What was the point of bringing him here at all, if not to kill him?”
“Already we have made two botched attempts on Bond’s life.
The first was one of those things that just went wrong - the wrong kind of missile, the fact that Bond is obviously a good pilot.” He shrugged, a wide, unhappy gesture. “Then, All, we tried again, and that was disaster. We went for Bond and killed This time his lips clamped together as though he had become upset at the thought. Then, throwing it off, he spoke again. “I made the decision, All. No more assassination attempts until we get nearer to our true targets. There will be plenty of chances then. His sudden death, after the wretched Ischia business, might even have jeopardised the entire operation. They could even have called it off.”
“Then why bring people like him here at all?”
Baradj smiled, patiently. “It was necessary. After Ischia they would have moved him here anyway. They would have wanted him close and confined. We want him confident, so that the blow will fall very unexpectedly. This has been excellent psychology.
We have had a chance to know him and be close. Don’t you think that you know the man better?”
“I know he’s dangerous, but yes. Yes, I think I know him now.
But have we really deceived everyone?”
“All who had to be deceived were deceived. Nobody from any other base, or from London showed any sign that they were concerned. The other regular staff will wake from their enforced sleep in the morning, and I don’t suppose they will question the strange loss of time they will all have suffered. They will eventually realise that in some strange way they all missed Christmas and the week after, but the hypnotics Hamarik supplied should keep the true facts at bay for a week, maybe even ten days. By then, my dear friend, we will have the superpowers, the United States of America and Russia, together with the United Kingdom, on their knees begging for mercy.
Adwan, whose leathery dark complexion seemed now more apparent, smiled and nodded: his attitude changing. “Yes, you are right. In the end of it all we will have a great deal to thank you for, Bassam.”
“What is money compared to this?”
“Ah, but you proved to be a fine actor also.”
Bassam Baradj chuckled, “You were very convincing yourself.”
A smile crossed Adwan’s face. “Oh, ya. Ya. Right,” he said.
Monarchs of the Sea James Bond felt the slight tremor under his feet, and with it the old feeling returned. There was nothing in the world like being at sea in a capital ship: the ordered routine, the feeling of men working as a quiet, well-trained team, the regularity of events, even in a crisis. To Bond, all this returned in a warm shower of nostalgia. No, it was better, because of the very special feeling of serving in this ship.
HMS invincible was a relatively recent addition to the Royal Navy’s history. In some ways she had already become a legend: certainly the first kind of ship of her type-19,500 tons of platform from which to launch practically any type of operation, including the nuclear option with the Green Parrot variable-yield weapons, capable of being carried by the Sea Harriers, to the ikt versions, which could be dropped by Sea Kings as anti-submarine bombs.
The invincible could also carry a Commando for armed assault, and, at this moment, 42 Commando, Royal Marines, was on board.
The ship’s air group consisted of ten Sea Harriers, eleven anti-submarine warfare (ASW) Sea Kings, two anti-electronic warfare (AEW) Sea Kings and one Lynx helicopter, configured for Exocet-type decoy duties. invincible was a very full ship, though officially, and technically, it was not even classed as an aircraft-carrier.
invincible was a Through Deck Cruiser (TDC).
Back in 1966, the then British government had cancelled a new building programme which would give the Royal Navy a number of conventional carriers for fixed-wing aircraft. In the following year a new programme went into action. What they required were light command cruisers with facilities for a number of helicopters. The whole political subject, mainly involving costing and pulling back on defence expenditure, was sensitive, but the success of the V/STOL Harrier aircraft changed things in a dramatic manner.
Plans were again changed, though the politicians still clung to the name TDC as opposed to aircraft-carrier. Three such ships were commissioned, and the success and lessons learned during the Falklands War had made for even further alterations. The exercise, Operation Landsea “89, was to be the first chance for invincible to show her paces following the extensive refit, which included new armament, electronics, communications and the 120 Harrier ski jump which had replaced the original 70 ramp.
The “Through Deck” principle remained, for practically all the ship’s equipment was carried below decks, apart from the complexities in the long, almost conventional island which ran along the centre of the starboard side using over half of the main deck’s 677 feet, bristling with tall antennae, radar dishes, and other domed detection devices. Most of the information required in the island was accessed from electronics buried deep below the flight- deck.
invincible and her sister ships illustrious and Ark Royal, were powered by four mighty Rolls-Royce TM3B twin-shaft gas turbines, designed on a modular principle, making maintenance and repair an easier job. invincible, illustrious and Ark Royal were quite simply the largest gas-turbine-powered ships in the world.
Once more he felt the slight tremor and rise under his feet. Bond sat down on his bunk, took out the Browning and began to clean it.
Apart from the Royal Marine detachment on board, he was the only officer who carried a personal hand-gun: though he was most conscious that two armed marines stood only a few feet forward of his cabin, stationed there, on the port side, as a guard on the series of cabins that would be used by the visiting VIP brass, and already partially inhabited by the Wren detachment.
As he sat down, so there was the tell-tale click all sea-going members of the Royal Navy recognise as the Tannoy system about to braudcast either one of the many routine orders, or bugle calls, which tell off the time in a similar manner to the religious “hours” in a monastery.
But this was not a normal message. “D’ye hear there! D’ye hear there! This is the Captain.” Throughout the ship, Bond knew that all ranks would stop everything but the most necessary duties to listen.
“As you all know,” the Captain - Rear-Admiral Sir John Walmsley continued, “the land, sea and air exercise called Operation Landsea “89, will commence at 23.59 hours. You will have already been briefed about this exercise by your Divisional Commanders, so you know it’s not in the normal run of similar training such as Ocean Safari. I want to remind you that, as from 23.59, we will be operating under actual rules of war and rules of engagement, apart from using the big bangs, of course.
This message is to be relayed to all other ships in what is to be known as Taskforce Kiev, and we will darken ship at exactly 23.59. You are also aware that this evening we will be receiving aboard three very senior officers and their staffs. There will be women among the staffs, and there is a detachment of Wrens aboard at this moment. I have no reason to repeat what your divisional officers will have already told you, though I will: fraternisation with the female officers and ratings aboard, apart from normal and obvious duties, is strictly forbidden. Anyone either attempting to, or actually fraternising can expect the harshest possible penalty. Apart from that there was a long pause: the Rear-Admiral had a quirky sense of humour, “good luck to you all.”
Bond smiled to himself. The entire message had been blandly understated, for this certainly was a different type of exercise, if only for the strange mixture of who were Red Side, and who were Blue.
To inject an even deeper than usual “fog of war” some units of the NATO powers remained in their real-life situations; while others were split in half - some Red and some Blue. For instance this very Taskforce consisted of ships of the Royal Navy, but were Red, other ships, particularly submarines of the Royal Navy, were Blue.
Bond had read his own sealed orders, after coming aboard, and had sat in on Walmsley’s briefing to the Executive Staff.
The Exercise briefing was in three parts. Political situation; current strategic situation at the commencement of Landsea “89; objective of all parties involved, with an accent on their own powerful Taskforce Kiev.
The fictional scenario was shrewd and complex: shortly before Christmas there had been a major military
